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.

Pagans at Sunset

Thought I'd share some lyrics from a song I started a while back. It's a pretty neat song - definitely not my best, but it definitely has a charming character to it. It all started when I was walking down our driveway in NC a few months back. It was one of those sunsets that just melts in the sky - that's when the first two lines, along with a melody, jumped to mind. If you know me at all, you know I love love LOVE looking at the night sky, especially the stars. Here's a little excerpt from what I've got so far:

Daylight exit stage right

The setting sun runs down the canvas of another day

Ancient stars hum a quiet chorus line

Comets scurry, whirring down the fast lane of the Milky Way

And in the middle of these dark, lonely nights

I can see you in the details of my life

It's difficult to write a song about things as overused as the sunset or the stars without falling prey to cliche, but I think the difference maker is what I think of nearly every time I look at the sky: How can anyone believe there is no God? How can people have the absence of mind - the audacity really - to believe everything was created by random chance, that the universe is held together by a thread of cosmic whim. It's ludicrous, honestly...just plain silly to me. There is no conviction, no honor or integrity in that mindset - basically, you believe there is everything because of nothing. No reason, just opinions built on blasé platitudes of meaningless garble. Scripture brings up a word for these people, and it pretty much hits the nail on the head: pagans. 

When I say "pagan," I'm referring to the King-James-Version term used so often throughout Scripture, a term I would define as pretty much someone who either willingly or ignorantly explains life away without the need for God...most of the time, willingly (much to my inability to explain). They think they've got it all figured out, living from the capacity of self and nothing more. Nothing more than they can explain. Nothing more than they can reason. Nothing more than what's right in front of their face. The problem is...that's pretty laughably foolish. To put it plainly, it's downright pagan, savage and ignorant to come to the conclusion that there's basically no source to life. My heart is heavy for these people, actually - I want them to bend from their intellectual penchants for a minute and consider the God, the Maker standing before them. There is intention in every sunrise, in every waterfall, in every planet. There is intention in our lives as well. 

If you have faith enough in the nonsensical belief that the universe began for no reason, with no meaning, with no author - whether you realize it or not, I'd bet you also believe there is just about as little meaning behind your life. Ripe with disdain and confusion over your meaning and identity, blind to the very source of life itself. Yes, blind to it. Willingly blind, in fact. Because only someone so wounded and poisoned toward the notion of God would hold such an obviously bone-headed, completely-and-utterly wacky worldview. Just look at the stars...really look at them. Look at nature. Look. See. Observe intentional beauty. Intentional. Doesn't it make more sense? It should make all the sense in the world, and if it doesn't, like I said before, I'd check for blinders.

The Middle Man

I had heartburn for quite some time. For well over a couple years actually. Constant, die-hard heartburn. But God healed me a couple weeks ago...yep, healed me of heartburn, straight up. Sounds silly maybe. But I'm not talking about the Pepto or Prilosec kind.

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I have a crazy passion for songwriting. And when I say passion, I mean a frenzied freeway of fervor buzzing through my bloodstream non-stop. I lose sleep over songs all the time. I fall asleep many nights dissecting and analyzing the lyrics of any given song I'm pounding away on, trying to hone in on the very word, syllable, rhyme pattern, metric nuance or thematic content that will better describe the verbal picture I'm trying to paint. It's locked away somewhere, and if I feel something can be better in my song, I will wrestle with the song until I unlock the best in it.

Our passions are good, God-given even. Every passion at its core is a gift of God and an avenue to honor Him, help others on their journey and bring us to a point of personal wholeness. Even the most grotesque, hell-bent, soul-degenerating "passions" have their root in God's design. The root of pornography is lust, and when we ask God redeem the lust in our hearts, we notice that at its root, lust is warped love. God gifted this world with a clean, healthy, Christ-centered version of love; but in humanity's brokenness, we warped love into something more artificial, something easier to replicate and quicker to satiate our need for love. Hence, pornography. Make sense? For more on this, see John Eldredge's fabulous book, Desire.

So, that's where my passion for songwriting enters again. You see, my God-given passion for songwriting soured. My passion was being fed by entitlement. I felt I had the right to expect God to use my songwriting gifts in the way I wanted, in the ways I thought best - according to my own agenda. And like any tree, when it's fed by something other than what God intended (like entitlement), it is slowly warped and dies. Try growing a sapling using only Dr. Pepper instead of water and see what happens.

It's about more than just a nonchalant attitude concerning our giftings and passions - like, "Here ya go, God, I guess this is yours. I'm not where I'd rather be in life, but I guess I owe you this much." That clenched-fist mentality in regards to what we're passionate about will get us nowhere quick; thinking only in terms of our agenda instead of God's purpose will undercut our very souls, along with God's plan for our lives. 

