The Fallacy of Excellence

And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men (Col 3:23) Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31) 

Fast-forward 2000 years  and we find a major section of the body of Christ using these, and other verses like them, to justify what they call excellence in serving within the body of Christ. This term excellence has become so entrenched in charismatic church movements that it is not even questioned anymore. Money is thrown at programs and equipment in the name of excellence, hours of practice and rehearsals are done in the name of excellence and people are exalted and marginalized, at the same time, in the name of excellence.

There is no biblical precedence for us, as Christians, to strive for excellence. In fact, the Apostle Paul says quite the opposite. Paul says, that it is by Gods grace that he is what he is, and by implication, that he does what he does (1 Corinthians 15:10). A striving for excellence is in fact a quest for perfection, something that we can't attain. Only One was perfect, only One was blameless and only One can make us perfect - Jesus.

My question to those who are striving for excellence is, WHY? Why focus on something that can't be attained no matter how much you try? Why try and change imperfect flesh into perfect divinity? At this point, I can hear the question that many people will be retorting with, "If we don't strive for excellence, then we portray the body of Christ as amateurish and cheap" Here is a wake-up call, we are amateurs! At this point you may want to read my post on Money In Sports, money is always the game-changer. Before I get too carried away let me make my point by quoting some irrefutable scripture:

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. - (I Corinthians 1:26-29)

With emphasis on verse 29, "that no flesh should glory in His presence". All glory belongs to God. The more we strive for excellence in the name of "excellence brings Him glory" the more we are in the flesh and make standards our idol, worshiping excellence, instead of God (Gal 3:3). So, what is the solution, what should we be focused on instead?

Jesus has made us perfect. Our very nature is perfect, there is nothing to strive for (2 Cor 5:21) We need to trust our new nature to be excellent, by His grace, through faith (Eph 2:9). By focusing on Jesus and understanding who we are in Him (Col 1:28), then operating out of that. We will become more excellent accidentally than we ever could have been on purpose. Unbelievable? Believe it, it works! Jesus has made you excellent, understand it, believe it and then live it - it's effortless!

Extremists: Your Strength Weakens You

This goes out to all those people who give everything, all the time, to anything they set their mind to. You know who you are, but if you don't, your thinking goes something along these lines: "While I'm at it, I may as well be the best at it. Why not do something others probably don't have the endurance (or brilliance) to do. Life is too short for anything less than 100%. You haven't done/seen/heard that, why not? (utter disbelief)"

Extremists live life as if the present is the most precious gift and cradle it like a new-born. When the present becomes the past they have no regrets, they then start thinking of ways to manipulate the future so that when it arrives it can be spent like no other day before it; uniquely and unforgettably. Extremists tend to plan, but if something better comes along they change their plans. There is nothing more extreme than spontaneity, a willingness to change the way you see the next few minutes, hours or days!

This all sounds like a fairy tale, like a person you read about in a book or watch in a movie. You may be able to relate to certain aspects of the above description, but have never really seen it fully lived out. The reason for this is simple: the very aspects that make so-called extremists so endearing and successful, are the very things that trip them up in the end.

Extremists have a tendency to alienate people that can't keep up with them. They tend to be seen as selfish, reckless and driven. They would argue that they are just being misunderstood, but what is often the case is that, that which drives them to the edge, drives them over the edge.

What is the solution then? Jesus was extreme, He was a revolutionary, He alienated, polarized and mobilized. So, what was the difference? The bible says that Jesus only did what He saw His Father do and said what He heard His Father say. It stands to reason then that what we think is extreme is in fact an everyday reality for God. When we think we're living on the edge and seizing the day we are actually just beginning to tap into the potential He has given us.

Jesus was a lot of things, but one thing He was not, was selfish. Consider others just as Jesus considered you when He went to the cross. It will put your extreme tendencies into perspective, it will focus your passions onto others, onto a world that is crying out for help - an extreme cry!

Inspiration:It can be done

    Inspiration, we all need it but not many people know where to get it. We all want to be it, but so few know how to become it. The truth is that inspiration flows from inspiration. It is difficult to conjur up inspiration from something that doesn't give you an insight into the heart behind it's inspiration, or lack thereof.

    Personaly, I'm inspired by people who dedicate themselves to a single task and become the best at this task. This shows a singleness of mind, an indistracted lifestyle and an ilogical quest for success. Success is fulfilling God's call on your life. I think of endurance athletes who challenge the limits of body and mind to achieve something no-one else has ever achieved. This inspires me, not only to train harder, but also to know that IT CAN BE DONE!

