Biblical Manhood pt. 2

  I think men in our culture have forgotten the ancient idea of legacy. 

  I think this is particularly true with younger men.  So many of us think that the stuff we do either only effects us or doesn't effect anyone.  Young men find themselves in deep traps of lust, pornography, pride, covetousness and many other things that they think only has bearing on them and their lives.  Yet they don't realize that their sins and their poor decisions do in fact effect their children and their children's children.

  The idea of legacy when one thinks about it, does in fact add a ton of pressure to a person but it also makes us take a sober look and see that what we do in life really does echo through eternity. 

  When you look at the Old Testament, you see over and over again God talking about people being blessed or cursed based off of what their fathers did.  We see phrases like: He followed the Lord just like his father or He follows the Lord because his father did.  We also see phrases like: may the sins of this generation follow your line to the fifth generation after you!

  The reality is, that we men need to think in terms of legacy, because we are either laying down a destructive path for our children and grandchildren or a healthy one.  Isn't it odd that most dads who are alcoholics have alcoholic sons? Don't you find it terrible that an abusive husband ends up procreating abusive husbands?

  The reality is there and we must watch our lives; first so we can be right with God and second so our kids can be.

  I do not mean to diminish the role of a mother, for mothers are great and loving and kind, but we men seem to have the task of taking the responsibility for our legacy, unlike women do.  If you go to http://www.biblegateway.com/ and type in the phrase: "because his father" you'll get 32 results, and you type in "because of his mother" you only get one viable result.

  We men are held accountable for our legacy, so we must begin a legacy that is on track with the Lord, we are to create a legacy that is given over to the Lord an we must own up to our junk and seek for God to cut it out of our lives.

  To make it more plain.  If we are struggling with sexual sin, we can bet our kids will.  If we are struggling with perpetual lying, we can bet our kids will.  If we are struggling with worshipping money, or anything besides God, you can bet our kids will.  It's time to confess our junk men!  It's time for us to come clean and redirect the path of our legacy.

  That's the God-given gift---we can redirect the legacy our fathers have left for us!  We don't have to live in the shadows of a bad legacy.  If you come from a broken home, you can redirect your legacy to a healthy marriage.  If you come from an abusive home you can redirect your legacy to love and comfort.  If you come from a home of alcoholism, you can redirect your legacy.

  How can we direct our legacies?  By giving over to the Spirit of God, admitting that you can't change on your own.  Owning the sins in your life, seeking help, accountability and manly friendship, that's how!

  Our young men are walking around, feeling hopeless...we can change their legacy by the power of God!  If we yeild to God and his desires for our lives, rather than our own desires, our legacy will turn upside down.  For too long, we men have tried to change on our own, without the Power of the Spirit to guide us.  It's time for us to man up and hand our lives back over to God and ask him to make a God-Driven legacy that will last to the fifth generation!

The Santa Dilemma

This may offend some people, and I am willing to take that risk for speaking out about what I think to be "The Santa Dilemma".




In our American culture, the true meaning of Christmas over that last 150 years has been all but covered up. Christmas produces some of the most unhappy times of year and makes a liar out of the song writer who wrote: "It's the most wonderful time of the year". This saddens me, because I truly do try to make it a happy time of year, but when I go driving to the mall, and get flicked off, yelled at and hum bugged at because I parked somewhere that someone else desired to, it drags ya down a bit.

   I could go on about how Christmas spirit is slipping away, but we're here to talk about Santa. Santa has been a hallmark for Christmas for some time now and I think (as does Mark Driscoll) that we have 3 choices when it comes to Santa: reject him, receive him or redeem him.

   I think our culture has grown to love Santa to the deep level of not fully being able to reject Santa. Santa does have Christian roots. His is the story of a man who loved Jesus and loved the poor and because of his love for both he took some of his earthly wealth and during the year St. Nick gave presents to children who otherwise would have nothing. St. Nick didn't spoil the kids with junk and expensive toys, nor did he know with magical powers who was naughty or nice. Neither could he fly or appear to the whole world in one night...those were the add-ons that should be rejected, but St. Nick himself shouldn't be rejected. 


