Desire

What does your soul long for? What is it that you want most in life? What competes for your heart? What do you desire?

So many times we hear this word and think of erotic passion, but it doesn't only have that particular meaning. U2 sings about desire as ambition, addiction, power, riches, love, position or fame:

Lover, I'm off the street
Gonna go where the bright lights and the big city meet
With a red guitar, on fire
Desire

She's a candle burning in my room
Yeah, I'm like the needle, needle and spoon
Over the counter with a shotgun
Pretty soon, everybody got one
And the fever, when I'm beside her
Desire, desire

And the fever getting higher
Desire, desire
Burning, burning

She's the dollars, she's my protection
Yeah, she's a promise in the year of election
Oh sister, I can't let you go
I'm like a preacher stealing hearts at a travelling show
For love or money, money, money...
And the fever, getting higher
Desire, desire
Desire, desire

Your desire might be one of these. Or, it might be something particular for you, something that is uniquely yours, something special. Desire drives us, pushes us, moves us on to bigger and better things.

Or it destroys us.

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. The desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

It all comes down to what you desire.
Are the desires that drive you God's desires, or your desires?
Are you regularly working to bring your desires in line with God's?
Who is helping you?
Who knows your true desires?
Who is holding you accountable?

Location:Columbia Pkwy,Cincinnati,United States

Grace in Black and White

Too often we think of the Old Testament as the black and white part of the bible. There are no words in red, no words from Jesus, and we can look at this with a negative connotation. If Jesus wasn't there, what else was missing? We tend to think that grace and mercy would be missing as well. That's all Jesus, right?

Before Jesus, God was just smiting people left and right. He was condemning entire nations and making examples of people. If you messed up, BAM, fire and brimstone - no room for error, no room for second chances.

But, that's not entirely the case. There are some egregious examples of God's wrath in the OT, but there are also examples of God's grace.

In Numbers 13 and 14 a group of Israelites had lied about the promised land and invoked God's anger. They suffered the consequences. In Numbers 15, God talks to Moses about sacrifice. He explains how to make up for sins and wrongs. Then he brings up the idea of unintentional sin. In the case of this sin, which people don't even know they've committed, we might think that the OT God would just let 'em have it. They messed up, they pay the price, right?

Instead, God says that a sacrifice will be made on behalf of all the people, to cover over all these sins. He's not looking for an opportunity to punish, he's working to save. That's grace. The NT shows the same grace and highlights the lengths God is willing to go to offer it to us.

Pooped On

There's no easy way to say it. I got pooped on this morning.

We had yet another bird in our attic. (Guess what I'll be doing this weekend...) This one was a little different than some of the others. He was very persistent in trying to get out of the windows. Maybe this is because outside actually looks like outside through the new windows, but he wasn't giving up.

I entered the attic and opened the window closest to the door. My entrance spooked him away from that window and he fled to the another one. So, I went deeper into the attic, closer to the other window, in order to try to herd the bird to the open window. No dice. He just tried harder to get out the window I was headed towards. I saw this wasn't go to go smoothly, so I just went to open the window he was banging against.

As I reached for the window catches, he finally flew over my left shoulder and out the other window - leaving a present on my left arm as he went. Well, at least I had already taken a shower.

It's hard to blame the bird. He was trapped, he was scared, he was frustrated, he did mean to poop on me - right? Right?

What if we weren't talking about birds? What if we were talking about people? Because, plenty of people poop on us too. The driver who cuts you off, or doesn't hug the line when making a left turn so you can't get around or doesn't use their turn signal. The shopper who leaves their cart in the middle of the only open parking space. The weightlifter who leaves the weights on the bar and their sweat on the bench. If we think about it, we've all been pooped on in one way or another.

This morning I changed my shirt, washed off my arm and moved on. I hope it doesn't happen again, but in some form or another it probably will. That's life. That's the broken world we live in and the sinful flesh we're encased in. The problems really start when we let these little things build and get out of control. That's when our heads get filled with lies (or poop, if you will) and we start to be the ones who poop on others.

Escape

Paul, spiritual giant, striving to be free:

So, I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

If Paul, of all people, fought this hard for freedom, how can we do any less for ourselves?

How can we do any less for others?

Freedom

20 years ago today, Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years in prison in South Africa. He was imprisoned for "sabotage" against the South African government, particularly for his work against apartheid, or segregation. In essence, we was thrown in jail for trying to free his race from oppression. In honor of this anniversary, I'm picking up a copy of Mandela's autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom" from the library this afternoon.

