Setting the Record Straight (Part 2) - What is Sin

Here's the deal:

Dictionary.com defines "sin" as, "Transgression of divine law; any act regarded as such a transgression, especially a willful or deliberate violation of some religious or moral principle." Whewww!!! That's pretty heavy, huh? No wonder people are turned off by Christianity. Even as a Christian, that definition sounds harsh...from an outside perspective, it wouldn't sell me on this whole Jesus thing either!

The Spirit-led Christian, however, would give you a very different definition of sin (notice I didn't say the "flesh-led Christian" - for more on what I mean by that, check out this post). Here's how I believe God defines sin: "Sin is anything that separates us from God." It's that simple.

"Yeah but how do I know what separates me from God?" Here's the key: through the process of getting to know God on a deep, personal level, His Spirit will make clear what can separate us from Him.

This is where a lot of people, Christian or not, get confused: Sin has nothing to do with what other people think. It has everything to do with our relationship with God.

It's a vicious cycle: non-Christians get caught up in feeling judged, and Christians get caught up in either judging or walking on eggshells around other people's sin, not knowing how to handle the issue. They may want to be a truth-light to people around them, but they don't want to turn people off to the concept of God either. What a quandary!

But hey, there's good news - we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God! (Romans 3:23) "Shane, you're bonkers...how is THAT good news?!"

It's excellent news. It means we're all in the same boat. 

Brass tacks, it means that sin is a personal issue to bring to the Father, not a public issue to judge others for.

Remember the adulteress the people threw at the feet of Jesus? They were ready to stone her for her obvious life of sin. Remember Jesus' response? 

'Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her...' 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 8:7b, 10-11)

What a powerful picture of God's grace and His heart toward our brokenness. This is a tremendous scene in Scripture because it gives us a look into the Father's heart toward our sin, as well as three concrete facts about sin:

1. No one is without sin
2. Christ does not approach our brokenness with condemnation
3. Once forgiven, we have to leave our life of sin

I'm not saying once we're forgiven by God and accept Christ that we'll never sin again, or should hold ourselves to that unrealistic standard. I'm saying we should be led by the Holy Spirit inside us, not led by the whim of our fleshly desires (in Leiman's terms, desires that are far from God's heart). Jesus wasn't being judgmental or condemning when He told the adulteress to leave her life of sin...far from it! In fact, His heart for her (and us) is the exact opposite: He offers us "life to the full," embracing life led by the Holy Spirit and leaving our old sin-dead lifestyle in the dust.

Problem is...more often than not, people, whether Christian or not, see sin as an interpersonal battle. We worry about what others think. Or we get up in arms when someone says we're sinning. Or we put up walls from God when others claiming to speak for Christ make us feel ashamed about our actions or convictions.

Truth is...even the best-intentioned bleeding hearts, those that just want to point you to God's truth in the least-judgmental way possible, still come across as judgmental. So consequently, Christians are seen as either super aggressive Pharisees or straight-up wimps, walking everywhere on eggshells. It's a lose-lose! 

Crazy thing is...there's no way a Christian can talk about sin and not come across as offensive. Why? Because God's gracious truth is offensive (as I quoted from Eldredge in my last post). The last thing the Average Joe stewing in a lifestyle of sin wants to hear from a hoity-toity Christian is that Joe is a dirty, hopeless scumbag. Most likely, God has already been working on Joe's heart, alerting him of how sin is separating Joe from Himself. So whether they intend to or not, more often than not, Christians come across as judgmental.

Observe in the Scripture above - how did Jesus respond to the accusers? It is clear how Jesus handles the subject of sin...He didn't point to His own holiness with His words; He didn't give some pious, know-it-all answer. He pointed back to the pointers and highlighted the issue of sin in all of us. Since there's no way to not be offensive, let's stop avoiding the sin-fight and call it like it is, like Jesus did: it's not about pinpointing people's inadequacies, it's about realizing everyone's sinful nature and giving God's Spirit permission to redeem it.

Truth is meant to grate against the status-quo established and pandered by those deep in the bondage of sin. 

It's meant to dispel what is false in someone's heart, like God's light dispels the darkness. And I think that's why Christians walk a fine line when bringing up the subject of sin: they let their mouths try to do what only the Holy Spirit was meant to. Too many Christians spend far too much effort putting words in God's mouth, instead of positioning themselves to speak God's words through their mouths.

And not to victimize Christians - like I said, we all sin! But inasmuch as Christians have displayed intolerance toward non-Christians' sinful lifestyles, non-Christians have been equally intolerant and prejudice toward Christians. I'll talk more about how Christians should address sin in others in my next blog post; but if you're not a Christian, a good question to ask yourself might be, "How do I view Christians these days?" Stop for a second and ask yourself, "Have I thrown eggshells at the feet of a Christian lately?"

Rick Warren, Pastor at Saddleback Church in California and author of the New York Times best-seller "The Purpose Driven Life," summarized this touchy issue in our culture:

Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.

Therein lies the point I'm making: stop viewing sin as something defined by the people around you. That's how religion operates, nothing but weights and measures to make you feel overwhelmed. 