    When boiled down, inspiration is nothing more than seeing other people do it, and therEfore knowing that it can be done and seeing no reason why you can't do the same. In art it takes the form of colour, shape and texture combinations, in music the ease of which the melody and the lyrics combine to provide an extreme sensory experience. In life we love to read about rags-to-riches stories, about how people, who started with nothing, became something. It makes us realise that nothing is impossible, that IT CAN BE DONE!

    Jesus is the ultimate inspiration. He loved without expecting love in return, IT CAN BE DONE. He gave without expecting payment in return, IT CAN BE DONE. He did many signs and wonders IT CAN BE DONE. He had joy, peace, patients, kindness and gentleness when dealing with people, IT CAN BE DONE. He did the will of the father, he was absolutely obedient, IT CAN BE DONE. He conquered the grave, so that we can have victory over every situation, so that we can say, "IT CAN BE DONE".

"... because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" - 1 John 4:4

Book Review: "It's All About You, Jesus"

   

    The title says it all. It's all about You, Jesus, takes a fresh look at how often the church misses the main thing. Fawn Parish draws on her years of experience in ministry to make a few interesting points. She does not shy away from shedding light on where the ministries she headed up, or was involved with, made mistakes.

    With this candidness she makes it clear that Christian leaders are people too, people who can make mistakes. The biggest mistake we can make is to organise Jesus out of our lives and meetings. We get so busy organising prayer meetings, church services and worship conferences, but in all the organising, the main thing is often lost. Jesus is often relegated to backstage, while talented people take the spotlight.

    Fawn Parish, in her unique way, describes situations where this has happened, which we can learn from. She also encourages us, that the current generation is a defining generation. Closing the gaps above and below them, wanting everyone involved with the current move of God. God is moving, we can all be a part of it. We can't go wrong if we make it all about Jesus.

StartLiving Rating: 5/10

The Relevant Disciple

  

   Relevant, something every Christian is supposed to be. The dictionary defines relevance as 'having to do with the matter in question'.So, for us as Christians, what is the matter in question, what or who are we supposed to be relevant towards?

   The bible tells as us that we are supposed to be salt and light to the world (Matthew 5:13), that we are in fact supposed to make disciples of every person in this world (Matthew 28:19) and that we are ambassadors of Christ in this world (2 Cor 5:20). It is thus quite obvious from a scriptural perspective, that our relevance should be towards the people of this world. Any, idiot Christian, with half a brain can figure that out, or has at least read it on a bumper sticker.

   The problem does not so much lie in the who, but rather in the how. You see, the church has adopted the attitude of being relevant as becoming what the world is, in order to reach the world. We see this play out in many churches in the Western culture, where churches pander to the desires of the church goers; giving them the music they want to sing, the sermons they want to hear and the coffee they want to drink.

The difficulty in becoming this kind of 'relevant' is that you in fact become exactly like the culture you want to reach. Eventually no difference can be found between the church and the culture it's trying to reach. The salt has lost it's saltiness.

   Instead of becoming like the world, the church should instead model what the culture is yearning to become. You see, the kids at your high school do the dumb things they do because they are crying out for something that they don't have. The teenage girl sleeping around is looking for acceptance; the grown man drinking himself to death is looking for peace and the young women doing drugs is trying to numb the pain. How can we reach out to a culture if we become like them?

   To be relevant we must have answers to the questions that the culture is screaming out to us: "Why is my dad beating me?", "Why do I feel the way I feel?", "What is my purpose in life?", "Who am I?", "Where am I going?". To be relevant we must have effective answers to these questions, answers that are based on truth, that have the power to pull people out of their hopeless situations.

   As Christians, we owe it to the world to be relevant. If we just hang around with other Christians all day talking Christianese and attending Chris Tomlin concerts, we miss the fact that there is a world crying out for help, a world going to hell.

   Jesus was relevant. He answered the questions that the culture of His day was asking. Jesus was so relevant, in fact, that those answers are still relevant to the questions every culture on earth is asking today. You see, the human condition stays the same. As much as we think we are different to people who lived two thousand years ago, we're not. We still want to know where we go when we die, why we do what we do and if the moon is made out of cheese. Friends, if we want to be relevant, if we want to answer the questions our unsaved friends are asking, we must present to them Jesus. Jesus plus nothing.

