RE:think

It Always Comes Back to the Gospel

This is a slightly edited repost from November 2006…

What is the process that turns my thoughts into something to post on my blog? In other words, how is it I come up with this junk that I use to torture the few of you that come here? I'll try to show you.

This post is about looking for redemption in the wrong places. I am giving it to you uncut from how it forms in my mind, develops there, crystallizes, and then finally makes it to print. If it's hard to follow, well, welcome to my mind.

It starts as a little quote I formed recently about putting politics above the things of God:

"Seeking redemption in politics is like looking for a diamond in a bucket of razor blades."

Is this absolutely true, nah. I think I know what I mean by it though. Plus it's cute and pithy, and I like cute and pithy. Now, I am obviously going to use my belief in Jesus against this statement. As a Christian I know where my ultimate redemption comes from.

Let's see, a few questions. Can I find redemption in politics? A particular sort, yes. Can God use politicians for redemptive purposes? Absolutely. But what kind of redemption? Certainly not ultimate. Not going so well here. OH! But what happens when I put politics and the like above God? Then I am relying on politics as my functional savior. Yes! That's it!

OK, I need to adjust the quote. I better say this I think:

"Seeking redemption in politics and not in Jesus is like looking for a diamond in a bucket of razor blades and never finding it."

Yeah I like that better.  I see Christians doing this on an almost daily basis. How could they! The humanity! But hold on, that isn't totally fair. I may not personally make politics my savior, but I cetainly put other things there from time to time. We all do, right? Maybe I should say this.

"Seeking redemption first in _________ and not Jesus is like looking for a diamond in a bucket of razor blades and never finding it."

Yeah that is better. But I don't know if it is all the way to where I want it to be. That "blank" can change almost daily. There has to be something controlling that dadgum "blank". What most influences what we put in the "blank"? Well, I'd say we influence it ourselves more than anything.  Our identity and security rests on the things that we put in that "blank".  So we fill it with things, and people, and experiences.  We try our best to find our identity in these things. We look for safety and love in those things. But we fail at every turn. This is a pretty good definition of sin isn't?

So maybe it's best for me to say it like this:

"Putting my identity and security into anything other than Jesus will turn out badly."

Yes, I like that much better as my pithy statement. Nothing cute about it though. But being cute usually gets us into trouble anyway.

Here is the deal; it always comes back to the Gospel doesn't it? So I will end here. The actual post, had I not done this gimmicky thing would have commented about the statement I arrived at, but today, I'll just end with this:

Dear God, please show me how to stop pushing Jesus to the side and reaching down into that bucket of razor blades. Because I'll never find what I need and those blades are very sharp. I stand a man still in need of a savior. May I never lose sight of the gospel.

Technorati Tags: Jesus,Gospel

Your Favorite Jesus?

I've been thinking a lot about Jesus lately. I think this is a very good and profitable thing to do. And as I think through Jesus, my own church history, and the world I live in today, I come up with a question for everyone, especially me.

Who is your favorite Jesus?

I have noticed that I and others like to pick one or a few aspects of Jesus and then try and make him that when talking with others.

Is he the righteously angry Jesus who turn over the money changers tables?

Is he kind Jesus who sat with children and played?

Is he the suffering Savior?

The risen Lord?

We could go all through the Gospels and find him reacting in different situations, but the quick and short of it is that he is all of these things. He was God in the flesh and the most complete man to ever walk the Earth. We can't use one or a few of these descriptions and make him only that.

But that is what we do as individuals and as groups. The war protestor likes to see the peacemaker, but not the one who challenged the status quo, sometimes angrily. The fundamentalist likes to see the the suffering Savior on the cross and not the one who told us to turn the other cheek. The liberal sees the one who was an advocate for the poor and not the one who made atonement for us.

And this list goes on and on. We all have our favorite vision of Jesus and we look for the one that makes the most sense to us. It's what we do.

Depeche Mode had a song that somewhat fits here in "Personal Jesus":

Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares
Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who's there

I wish I could always see the entire package. I am usually too small to see it though. And too many times I am swayed by others and what they see. It's very easy just to have my own personal Jesus. The one that is easy to follow and is most like me. The one that agrees with me on everything. The one that finds the things important to me important to him.