Ever notice how many people are turned off by the concept of Christianity, saying "no thanks" to God because religion's expectations are too high? Religion gives us a list of do's and don'ts a mile long, and people get burned out just looking at it. As a result, people perceive sin and the Christian life as a long and complicated list of ingredients to make the perfect cake. "Use this brand of flour only," and "DON'T YOU DARE use this ingredient, or else you'll mess up the whole thing." In reality, the recipe of the Christian life is simple once you get to know the author, and sin is nothing more than a fly in the batter. Jesus took the fly out of that batter 2,000 years ago...so why do you keep putting it back in?

Exactly. God lays it all out when we get to know Him. He explains everything in clear language in His Word and through His Spirit's intimacy with us. Jesus didn't call us to point out each others' sins (remember the speck and the plank?); He called us to live in Truth and shine Truth's light. 

I wish the word "sin" would go away. It's caused so many misunderstandings of God's heart for us. Instead, I wish we would use the word "separators." It paints a much clearer picture and calls sin what it is - a wedge between us and the Father. A wedge that God sent His Son to remove, so we could have direct access to the Father. That sounds like a loving God to me! Not some picky, pious, pompous Pickle-Puss jumping at every opportunity to condemn us.

But the issue remains - these "separators" must be dealt with. Christ did that, so we've gotta get with Him to get sin gone! There's no free ride to God's life for us without acknowledging Jesus' role as wedge-remover. He's the Separator Terminator. ("He'll be back..." - Christian joke, wink wink, giggle giggle)

There are so many aspects of sin that run rampant, and it's so sad that people today can't see that. It really is...sad. They literally can't see it (remember the John 14 quote from my last post?). Some people even wear sin like a merit badge, giving it all the power it can stomach. That's why it's crucial to realize the role our culture - people around us, even - plays in shaping our view of God, sin and Truth. Hey, if Christ didn't come to be counter-cultural, I don't know why He came. Therefore, if you believe Jesus' way is the Truth-path, you must observe that there are aspects of our culture's belief system in direct opposition to the Truth. 

It's that simple. It's a big stinky elephant trying to fight for room in our hearts...how could it not be obvious?

Setting the Record Straight (Part 1) - What is Truth

So, there's a big, stinky elephant in the room...except this elephant is running around like it owns the place. Busting up the floorboards, tracking in mud, waking up the kids - it's chaos!! And you know what? The problem is not that people don't see it. Oh yeah, they see this elephant alright. Crazy thing is, many people don't feel the need to deal with it. Or they don't know how to deal with it. What's more, many people don't think the big stinky elephant is a problem at all!

Yep, this elephant is..."sin."

(queue creepy organ)...DUM-DUM-DUUUUUUM!!!...Now if sin is an uncomfortable subject for you...good! All the more reason to stick around and hear me out. Get out of your comfort zone a little, there's good truth to be found out here. God wants you to wrestle with stuff, He loves a good wrestling match (just ask Jacob, father of the Israelites). When we wrestle with the truth, it is the strongest evidence of our desire for the truth.

So before we board this crazy-train subject of sin, it is crucial to make Truth our starting point. We must be able to identify truth, and most importantly, it's source.

"Yeah but Shane, isn't truth subjective? Isn't it relative?" Hahaha!!! That's rich! Too funny...oh, you're serious? Mmmmk...

...awkward...

No, truth is by no means relative (meaning: dependent on circumstances; not absolute), nor is it even remotely subjective (meaning: based on personal feelings, tastes or opinions). The world would like you to believe everything is permissible, and that truth is relative depending on who or what or where or how much. In reality, truth is very concrete. Who in their right mind would condone truth as something amorphic? As some eye-of-the-beholder improvisation?

Can you imagine a million different versions of what defines truth floating around out there, jockeying for position?! At that point, there would be so many opinions on truth, there would technically be no concrete truth at all. Oh wait...sound like a certain postmodern culture to you? As John Eldredge outlines, there is a distinct difference between what is opinion and what is true (you knew an Eldredge quote would pop up at some point, eh?): 

The Spirit of our day is a soft acceptance of everything - except deep conviction in anything...But truth is not like conviction. Conviction might be a matter of personal opinion, but truth is like a great mountain, solid and immovable whether we like it or even acknowledge it. Christianity is not a set of convictions - it is a truth. The most offensive thing imaginable.

If you think about it, the terms "relative" and "subjective" are oxymorons of "truth." By definition, at its very core, truth does not sway by popular opinion, or even personal opinion. It's not up for debate, it's not open for suggestions. And that's where our society has gotten it wrong. Consequently, convictions and beliefs these days are easily swayed...and they're a dime a dozen.

"Whoa Shane, you are wrong there. Tons of differing opinions hold traces of truth." Oh sure, there are snippets of truth in a lot of varying opinions. For example, we would all agree killing is wrong, correct? "Duh, Shane, that is true." But what if someone is about to kill your wife and children? Would you kill that person?

How can we even begin to answer, "What is really true?" This is why truth is seen as "relative," or "eh, it depends." There are so many "what if's" that complicate our definition of what is true. I think we all can agree, though, that truth itself is a constant. Meaning, ideally, it is what it is, and it can never diminish. In that case, would you believe me if I told you that real truth can be clearly defined? What if I said truth is set firm in and flowing freely from only ONE source. Can you guess who?