   The apostle Paul was adamant about one thing in Acts 20:24 that he would continue on, no matter how bad things got, whether he was imprisoned, beaten or stoned, he would not stop professing the 'gospel of the grace of God'. Jesus is grace, Jesus is good news, Jesus is the gospel, Jesus is the hope to the hopeless, Jesus is our reason for living and breathing. It is all about Jesus.He is our Life, our Truth, our Light, our Saviour, our Healer, our Provider, our Peace, our Righteousness, and our Victory.

   We can have as many self-help seminars, as many 10-step programs in our churches, as many outreaches, soup kitchens or summer camps as we want, but we will never be relevant if we don't point people to Jesus. If we don't point people to the Answer to all their problems, these problems will never be answered. A major problem in the body of Christ today is, that many Christians and Christians leaders don't truly believe that Jesus is enough. They may believe certain elements of what Jesus represented, but don't fully believe and teach that what Jesus accomplished on the cross was enough and that we just have to put faith in this finished work.

   Jesus is the answer to the questions the world is asking. You are relevant if you have Jesus, you become effective when you preach Jesus, plus nothing. Believe it it's true.

Emotions: A catalyst for worship?

“Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, My lips will praise You” – Psalm 63:3

The question: What role do emotions play when we sing praises to God?

    We know that we are supposed to worship God in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). One of the best and most outwardly expressed forms of worship is singing songs together as believers, songs that edify the body of Christ and bring glory to Jesus. Worship is by no means confined to thirty minutes in a church service; we are supposed to have a lifestyle of worship. That is, everything that we do, should be from our hearts responding to the goodness of God and what He has done for us; not just singing and playing instruments. Spheres such as giving, helping, working, socializing and every other conceivable aspect of life, should be done with an attitude of worship.

    However, since the birth of the charismatic movement a good forty years ago, there has been a shift in the importance of music within a church context; music has become a major part of any form of charismatic ministry. It is not uncommon for churches to spend millions on sound equipment, instruments, training and professional consultants in order to have their music sounding good, or up to ‘standard’. Does this grossly disproportionate allocation of resources have any substance? Or is it just something that has taken on a life of its own and like many other aspects of modern Christianity, has no real biblical basis?

    The main reason for this focus on music and singing is the undeniable link between the emotions that music evokes and our ability to worship God in spirit and truth. Now, this has been abused in many spheres, where the focus has been all about getting as much emotional reaction out of the congregation as possible and when a big response is received it is seen as ‘successful worship’ (if there is such a thing). On the other hand, there are sections of the more traditional churches, who stay away from contemporary music as much as they can, because of what the conjuring up of emotions, through music, could produce in there congregants. They maintain it takes the focus of the congregant off God and onto music. Both views have their merits, but what does the word say?

    The bible is full of examples of people singing hymns unto God, where they are shouting, dancing and playing instruments unto the Lord. (Ps 66:1-2, 92:3, 100, 149:3 Acts 16:25) Thus, it can’t be wrong to sing, dance and make a joyful noise to God; the question must rather lie in our motives behind this. It is impossible to worship God in this manner and not get emotional about it. If we look at worship, specifically music and singing, from a perspective of spirit, soul and body (1 Thes 5:23) things become a little bit more clear.

    Humans are made up of three parts, spirit, soul and body. When we get born-again we have the spirit of Jesus inside of us, our spirit and Jesus’ spirit are one, the individual characteristics of either have vanished and a new creation is formed (2 Cor 5:17) However our soul (mind, will and emotions) and our body (five senses) still remain the same, they still need to be sanctified or changed according to the perfect will of God. Our soul is the easier of the remaining two aspects, that make-up a person, to change. This can be done by renewing your mind to the truths contained in God’s word (Romans 12:2).

    A focused time of praise and worship is thus a unique opportunity for our entire being; spirit, soul and body to come into line and worship God. It’s not a struggle for your born-again spirit to worship God; it’s getting your soul and your body to agree with your spirit. When we encounter God-focused music and singing, our emotions, or 'soulish' realm, start having positive responses towards God and His goodness. We get reminded about what He has done for us and how good it is to be in His presence where there is liberty (2 Cor 3:17) and fullness of joy (Ps 16:11).

