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Friday, May 31, 2013

Are you wearing Jesus clothes?

Recently, I heard someone describe the attire of different world religious systems. I had never thought about how the adherents of the various belief systems could often be recognized by their attire. For instance a Buddhist Monk, a Muslim, a practicing Jew, a Sikh, a Hare Krishna or a Hindu would be fairly recognizable by their unique dress.

A Buddhist Monk is known by a shaved head and a colored robe. A Muslim woman is recognized by a ‘burqa’ or other sort of covering. A practicing Jew might be recognized by the traditional ‘skull cap' called a ‘kippa.’ A Sikh could be recognized by their traditional headdress. A devotee of the Hare Krishna life could be recognized by their ‘dhotis’ or robe. A Hindu can often be recognized by the spot on their forehead known as a ‘bindi.’

Followers of Jesus don't have a traditional dress code or recognizable clothing. This doesn't mean though that followers of Jesus can wear anything they want. The Scriptures do speak of clothes that a follower is expected to wear.

The Apostle Paul wrote these words:

Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. (Colossians 3:12-14 NLT)

The clothing that a follower of Jesus is to put on, DAILY, is: tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and love.

What would life look like - if every Jesus follower walked around their house in those clothes, if every student who is a follower of Jesus would wear those clothes to school every day, if everyday interactions were colored by these clothes and if every follower of Jesus would wear these clothes when they went to work each day?

Marriages would be different, families would be different, work places would be different, schools would be different and whole communities would be different. It might just be that the nation, and even eventually the world, would be different if each Jesus follower put on Jesus clothes.

Jesus clothes? Tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and love.

Are you wearing your Jesus clothes today?

Sunday, May 26, 2013

What will you do with Jesus?

What will you do with Jesus?

Often when interacting with people who are uncertain about the existence of God or who have fully made up their mind that there is no such thing as God, I push back by asking the question – What will you do with Jesus? They give a puzzled look that asks the question: What are you talking about?

This gives me a great opportunity then to talk to them about Jesus. The dialogue between myself and another person might go something like this:
Me …
“You are not sure what you believe about the existence of God and I can understand that, but you still have to do something with Jesus.”

Them…
“What do you mean?”

Me …
“If God doesn’t exist how do you explain Jesus? He was born to a woman who claimed to be a virgin and lived the first 30 years of His life in a little village in the obscure northern region of Israel. He didn’t have any formal education and was not from the upper crust of society.

Yet … we know more about Jesus than almost anyone else from antiquity. There were letters written about Him and His followers within a few years of His death and there were accounts written within the lifetime of people who were close followers of Jesus.

This little band of believers quickly grew to be a significant percentage of the population around Jerusalem, and within a short time began to impact all of the Roman Empire which had existed for hundreds of years and that would continue for a few hundred years more.

The impact was so significant, that the movement continued to grow and expand and grow and expand until it was adopted as the official faith of the Roman Empire.

2000 years later there is no slowing down its growth and influence around the world. There is no other movement in human history that has even begun to scratch the surface of the impact on the world the way Jesus and his followers have.

How can that be explained in natural terms? What possible ‘human’ explanation is there?”

This doesn’t end the dialogue. Instead, the dialogue takes of in countless directions as people try and explain the unexplainable.

If you don’t believe … this might give you something to think about. If you do believe … this will give you a great conversation that can last for hours, days and weeks!

Friday, May 17, 2013

If this could become part of my fabric

I have been reading through the letter from the Apostle Paul to the Colossians. I have been reading it very slowly taking in as much as I can. There is so much rich ‘soul’ food in the letter. Over the last week, I have been reading again and again three verses. I thought so many times that if these truths could be woven into the fabric of my inner life it would have such a huge and lasting impact on the lives of those I come into contact with. Here’s what Paul wrote:

Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. (Colossians 3:12-14 NLT)

God chose me to be a holy person that He loves … therefore I MUST clothe myself with mercy … and not just mercy but tenderhearted mercy… I MUST clothe myself with kindness, humility, gentleness and patience … that is not the normal way of the American male! I am to make allowance for each person’s faults that I come into contact with. Not just make allowance for my family or my friends or people who I can get something from … but for EACH person’s faults. Make allowance … don’t make a big deal out of it … let it go … and if someone intentionally offends me, I am to forgive!