If you believe in God at all, and that He is good, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to arrive at the conclusion that God is the author of truth; and conversely, the enemy Satan is the author of lies. Ooo, taboo - I said Satan. Yeah. In fact, Scripture tells us Satan is the Father of lies. He is the anti-truth. So how does Satan sell his lies so easily? How could we be fooled by something so supposedly obvious as a lie from the Lord of the Underworld? Well, I've heard it said that every believable lie has a hint of truth in it. "How do you know for sure about all this 'God' and 'truth' stuff, Shane? Seems pretty subjective to me!" Well, it's all about who you know...

And I know Truth personally.

Not only did Jesus claim to be "the Way, the Truth, and the Life," He gave us insight into real truth through this astounding promise in Scripture:

If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you..." (John 14:15-17, emphasis added)

A.k.a - The Holy Spirit. If you know Christ personally, the Spirit of Truth is in you! Those who don't know Jesus as Savior, or as he put it, "the world," is missing out on real truth because they are blinded from it. God literally hides the truth in Christ. And it's revealed through the Holy Spirit to those who believe in Him. 

All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (Jn. 14:25-26)

Confusion, misplaced trust, deception, doubt - these are the glasses the world sees truth through. But thank God, He fits His children with the lenses of the Holy Spirit - the divine enters us personally to clarify the grey areas, and bring light to the darkness that's trying to destroy our hearts and minds. Yep, clarity...that's real truth, and isn't that what we're all after? Clarity through the Holy Spirit - a witness living inside us, alive and active, testifying to God's truth hidden in Christ:

When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. (John 15:26, emphasis added)

Sound too good to be true? (no pun intended! Oy!)  To many this is foolishness, but to the un-blinded, it is legit. It takes faith, I'll give ya that. And it's faith that separates the blind from the un-blind. I can see how non-Christians might think receiving real truth is some exclusive Christian-club-member thing, reserved only for select few. The good Judas was wondering the same thing:

Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me." (John 14: 22-24)

Simple. It's not about exclusivity; it's about the willingly blind and the God-surrendered un-blind. It all comes down to "loving" and "obeying" God, or in other words, displaying "faith," resulting in "action." (which, by the way, the word "obey" sounds archaic and starchy; but if you think about it, once you love someone, it's only natural to obey them - i.e., a son to the father). Basically Jesus is saying, "It's really up to you: love me and the Truth is revealed, or turn your back and never experience God's fullness for your life." Many in Jesus' day turned their back, and many still do today - most of the time believing their rationale is better, or believing those who represent God's truth are failing.

"The world" struggles with Christians who have all the answers, and understandably so. I can't stand hanging around people who think they know everything, so I can see how non-Christians might find truth-sayers abrasive...especially when Christians often impulsively spew misconceptions of truth and straight-up false personal views. Those on the receiving end of mislead Christians' unfounded words may think, "Why would I want to believe in a God whose followers are so judgmental and condemning?" It's important to realize something: Christian or not, truth is not when we put words in God's mouth. It is when God puts His words in our mouth by His Spirit; we must be careful not to mix our personal opinions with God's truth - more often than not, they mix about as poorly as oil and water.

On the flip side of the coin, truth is by nature offensive. The Gospel rubs against the grain. Why? How could a proposition of "life to the full" be abrasive? Because it goes against our nature...our sin nature. Human nature. Our bent toward the tangible, the gratifying, the demands of carnality. The Spirit-life is a different path. And so many feel excommunicated from it, most without even stepping into it. Again, why? Because living the Kingdom life offends the part of us that is fundamentally cursed by sin - the part of us that wants to be in the drivers seat.


Sometimes people think, "Well, the issue I'm struggling with isn't even mentioned clearly in the Bible, so I'm not even sure it's a sin." The Bible doesn't record all the bases Jesus covered while among us. The disciple John wrote in His account of the Gospel, "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." That's the exact reason Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, to guide us into all truth (if you haven't caught that yet!). Jesus says it Himself:

I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you. (John 16:12-15)

If you haven't experienced the truth of God up-close and personal in your life, it's time. Everyone burned by Christianity, judged by others, scrutinized to the "nth" degree, mad at religion...it's time to hear the real truth about sin. Come find out in Part 2 when we set the record straight on sin.

On Becoming a Transformer

Sooooo, I have a confession to make...yeah...

I am a Transformer.

No, not an Autobot. Definitely not a Decepticon! But I'm a Transformer nonetheless.

Let me start by clearing the air: I'm not a super-mech hero. In fact, I'm not even a perfect human being. I've walked with Christ for many years, but I've been plagued by carnality and penchants of the flesh throughout the years. I grew up thinking the reason I couldn't stop giving in to certain temptations was because I wasn't doing some Christian-y technique right...

maybe I wasn't praying enough?...

or I wasn't reading the Bible enough?...

or I didn't think about God enough?...