    It is in this state where our spirits are worshiping, our soul is touched on all levels and all of a sudden we find our body reacting accordingly. We find ourselves lifting our hands, closing our eyes, kneeling down, bowing, clapping or dancing; all as a response in worship to our King. This my friends, is when we are worshiping Him with all that we have; spirit, soul and body; this is worshiping the Father in truth.

    Can this be achieved without music and singing? Yes, of course, you don’t need a keyboard player to help you experience God in His fullness. It is just one of the many vehicles available to us to help us experience a real and living God. Should we therefore try and avoid emotion when we worship God? Emotions are unavoidable; if we are going to worship Him with everything then emotions are included. However, we don’t focus on getting emotional, we focus on Jesus, we rest in His presence and everything flows from that. Keep the main thing, the main thing.

Pic by: Bohemianme

His Name

If you can put a name on it, the name of Jesus is higher than it; sickness, disease, poverty, danger or frustration - they all have names. Know your authority through His authority!

Is God really all good?: # 3

                                             Adapted from unrealreality.org

    Before we take a look at Jesus, let’s see what the Old Testament prophets had to say about the New Covenant, that was to come: Jeremiah 32:40 "And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good …" and Isaiah 54:10 " For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” Says the LORD, who has mercy on you." (See also Is 55:3, Is 61:8, Jer 31:31-33, Ez 16:60). So we can see that the prophets predicted a new, everlasting covenant, of goodness, kindness and grace, which God had told them, was to come ... and it did. There are also over 300 direct prophecies of Jesus, spoken about in the Old Testament as well as many more types and shadows of the coming Messiah; He was prophesied as being the Christ, or the anointed one. He would be the one who would set the captives free, be the prince of peace, establish a new kingdom on earth and be the savior to the world. He came and He did all these things and more, He established a New Covenant.

    In Hebrews the writer says this 8:7 "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second" and later on he says in v13 “A new covenant, He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” The 'He' that is being spoken of is Jesus and the covenant that is being made obsolete in the old-covenant, the Mosaic covenant. Galatians 3:13-14 says, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree'), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith"

    So, if we are under the new covenant, how does God relate to us? He has made the covenant of the law of no effect, nullifying the curses and amplifying the blessings. See above versus for reference on God's inherent nature, but most obviously we must look at Jesus' life, to see how God relates to us. JESUS IS PURE THEOLOGY. If we look at Him we see love, we see kindness, gentleness, wisdom, righteousness, justice, patience, we see all the fruit of the spirit endowed in one person; a sinless person. When we put our faith in Jesus and the finished work of the cross, God sees us through Jesus, He sees our born-again spirits as being perfect and blameless, just like Jesus (Eph 1:4, 2:7, 2:13; Col 1:22). As the atoning sacrifice, Jesus, was the beginning of the New Covenant (Heb 9 -10), the beginning of God's best for all who choose to believe in His Son.

    When questioned on fasting, by the Pharisees, Jesus had this to say in Matthew 9:16-17, “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Jesus uses the metaphor of the new patch onto the old garment and the new wine into the old wineskin to illustrate the fact that He has come to bring a new covenant, one where the old ways of a works-based religion won’t work anymore, He has come to do the will of His father and nothing else.

    This point was made even clearer when Jesus’ disciples wanted to call fire down from heaven on those people who rejected Jesus, in Luke 9:55-56, as Elijah had done in 2 Kings 1,. But Jesus rebuked them saying, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them” Showing a significant difference in how God relates to us now, under the new covenant, to how He related to us under the old covenant. (See also Eph 2:14-17)

    To conclude: God is not angry with us, He is not putting ridiculous trials on us to make us stronger, He is the giver of good gifts, always, all the time (James 1:17). Life is tough enough without God having to make it even tougher for us. The new covenant is a covenant of love and grace, by which we enter through faith (Eph 2:8), made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus (Col 1:21-22). It is a covenant by which we go from glory to glory (2 Cor 3:18), where our sins are not held against us and GOD IS IN A GOOD MOOD!

How Should Christians Deal with Social Issues?

    We are surrounded by social issues every day. All around us there are people abusing substances, teenagers falling pregnant and crimes being committed, these are basic examples of negative social issues. The first question I want to pose is this: Are Christians responsible for solving social issues? The answer is an overwhelming, YES. We should be at the forefront of trying to put an end to upward suicide trends and increased gang-related violence, it is part of our mandate. The problem, however, does not lie in the if, it lies in the how.