   I also think that we can’t fully receive him either. I've wrestled with this hard and long because I now have a child who will soon start believing in such things. Do I want to lie to my child about an omnipotent, omniscient being who is fat, jolly and gives out tons and tons of toys, only to have them one day find out the truth and be crushed? I had to answer no. I don't mind having my son sitting on Santa's lap, or talking to him about the legend of Santa, or explaining how some of what Santa "does" is myth, I just can't pass those things off as truth. I just can't. If I am going to tell my son about Santa Claus and explain how he has similar powers to God and then later my son finds out that Santa is a fake, why would he then believe me when I talk about God?

    A side from the lying...I don't want to set my son up for getting crushed emotionally. One day he will find out there is no Santa and it will crush him when he does, I just don't desire to be the one responsible for that pain. Knowing that I for 4 or 5 years had lied to my son to only wait for the inevitable blow, and have the lights click on that Daddy had lied to him is too much for me to deal with.

   Santa can be redeemed! He, like I said believed in Jesus, lived a life of charity for those in need and those are Christian attributes to be encouraged in our children. Christmas is about Jesus and St. Nick would be appalled at what we have done to take the focus off of Jesus in his name. I am not talking about "taking away Christmas Spirit"; I'm talking about infusing the True Christmas spirit into the Season that is the Spirit of God.

   Lastly, I desire to teach my children proper gratitude. If I get a gift for my child, I want them to know it was me who got it for them. I desire to be a good gift-giver to my kids so that I can the reflect how good our Father in Heaven is at giving gifts. If I say that Santa was the one who made and got these things for them, I have stripped them of proper gratitude because they will be thanking the air instead of their Father and Mother.

   It pains me that many Christians do not see things this way and many think it to be a “Scrooges Stance” but   Christmas is about the Advent of Christ, realizing his gift to me was His life and resurrection and at his birth that chain of events started. Christmas isn’t about what I get, it’s about what I already got…Jesus.

   In conclusion, I want it to be known that I am in no way judging you don’t hold my viewpoint on Santa Claus. I’m sure many of you will disagree and that’s OK. For me and my wife, we just can’t adhere to the Santa lie for our kids.

For more in depth conversation about this, check these two sites out:

Pastor Mark Driscoll on Santa-- Pastor of a large church in Seattle, WA

Real Parents discuss Santa-- Parents who struggle with this idea and voice their opinions

Eat Pray Love- A Conversation

 Last night, I watched Eat Pray Love. I am aware that there is tons of controversy brewing around with Christians adamantly opposing people from watching the movie because of the non-Christ (and therefore pro-Satan) spirituality within the film, which there is admitably a lot of.  This controversy made me all the more excited to see the film.  I don't know what it is but when a large group of Christians like myself oppose a movie (unless it has to do with sexual reasons) I generally am interested in watching the movie to find out why it is so debated.

  I usually find something within those movies that most Christians either ignore, or pass over because they are deeply offended by something else in the movie. This movie was no different for me.

  The main character (played by Julia Roberts) is disillusioned with life and finds herself in a place where she wants to get out and get away.  Near the beginning of the movie, we see a late night scene where Julia begs God to reveal himself and to show her what to do.  She then goes back to bed, tells her husband she wants a divorce and begins a journey of discovery to find God and find herself.

  She dates a young man in the city, ends up living with him for a time but quickly becomes disenchanted with him as well.  She always wanted to travel, so she decides to go away for a year to 3 different places: Italy to enjoy life and food again; India to find a Hindu Guru who can teach her about God and Bali where she met a medicine man earlier in the movie who told her to come back so he can teach her his tricks.

  Obviously, there are no Christian themes laced in the movie and there are tons of Eastern Spiritual themes, which sadly do put Hinduism and witch doctoring in a good, almost alluring light.  With that said however, there is something deeper to uncover: the search.