Little did I understand, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

But over the years, I've drawn closer to God by my own hunger for His Spirit at work in my life. And whadya know! As a result, God's been faithful and has drawn close to me, maturing me little by little in His righteousness. Simple cause-and-effect. Over time, though, I realized something very discouraging, yet interesting: despite my intense hunger for righteous living, I still chose to sin and give in to my vice from time to time.

Can you relate? Now, by no means am I condoning double-dipping: being a Christian, but living in sin. God's got a beef with that. That's called "taking advantage of God's grace for your own selfish, sinful desires." That kind of lifestyle is described in Scripture (and by the author I mentioned last post, Neil T. Anderson) as living in "the flesh." You can't live an effective, fruit-bearing Christian life while bending at whim to "the flesh," the very mentality and behavior ruled by sinful desires. Paul outlines in Romans 6 how we who follow Christ are dead to sin. To me, dead sin sounds pretty...dead.

DEAD!!!

But when a believer in Christ chooses to willfully walk in "the flesh," all the while simultaneously trying to walk in "the Spirit," he is basically choosing to lay the paddles of the defibrillator to his old sinful nature. C'mon, let the dead rest in peace! Don't try to revive what will keep you from bearing fruit, and ultimately bring you death. Because like Jesus said in John 15, He will prune any branch that doesn't bear fruit.

 I gave a little bit of a precursor of this in my last post, Hide and Seek, but if you are a believer in Christ, it is crucial to be assured of two things:

1. The Holy Spirit's very real and active work within you
2. Your very real and active identity IN Christ

Note: I highlight the word IN because every person on planet Earth is tailor-made for an identity given by our Creator - and that identity is only found in the Creator God's one-and-only master plan of redemption for the "human condition"...Jesus Christ. That's the Gospel, or in other words, the Good News! Thank God there is only ONE master plan and not a million different expectations to keep up with! And the great thing about the good news is that it's continuous as we live in and flourish in Christ. It's an ongoing process hinging on an active relationship with God. Choosing to walk away from that relationship is choosing to walk away from the process of redemption, i.e., choosing to not be IN Christ. Plain and simple.

If you believe in Christ's identity as Savior, it is necessary to believe your identity as The Saved. When Christ broke the bonds of sin in your life, you were freed from slavery to sin...but it's important to know, He didn't leave the shackles hanging from your wrists. "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" - direct words from Jesus, as written in John 8:36. A promise from Christ Himself. It's not a smoke-and-mirrors salvation, flimsily bending and swaying at the slightest mistake. It is set firm in Christ, anchored by His sovereign character and restorative work through His life, death, and resurrection as the ultimate sacrifice.

For so long, though, I didn't understand the Holy Spirit's work within me as someone freed from sin's slavery. When I was young, I thought the Holy Spirit was like a Parole Officer or something - mess up and you're outta here. As I grew older, I thought the Holy Spirit was more of a Nun - a pious figure who is a little more personal than a Parole Officer, but not much more forgiving, or even relate-able. A little while later, I thought the Holy Spirit was more of a Jiminy Cricket - a conscience of sorts, but kind of a tiny wimp who wouldn't really do much more than passively make suggestions, only to stand back and not put up much of a fight in my decision-making process.

Later on down the road, I came to understand the Holy Spirit for who He really is: He is the power of God made manifest in me through Christ's redeeming work. He is the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, taking up residence in me. He is supernatural guidance, the Counselor as Jesus said. Another word that is used to describe Him is the Comforter - which is a whole 'nother blog post I'll write a whole 'nother time!

All in all, the Holy Spirit was sent for our benefit. He is the very Spirit of God Himself active in...transforming us. Ah, there it is! See? I told you! I realized, I am a Transformer!

But why? How do I know the Holy Spirit is transforming me? Is there evidence? Well, in addition to the fruit I bear, and the Fruit of the Spirit outlined in Galatians 5, I've encountered some awesome evidence of the Holy Spirit's work in my walk with God.

In fact, my years of growing in Christ culminated to this profound and life-changing realization just the other day: as I live by the Spirit of God, if I mess up and sin, I find the desire that was once so strong behind that sin has...deteriorated. That's the work of the Holy Spirit that God meant for each and every one of His children: transformation.

It's like an old fashioned balance scale: as you transform to become more and more like Christ, His Spirit continuously grows in you and holds more weight in your life (your decision making, your motives, etc.). The Spirit's weight grows as you transform more into His likeness. Conversely, your old sinful nature holds less and less weight in affecting your life (decision making, motives, etc.).

As I chose to walk more and more in the Spirit, sin lost its influence in my life. It lost weight. And I found that if the occasion arose when I slipped up and sinned, the weight of sin had strangely diminished over time - the burning desire of the flesh I once felt, the hunger to satiate my sinful longings, had been starved of their power over me. It's a give-and-take: the more you give to one side of the scale, it takes from the other side. And that, my friends, is a beautiful illustration of God's grace. I now know the hymn to be true: "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of Earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."

The ability to be a Transformer has been offered to all of us. Allow God's Spirit to transform your heart. Let Him tip your scales...walk in The Spirit and indeed, the scales will tip toward life.