    For decades now Christians have been trying to alleviate poverty by having fundraisers, buying food and clothes with the money raised and then handing it out to the needy, hoping it will solve the problem of having poor people on the streets. Albeit noble, this scenario and the many thousands like it are in vane, temporary at best. We constantly make the same mistake: WE ADDRESSS THE FRUIT AND NOT THE ROOT! The fruit of the issue is poverty, but the root is greed. The fruit of the issue is rape, but the root is evil lust. The fruit of the issue is gay marriage, but the root is deception. The fruit of the issue is wife abuse, but it is rooted in insecurity.

   There is an obvious trend to be found concerning the social issues we encounter everyday: They are all issues of the heart.  We are told that it is out of the heart that the issues of life flow (Prov 4:23). The apostle Paul does an interesting thing in Ephesians 6, when he addresses the issue of slavery, a major social issue at the time. He does not give his opinion on the merits of slavery, nor does he discredit the practice, instead, he immediatley addresses the heart issue, in the slave-master relationship. In verse 5 he says, "... in sincerity of heart as to Christ" , verse 6 "... doing the will of God from the heart" and verse 9 " ... your own Master is in heaven and there is no partiality with Him"

    What Paul has done here, is to successfully break down a highly controversial social issue of the day and make it simple. He didn't start a campaign against slavery, he didn't send out petitions and he didn't mobilize a prayer movement. He addressed the heart of the slave and the heart of the master, because from the heart flows all of life's issues.

    The fact is, that we don't put enough faith in the power of the gospel, the power of the good news of Jesus Christ, in order to let the gospel change people's lives. Instead we want to try and change people and their situations from the outside in, instead of from the inside out. The reality is that it is only the truth that will set people free (John 8:32) Only the good news of what Jesus has done for us has the power to break the cycle of poverty in our communities, it is the only force strong enough to forever bring people to their senses from a life-time of selfishness and greed. We must believe that the gospel is the answer, because it addresses the heart of the matter, the root, which will in turn bare good fruit.

    We must contend for the hearts of people, communities and nations. We must allow the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom and understanding on how best to minister the gospel to people, who believe God has failed them. The people who are worst affected by negative social issues, need to know that God loves them, that He wants the best for them and that no matter what they've done, He still died for them.

    Paul sums up what happens to us when our hearts transition from being under satan's control (old man), to a full and vibrant life, living in the freedom of Christ (new man). This is what we should want society to look like.

"17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness" - Ephesians 5:17-24

Rest: It's a good thing





     "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" - Matthew 11:28

     When people hear the word rest, most would conjure up ideas of sleeping, sipping a cocktail on the beach or just relaxing with a book on your couch. In Christian circles rest is used to describe a day in the week which we are supposed to put aside our day jobs and take time to focus on family and God. Rest is an important part of living a productive life because, after all, we are not machines and need to take time out to gain perspective and re-charge our batteries, so to speak.

     But, I believe there is more to rest than just the physical and psychological advantages. God has instituted a state of rest for all believers to live in, not only on a certain day or at an allocated time, but rather as a permanent spiritual state.  When we are at rest in the spirit it affects every area of our lives, as everything we see in the physical is preceded in the spiritual.

"There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His." - Hebrews 4:9-10 

     The state of rest is available to every believer. The writer of Hebrews compares the rest that we have access to, to the rest that God entered into after the six days of creation. That we have no right in relying on our works any longer, but rather on everything that God has done for us. A place of rest, for every believer, is in fact a place of faith. It takes the onus off us to perform our religious duties to please God, rather placing the emphasise of our walk on putting faith in what God has already done for us; redeeming us from our sins and giving us everything we need to live a victorious Christian life.

"Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience" - Hebrews 4:11

     Entering into His rest doesn't happen automatically after we get saved, it is a deliberate attempt to live a life of faith. Once we understand that there is nothing that we can do to make God love us more, then we realize that we need to have faith in what He has already done. This is the most productive place we can be in our spiritual lives, where we realize our efforts are futile and His provision is more than enough

"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" - Matthew 11:29

     Jesus is our rest. It is not a day or an idea, it is a spiritual reality, one that is imperative for us as Christians to walk in if we are going to finish the race strong and make a difference along the way. For too long now, we have relied on our own efforts and have gotten worn out quickly, dropping from exhaustion along the way. Let's be diligent to enter His rest by His grace, let's take Jesus up on His offer to take up His yoke. Rest in Him and you will be surprised at how productive you'll become!