  I'm afraid that too many Christians write people off like the character played by Julia Roberts as demonic, ungodly and pagan yet forget that that person is searching for God Himself.  We walk down the street and stick up our "godly" noses to the detriment of those seeking God.  What if a Christian would have crossed her path during this search?  How would they have reacted? 

  This woman was DESPERATE for God as many people like her are, yet we neglect to share the truth of Christ because we write these seekers off, or worse don't even care about their journey.  It's a sad reality that we Christians have  a bad name and over the years, we've earned it.  We have the true message and people desperately need to hear it, but we reject and neglect those who need Him.

  I was amazed at the main characters desperation and sad at the conclusions she ended coming up with...because they didn't have Jesus in the equation at all. She ended up with the idea that God resides in her as her and missed that God resides in her to transform her and that He desires that indwelling!

  One thing I also noticed was that there was no mention of church or Jesus at all as a viable search for her to find God.  How is it that we in a self-described "Christian Nation" produce a movie about an American Woman seeking God and not even thinking of the church or worse yet not even thinking of Jesus?

  I'm afraid we as the church in America have lost our Missional focus and we have forgotten our mission to the world.  So many churches in America are content to sit around, go to church one day a week and live the rest of their lives for themselves the rest of the week, all the while feeling satisfied with their eternal future and giving no thought to anyone else's fate.  The people we walk around are spiritually dead and we are spiritually numb to this reality.

  I mean, it is a sad testament to Christianity when we refuse to watch a movie and tell our Christian friends to refuse to watch it too because there is a woman searching for God in the wrong places.  If anything, we should watch this movie and allow it to break our hearts at how lost the people in our world are.

  Everyone is on a journey of discovery.  Everyone around us is searching for God and worshipping something, are we living our lives in such a way as to direct them towards Christ, or are we simply ignoring them?

  All of this hit me like a flood while watching the movie.  I was convicted by it for sure and realized how much I truly owe Christ. 

  The movie wasn't amazing by any means.  There were some risque moments, a little foul language and some huge lags where one can easily get bored within the film.  So I am not saying to anyone: "You need to go see this movie!"  I am simply saying there was a woman in search of God and it broke my heart to see her not find Christ and it would do well for us to expose ourselves to films that break us in such ways.

  I am encouraged by the Holy Spirit to live my life in such a way that others ask questions about my faith (1 Peter 3:15) and to live in such away that they feel comfortable sharing their desire for God with me.  Please feel the same encouragement.  There is a whole world of people in need of God and God desires us to be the messengers of that Good News!


-Marv Nelson
 Middle School Pastor

Wormtongue and Wormtail

The other day I was reading a book that mentioned Wormtongue from Tolkien's classic The Two Towers (book 2 of The Lord of the Rings). When I glanced over it, I thought it had said "Wormtail" (who is a character in Rowling's Harry Potter series)not "Wormtongue".

I immediately re-read it to make sure because I know very few Christian books that would make reference to Harry Potter. I found I was wrong...it was indeed "Wormtongue" not "Wormtail".

However, oddly enough something came to me with those two names; they are basically the same character within two different narratives.

They are both weak men who desire something and fear they are not enough to get what it is they desire...so they sell themselves to one who is stronger than they; the one they sell themselves to happens to be the person of evil within both stories.

Both characters thought little of themselves, both characters desired something: Wormtongue desired Eyowan and Wormtail desired respect. Wormtongue didn't think he was man enough to gain Eyowan so he thought to give himself to evil so he could make her love him. Wormtail knew he was a weak wizard so he sought to align himself with Voldemort, the most powerful evil wizard ever to live.

These men were looking for strength, they needed acceptance, they needed love and they sought it out...with perilous results.

Without Wormtail, Voldemort wouldn't have been able to come back to full power. Without Wormtongue Saruman wouldn't have been able to build an army and destroy the woods because Rohan would have stopped him.

The thing is: both of these men neither got what they sought. They were used by evil, tricked, lied to and manipulated and never received anything for it. Both ended up being put on the altar of evil's desires. They sacrificed everything for nothing.

