You can’t always get what you want…..

This should be interesting.  Can I connect my relationship with God to a 1969 Rolling Stones song? (Said song was voted one of the top 100 rock n roll songs of all time.  It was never released as a single….. only as a “B” side to “Honky Tonk Woman.”  And it was prominent in the movie soundtrack to “The Big Chill,”  one of my favorite flicks.  All this according to Wikepedia if you care.)  Really the only part of the lyrics worth repeating are “You can’t always get what you want, but you might find you get what you need.”  Theology from Mick and the boys!

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.  There we will find his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.  Hebrews 5:16 (NLT)

I am tempted to go to God looking for the things I want.  If I make a list of what I want, believe it or not, there’s some good stuff there!  I just assume a good God wants me to have what I want…. and often as not what I want is His stamp of approval for ME, MY great plans and MY vision for the future.  This verse tells me that because of Jesus Christ I can go directly to where God is with confidence, but there I will find: a) His mercy and b) grace when I need it most. 

I don’t think God is in the business of doling out what I want.  (And I’m sure He wishes I’d get past all that.  I’m working on it. ) Thankfully God freely gives what I’m really in most desperate need of…..mercy, grace, and Himself.

Enough!

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.  Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)

I’m cheap.  I don’t go to many movies.  I don’t have cable.  And I wasn’t sure I really wanted to see it anyway.  Mel Gibson made a movie a couple of years back called THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST that got a lot of press and stirred a lot of controversy.  I know the story it told, of course, and I’d seen clips of different scences.  Anyway, it was on the $7.50 rack at Walmart the other day and my family was away for the evening, so I bought it and watched it.

Frankly, it’s not the kind of thing you want to see over and over again.  There’s one scene that portrays Mary, Jesus’ mother, as praying something like, “My God, how long before you stop this?”  That’s how I felt the whole time.  I kept wanting to say “Enough, already!” 

But I think that’s probably the point Mel was trying to make.  God could have stepped in at any time, but He didn’t.  If you believe in a good and merciful God, there HAD to be a reason….and an absolutely overwhelming reason for Him to allow His Son to be treated that way. 

You and I are that reason.  From the best of us to the worst of us, we’re what was worth so much to God.  Incredible.

And you gotta love the ending!

unChristian

I wanted to share this from a blog I saw this morning.  I won’t share the link because the comments in reply are very harsh and let’s just say the language is colorful.  I’m reading a book called UNCHRISTIAN that talks about how Christianity it perceived in America today.  What follows is one reason those outside the faith don’t think Christians represent Christ very well.  Again, my apologies for sharing this, because it is offensive….

These sick f……ing people. I really don’t want to blog this but I think people should see how sick these people are. They plan on picketing his funeral. Just like they picket soldiers funerals, and high school graduations. As my friend Gavin said, “Man I would hate to have their Karma.” These people are sick. The Ledger family should get a restraining order immediately against these people. Have a judge sign an order restricting them to keep their distance of 1 mile. I don’t even know if that is possible, but if the President can do that for protesters, than the Ledger family should be able to.

Here is their message of hate regarding Heath.

To teach warfare

Does God leave us challenges to face, battles to fight, and wars to wage on purpose?  Is it part of His plan to test us “under fire?”  It appears that’s what He did with the Israelites in Canaan.  This verse really struck me the other day. 

These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan  (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience).  Judges 3:1-2 (NIV)

Can we make the application that there’s intrinsic value in having to learn warfare?  For the ancient Jews, it was evidently important for each generation to have to know how to conduct war ….so God left them enemies they would have to fight in order to keep these skills sharp. 

Does this apply for us today in a spiritual sense?  Might that offer a partial explanation of why a holy God allows evil to touch our lives?  That He knows we’ll become better, stronger people by learning to face and fight opposition?  Just thinking out loud……

Nothing hidden

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.  Hebrews 4:13 (NIV)

Some friends of mine are going through some tough things right now.  Frankly, sometimes other people just stick it to us, don’t they?  Our natural response is to just fight back for all we’re worth.  Eye for an eye and all that.   We’re the good guy after all.   If we don’t watch out for our interests and defend our reputations they’ll get away with it!  Maybe God doesn’t even notice.

It’s so hard to keep in mind when we’re in pain, but this verse reminds  us that NOTHING slips by God.  There is nothing that won’t be revealed.  He knows what we’ve been through.  He knows our actions.  He knows our motives.  He knows the truth, even when it seems to be hidden from everyone else…even when we’re blinded to it ourselves.  

God is a really big, powerful, all-knowing God and we will ALL give an account to Him for what we’ve done…. including the things we think we got away with.