*All scripture quoted from the NKJV

Great Minds Think Alike ... but, what about those that don't?

'Sai Kung fishing village, Hong Kong'              Pic by: AJ Holmes

   
    When we believe in something, we generally like to believe that what we believe is right. This is especially true when it comes to religion and the many aspects that make it up. However, there will invariably be someone that we come in contact with, that thinks differently to us. In fact, it is a guarantee. The question that must then be asked is, how do you react to people that think, believe and act differently to you? Do you ignore them and hope they will go away, do you get offended by them, thus burning your bridges or do you spend your time and energy trying to convince them of your conviction?


    All of the above courses of action, in my experience, have proven to be futile. So shouldn’t we just learn to get along with everyone and do our part in making the world a more peaceful place? Well, yes. But, before you label me a hippy, I do believe that if we believe in anything strongly enough, there always will be those that oppose you. The ensuing conflict can sometimes then be unavoidable. After all, there are reasons why we believe what we believe, sometimes overwhelming reasons, but often subjective ones.

    I am a firm believer in having convictions, living by them and not compromising on them. It is from this perspective that we have to learn how to relate to people who don’t hold to our convictions, by still acting in love and grace towards them, but still holding true to ourselves. Take the different flavors of Christianity that we have. There are people who are passionate about speaking in tongues, and people that don’t see biblical precedence for it; people who hold the Sabbath with fervency and others who see life as God’s day of rest. Still some who believe that when we partake in Holy Communion that it is literally Jesus’ body and others see it only as a representation. There are nearly as many different beliefs on the body of Christ as there are believers. But, believe we must.

    The inevitability of differing beliefs means we have to learn to deal with the people that hold them, without burning any bridges and dragging Jesus’ name through the mud. To do so objectively we have to look at what Jesus looks at, the heart:

“For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking (physical actions), but righteousness and peace and joy (issues of the heart) in the Holy Spirit.” – Romans 14:17 (NKJV brackets own)

    Paul makes this statement while addressing the believers in Rome on differing traditions. The Jewish converts insisted on keeping certain holy days and only eating certain foods (See Romans 14 and 15). The gentile converts (from Paganism and Mythology), were insisting that they drop these traditions. But, Paul intervened by saying that if it was compromising on their convictions, then they should not drop these beliefs; as long as they did not trust in these traditions for salvation or for right-standing with God (righteousness). Paul pointed out that it was not the actions that counted, it was the state of the heart; the attitude and intent with which they did it.

    It is only by grace, through faith, that we are saved. No works or traditions can earn us salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9; Gal 2:16, 2:21)For some people, that’s where the grace ends and they then rely on their righteous deeds. I don’t believe that this is what the gospel teaches. But, what do I do with people that do believe in a works based Christianity?

    This is what I propose to you: Let’s stop judging people for doing things differently. Let’s love them and show grace towards them. Let’s live and demonstrate the heart of Jesus and celebrate the different flavors of Christianity, but not by compromising on what God is telling us as individuals. Let’s not get intimidated by differing beliefs. Let’s stop being insecure and instead of splitting over differing doctrine, let's unite around One Man, Jesus!

Cripple Boy WALKS!

     Incredible video of a little boy walking for the first time in his life! I was fortunate enough to be there, to be able to witness him being prayed for and being healed! This is a video of a video, as I did not have my camera on me when it happened, of him being paraded in front of everyone! Praise the Lord, He is good!!

Love, Life and Ministry: An illustration

As a continuation of Love, Life and Ministry theme, here is a story that my pastor read in church today. It is written by Philip Yancey and deeply touched me; putting into a modern context Jesus' parable of the prodigal son. We can all relate,iether on a spiritual or physical level, to this story.

“A young girl grows up on a cherry orchard just above Traverse City, Michigan. Her parents, a bit old-fashioned, tend to over-react to her nose ring, the music she listens to, and the length of her skirts. They ground her a few times, and she seethes inside. ‘I hate you!’ she screams at her father when he knocks on the door of her room after an argument, and that night she acts on a plan she has mentally rehearsed scores of times. She runs away.

She has visited Detroit only once before, on a bus trip with her church youth group to watch the Tigers play. Because newspapers in Traverse City report in lurid detail the gangs, the drugs, and the violence in downtown Detroit, she concludes that is probably the last place her parents will look for her. California, maybe, or Florida, but not Detroit.