This is the antithesis of the Gospel! Christ sacrificed everything and through his blood, we've gained everything! Satan uses men in this world much the same way that Saruman and Voldemort used these two weaklings.

We are all weak, so I am not saying "had these men been strong they could've conquered evil on their own. We NEED Christ! My point is simply that these two character sought the wrong source of power. The writers of these two great stories used these two men to show the utter stupidity of following evil, how when we are weak, turning to evil will not help us, but make the story of our lives that much worse.

We are in a world where the battle wages just as fierce as it does in the narratives that surround these characters. These stories are glimpses into the war we are all in. When we forget about the waging war, we can become indifferent to the enemy.

We must "keep out heads in the game" and not become a Wormtail or Wormtongue! Christ can use any of us for His Glory and being allowed that honor will be far more fulfilling than the horrible alternative.

Let me remind you that in both of the stories The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter evil was destroyed, beaten down and done away with. Why would we willingly choose the losers side?

When you are looking for strength, look to Christ!

Confessions: My Weaknesses

Recently I've been pretty challenged on my weaknesses. God has been doing some serious calling out in my life and so in an effort to do what He has asked me to do, I am going to share here my weaknesses and I hope to pray them out of myself.

As I've looked over this list of my weaknesses I've noticed that many of them effect the way I relate to others.

Reading through a new book called Relational Intelligence has only reinforced this fact to be true. The original exercise of writing down my weaknesses came from a challenge in that book to write down my relational "blind spots" which negatively effect the way I relate to others and cause others to have a negative perception of me as a person.

I am taking the challenge further and not only listing my blind spots, but personal weaknesses I want to work on. Here is my comprehensive list of weaknesses:

1. I Talk without listening

2. Dislike/become uncomfortable with personal feedback

3. Take control and have a hard time letting others lead

4. Tend to try and be the center of discussion

5. When not affirmed by others I feel as undervalued and as though I'm unappreciated

6. Have a strong urge to know what's going on even though it's not my business

7. Like to share information that others don't know about

8. Arrogantly boast about myself and care little about others

9. Pretend to listen while in reality I'm tuned out

10. Ignore others when it isn't convenient for me

11. Easily become down when things either fail or don't go as planned...then in turn take my frustration out on others.

12. Loathe when what I'm doing is interrupted by someone

13. Tend to be disorganized and scatterbrained, and then blame someone else for my failure

14. Have a hard time gauging my words/energy/enthusiasm in right portions at right times

15. Tend to be lazy when planning, making sure that what I'm planning will be easy for me to execute without much work.

These are the ones that came right to me as I attempted this exercise. I desire to work hard on these weaknesses and make them things that no longer hinder my leadership, person hood, or relationship with God and others.

What areas of your life is God calling out of you?

The Gospel of Luke

I've been going through the Gospel of Luke as my devotional time. I've been reading through and finding myself shocked at how relevant it is to my life.



So much so, that I wished I would have started reading this close to a year ago. I found myself not really loving those who were opposing me. I found myself beating others up with my mouth instead of heaping love upon them by word and deed.



Seeing how Jesus calls us to live is both convicting as well as eye-opening. We say we are Christians, but sometimes we forget how Radical Jesus was and we don't always live out the radical life He called us to.



When looking at Jesus this closely and re-reading His teachings, I am blown away at the life Jesus lived and called us to live as well. This life is about so much more than ourselves...yet I know at least for myself I tend to forget that little fact.



I live my life for myself, seeking what I want, not seeking what others want, or if I'm honest, not always what God wants either.



Here's an example from Luke 6:30-36 that hit me:



Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
"If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

"If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them." Was what hit me pretty hard as well as some good Biblical commentary from Darrell L. Bock. Here is some of Bock's commentary:

"It is love for loves sake, which is why it is so commendable and distinctive" He then quotes Second Clement...this is the stuff that should make us sit up and listen. This is the quote:
"For when they [un-saved] hear from us [the saved] that God says. 'It is no credit to you if you love them that love you, but it is a credit to you if you love your enemies and those who hate you,'when they hear this, they wonder at this extraordinary goodness; but when they see that we not only do not love those who hate us, but do not even love those who love us, they laugh us to scorn, and the name is blasphemed". (Luke 1:1-9:50 pg. 599)

I know for a FACT that I have failed in the act of loving my brothers, I've slandered Christian brothers and sisters with my tongue. In light of this small verse that seems so self-explanatory... I have blasphemed God and His word by not only measuring up to the higher standard but falling short of the lowest standard!