"I came that [you] might have life, and life to the full." ~ Jesus Christ (John 10:10)

Hide and Seek

One thing I've realized over the past couple weeks is something I'm not so sure I fully believed, or at least fully understood in the past. It's something so many Christians are struggling with in their walk with God, and I think it's a huge key to owning who we are in Christ and becoming more like Him through His Spirit within us. Wanna know this profound truth that's waiting at your doorstep?...

God loves to play hide and seek.

"That's nice, Shane, you childish weirdo." I'm serious! God is a hide-and-seek fanatic, it's how He operates. Isn't that curious? It's a peculiar truth about how God transforms us to His character by His Spirit at work within every Christian. But you know what? Hide and seek, though a simple game, is not one fully understood by many Christians.

I'm reading a book right now called "Victory Over the Darkness" by Neil T. Anderson (thanks Jordan!). In the chapter I just finished, Anderson outlines the importance of understanding the concept of "the old self." Paul talks about the old self a bunch in Scripture, but let's draw from Romans 6:5-7. You see, when Christ died for our sins, He died once and for all. It is a finished work. A done deal. Those of us who believe this have grace beyond reason to live this life untethered from sin and "the old self." We are not who we once were, even though sin is still very much present in the world to try and trip us up. The difference is, greater is He that's within us than He that's within the world. We are more powerful living in Christ than we once were living in the old self. As Anderson states so well, we are not "sinners saved by grace;" in reality, we are "saints who sometimes sin." The Apostle Paul couldn't agree more.

But that saint thing is a whole 'nother blog post for a whole 'nother time!

Paul puts it this way: "Our old self was crucified." That's past tense, if you didn't notice. This is where the struggle for many resides - they don't believe what God has already said about them, that they are His child (John 1:12), an equal heir of God's Kingdom with Christ (Romans 8:17), a chosen race, a holy nation, a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9-10), the very righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

They are maybe told or assume that Christ's work of salvation is ongoing, depending on their own efforts. Again and again, people try to beat the stuffing out of their "old self," wrestling with it as if it's still attached at their hip instead of living in who they already are in Christ. Little do they know, the old self is long-dead...it's been dead for two thousand years. They are beating a very, VERY dead horse.

So you may be asking then, "Shane, if my old self is dead, nailed to the cross with Christ, why do I still feel like I struggle with my old sinful nature?" This leads me to my point: Colossians 3:3 says, "For you died (past tense again), and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." Let's highlight this word "hidden." Many theological interpretations of this passage point to the word "hidden" as something to the effect of "safely nestled away in Christ." That's one meaning in this context, but I prefer the other, which is "concealed."

"What?! Shane, you mean God is concealing Himself from me, even though I'm a Christian?! That's mean!" Narrow is the way, and few there be that find it. Jesus wouldn't have said it if it weren't true. That's not saying Christianity is an exclusive club. It's not! What this concept of "concealment" means is that there is so much of God still to be found. God has so much buried treasure for the believer to discover. And not every treasure is unburied at the time of salvation. If it were, faith would come easy. It wouldn't be forged in us, and it wouldn't be very meaningful or poignant to us, would it?

Instead, the Spirit life is hidden in Christ. I'm not referring to the Holy Spirit, which God empowers every believer with through salvation; I'm talking about the Spirit life, meaning the transformative process of becoming like God through intimacy and relationship with Him. It's a hidden treasure. How exciting! Isn't that fun?! We already died to sin with Christ, but now there's treasure to discover! The Spirit life is not for couch-potato posers. It's for seekers. God hides, we seek!

Like I mentioned earlier, I always struggled with the concept that God often hides stuff from us. I never understood why the good Father, the same who would never give us a snake if we asked for a fish (according to Jesus), would hide stuff from us. It seemed kinda cloak-and-dagger to me for a time in my life. Then for a while it seemed really weird..."I found Jesus!" - like He was lost or oblivious or something. But now I realize the importance of God hiding stuff from us, of hiding Himself from us. There are lots of reasons, but here's a couple that come to mind:

1. To develop seekers - Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount to "seek and you will find." Like I said earlier, if God instantly revealed all the deep, profound, transformative things about Himself and the Kingdom at the moment of salvation, it would contradict His very nature. The concept of transformation (God's nature) and the desire for instant gratification (human nature) are not on the same page in the Kingdom dictionary - they clash at a fundamental level. He knew there would be many who tried to enter the Kingdom on Christ's coat tails instead of pressing into God's process through faith, and those are not the seekers. The Kingdom is hidden and set aside for the seekers. It's just how God works. Salvation is offered to everyone without prejudice, but His Spirit life is a process to be discovered, not a right or something to be earned. Which leads me to a second reason God hides stuff from us...

2. To protect us - there is so much bad theology and misleading out in the open, ripe for any Christian's picking. With the deeper things of God hidden in Christ, it secures a sure place for us to go to receive truth and affirmation every single time: the source of life itself, God Almighty. The mystery of the Gospel is Christ in all His fullness (Colossians 1:25-27), hidden from the wise and revealed to the simple, the hide-and-seekers (Matthew 11:25). God has secured this truth in a safe place in Christ, ripe for the seekers' picking. I love how The Message puts it in Matthew 11:27 - "This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I'm not keeping it to myself; I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen."