Her second day there she meets a man who drives the biggest car she’s ever seen. He offers her a ride, buys her lunch, arranges a place for her to stay. He gives her some pills that make her feel better than she’s ever felt before. She was right all along, she decides: her parents were keeping her from all the fun.

The good life continues for a month, two months, a year. The man with the big car –she calls him ‘Boss’– teaches her a few things that men like. Since she’s underage, men pay a premium for her. She lives in a penthouse, and orders room service whenever she wants. Occasionally she thinks about the folks back home, but their lives now seem so boring and provincial that she can hardly believe she grew up there.

She has a brief scare when she sees her picture printed on the back of a milk carton with the headline “Have you seen this child?” But by now she has blond hair, and with all the makeup and body-piercing jewelry she wears, nobody would mistake her for a child. Besides, most of her friends are runaways, and nobody squeals in Detroit.

After a year the first sallow signs of illness appear, and it amazes her how fast the boss turns mean. “These days, we can’t mess around,” he growls, and before she knows it she’s out on the street without a penny to her name. She still turns a couple of tricks a night, but they don’t pay much, and all the money goes to support her habit. When winter blows in she finds herself sleeping on metal grates outside the big department stores. “Sleeping” is the wrong word – a teenage girl at night in downtown Detroit can never relax her guard. Dark bands circle her eyes. Her cough worsens.

One night as she lies awake listening for footsteps, all of a sudden everything about her life looks different. She no longer feels like a woman of the world. She feels like a little girl, lost in a cold and frightening city. She begins to whimper. Her pockets are empty and she’s hungry. She needs a fix. She pulls her legs tight underneath her and shivers under the newspapers she’s piled atop her coat. Something jolts a synapse of memory and a single image fills her mind: of May in Traverse City, when a million cherry trees bloom at once, with her golden retriever dashing through the rows and rows of blossomy trees in chase of a tennis ball.

God, why did I leave, she says to herself, and pain stabs at her heart. My dog back home eats better than I do now. She’s sobbing, and she knows in a flash that more than anything else in the world she wants to go home.

Three straight phone calls, three straight connections with the answering machine. She hangs up without leaving a message the first two times, but the third time she says, “Dad, Mom, it’s me. I was wondering about maybe coming home. I’m catching a bus up your way, and it’ll get there about midnight tomorrow. If you’re not there, well, I guess I’ll just stay on the bus until it hits Canada.”

It takes about seven hours for a bus to make all the stops between Detroit and Traverse City, and during that time she realizes the flaws in her plan. What if her parents are out of town and miss the message? Shouldn’t she have waited another day or so until she could talk to them? And even if they are home, they probably wrote her off as dead long ago. She should have given them some time to overcome the shock.

Her thoughts bounce back and forth between those worries and the speech she is preparing for her father. “Dad, I’m sorry. I know I was wrong. It’s not your fault; it’s all mine. Dad, can you forgive me?” She says the words over and over, her throat tightening even as she rehearses them. She hasn’t apologized to anyone in years.

The bus has been driving with lights on since Bay City. Tiny snowflakes hit the pavement rubbed worn by thousands of tires, and the asphalt steams. She’s forgotten how dark it gets at night out here. A deer darts across the road and the bus swerves. Every so often, a billboard. A sign posting the mileage to Traverse City Oh, God.

When the bus finally rolls into the station, its air brakes hissing in protest, the driver announces in a crackly voice over the microphone, “Fifteen minutes, folks. That’s all we have here.” Fifteen minutes to decide her life. She checks herself in a compact mirror, smooths her hair, and licks the lipstick off her teeth. She looks at the tobacco stains on her fingertips, and wonders if her parents will notice. If they’re there.

She walks into the terminal not knowing what to expect. Not one of the thousand scenes that have played out in her mind prepares her for what she sees. There, in the concrete-walls-and-plastic-chairs bus terminal in Traverse City, Michigan, stands a group of forty brothers and sisters and great-aunts and uncles and cousins and a grandmother and great-grandmother to boot. They’re all wearing goofy party hats and blowing noise-makers, and taped across the entire wall of the terminal is a computer-generated banner that reads “Welcome home!”