How can we love radically the world who hates us if we can't even love radically those who love us?

God is calling me deeper and deeper into my junk and calling it out of my life.

"Please God, I pray that I can love with a radial love that is not of my own making but only the stuff of your Spirit within me! Give me the grace and mercy I need in order to love out loud, forgive much and live a life of love for those you love!"

Sin, Flesh and Reality

Have you noticed that sometimes the culture of our world creeps into our beliefs in Jesus and creeps into our understanding of the hard lines the Bible tows?

I am not saying all aspects of culture are bad, because there is some great stuff that every culture owns.

However, I think there a parts of every culture that should never be placed in ones Biblical mindset.

American culture has a tendency towards selfish-ness, blame shifting and excuse making. This aspect of life has definitely creeped into my life with Christ in such a deep way, that when I did it, I could justify it, I would think that what I was doing was right in the eyes of God. Thank you Lord for your Word!

What am I talking about? Here's what I noticed about myself: When I sin...I don't own my junk. Why is confession so hard? Because I'm not owning up to my stuff. Why do I feel as though I'm prayed up and don't have sin in my life on a certain week? Because I've convinced myself it wasn't my fault and I make excuses for my sins so they don't feel so weighty.

I've been talking a lot about authentic living and confession of sin, yet this week after reading a Word from God I never took my sins as seriously as I should've...I never owned them as truly as I am called to.

Here's what I say when I sin (or something similar): "Satan is to blame. He is the one who tricked me. He is the one who brought about these sinful feelings. I didn't sin that bad, just thought about sinning, that's all. That tricky little devil...got me again!"

I treat my temptation as something that is purely owned by the Devil. However, here's what smacked me.

James1:13-15, God says: "13Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death."

Did you catch it? The evil desire is inside of ME, inside of YOU. There is something in us that is yet to be given to Christ, yet to have Him Lord of within our hearts. Satan finds that weak point and utilizes it, yes, but it is OUR EVIL DESIRE that lures us!

We still (at times) choose sin over Christ. We go back to those chains and say (like the Israelites) "These are better for me. I remember things were nice here...a bit of a challenge at times, but oh it felt better". When in reality those are freakin CHAINS, we desire CHAINS over FREEDOM...yet, we don't see it that way. We blame shift and selfishly make excuses so we don't look so bad.

I've read this Scripture before and understood it then, but the Holy Spirit challenged me to see it as well as FEEL it this time and man does it hurt to realize that the blame can't be shifted. Confessing sins goes deeper than simply saying: "I'm sorry Satan duped me, forgive me please". It goes down to saying: "I chose death over life. I spit on the cross that saved me. I ignored the lure of the Holy Spirit and allowed my sinful desire to help me choose sin over you. I pray that you will forgive my wrongdoing and my bad choice. I desire your Holy Spirit to fill me up and help me to turn from this desire. I choose your arms, not those chains. Amen."

Gomer, Hosea's wife chose the arms of other men over her loving, caring, enduring husband. She cheated over and over again...by choice mind you. When we sin, we are doing the very same thing...choosing the bed of the enemy over the bed of our Lord who actually loves us, who actually desires the best for us.

That is sin, the flesh and reality. Praise God He is like Hosea, loving, forgiving and accepting when we truly return to His embrace and choose Him over the chains of the enemy.

Life's Lessons (A Youth Pastor Confession)

I had one of those conversations yesterday that suck. It stunk because I knew what the other person was saying was true. I was given some insight into some of my failings as a Youth Pastor, and the heart of what was said was dead right.

