Tell Me

Tell me, what in the world can be wrong
Tell me, what in the world can be wrong
Woke up this morning
Trouble knocking on my door
I wonder what the trouble
Big trouble at my door
I wonder what the trouble
Real troubles at my door

Howlin' Wolf

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Matthew 26:41

One thing that I rarely hear preached in churches is the seriousness of sin. The fact is that we are all sinners and that our flesh is still weak. The gospel I see preached by the American church is a gospel of acceptance. The world has convinced us, somehow, that it is OK to be who we are and that Jesus will forgive us. Live a good life and have a little faith, and you'll be alright. This ideology, which permeates the evangelical scene is a stench in God's nostrils. Sin and a sinful lifestyle is not OK. It is not acceptable. And while you may be indeed be forgiven, one would have to question the faith of a person that is comfortable living in their own sin. When conviction is gone and the hardening of the heart has ensued, the believer treads a dangerous line. Many have fallen by the wayside, never to recover what little faith they appeared to have. God's justice and holiness serve to enhance his love for his people, for while we were still yet sinners, Christ died for us. How wretched we are to provoke God with our continuance to sin. So we must keep watch over our bodies. The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:27, "But I discipline my body, and keep it under control."

We must keep a watchful eye for sin. It is our duty to do so. We are to consider our ways. We absolutely have to consider what company, what circumstances, what business, what conditions, and what opportunities give way to sin, and we must, at full force, make a stand against those. The great reformer John Owen wrote in his book The Mortification of Sin, "Know that he who dares to dally with occasions of sin, will dare to sin. He that will venture upon temptations to wickedness, will venture upon wickedness." I used to "toe the line" of sin. So many times, I fell into sin and provoked my savior to his face. The grace of God has set me free, why do I flirt with bondage?

So let us keep watch over ourselves, for our nature is at war within us, and Satan is seeking to overthrow us, at every instance. Let us take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. Let us discipline our bodies for they are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And let us abhor our sin the way that Christ abhors it. "And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell."1

1.mark 9:47

Downhearted Blues

You know, I go into my room, I sat down and cried,
I didn't have no blues, but I wasn't satisfied
Yes, I went in my room, and I said, and I sat down and I cried,
Yes, I didn't have no blues, but I just wasn't satisfied

Son House

I have no peace, no quietness;
I have no rest, but only turmoil

Job 3:26

The Christian life is not an easy life. Loving people is not easy. I struggle with this on a daily basis. How do we love people that mistreat or abuse us? How do we maintain a spirit of love for strangers when those very strangers seem to go out of their way to test us? Certainly, working in a retail customer service environment is not an environment conducive to producing large sums of love that overflow to all the people one must deal with on a daily basis. And so the dealings of work make it easier to refuse love to others outside of the work place. So I am left with two options: Change the environment or change my perspective. However, I often wonder that if I were to switch jobs, would loving people the way Christ loved be easier? I have come to the conclusion that it would not. I need a change of heart. I need Jesus to change my perspective. I need him to show me people through His eyes. I need His grace and I need it more when I am at work. This is the Christian life. A daily reminder that sinful human beings cannot even keep the simple commandments to love. My sin at the workplace torments me.

The good news though is this: There is no condemnation for those in Christ. As I seek to be sanctified and made holy, the constant reminder that it is grace alone through faith alone, that will purify me. My sinful nature is waging war against the Spirit inside of me. And while I seem to make progress, I find it very difficult to crucify my flesh on a daily basis. And so I run back to the arms of grace to see me through. I'm reminded of the words of John Calvin,

"As all mankind are, in the sight of God, lost sinners, we hold that Christ is their only righteousness, since by his obedience, he has wiped off our transgressions; by his sacrifice, appeased the divine anger; by his blood washed away our stains; by his cross borne our curse; and by his death, made satisfaction for us."

These beautiful words mean one thing to me. That we were saved to be free. So don't let the failures of today affect the growth of tomorrow. We are freedmen. We are sons and daughters of the Most High. Let us rejoice in our great sin because of our great Savior, who daily sanctifies us.

Outlaw Blues

Ain't it hard to
stumble

and land in some funny lagoon?

Ain't it hard to stumble

and land in some muddy lagoon?

Especially when it's nine below zero

and three o'clock in the afternoon.

Ain't gonna hang no picture,

Ain't gonna hang no picture frame.

Ain't gonna hang no picture,

Ain't gonna hang no picture frame.

Well, I might look like Robert Ford

But I feel just like a Jesse James.

Bob Dylan

I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.

Psalm 40:1-3

Have you ever looked in the mirror and wondered who was looking back at you? Have you felt so far from God that you wondered how you would ever be able to return to him? Have you ever been so far that you started to doubt and give up? I have. On many occasions. And every time, I attempt to try and win God back. I think that maybe I'll try to quit sinning and God will like me and maybe I will feel loved again. Or I decide that I'll start reading the bible and hoping that by doing so, I will feel forgiven and maybe grow in Him. So often I pretend that God is like my girlfriend in the respect that when I mess up, I have to send her flowers or tell her how sorry I am a thousand times or go to her house and play her favorite cheesy love song on a boom box, hoping she'll come to the window and take me back. Thats how I think about God sometimes. Maybe God will take me back if I go to his window and play "How Great Thou Art" on my boom box. But that is not the God that is in the scriptures.