For the past couple years, I have been so frustrated that my songwriting hasn't gone much farther than family and relatively close friends. I've been so tense and antsy for my songwriting to sprout wings and fly into the blue sky by-and-by, but all I've had is a completely grounded feeling. It's even more frustrating when I know God has gifted me tremendously in this area of my life, and that I get these almost premonitional feelings that they were given to me to be used in a huge capacity. I've had an especially frequent amount of heartburn for my worship songs, ones I know God has plans for because they are so incredibly anointed beyond my comprehension - like they were plucked right out of the angels' mouths in heaven. But still...no headway. It's one of the most frustrating things requiring a divinely-inspired amount of patience in this life: stewarding something with such huge potential, yet not seeing the return as quickly as we'd like.

Let me clear something up too: God's not coming to us like we're a lost and found either. He's not saying, "Oh yes! I misplaced this, thank you for returning it!" God was very intentional about what gifts He planted in our hearts. A few weeks back our pastor was talking a little about the Parable of the Talents, as found in Matthew 25:14-30. As someone who grew up in the church, this is one of those stories I've heard about a million-and-one times. But it's uncanny how God usually speaks through stuff we've heard a million-and-one times.

I was reflecting on this story a couple months back while driving to a gig one day, and it was like God revealed a long-awaited answer to me in a flash. I'd asked God to deal with my heart concerning my gifts and the way my heart burned like a wildfire to use them in huge ways. It's a big burden to carry. But God brought to mind this parable, and it sparked the answer to a question I've had for a very long time: why does the master commend the first and the second servants equally? The first servant was given 5 talents, and he invested them and returned 10 to the master; the second servant was given 2 talents, and he invested them and returned 4 to the master...but the master commended both servants verbatim, saying "Well done good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master."

I've always wondered why the master commends them equally. The first servant returned with way more talents for the master's use, but the master saw no difference. Why? Because God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). It all boils down to what the servants did with what the master gave them: they invested it. As long as we give all the effort we can to invest with what God gives us, God will count the return by His economy, not our. Thank God.

You see, a huge factor in all this is not what the first two servants returned with, but what they were given. At the beginning of the parable, Jesus says something reassuring in Mt. 25:15: he says the master gave them talents "each according to his ability." That's where God struck a chord in me. All this time, I've been wondering why my worship songs weren't getting out there like Hillsong's or even the church we attend, Elevation. We are part of such a dynamic move of God through Elevation church, but as close as it is to my grasp, my dreams couldn't seem further away. But through this parable, God wanted me to rest in the fact that it's ok to be the second servant. I have to be ok with my current role as the middle man. Why? Is God trying to make me settle for less? No. He's trying to make me realize that all these other people I'm comparing myself to, all the success around me that I'm envious of, is all because God has gifted those people in different capacities, perhaps with more talents, more opportunities, more connections, more pathways - according to their ability.

Right now, in the very place I'm at, in the very place you're at in your life, God has given us talents according to our abilities right now. Not according to our future abilities, or our past abilities for that matter. He's observing how we invest what He's given us right now. Our current abilities may not be able to handle all the burdens and responsibilities that come with using our gifts on a grand scale. And that makes you really appreciate the one who are using the same gifts God's given you, only on a grand scale. Maybe someday I'll be ready to handle the pressure and weight that comes with using my songwriting on a grand scale, but I'm definitely not ready yet. In the meantime, though, it's still my responsibility to give all the energy I've got investing what God did give me...even if it's only 2 talents for now.

I suppose the second servant could have chosen to become envious of the first servant, saying, "No fair, master! Why does he get 5 but I only get 2?" Pout pout, wah wah. But here's the thing: if I don't invest what I have, even if it's only 1 talent like the notorious third servant got, I will not be entrusted with more someday. God only entrusts more to those who prove they can manage less. Once God sees that you have invested to the fullness of your ability with the little He's given you, He will give you more. It's like a father watching a child eat dinner - once the child has polished off the mashed potatoes, scarfed down the chicken nuggets, and given a valiant effort on the creamed corn, the father will gladly put some more nuggets and taters on the child's plate when the child is ready for it - along with some tasty carrot cake!

Now that I'm hungry, let me conclude with a message to those of us who are the second servant in the story: we have to be ok with it! It's not a demotion. It's not God dissin' us. It's Him protecting us from being in a position outside our ability to handle. Just be faithful with what you've been given right now and invest it. Only then can God trust you with more. And that is extremely comforting to a discouragement-ridden soul - it's the healing for the heartburn.