I'm a gifted preacher/teacher, so what happens with that is I am always trying to be heard. I want my sermons to be listened to and I rarely seek interaction from my crowd. I like the sound of my own voice so much that I neglect the needs of people to interact with what I'm teaching. Now, the conversation wasn't this frank but this is what I took from it. What was said was: "You continue to have people watch you do what you think you are good at". The person wasn't trying to be mean, in fact it was quite the opposite, he was attempting to point out that I may think I'm the best Youth preacher ever...but I'm not. He was saying that I need to delegate more, get kids involved with my lessons more and have others teach so I can watch them do something they're good at.

I confess this over a blog, Facebook and the rest of the Internet because I desire to repent. I want to be the best Youth Pastor, leader, shepherd I can be...which means I have to learn to delegate and take correction. A true leader can't continue to lead without correction. I can't always be Midas with the Golden Touch...sometimes I am Icarus with the wings made of wax. He made wings so he could fly to the sun. He was successful in making the wings, and they even let him fly...but they were wax. So when he got too close to the sun, the wings melted and he fell. Sometimes our wings are wax...that means we need to learn from our "falling out of the sky" times so we can fly higher. That is true leadership. Set of wings after set of wings, constantly flying and falling so God can make us better.

This is not easy for me. I hate being told I'm wrong. I hate introspection about something I'm not doing right. Most of all, I hate being real and honest about my failures, because I like people to think of me as some super amazing Youth Pastor guy who does nothing wrong. Well, let me tell you now: if you think that, I'm sorry but I'm NOT that guy.

I want to be teachable, learn able and usable. These are the kinds of people God uses. Look at the men in the Bible: Moses, David, Paul, Peter (and TONS more). All were amazing leaders...but they had their wings melt. God used Jethro to convict Moses of his poor delegation skills, telling him he'd never be able to continue doing what he was doing at the rate in which he was doing it. David had Nathan convict him of his hidden sin and David, a man after God's own Heart had his wings melt! Paul had Jesus blind him and tell him he was wrong in His theology. Peter had Jesus smack him upside the head more than once. He told him "Get behind me Satan" once even! However, all these men corrected their mistakes, learned from the "falling out of the sky" moment, got back up and flew higher.

Ministry is tough. Ministry is challenging and we'll never be Superman. I'm learning this, I think we all should. It's OK to fall out of the sky. It's OK to have our wings melt. We all must respond how God's men did...learn, change and fly again!

Thoughts on The Holy Spirit

It's amazing that God dwells among us. It's incredible how Spiritual we as humans are and how closely we can be to the Holy One. When I go through my daily life, I forget a lot how spiritual a being I am. I forget about the intimate relationship I have with the Spirit of God and I don't remember to stop and listen to Him.

When you stop to think of being a Spiritual being, being close to the Almighty God and the ramifications those realities have on our lives, it simply takes your breath away. A God so Holy, so Perfect desires...me, desires...you. He's not an egoist who needs our worship, he's a Father who desires our love. That statement alone should be enough to want to be with this God. He's powerful enough to demand we worship Him, yet loving enough to allow us to choose to or not.

The Spirit of God is such a mystery to us Humans. He enables us to do GREAT things. He enables us to Hear the Voice of God. He is the gift giver, the counselor, the mediator and the close Essence of God that we experience.

Why is it we neglect conversations about the Holy Spirit? Why do we forget to mention Him in our sermons? Why do we forget to wait on the Spirit of God?

The Gifts are REAL, the Giver is WILLING. We as God's Spiritual Beings miss out so much when we design our lives without the Spirit. I know I neglect Him way too often. There are gifts He has for me that I've not taken hold of yet. Our God is a good God who desires to be close...thus He sent His Holy Spirit.

A Swift Kick in the BUTT

Recently, I've been re-reading an amazing book titled: A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards. I was told I needed to re-read it by a great friend and mentor, because he noticed that I could use the lessons the books teaches yet again. In total fairness, he's 100% correct. I was in the wrong on something and he called me out on it. I both hate and love it when he does this. I hate it because my biggest fear in life has been doing the wrong thing which stems from a need to please people, which God is also calling out of me. However, I also love it, because I know the end result of being called out on your crap will always lead to a healthier me. Which translates into a better man of God, husband, youth pastor and friend. The process of working it through can definitely be an arduous and odious task...but it is all worth it in the end.