What does David in Psalm 40 say when he is in despair? He simply waits patiently for the Lord. Boy, that is tough sometimes. David never measured his spiritual growth by what he did for the Lord. So why do we? Faith is not a checklist. Our deeds will not earn us any more merit with God just as it will not remove us from His hand. In the following verses, we see David's deliverance and in each instance it is God doing all the work. God heard his cry, God drew him from the pit, God set his feet upon the rock, God made his steps secure, and God put a new song of praise on his lips! And this is the pattern throughout the bible. It is a continuous theme of a Father pursuing his children, saving them, loving them, providing for them, and making them holy. So let us rest in that grace. In times of despair, let us cry out to the Lord and wait patiently for Him. He is good and He is faithful and He will come to usl.

Will There Be Enough Water?

"Will there be enough water,

when my ship comes in?

Will there be enough water,

when my ship comes in?

Dean Fertita & Jack White

Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

John 4:13,14

We are wired to desire fellowship and to be loved and validated. We want to be accepted and liked and we will often find ourselves liking people who like us and/or validate us. We are relational beings, yet sin has severed our ability to have healthy relationships. Christ came to earth and He did not preach adherence to rules or any of the other religious jargon that seems to burden us so. He came and loved. He was friends with sinners. He hung out with poor people and tax collectors. I have always been convinced that if Jesus were here in the flesh, that He and I would go to a bar and have a few beers and hang out. Thats what Jesus did. He would probably invite my gay friends to come along. The elitists hated Him for it. But the point remains and is affirmed by His lifestyle. Jesus loves us and He has made every provision for us.

Just as Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well and just as he told Peter and the disciples, and Paul along the road to Damascus, His grace is sufficient for us. How often do we trade in the sufficiency of His grace for say, approval from a friend or validation at work? How many times do we receive praise from men and feel exceedingly proud of ourselves and happy while we read God's word and just feel kind of "blah"? I often trade in living water from Christ for the dirty water of men. When I go to work, I know in my mind that I am going to worship Christ by being submissive to my bosses and serving my co-workers. How quickly my attitude changes when I feel I am wronged and then seek validation from others in conjunction with my "rightness". If Christ is sufficient for me, then it isn't a matter of being right or wrong or treated fairly or unfairly or any other notions that distract us from our one sole purpose: To love.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1

I pray not only that I can love like Christ but that I will allow myself to be loved by Christ and find my sufficiency in His love. With Christ, I have the ultimate fellowship. The fellowship and love that God intended for man before sin came along and ruined us all. Let us love Christ and let His living water be the only validation, acceptance, and approval that we would ever want. With His water, we shall never thirst again. With His water we have EVERYTHING we could ever want or need. Let's drink!

1: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Keep It Hid

If they ask you, darlin’, oh about what I did
Baby you gotta keep it hid

Dan Auerbach

No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.

Luke 8:16

Christians love to hide. We hide our sins. We hide who we really are. We hide Christ. What is it about our human nature that makes us want to hide? Is it shame? Do we want to fit in? Is it a matter of trust? I've hidden things before. When I was overseas, I knew that if the Mission Board was privy to some of my sin, they would have sent me home early. I didn't trust anyone enough to confess my sins and seek accountability because I knew that God could still work through me. And while God did work through me, my hiding place became my own prison. And I struggled mightily. This is not the way to live. Of course, lording someone's sin over their heads and fostering an environment of behavior modification is not a way to live either. The essence of christian faith, as Joel Osteen says, is morality. Joel Osteen could not be more wrong. Yet, I feel this belief has permeated the church and has birthed a spirit of fear among believers. Fear that we might get caught and people would know us as we truly are. Fear that we would let people down. Fear of actually coming to grips with ourselves. There is no fear in Christ. The essence of christian faith is Jesus Christ, who has born your guilt in your place.

We have no reason to hide. Let us take off our masks and be real with each other. Come to my hiding place, so that we may help each other repent of our sins and be made holy. Jesus already knows our sins and He still loves us! Why then would we fear the opinions of man? On Derek Webb's House Show LP, he says that he wishes that his sin were exposed on the 6 o'clock news, so that he would not be able to hide anymore. What a powerful and humbling concept.

The light of Christ will shine through our lives once we boldly walk in His grace. Not only should we not hide our sins from one another, but we should seek to live a life in which we boldly preach his Name. Why does the church think that it is ok to just let the lost world know that we are christians? Just because my non-believing friends know I'm a christian doesn't really do anything for them, unless I speak truth into their lives, unless I love them and seek to serve them. Being the christian guy or gal that abstains from the activities or conversations of your non-believing friends and co-workers is not enough. Preach the Gospel. Do not hide the light that Christ has given you. I'm reminded of Peter, who denied Christ three times, and then once filled with the Holy Spirit, boldly proclaimed Christ at Pentecost and then the rest of his life. That same Holy Spirit indwells and works in the lives of every believer, so let us all take a lesson from Peter.