I must keep in the forefront of my life … written on the windshield and on the rearview mirror … that the Lord forgave me and forgave me and forgave me and forgives me and will forgive me and because of that I MUST forgive others.

The inner layers of clothing are to be tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. My outer coat is to be LOVE … real love binds people together … their lives working and flowing together are like perfect harmony in the symphony of life that God is playing out through us.

Can you see how if this were flowing out of every part of me that those around me would be better off? Chewing and chewing on these verses is feeding my soul and making me more and more aware of what Jesus is trying to do in me, so that it comes out of me.

Maybe these thoughts will encourage you!

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

What's being written in your book?

Recently in some reading I was doing I came across a statement by J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan that caught my attention. He wrote: The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another.

That line got me thinking about the ‘book’ that I’m writing. Is it the ‘book’ that I want written or is the book just being written? There is no way that any of us can control every aspect of our life. As a matter of fact there are huge portions of life that are really out of our control. We can’t control those things but we can control the parts of life that we can control.

For instance, I can’t control the unexpected health conditions that might arise but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t aspects of my health that I can control and that I better control or else there will be many more unexpected health conditions. People can’t control everything about a job or work. They can be ‘let go’ in an instant because of something that was not in their control. There are many things about work though that is in person’s control. Are they the best possible employee? Are they responsible? Do they honor the people they work with?

This same idea is true regarding school. A student can’t control everything about school or everyone in a school environment but they can control themselves in the environment and the situation. An athlete can’t control everything about the sport or the team that they are a part of but they can control themselves as a team member and as an athlete.

Am I ‘writing’, by controlling and being responsible, the story that I want written or am I just letting life write the story? The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in the city of Corinth about the believers in that gathering being a ‘letter of Christ’ that people read. Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This "letter" is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts. (2 Corinthians 3:3 NLT)

What is written in the story of your life is not totally up to you but it is not up to chance either. What does the chapter about you as a spouse, a parent, a sibling, a student, an employee or a community member say about you? Is what you want to be written being written?


Sunday, May 5, 2013

I Matter, You Matter, Relationships Matter

I have spent a lot of time this week thinking about the complexity of relationships and communication. There is so much at stake in relationships that we want to get them ‘right’, but they can be so complicated that things don’t always go ‘right’ but instead they go ‘left.’

There is a built-in complexity because each of us naturally assume, expect, have varying value systems, interpret differently, only partially hear and only partially communicate … just to name a few layers of complexity. To complicate the complexity, we each have a level of fear that is manifested in the various layers of complexity.

Added to the mix is a person’s depth of ‘really care’ or ‘don’t care.’ There is, in the gamut of relationships, the fact that every person has a continuum of depth of ‘care.’ On one end of the continuum is the response - I really care, this is so important. On the other end of the continuum is the response - I don’t really care. In each relationship there is always the possibility that two people are on the extreme opposite ends of the continuum. One person cares very deeply. The other person does not care at all.

Is it any wonder that relationships can create such joy and fulfillment? On the other hand, is it any wonder that relationships can create such heartburn and sleepless nights? There’s no wonder as to why one of Jesus’ loudest messages was about ‘forgiveness.’

I have come to some conclusions that I try and allow to serve as guardrails in relationships. Maybe the thoughts will help you. When I bump up against one guardrail, I’m often shot across the road to the other and ultimately bump up against the third thought.

I matter to God, you matter to God and relationships matter to God.

These thoughts serve as a sort of filter through which I try to evaluate my attitudes, words, actions and responses.

Maybe those three thoughts will help you as you navigate the complexities of your relationships.

Relationships matter to God.