Category Archives: Faith

The Dangers of Reading the Bible

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Sometimes I think the Bible should come with a warning label. Now, before you go all crazy on me, I’m not arguing that reading the Bible is a bad idea. I just think maybe there should be a warning label involved.

Maybe something like.

Warning: May be hazardous to a self-centered way of life.

or

Warning: This will probably mess you up and make you into a person you wouldn’t normally be.

How reading the Bible can be hazardous

Really, at least in my mind, there are two specific dangers to reading the Bible. One of them is a real danger and the other is a comfort danger.

The real danger

It is extremely dangerous to read the Bible but refuse to allow God to transform you. To read about righteousness, justice, mercy, and generosity, yet choose to remain unrighteous, unjust, unmerciful, and stingy.

The danger is really about two things.

  • A missed transformation
  • A hardened heart

Through the Holy Spirit, the Bible is inherently transformational. God’s word is intended to conform us to the image of Christ. But if we refuse to allow it to transform us, we miss out on that transformation and the deepened relationship with God that comes through the transformation.

The greater danger, though, is having a heart that is hard towards God. It’s just not possible to continue ignoring God without hardening your heart in some way.

But just as there are dangers in refusing the transforming power of the Bible, there are dangers in embracing it. They are desirable dangers, to be sure. But they are dangers

The desirable dangers

As we read the Bible and allow it to permeate our lives, it will transform us in deeply desirable but sometimes exquisitely uncomfortable ways. It will point out areas where we have missed God’s heart. It will open our eyes and our hearts to the struggles of others. It will call us to service and humility instead of power and pride.

  • It might mess you up.
  • It might change your heart.
  • It might call you out of your comfort zone.
  • It might conform you to the image of Christ.

In truth, all of those things are desirable. But they are not always comfortable. In fact, I dare say that they are seldom comfortable – at least in the moment.

This happens to me too

Before you think that I just float through life on a magic carpet of ease and joy like some minor deity from mythology, I have to tell you that reading the Bible does this to me too. Sometimes I try to fight God’s word and harden my heart. Other times I’m open to what he’s saying and then he really messes me up.

Many times I hear his word and don’t know what to do with it except bring it back to him, ask him for guidance, and wait. Wait for guidance. Wait for provision. Wait for his timing. Wait for him to do the deep, transformational work in my heart.

Here’s an excerpt from one of my recent journal entries.

For some reason I can’t get the image of babies and small children scavenging food in war-torn areas of the world. When I see my kids playing I can’t help but think that if Katherine and I died, I would want somebody to take care of them.

As best I can, I trust God to do that. At the same time, I can’t help but wonder if we are part of his plan to help care for somebody else’s abandoned or orphaned child. Or if there’s some way he wants us to support another person in doing the same.

It is just really heavy on my heart these last couple days. Lord, what would you have me do with this?

Let’s bring it down to the ground level

So, here’s the question: Are there places where you’re refusing to let the Bible conform you to God’s will?

If so, what are you going to do about it today?

Beauty in the Mundane

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20130410 054423 Beauty in the Mundane

One of the things I like about services such as Instagram is that they make it clear how filters can affect the way we see things. A rainy day at Starbucks can become a stunning visual.

It’s the same way with life. How we filter our experiences affects our perspective and the ways we react to those experiences. With the right perspective, a difficult experience becomes an opportunity or a challenge instead of a “bad experience.”

(Not to get all corpoorate-speak on you there. I know that some people use that language to be manipulative. That’s not my goal.)

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
(Romans 8:28 ESV)

So, here’s the question: Is there something in your life that you need to reframe?

Just think about it for a minute. You can respond to me if you’d like. But I’m more interested in you (and me) hearing from God and becoming more in tune with his heart and mind.

The Other Side of God’s Heart

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gods heart 300x201 The Other Side of Gods HeartWhen we pray things like, “God, break my heart with the things that break yours” or sing things “break my heart with what breaks yours” (I like that song, by the way) it’s easy to focus on things like mercy and grace. And those are good. They are God’s heart.

But there’s another side to his heart. He loves mercy and grace. He’s all about some social justice. But he also loves righteousness – and the earth is full of his love (and his righteousness).

The other side of God’s heart

He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
(Psalm 33:5 ESV)

If we really want to have God’s heart, we have to learn to love both righteousness and grace. Both justice and mercy. And that love (and the ability to love) is God’s heart expressed, a gift of God to us. And a gift of God to the world, flowing through us.