I don't know what it is like to be in prison. I don't know what it is like to be a prisoner in my own country. But, in some way I do know what it is like to be a prisoner. I know what it is like to be held hostage by sin and shame. And I know the relief and joy of being set free. I know the struggle that I went through to get free and the daily fight that it takes to stay free.

I also know that there are some areas of my life where I'm not free. I'm still be a prisoner of finding the approval of others and of my need to succeed. I still fight to understand that God loves me and will use me even if I'm not perfect. I'm still bound by thinking that God's blessings for me and the church are tied to how good I am. I still need to find freedom.

That's why I'm excited that Parkside is spending 6 weeks to travel together on the road to Freedom. I'm excited to journey with the members of my group together to find where we're captives and to fight for our freedom and the freedom of others.

Waffle

I had a great lunch yesterday that included some lively discussion and a tasty belgium waffle. That has noting to do with this post...or does it?

"How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." - Elijah on Mt. Carmel

From the top of Mt. Carmel you can see the entire valley spread out before you. On a clear day, like the one I was there, if you squint you can even see the Mediterranean sea. There is no doubt that in Elijah's day many people spent every moment of their entire lives in the area that you can see from this peak. Their entire lives is exactly what Elijah was talking about.

The people of Israel liked to waffle. They would follow the Lord when it suited them, when they were greatly in need, when they had no hope. They would follow Baal when it suited them, when they were unhappy, when they wanted to fit in or go their own way. Elijah had had enough.

Imagine what he would say to us. Waffling can be a weekly or daily event in many of our lives. We wake up in the morning and whisper a prayer asking God to be with us throughout the day, but by 2:30 we've done everything in our power to forget about him or drive him away except actually tell him to get lost. We go to church on Sunday morning and sing and listen and contemplate what implications God's word has on our lives and forget about all of it until next time. We love our neighbor when we like our neighbor. We despise them when they get on our nerves. We're not sitting on any fences, we're hopping back and forth over them like jumping rope.

ENOUGH. Elijah's cry for a decision still rings true today. We can't do both, yet way too many of us think we can. It's time decide.

"How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if you are God, do whatever the heck you want."

Seeds

Elijah is staying with a widow and her son. The son dies. The woman blames God, Elijah & herself.

"What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?"

Sin. Guilt. Shame. They crop up and creep in whenever something bad happens. Whether right or wrong, they point fingers at us. They make us less than what we are, less than what we are created to be. They are the seeds of distrust, envy and bitterness.

Two Kings

David messed up. The whole bathing beauty thing put a huge kink in his legacy. He went from being the white knight in shining armor to just being another imperfect example. Or did he? David made a mistake, but he repented. He swallowed his pride (not easy for anyone, nevertheless a king), paid the price and worked to make things right with God.

Solomon messed up. The whole 700 foreign wives and 300 concubines thing was just the beginning. They led him away from (he allowed it to happen, btw) the God of his father. He had seen God twice, he had built him a temple and he had started off very well, but once his heart started to change, he never looked back. And that makes all the difference.

Despite his shortcomings, David is seen as the hero. He was a good king, a terrible dad and at times a lust and guilt fueled sinner. Despite his successes, Solomon is seen as a foil. He was a rich man, a wise ruler and the one who led Israel away from the God who had raised them up.

Both men had faults. Both men made mistakes. Both men paid for them. Only one took responsibility, swallowed his pride and worked to make things right with God. Only one was a man after God's own heart.

It's not about whether or not we fail, it is about what we do next.

Last Words

King David, lying on his deathbed, spoke his last words to his son Solomon, the newly appointed king. He begins this distribution of wisdom by encouraging his son to be strong, to live as a man and to follow the laws of God. So far, so good. From there things go all to pieces.

If you look at a brand new spool of thread or rope or twine or wire or anything that comes neatly packaged from the factory, you can see a great deal of precision and perfection. Each successive turn falls perfectly next to the last, without a seam or a gap or a space at all. The most possible material fits in the packaging because of this perfection. But what happens when you need to use the thread or rope or wire? You unfailingly unravel more than you use - and then you try to put it back. Try as you might to re-wind, things never go back the way they were. You wind up with bumps and gaps, crossed wires and knots. The same is true with life.