Anyways, back to the book. I am half-way through it already (only 96 pages not a feat to be recognized) and have been challenged both in what my friend was discussing with me and in many other ways.

This quote I read the other night was a swift kick in the butt for me: "What does the world need: Gifted men, outwardly empowered? OR broken men, inwardly transformed?"

This quote rocked me in two ways: the first, I've been dealing with for about 3 years now. I like to think of myself as someone who will be big someday. I think inwardly that I'm the man, a great communicator and someone important. I want everyone to like me and when someone doesn't I brush them off as stupid, because how could the not like "this" (points to self). You may say that's horrendous, you may be appalled and I say: "I am too, that's why I'm working on it". I know I am an arrogant man who probably doesn't have talent, who needs to be smacked upside the head a couple times and realize he's small-time chump-change. This reality is a difficult one for me (I am being 100% genuine and admitting this is hard for me), because I desire to be someone of importance...even if I'm not skilled enough a piece of me hopes the world won't notice, so I can have some fun in the sun of the spotlight.

This quote rocked me, because it pinpointed the SIN, and the PROBLEM within my own heart with these desires (Jim, I hope you're reading this). I had no desire for my heart to be transformed...simply my outward gifts. I wasn't asking God: "Change my heart" and if I was it came with the end tag line of "...so I can be somebody Big someday". My desires have had nothing to do with transformation of my heart to his, but simply everything to do with being somebody.

The second way it kicked my BUTT is that it made me come to the point of saying to God: I want a broken, transformed heart for the sole purpose of being inwardly transformed. I desire what YOU want for my life, not what I want for my life.

Just so you know, I am in the process of being BROKEN...so this book and this quote are timely for me. I think my friend and mentor knew that too, thus why he told me to re-read it. My life is being flipped upside down and it's hard. However, pray with me that I will allow God to use this time to call my crap out and make my heart inwardly transformed!

Cultural Christianity Vs. Authentic Christianity

Definitions:
Cultural Christianity: a moralistic, behavioral set of ethics that are put upon "followers of Christ" to determine whether or not they are good people that are going to heaven. More emphasis on how you look, and act than anything else

Authentic Christianity: a relational, heart-drawn call to God, His Son Jesus Christ and a willingness to be lead by the Holy Spirit. A competent understanding of your own sinfulness and a desire to change your heart above all else.

For years I have struggled with these two types of Christianity. When I was growing up, most of the people in my churches were cultural Christians, worrying themselves about how they appeared to be following Christ, rather than actually working on their hearts before the Almighty God Himself. This then trained me to do the very same thing. Not only did I succeed at doing so but I was a champion at pointing out others short-comings when it came to their appearance of following Christ. Cultural Christianity is simply a play with good characters and bad characters. A Ruse to get people to think that they are following the right path. You end up believing certain lies like: You can only be Republican if you're a Christian; Christians never get mad; Christians never fail and if you fail, keep it quiet so no one finds out; and most importantly is make sure you are "on your best behavior" at church.
When I got to college, my whole sphere of my beliefs came CRASHING down upon my head. I saw the utter flaws within my relationship to Christ, my own sin that I thought was ambition but was pride. I saw my black heart even though I thought it was as white as snow. I saw how often my finger was raised in accusation rather than admittance of my own wrong-doing. God used my college days to utterly transform how I perceived, loved and knew God. This is by no means a blog to say "how far I've come", yet a simple confession of my own personal past and present misconceptions of my Faith.
What I began to grapple with, was that to really wrestle with God was not to see all the sin in the world, but all the sin within myself. It meant that I needed to go to the mattresses with the Lord, baring my sins open to Him and trying to feebly keep some sins I enjoyed for myself. God has since been calling my junk to the forefront and will continue to do so. This has humbled me when it came to my finger pointing...mind you, I still pridefully do this but I trust I am getting better. I realized that I am just as rotten and disgusting as everyone else, I simply have a Savior that decided to graciously cover my sins because I asked Him. Without the covering of Jesus I am no better than the worst sinner whoever lived. I have within me the capacity to sin with limitless sinfulness. This understanding and the understanding that Christ has graciously given Himself for me has been a HUGE transforming truth for me.
This understanding is what I have called Authentic Christianity. No longer and I working on myself for a crowd, but giving myself over to the Lord for Him to point out the junk in me and asking Him to graciously help me pluck it out of my heart and life.
I'll be the first to admit that I live a culturally Christian life more and less of an authentic Christian life than I should. Yet I believe that if we all would grab onto this heart-changing, rather than outside changing Christian Faith, allowing Christ to purge us from within...the World will soon stand and take notice. It has nothing to do with being "culturally relevant" and all to do with how the God wants a relationship with us!