Does this God of hide-and-seek make sense now? There are always deeper intimacies with the Father, deeper truths to discover about Christ's character, deeper waters of worship to wade into, deeper aspects of the Holy Spirit's leading within us. God still speaks today, and He wants to speak to you, even in this moment. There are many treasures to discover in Him, a wealth of resources in His Spirit. He's just waiting for you to stop counting, uncover your eyes, and come find Him.

"Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near." (Isaiah 55:6)

The 007 Effect

Ever watch a movie or TV show and realize...you are being brainwashed..."WHAAAT?!?! Shane, nobody can get the drop on me, not even Jack Bauer." Well I hate to be the barer of bad news, but you are. You and I are brainwashed every single day. Through most everything in our western culture, especially every form of media imaginable, we are being led to believe life is different from what we experience. Most times, culture and media suggests life should be different from what we experience.

Disclaimer: I am not trying to sound like an ultra-conservative hermit who never partakes in the ways of the world. Truth is, I enjoy movies and TV shows often, and I'm somewhat active on social media (it's an uphill battle). These days, though, I'm beginning to distinguish the gap between the reality of my life and the surreality behind the life our culture suggests. Ah yes, the power of suggestion. Take a look at any given show out these days, any given movie, any given fictional book. Most of what you'll see (or perhaps fail to see) exhibits a distinct, unmistakably-American common denominator: the expectancy of ideals and fantasy to replace "normal." I'll dub it The 007 Effect...

"Bond...James Bond." I love those movies! Awesome action-to-the-max-tion, gorgeous girls falling all over him at the slightest glance, diabolical masterminds concocting grand schemes to undo society...and  Bond always finds a way to come out on top of everything. How can life get any better? Maybe a better question is, how can that be real life?

It may sound obvious, but life isn't that grand. But doesn't it feel like culture expects "grand" of our lives? And when our lives don't match up to these grand expectations, we're left feeling depressed, with the unshakable feeling that our lives are just plain...plain.

Representations of a "normal" life are endlessly portrayed by our culture and its media expressions as boring, dull, mundane, holding us back. Stuck in our jobs. Stuck in our money problems. Stuck in our relationships. Stuck, stuck, stuck. YUK.

Oftentimes I feel surrounded...nay, asphyxiated...by media and messages, advertisements and marketing ploys telling me I'm not enough. Telling me my life sucks, and I need what they are selling for life to be AWESOME!!! (How ironic - they're trying to better my life by choking me with constant, nagging subliminal messages).

Commercials for energy drinks or vacation getaways that reel off footage of endless adventure and death-defying adrenaline bingeing...skydiving from a WWII bomber, parasailing over the Great Barrier Reef, free-scaling the Rockies at sunset with your guitar so you can sing at the top of your lungs from the top of a mountain, surfing the biggest swells on the Hawaiian shores, crazy sex on the beach of a remote island. I mean, how can you watch a commercial like that while sprawled out on your couch in your pajamas, eating a bag of Funions with a glass of warm milk and think, "Yeah, my life is way more exciting than that." Real life can't compete with that!!! Everything else falls short and just leaves you feeling hopelessly underwhelmed with the direction of your life.

Then there are the drop-dead, half-naked bombshells on 70% of TV ads, appealing to every man's sexual overdrive...and for what? Selling what, can you remember? Probably everything from sports cars to macaroni & cheese. In the end, it's just a ruse the enemy uses to try and convince you your wife isn't good enough...or you're not good enough.

There's nothing real about the marketing ploys set in motion by our culture; they just make us feel like we're missing out on something and that we desperately need that something to feel complete and content. But isn't it strange: it's always tough to nail down, what is that something? They market the extraordinary as ordinary, and we are left to mind the gap.

Maybe the reality is this simple: it's what we do with our ordinary that makes our lives extraordinary. I know when I expect "grand" of my life, my measuring stick is usually based on what the world defines as extraordinary. Financial security, the perfect job, constant adventure and thrill-seeking, perpetual good-hair days and minty-fresh breath. I mean c'mon, that's a broken measuring stick...at least for me.

But when I focus my measuring stick on God's standards - living intentionally about the things that matter to him, loving others, preferring others over myself (which is Romans 12:10, by the way) - I find there is purpose in life. There is suddenly real purpose behind each day. And you know what? It ends up feeling more extraordinary than any of the other fillers I try to inject into my life to instantly bring it fulfillment.

The Kingdom of God operates by way of paradox - nearly everything to do with the Kingdom opposes what culture or human reason would promote. Yes, the Kingdom of Heaven is counter-cultural. And that's such a...relief. Fulfillment is readily available, not at the hands of a super-model, an epic party or a spiffy car, but in enjoying what you've been gifted with right now, in the present. That feels 10-times more exhilarating than any high the media tries to sell. A productive, intentional life investing in the things that matter to God - intimacy between you and Him, and preferring one another in a lifestyle of honor and love. Wow, I would chase that until my hearts drops out of my chest! All that other window dressing? It's not worth the chase. Why? Because it's not normal, and quite honestly, it never will be.