David's life began like a tightly wrapped spool. He was strong and concise, his life was ordered and he was a man after God's own heart. His actions backed that up, whether alone against a giant, leading a huge army or hiding in the wilderness. David was on track, he was on point, his steps were in a straight line. Then things unraveled. His life came off track through his complacency and sin. He pulled too much too fast and found a mess.

The rest of his life was spent trying to re-wind the mess he had made. All the bits and pieces of his life came to the surface and things wouldn't go back the way they were. There were gaps and bumps and crossed lines. His family fell apart, rising against him in several quests for power. His kingdom ceased to shine the way it once had. He struggled to connect to God, his God, who he had been so close with in the past.

This is what sin does in all of our lives. No matter how tightly we wind or unwind, no matter how careful and in control we think we are, we find that our spool doesn't look like it did from the factory. We've got bumps and gaps and crossed wires and knots. Our spool is a mess.

David's words to Solomon start off tightly wound. They are on target: strong, important words for a young king to follow. They start to unwind, however into a bitter rant about rewards and revenge, ending with the stinging command, "Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood." Not the words anyone wants to be remembered by.

Even a disheveled spool has value. The wire still conducts, the string still pulls tight, the yarn still knits. We serve a God who salvages. He takes the things we have messed up and makes them right. They might not ever be perfect again (sin has consequences), but He gives them a value they never had. Yarn in a spool is never a sweater. Wire on a spool will never light up a house.

A perfect life is only one that hasn't been lived. A successful life is only one that has been salvaged by God.

Practicality

One thing that people can't say about the Bible is that it is boring. Okay, people CAN say that, but if they do it is usually a good indication that they haven't really read it. No other book (that I've read) can take one pericope and in it include a history lesson, an encouragement, practical advice and supernatural promise.

Paul writes to the Corinthians about the past sins of the Israelites (1 Cor 10:1-13). He first affirms that the stories of the Israelites in the OT are true - they really happened, they aren't just myth or metaphor. Their status as historical fact does not take away from their value as lessons or examples for the people of Paul's day (and ours). In fact, they added to the practicality of the example. These were real people who responded in real ways. They weren't just made-up examples.

Paul parlays this idea into some practical teaching of his own. He warns his audience not to get too comfortable in where they are, not to become complacent or assumptive. Once you assume that you have something figured out, pinned down or conquered, that is when you are most vulnerable. If we assume that we can handle something, then we probably can't. If we think we've beaten something, then it has already beaten us. If we stop working on getting better, we are already getting worse. Our enemy is relentless and our task is of utmost importance.

When the battle seems un-winnable, Paul delivers the best, most practical, yet most supernatural piece of information. God only lets us get what we can take. He won't let us be overwhelmed. He won't let us find ourselves in an impossible situation. Instead, he'll provide a way out, a means for us to stand up, a way to conquer.

Too bad we still try to do it alone. Too bad we don't listen.

The duplicity of knowing better

Paul writes to the Corinthians that in the past he has told them not to associate with sexually immoral people - but that does not mean the people of the world who sin. If they tried to do that they would have to leave this world.

This is exactly what some Christians try to do. No, not leave the world. They try to stay far away from anyone who they see as a sinner. They hide away, only associating with church people, only listening to church music, only reading church books, watching church movies, attending only church events. Given Paul's rhetorical style, I'm willing to wager he would say they should go the whole way and lock themselves in the church.

Paul writes to help his readers in their understanding, "But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolator or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat."

If you are trying to follow Paul's advice on proper associations, the church may be the most dangerous place to hang out.

Twofold

"Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you."

"But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength..."

Sin has twofold consequences. The Lord comes and showers righteousness on us, erasing the cosmic legal punishment we deserve for the things we do wrong. What he doesn't do is erase the physical consequences we face here and now. We we sow sin, we reap pain - for ourselves and for those around us.

Why doesn't God, if he is so all-powerful, erase those physical ramifications of sin too? Why doesn't he just clean up our messes for us? Why doesn't he make the lions lie down with the lambs here and now?

Then what would we do? What would our mission be? Where would we find our joy and fulfillment? Our twofold job is to Love God to address the legal ramifications of our sin and to Love People to help each other deal with the physical ramifications of our own sin and theirs - together.

If we aren't loving people through their tough times, we're missing our mission. If we are depending on our own strength, instead of relying on the God-provided strength of others, we're interfering with their mission.