Out of the crowd of well-wishers breaks her dad. She stares out through the tears quivering in her eyes like hot mercury and begins the memorized speech, “Dad, I’m sorry. I know…”

He interrupts her. ‘Hush child. We’ve got no time for that. No time for apologies. You’ll be late for the party. A banquet’s waiting for you at home.’”

picture courtesy of homeaway.com

Interesting Christmas History

Below, is a compilation of extracts of some of the history behind Christmas traditions we still hold today. I have included the sources, so that you can research Christmas further, for yourself. You might be surprised with what you find, some stuff is just plain weird! Enjoy.

"The middle of winter has long been a time of celebration around the world. Centuries before the arrival of the man called Jesus, early Europeans celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of winter. Many peoples rejoiced during the winter solstice, when the worst of the winter was behind them and they could look forward to longer days and extended hours of sunlight. In Scandinavia, the Norse celebrated Yule from December 21, the winter solstice, through January"

"Also around the time of the winter solstice, Romans observed Juvenalia, a feast honoring the children of Rome. In addition, members of the upper classes often celebrated the birthday of Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun, on December 25. It was believed that Mithra, an infant god, was born of a rock. For some Romans, Mithra’s birthday was the most sacred day of the year. In the early years of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday; the birth of Jesus was not celebrated." - (thehistoryofchristmas.com) 

"The most famous and pervasive of these figures in modern celebration worldwide is Santa Claus, a mythical gift bringer, dressed in red, whose origins have diverse sources. The name Santa Claus can be traced back to the Dutch Sinterklaas, which means simply Saint Nicholas. Nicholas was Bishop of Myra, in modern day Turkey, during the 4th century. Among other saintly attributes, he was noted for the care of Children, generosity, and the giving of gifts. His feast on the 6th of December came to be celebrated in many countries with the giving of gifts. Saint Nicholas traditionally appeared in bishop's attire, accompanied by helpers, inquiring about the behaviour of children during the past year before deciding whether they deserved a gift or not. By the 13th century, Saint Nicholas was well known in the Netherlands, and the practice of gift-giving in his name spread to other parts of central and southern Europe. At the Reformation in 16th–17th century Europe, many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or Christkindl, corrupted in English to Kris Kringle, and the date of giving gifts changed from December the 6th to Christmas Eve."
 
"The traditional colors of Christmas are green and red. White, silver and gold are also popular. Red symbolizes the blood of Jesus, which was shed in his crucifixion, while green symbolizes eternal life, and in particular the evergreen tree, which does not lose its leaves in the winter." - (Wikipedia.com)


"Carols were first sung in Europe thousands of years ago, but these were not Christmas Carols. They were pagan songs, sung at the Winter Solstice celebrations as people danced round stone circles. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, usually taking place around the 22nd December. The word Carol actually means dance or a song of praise and joy! Carols used to be written and sung during all four seasons, but only the tradition of singing them at Christmas has really survived! Early Christians took over the pagan solstice celebrations for Christmas and gave people Christian songs to sing instead of pagan ones."

(Listen to the funniest version of O' Holy Night ever, listen right until the end)

"Boxing Day takes place on December 26th and is only celebrated in a few countries. It was started in the UK about 800 years ago in the Middle Ages. It was the day when the alms box, collection boxes for the poor often kept in churches, were opened so that the contents could be distributed to poor people. Some churches still open these boxes on Boxing Day."

"Mistletoe is a plant that grows on willow and apple trees (and in garden centres!). The practice of hanging it in the house goes back to the times of the ancient Druids. It is supposed to possess mystical powers which bring good luck to the household and ward off evil spirits. It was also used as a sign of love and friendship in Norse mythology and that's where the custom of kissing under Mistletoe comes from." - (whychristmas.com)

Further research indicates that pagans, today, are still celebrating Yule. They build altars to the seasons and elements, with much of the same stuff we decorate our houses with at Christmas (see picture below).

However, we should not need to find an excuse to give gifts and be generous, we shouldn't only save family time for one holiday of the year and we shouldn't keep Jesus as a baby for the rest of our lives. All these 'good' traditions that we have developed over Christmas, should not be relegated to a season that is shared with other strange beliefs, this should be  fruit of every believer, all year round. Then we wouldn't worry about whether Christmas had pagan beginnings or not, it would just be another day to celebrate life!

Keep Jesus the reason for the season and every other season!

Tradition is good, but whose are you passing on?

Yule altar: The log, candles, red and green and mistletoe (holly)