(For other post about this, check these out: Cleaning your Cups, Galatians Sermon, Authenticity)

A Challenge

Reading through my new Chronological Study Bible I've come into some new insights. I was challenged yesterday in a sermon done by Barry Jordan a missionary to Indonesia. He said yesterday that nothing has been more enlightening than reading through the life of Jesus over and over again or the last 19 years. He challenged his listeners to read through the life of Jesus: "Get to know Jesus" he said.
This challenge was one I readily accepted. I've been studying Jesus a bit here and there, but reading through his life again and again was something I was ready to do. Here is where my new insight came in. I realized that I just received recently the new Chronological Study Bible and I could read through the life of Christ in the order in which it all happened! Some of you may be saying what a geek I am, and yeah maybe I am. But I started reading through the life of Christ and it started with John 1:1-8, then went into Luke. What's amazing to me, and the insight that I am receiving is about the culture and times of Christ. Jesus is becoming more and more real to me and I love it.
Christ's life is one of inspiring proportions, I think Barry's challenge was right on...will you take the challenge with me?

What's so BIG about Authenticity? Pt. 4

One thing I've noticed about teenagers is that they can spot a "fake" person from a mile away. It's as if they have radar to sniff out a person posing. In the Church, this "fake" person motif is all to familiar. We say things like: "I'll pray for you brother" (and don't do it nor mean it). We see people acting different than they do at church in their homes, their jobs, and their schools. And I tell you that this fake face has become a negative pungent stench in the nostrils of today's youth. I will continuously quote UnChristian due to it's prophetic nature into today's youth and in this book, they've found that 85% of people 16-29 find the church as a whole (meaning us Christians) to be hypocritical! (By the way, I agree)
Being authentic is NOT being hypocritical. 1 John 1:5-10 says: "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives".
In bold is the call to Authenticity. We need to confess our sins, this is WALKING in the Light! We admit out junk. This means, we're honest, we're open, we're vulnerable. This type of authentic community brings fellowship with both God and men (read the italicized portion)! Also, this type of authenticity is attractive to the world, they need a place to admit their junk! The World NEEDS the church to be a place that says: "Oh, you're messed up? You're a sinner? All of us are too! We've messed up (and still do sometimes) but let us show you the LOVE of Christ, and give you the KEY to life!" A place that is willing to LOVE, take in sinners, be real with them and show the Christ (the Light) is a place that will be BOOMING with non-Christians!
Non-Christians (especially 16-29 year olds) FEAR going into a church because they will feel like everyone hates them, they will feel as if they are un-welcome because of their problems. They will feel isolated because they would be made to feel that they are the only person there with issues! Yet, if we could create an AUTHENTIC place where they will no longer feel this way, we could see this generation (and the next) come to Christ like NO OTHER generation in history!

In my next segments on authenticity, I will show how it does COST us to create this type of atmosphere, I will share more from 1 John about what this Authenticity creates and lastly, I will show how this type of Authentic living brings about the HEALING that God desires for us! Stay Tuned and PLEASE let me know your thoughts!