I struggle to embrace both sides of God’s heart. I struggle to embrace his love of righteousness when I so need his mercy and grace. But I also struggle to share his mercy when I feel I’ve been wronged or misunderstood.

Lord, help me!

In this I can certainly identify with Paul when he says, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24).

This shouldn’t be new news to me. But sometimes I forget. Sometimes I struggle. And the only thing I know to do is rely wholly on God’s grace at work in my life.

I have to trust that if God loved me so much that he gave his son for me (John 3:16) and that he also gave me the Holy Spirit as a down payment or deposit (2 Corinthians 1:22) that he will also be faithful to complete this work in me (Philippians 1:6)

How about you?

How well do you identify with both sides of God’s heart – righteousness as well as grace, justice as well as mercy? And how willing are you to suffer shame to satisfy righteousness so you can extend mercy?

What’s Your Biggest Challenge?

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Are you looking forward to an excellent New Year? And have you started to consider how you can overcome the biggest challenge you’re facing?

If you’re like me, you probably have some goals that are fueled by your desire to become the best person you can be. To become all that you are designed and destined to be.

And, if you’re like me, you’ve probably had some setbacks in the past. I know that I achieved a couple of my goals for last year but not all. I failed in some because of lack of focus. I had to reset some because my life changed (we now have two amazing children). Continue reading →

How to Get Your Mojo Back

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Has life ever thrown you a screwball that turned your life upside down? It’s happened to nearly all of us. Some situation in life takes the wind out of our sails and knocks us back a step or two.

“What do we do when that happens?”

A few weeks ago my daughter tripped over a balloon and broke her leg. Not one of those little “breaks” but the grandmother of all breaks – a femur broken totally in two. We spent a little under a day in the emergency room (I’m not making this up) while the doctors and nurses figured out what to do.

Continue reading →

Delight Yourself in the Lord

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This is something that one of my pastors shared a couple of weeks ago. It helped me with some perspective and I’m hoping it will do the same for you.

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4, ESV emphasis added)

I’ve always viewed the second half of that – the desires of my heart – as God giving me what I want. But there’s a deeper way to view God giving me the desires of my heart. God is also able to define the desires of my heart.

So, if I delight myself in the Lord, he can (and will) both define and supply the desires of my heart. And he’ll doe the same for you.

4 Things I Learned from Fasting

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If you’ve never considered fasting as a spiritual discipline, I can heartily recommend it. There’s more to a fast than just giving up food and it can yield great results in your life and improve your relationship with God.

empty plate 4 Things I Learned from Fasting

I don’t fast a lot. I eat a lot. I think about food almost all the time and sometimes it really takes a significant event to get me to skip even a snack. That’s partly because I like food and partly because I overdid fasting a few years ago.

Continue reading →

Prayer in Fear of Judgement

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Lord, I’m very disturbed by my reading in Hosea 9 today. I know I’ve read it before. But today it scares me. For some reason I can’t get to a comfortable “clinical” distance from the text. There’s a little fear in my heart.

Father, in particular, the judgements against Israel scare me. That you were willing to make them so desolate that they would eat unclean foods and miss out on worship. That you were willing to make them barren and take their children. That such loss and pain was worthwhile to you scares me. And, yet, you endured such pain – and more – with Jesus on the cross. Continue reading →

Excess, Identification, and Fasting

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Rhonda Frazier (Super Science Mom) recommended 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess (Amazon link) to me. Well, really, she recommended it to all her closest friends on Facebook. I bought it yesterday for my Kindle (it was $2.99 yesterday, $4.99 today) and I’m already about two chapters into it.

Excess in our Lives

Excess, Identification, and FastingI know, all that detail is probably not all that important to you, but here’s the deal. This book is really kicking my tail. It’s making me think about the way I approach life and how much stuff I have and why I have it. Excessive stuff. It’s making me think about my (sometimes bad) attitude in light of the fact that God has richly blessed me and I’m surrounded but stuff nearly as far as I can see. It’s made me see a little of the excess in my life.

Now, I’ve been working with the idea of a more minimalist life for several months. I’ve subscribed to a few blogs and I’ve known that I have more stuff than I need and that often my love of stuff is stealing my joy. I know that my life is cluttered. Yours probably is too.

The struggle, though, is knowing how to approach it. Sure, there’s a part of me that likes the siren call of Zen minimalism. But I don’t really buy into the Eastern mysticism thing. And, devoid of that, my only foundation is (or was) not being wasteful and trying to make myself happier. Continue reading →