Yet

"Hosea, name your son 'Jezreel' because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel."

"Hosea, name your daughter 'Lo-Ruhamah' (not loved) for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel."

"Hosea, name your son 'Lo-Ammi' (not my people) for you are not my people and I am not your God."

"Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"

YET.

We sin, yet God forgives.

We suffer the consequences, yet God comforts us along the way.

We fall, yet God lifts us up.

We push away at every turn, yet God pulls us closer.

We are faithless, yet God is faithful.

We turn away, yet God remains.

We fail, yet God brings success.

We run away, yet God welcomes us home.

We grumble outside, yet God invites us in.

We do everything we can to make God angry, yet His love never falters or weakens.

Opposition

"Who was I to think that I could oppose God?" - Peter

Peter came to this realization after he witnessed the Gentiles (who he believed to be outside of God's grace) receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. He realized he was wrong and decided to change.

In thought this was easy, but Paul's words in Galatians 2 show us that it wasn't as easy to change in action. Peter is perfectly content in hanging out with Gentiles and eating with them while it was just him and Gentiles. When other Jews start showing up, the peer pressure gets to Peter and he begins to fall into old practices, sitting with the Jews exclusively and falling into their customs. When Paul shows up, he opposes Peter's actions and calls him to task.

Could we call Peter's actions backsliding? He was slowly, in very small steps moving back toward the place of opposition where he started. In wasn't a drastic shift, but it was movement. Peter didn't wake up and say, "You know what, I think I've changed my mind about this Gentile thing." That's not the way that sin works. It is much craftier than that. It devours us little by little, bit by bit so that we don't even realize it is happening. We think that we are standing side by side with God, when in reality we have been slowly moving more and more into opposition with Him.

The same thing happens in our lives that happened in Peter's. We commit to being welcoming, or befriending those different than us or building relationships, but we slowly begin to revert back to our old ways. We move away from our goal and settle for the past. That's not okay.

That's not real life change. Real life change is hard, and it requires us putting forth constant effort to not just continue to change, but to maintain the ground we've already gained. Peter couldn't do it alone, he needed Paul's help. We can't do it alone, we need help too. From each other and from the Holy Spirit. That's the change where we need to put in the most work.

Drips

Today, I looked for a secluded place to do some reading and writing. I found a quiet table by a window that seemed perfect. I got out my laptop and opened it up, then got out by Bible and opened that up. As I was flipping through the pages I heard a terrible, terrible sound. Kerplunk! A single drop of water fell from the pipes above and landed right on my illuminated keyboard, just below the tilde and above the tab. In a split-second my mind filled with fear, anger and action. Damage Control. I grabbed my microfiber cloth and then some napkins and quickly blotted up all the tiny water splotches that scattered seemingly everywhere from the single drop. My heart raced to think about the moisture sensors under the keyboard. Was there one in the top-left corner? Was my AppleCare now null and void? I’ll never know.

So much chaos over one little drop. It wasn’t like I spilled a cup of tea or got caught in a rainstorm, it was just one little drop. Why don’t I treat sin the same way? Why isn’t there the same intense reaction?

One drop of sin can get in the cracks of my life, just like my keyboard. It doesn’t just sit on the surface, it digs deep. And it doesn’t stay put. That on drop lands and splits and leaves traces all over my life - in my relationships with people, in my concept of self-worth and in my distance from God. So, why do I take so many precautions to keep drops away from my laptop, but let protection from sin fall by the wayside. Why do I scramble to clean up the little drops of water, but let the results of sin fester and grow under the surface.

Aren’t I more important than my laptop? Is it because I know Jesus has more grace than the Genius tech support guys do and I take advantage of that?

Luke 3 - Simple Action

John the Baptist begins his ministry. He's out in the desert baptizing people and telling them they aren't special just because they are children of Abraham. His message comes across as very harsh. He gets even more in their faces when he says the axe will be taken to the root of every tree that doesn't produce fruit. What should we do, they ask?

John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."

Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?"

"Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them.

Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?"

He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely—be content with your pay."

In essence, John calls them to change their actions. If you are sinning, cut it out. If you aren't doing good, start. Too many times we look at ourselves and say, "What now God? Where do you want me to go, what do you want me to do?" We complicate things that should be easy. If we're sinning, we should stop. If we aren't serving others, we should start.