God As An Idol

God can be an idol in your life...

It's a hard truth to hear. With feathers ruffled and knickers in a twist, you're probably writing me off right now as a heretic, a lunatic, or some strange amalgamation of both. It's shocking, I know, but I've realized so many people seem to have an idolatrous interaction with God.

The word "idol" really isn't used much in our day and age. It's a dated term, usually stirring recollections of Sunday school class when the stories of Moses and the Israelites were portrayed in cartoons and coloring books. There's a real distinction between Moses and the Israelites, isn't there? Or between Elijah and the kings of God's nation, between King David and King Saul...between Jesus and the Pharisees. There's a real line separating the spirituality of these people. It's hard to miss.

But what is that line? With the exception of Jesus, these were mere men. Moses wasn't a mystic. Elijah wasn't a demigod. David wasn't a Marvel superhero. So what is that line?! I believe there is strong evidence to suggest the line is simply this: relationship.

In recent days, there has been a strong push within Christianity to emphasize relationship with God and denounce religion as our basis for serving Him. I couldn't agree more. You may remember my 4-part post about this subject back in November of last year. This word "idol" fits in perfectly with the relationship-vs.-religion conversation, because essentially if you are a lover of the religion approach to God, unfortunately you are practicing idolatry.

"WHAT??!! That's it, Shane, I've had enough of your punchy rhetoric and controversial proddings. Get ready to walk the plank!" Not just yet, please. This concept is a crucial truth to draw strength and comfort from in your spirituality. You see, idol-worship has distinct characteristics that drastically differ from the relationship God wants with us. A huge difference is duty vs. desire.

When I look at the Scriptural examples of people worshipping idols, there's always a note of duty in their worship. Look back through the ages, not just Scripture. Countless cultures throughout human history have viewed idols as a means to an end, usually for pretty personal, selfish gain. Need a baby? Whip that idol out from the closet and plead with the fertility god. Need a plentiful harvest? Shine up the idol for the harvest god and pray hard. There's big idols, small idols, some as big as your head. There's all-purpose idols, chubby idols, idols that promise wealth and good luck, idols that promise to make your teeth shiny. Take your pick!

And in all this, I infer a very strong sense of duty. Like, you have to serve this idol to get a great harvest, to get a child...to get what you want. And that's just it, the idol doesn't even know what's good for you. It doesn't know what is in your best interest - it just serves the interest of the worshipper, or at least the worshipper hopes it can.

And you know what? I infer a very strong sense of hopelessness and bondage from this duty. Who would want to be bend and preen and bleed for a carved-out, man-made puppet of chance? "This might work, it probably won't...but hey, it's all I've got." That's the mentality of those who have served idols down through the ages...an endless roulette wheel of ignorance, ripe for the breaking.

And sadly what's more, this endless cycle describes so many Christians' view of the Almighty God - worshipping out of duty. Legalistic attempts to do Christianity right. Worshipping God as an idol, obsessed with trying to get it right and be God's favorite; or obsessed with worshipping God out of duty so they can have a good, safe life and a cozy spot in heaven.

How sad. How Pharisaical. That's the exact mindset Christ came to redeem. He came to be the answer to the law - no amount of worshipping God as an idol can conjure God's grace and acceptance. Look at the examples from Scripture I mentioned earlier: the common denominator of those who lived close to God's heart is this: they lived from a relationship with God, thriving on desire.

It's a love story. They got it. They understood that it's not about worshipping God out of a "because if we don't we'll all get squashed" kind of mentality. I assume that's a big reason Moses smashed the 10 commandment tablets when he came down from his very real God-encounter to see God's chosen nation scratching and clawing to hear from a makeshift idol. He knew they didn't get it, they didn't view God as a very real and personal force in their life. He knew they viewed God as someone to appease.

There are two very real distinctions is worshipping God - worshipping Him out of duty and worshipping Him out of desire. Which do you bend toward? If you are serving God mostly out of duty, He is nothing more than an idol in your life. Stop trying to impress God. Stop serving Him for your own well-being. Trade in your idol for a relationship. It's the only way to know God.

Christ and The Cowardly Conquerors

In a recent conversation, a new friend of mine Tony helped me recall a revolutionary concept in the Kingdom, one I have mulled over, trained with and drawn strength from many times before. It is an explosive passage out of Romans 8, the ultimate name badge for all who follow Christ. We are "more than conquerors through [Christ]." If you are in Christ, that is your identity. Your calling card. Your infamy in the eyes of the enemy. The freedom in Christ that statement brings is one of the most powerful weapons in your possession. And yet...

When you think of Christians these days, what comes to mind? Nice? Mmm, yes...most people are nice these days, how does that set a Christian apart? It just makes them a firefly, not a "city on a hill." How about weird? Yep, plenty of nuts in the batter. Funny thing is, most people are allergic to them...so that's pretty counterproductive. Maybe role model? Some definitely are, some are just too legalistic to try and live up to. Too high a standard, higher than human even. What about passive? Yes, now we're getting somewhere. So many times, when I encounter a Christian, it's uncanny...it's almost like he or she is trying to be a wimp!