Unshakable

….all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.   Hebrews 12:27 (NLT)

Jesus is coming back some day to shake all of creation, and there sure are some things that need to be shaken and removed aren’t there?  After God takes care of the biggies…… death, sickness, poverty, violence, hatred and greed, I pray he’ll deal with religious television.   I’m sorry, but whenever I accidentally tune in while sitting in a hotel somewhere, for every one person that is talking sense about following God…..there are at least three flakes that are selling something that doesn’t smell much like the Good News that I read in the New Testament at all.  Did God really select these people to represent him?  I really struggle with that.  Yet somehow, and it’s a miracle, every now and then something that’s unshakable from God’s Word manages to get through all the nonsense that men spout in His name.  And you know, that’s why I try to start every post here with a Bible verse.  It’s usually downhill from there. 

Vote

The words of the wise heard in quietness are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.  Ecclesiaties 9:17 (NASB) 

If anyone is interested in my take on politics and how I attempt to decide how to vote, this is as close to a litmus test as I have.  There are a lot of verses in Ecclesiastes I wouldn’t recommend taking out of context, but this one works.

Here in SC, the Republican primary is Saturday and the Democrats have their turn in a week.  I don’t think the “Christian right” is backward.  On the other hand,  I don’t think all Christians have to lean right (or left for that matter). 

Candidates and voters can have exactly the right positions politically…meaning you completely agree with my positions…..and not know Jesus at all.  Or you can have a real, vibrant relationship with God and, frankly, be a nut-job when it comes to public policy.

The most frightening thing in the current process is that voters hear way more about polls and personalities than about issues, and even scarier is that lots of people vote that are completely clueless about where candidates actually stand on issues that matter.

Let’s all just listen, and then see if you can hear anyone speaking “words of the wise in quietness.”  There, that was easy.   I’m now sure you and I will both be supporting the same man….or woman.  (That WAS a good one wasn’t it ?!)

Out of the boat

And He said, “Come.”  And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  Matthew 14:29 (NASB)

I’m re-reading a book by John Ortberg called IF YOU WANT TO WALK ON WATER, YOU’VE GOT TO GET OUT OF THE BOAT.  I highly recommend it.  Every now and then an author or speaker will toss something out that that just floors me, so I thought I’d share.  Ortberg goes through the familiar story of Jesus coming to the disciples walking on the water and how Peter got out and made it a few yards…before he sank and Jesus rescued him.  Peter has been a sermon illustration for years as “O ye of little faith.”  But the amazing thing is that he actually got out of the boat and walked on water towards Jesus while the other disciples were hanging on for dear life in the boat.  Here’s the lines from Ortberg that got me:

I believe there are many good reasons to get out of the boat.  But there is one that trumps them all: The water is where Jesus is.  The water may be dark, wet, and dangerous.  But Jesus is not in the boat.

That’s the thought I’ll be chewing on for a while….

Recognizing Who’s in Charge

…the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.  Daniel 4:25b (NIV)

Sorry for being MIA with the blog this week.  Been in Orlando at our company’s national sales meeting this week and our IS people upgraded our laptops and just got mine back today.  That’s my excuse.

The suits told us this week that our 2007 sales went over $1 billion.  It’s cool to be able to say that and everyone’s pumped up about it, but this verse….and a teaching I recently heard from Andy Stanley were the first thing that came to my mind.

We like to think that power and success and wealth are all a result of our superior skill, effort and intelligence, but the Bible would suggest that just ain’t so.  God chooses to bless who He chooses to bless.  Kings and business titans and others among us might think we actually control our own destiny, but God is sovereign.  He rules.  It’s an awefully good thing to keep in mind……… 

How I read the Bible

This may be a bit academic for some, and too simplistic for others, and I’m not saying this is the only or best way to interpret and apply the Bible….. but I thought I’d go through an example of how using different translation of the Bible helps me.  This section is Romans 2:28-29.  Following are several translations of the same verse.  Thanks to www.biblegateway.com for the handy way to do this, by the way. 

For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.  (KJV)

Steve: “Say what?”

A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God. (NIV)

Steve: “Better read that again.   Someone should have worked with Paul on sentence structure if they were gonna translate this to English.  By the way, does this have anything to do with me?”

Don’t you see: It’s not the cut of a knife that makes a Jew. You become a Jew by who you are. It’s the mark of God on your heart, not of a knife on your skin, that makes a Jew. And recognition comes from God, not legalistic critics.   (THE MESSAGE)

Steve: “That helps me when I go back and read the translations above, especially if Peterson (author of THE MESSAGE) understands Paul’s thought exactly right.  This aims me in the right direction, but I’m taken all the way to a conclusion and an application that are from the author.”

For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit.  And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people. (NLT)

Steve (as the lights slowly come on): “Yes!  Paul is telling Roman Christians that are Jewish that obeying the law isn’t enough.  God must change the heart, and when your heart is changed you’re all about pleasing God, and not so much worried about what people think and say about you.  The take-away for me for me is in that last sentence.  Now if I can just begin to apply it in my life…..