What about you?

-rdw

Our Brokenness and God’s Closeness

This is one of those “from the archives” reposts. Original post date was January 3, 2008…

Anyone who truly attempts to follow Jesus and make him Lord knows that it's very hard escaping our own brokenness. As we journey on and learn more of how things should be, the more glaring that brokenness is.

In Psalm 144:3 David asks:

O Lord, what is man that you regard him,
or the son of man that you think of him?

Isn't this what we all ask when we see just how broken we are?

For me, the revelation of my brokenness is one of the hardest things to deal with as a Christ Follower.

It's so easy to let it overwhelm (especially me) to the point of feeling like a failure. Feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness can become paralyzing. We do things that we know are not good for us as we try to find a way to get rid of those feelings.

Then we find that all of this ugliness has the power to hurt those around us. It spirals, down, down, down from there. It's easy to stop caring and just look for the seemingly easy way out. The pain that follows is nearly unbearable.

Suddenly God doesn't feel so close. And that becomes a huge problem. We need him but can't feel his presence. I haven't really faced one of those "dark nights of the soul" but I imagine this is one way it could easily get started.

Psalm 145:18 says:

The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.

What a promise in the first line! But then the second comes along and makes things a little harder.  It's very easy to call on him. I do it every single time I am in trouble. And it's even easier to do it hoping to get what WE want that truth to be as our motivation.

Lest I depress you, Psalm 145 is a wonderful read for anyone in this tough spot. As I fight battles of my own creation and those that were imposed on me, I dwell on this passage. I am broken, yes, as all creation is. But my Redeemer lives!

Verse 14 says:

The Lord upholds all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.

What a glimpse of the Gospel! I must remind myself that I still need the Gospel, everyday. May God continue to pick us up when we fall and straighten us up when life weighs heavy.

Christianity, Social Justice, and Glenn Beck

So, this one should be fun. Glen Beck fans, please do not get upset, I am not attacking you.

Recently Glenn Beck stirred things up when he encouraged Christians who attended churches that spoke of social justice to leave those churches. He said that “social justice”, which includes the efforts to address poverty, human rights, and equality is code for communism and Nazism. Here is the quote from Beck himself:

"I'm begging you, your right to religion and freedom to exercise religion and read all of the passages of the Bible as you want to read them and as your church wants to preach them . . . are going to come under the ropes in the next year. If it lasts that long it will be the next year. I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!"

I’m no fan of Glen Beck. He is a guy who makes outlandish and over the top statements to up his ratings, sell books, and stay in the public eye. The poor guy often makes a complete buffoon of himself. I completely disagree with his assessment here. But I really could care less about Glenn Beck and his bombastic ways.

The points I really want to make concern what Jesus had to say on these issues and a warning for when we get it wrong. We need to have this discussion as often as possible, and Beck just gave me a good reason to hop on the soap box.

Now, Jesus did have much to say about the things we sometimes refer to as “social justice”. What we do is not what makes things right between us and God. However, these things are a part of the Gospel he delivered to us. I’d say that makes them important, wouldn’t you?

Beginning in  Matthew chapter 5 Jesus delivers the Sermon on the Mount. He has quite a bit to say about those who are oppressed, persecuted and needy. He has much to say about how we treat both one another as well as our enemies. He says  things were scandalous not just then, but in some cases even more so now.

He mentions the poor over and over. His followers, who authored the New Testament mention the poor, the widow, the orphans, and the oppressed just as often. I do not think it is even a discussion that we are to care about and address issues such as poverty, racism, disease, and all manner of social ills. To deny this is to deny Christ himself.

Do we get it wrong sometimes? Absolutely.

First, the Church as a whole here in a America dropped the ball so horribly, that the government has stepped in and started to do our work for us. If we’d have followed Jesus in taking care of those who couldn’t take care of themselves, we might not being seeing the government take so much control over the last century. We ignored the fact that not everyone could do what we and other industrious citizens could do. They couldn’t simply pull themselves up by their own boot straps.

Even now, as Christians rail against the government, we still tend to spend way too much of our time and resources on things that will not last and do not matter. The more we do this, the more those who are opposed to government help actually feed that beast.