Introverted, non-confrontational, maybe even overly-intellectual...flinching featherlings scared of their own shadow. "What? Share my faith with somebody I may not know very well? OH NO. Maybe someday, but that's WAAAYY too scary right now." And these are the warriors of the Kingdom? Seems to me, from an outside perspective, these Christians have the need for quite a bit of butt-kicking boot camp, and then quite a bit of intense battle-hours logged into their personal stats before they even think about being called a "conqueror," let alone "more than a conqueror."

But that is exactly what Paul hand-wrote to those claiming the lordship of Christ. He didn't say, "Well, Susie is more than a conqueror, but Billy has some work to do." No, by Paul's phrasing we can infer that he is speaking of an across-the-board identity as Christians, not a status to be striven for, dependent upon what "spiritual level" we're on. See, Christ's freedom in us is the only prerequisite to this title of "More-Than-A-Conqueror." So...what does that mean for the massive population of spiritual sissies? This is where the meaning of Paul's phrase "more than conquerors" comes in.

Have you ever wondered what Paul meant here by "more than conquerors?" When I think of a conqueror, I think of a champion, a rugged individual daunted by nothing, never hesitating at the front lines of battle. I think of a William Wallace, a George Washington, a Joshua. I don't know about you, but I feel pretty far underneath those characters on the food chain! It's pretty hard to imagine what it looks like to be more than a conqueror - what's above a conqueror on the food chain?! Here's what I believe Paul was getting at: what's more than a conqueror?... a master.

Here's what I know: from the very foundations of humanity, God gave us dominion. He gave us mastery. Genesis 1:26-28 gives us an account of God's intentions for us as humans - He designed us to rule, and He gave us the character, gifts and abilities to do so masterfully. John Eldredge quotes Hebrew scholar Robert Alter in Eldre dge's wonderful work, "Waking the Dead," by pointing out the way the term rule is used in this context means "a fierce exercise of mastery." We are masterful masters - with dominion over what though? 

Many things, too many to name. Some people use their mastery for good. Many people are non-productive in their mastery, many do not use it at all. And many even use it for evil. But Jesus outlines for us throughout Scripture that those in the Kingdom of God have received (from Jesus Himself) mastery over so much more than tangible creation.

Followers of Christ hold mastery over things unseen, spiritual forces, things of the spiritual Kingdom hiding from our physical sight. This is where the cowardly conquerors bow out of the fight. In Luke 10: 19, Jesus says, "I have given you authority...to overcome all the power of the enemy." ALL the power of the enemy??? If that's not mastery, I don't know what is.

It's innate in every Christian, given as a huge part of our redeemed life - yet it is arguably the most untapped resource in the life of the average-Joe Christian. Mastery. Most Christ-followers just write-off the small things as bad luck, unfortunate circumstances, sin...fill in the blank with your own words. Then we wonder why God allows evil to cycle through this beaten-up old world? It makes more sense to me that there is an enemy of our souls, and this opposition needs opposed. Who better to oppose it than the chosen people, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, to whom Christ gave this mastery over death and all its harbingers? That's us by the way, the Chosen. We all have this status of mastery...some just don't know it yet, and still others choose not to walk in this inheritance.

I find it funny that, upon researching the stance of passivity and nonviolence (for the sake of spiritual conversation, that is) there is a stance people often take called "passive resistance." Sounds a lot like an oxymoron, eh? The dictionary defines "passive resistance" as "opposition to a government or to specific laws by the use of noncooperation or other nonviolent methods." Demonstrators and activists often choose to take this stance to oppose this and that, and I'm sure it's admirable and full of integrity in many circumstances. As I ponder this stance's implications for the Kingdom of God, though, it's obvious this method wouldn't work very well with spiritual forces hell-bent on destroying our eternal selves. What's more, I find that more often than not, Christians have been taking a "passive resistance" approach to following Christ. Far too many Christians do not believe there is spiritual warfare taking place in our daily lives. In this age of Christianity, it's almost faux pas to believe there are spirits engaged against us, trying to tear down our spirits, our marriages, our families. 

C'mon, think about it...it's simple cause-and-effect, right? If there is strife in the world, something has to be causing it, correct? Can all that pulls us away from our original design as masters simply be ignored? Are there no forces at work against that which is for the good of the world and humanity? These are hard questions to wrestle with, but there is a fight before us. Like it or not, it's there, staring us in the face. What are we to do?

It's time to take mastery over that which was meant to be mastered. It's time to rise up in our design and be masters of something greater than ourselves, greater than our often-back-peddling capacity for self. If you don't believe in your identity as a master in Christ's Kingdom, or see no need for it, then your faith is pointless. You are just treading water until the afterlife, unproductively preening for an unimpressed God. This Kingdom, like every thriving earthly kingdom, does not function off the unproductive members. Those branches of the Kingdom tree get pruned in the end. 

So hey, don't get pruned. Walk in your mastery as God's dominion-holder, and thus fulfill your calling, your purpose in this life: to master the elements of good and evil through the power of the Holy Spirit for God's eternal glory. Don't back away from that, step into it.