The flipside of this is that we now have many Christians who care about social justice, but want it to be brought to us by the government. Why not, right? They already take of so much of it for us. This is not what Beck was talking about, but should and could have been.

Jesus did not tell us to go to our rulers and have them take care of those who needed taking care of. No, he told US to do it.

Look, Glen Beck has lots of fans. I know this. But he is way off base when he compares the faithful following of Jesus to Communism and Nazism. As Christians we need to recognize this and be careful. When Jesus was asked what the greatest command was he said:

And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40)

If we believe this as Christians, we are absolutely compelled to seek and do justice without anyone or anything making us do it.

So let’s do this, if you are a follower of Christ. Instead of worrying too much about what Beck, Olbermann, Limbaugh, and the rest have to say, listen to Jesus. Instead of trusting our politicians, let’s trust and follow him. We can be good citizens and still live a counter-cultural lifestyle. The end result is a life that joins with God’s mission and advances the gospel, not a political ideology or man made process for “doing good”.

Let’s go for the real thing.

Never Take a Play Off

This is not a sports post, so those of you not into sports please read on in spite of the first bit… :)

Randy Moss, All-World wide receiver for the New England Patriots and formerly of the Minnesota Vikings has had an incredible career. He’s scored more TD’s than all but one guy ever. He’s also top ten in Yards and Receptions all time. However, there are many who think of something else before any of these stats.

Moss is notorious for “taking plays off”. He is well known for not giving %100 on every play. He tends to only go hard when the play revolves around him. It’s very unfortunate considering how he’s had such a stellar career by the stats.

The past couple of months I have been reminded, by my youngest daughter, Briannah (11) how important giving your all really is. Watching her play basketball has been pure joy for me. And not just because she is my daughter. I have never watched a boy or a girl play as hard as she does at this age. Sure, she scores the points and does the glamorous things, but she does so much more.

She plays defense as hard or harder than she plays offense. She is always around the ball, blocking shots and getting steals. When the ball is loose, she does whatever it takes, even hitting the floor, to get to it. She plays in practice as hard she does in games. All the things that others do not want to do, she does. Doing the things that others do not celebrate the way we do with points scored, she is actually glad to do.

She reminds me of myself when I played. I found it such a privilege to play, that even if it was just a pickup game, I would play like it was my last chance to ever do it. There is nothing I wouldn’t do to help my team win. And when we didn’t win, I would wonder if I really did everything I could. Briannah does the exact same thing after a loss even though if anyone did all they could it was her.

Briannah’s season got me thinking about how I approach life and to ask if I treat everyday things like work, family, etc. the same way I approached my time on a basketball court. Sadly, I find myself lacking. There are times that I do tend to “take a play off.” I suspect we all find this to be true.

Let’s face it, life is tough. There so many things that come at us. There is a new situation to deal with daily, sometimes hourly. It’s oh so easy to give up and “take a play off”. To not give it our all at work or around the house. To not do everything it takes to work on a relationship. We get tired and emotionally drained and withdraw or even disconnect.

I want to do better. I want to be more attentive. I’d like to be more engaged in all the things going on around me. I’d like to better take care of the things and people  in my sphere of influence. I don’t want to be jaded to the point that sarcasm takes the place of giving my all. Laziness in life is not what I want to be known for.

So as I challenge myself to give as close to %100 in everything I do as possible, I challenge you to do likewise. We live in a world that could use a few people who work hard and never give up. The people we know and love need a few friends who care enough to never be less than we know we can be. And when we fall short, we have to apologize, forgive ourselves and keep trying.

God Bless you friends…

From the Archives

Before Facebook and Twitter, I blogged. A lot. I have been rereading some of my posts and while some are very old (I started in 2003) I still feel mostly the same way now as I did then.  Since my audience, especially locally, has grown due to Facebook,  I am going to pick out some posts from the past to repost here at rdwagner.com that will copy to Facebook. There are some things I feel differently about and will add them to the discussion.

Be on the lookout and feel free to comment. I only ask that we all have some grace towards one another. And keep in mind that the more opinionated posts are because I actually care about a few things and don’t mind putting myself “out there”.