The Wild Lion

He is not a tame lion. He is not safe, but he is good. C.S. Lewis penned these words in his book, "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe." This story, and the other parts of the Chronicles of Narnia, are loose parables of God and His dealings with man. Sometimes they are mirror images and other times the mirror is a little more cloudy. Nonetheless, Aslan the Lion is a picture of Jesus Christ.

In the book, one character, upon hearing that the often mentioned Aslan is a lion, asks another, "is he safe?" The reply is the quote at the beginning. "He is not a tame lion. He is not safe, but he is good." That is an excellent description of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah! He is not tame, He is not safe, but He is GOOD!

You can't just casually take Him and leave Him, nor turn your back on Him. You must keep Him as the center of your focus. You must give him your direct attention just as you would a lion in the zoo into whose habitat you stumbled. The overwhelming difference in Jesus and a wild lion is His goodness. He is ferocious, yet loving. He is powerful enough to rip us apart but compassionate enough to be ripped apart for us. He is the prime example of power restrained, but do not take his meekness for weakness.

When He returns to claim His own, we will see Him with fire in His eyes. Where once He breathed His last, He will be breathing a two-edged sword when He returns! So until Jesus splits the sky, lets keep our eyes and heart focused on the Lion. Do not become too relaxed with Him, do not take Him for granted. He is good, but He is not tame.

What more does he need to do?

I hate hearing bad news.  I hate bad news about christians.  I hate bad news about myself.  Far too often I hear about another brother or sister who has failed miserably and more often than that, I look in the mirror and see how terribly I fail time and again.  No matter who the culprit is, I have to ask myself, "What more does he need to do to make you (me) love him?"  

Why do we believe urban legends, myths and folklore and yet live like the blood-bought gospel is a fairy tale?  My soul cries out because of our unbelief.  We know all the answers and say all the right things except NO!  We give in to sin and temptation so easily when we have every reason and opportunity to resist.  God, you are greater than temptation and your love covers over a multitude of sins.  May the sacrifice of the cross become enough to sway my heart to love.  Come Lord Jesus.

Jesus: Yay or Yawn?

Ripping down 6 foot street signs, jumping over fires, climbing trees.  All ways to celebrate a national championship.  It makes perfect sense.  I don't know about you, but when my team wins something I want to rip something down.  That was the scene a few weeks ago in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  The Tarheel faithful, along with yours truly, were celebrating on Franklin St. soon after North Carolina demolished Michigan State for the National Championship.  I hadn't planned on being there, but some friends and I were in west Raleigh for a meeting that night and were watching the game.  As soon as it ended we said, "Let's go!"  That's all it took, 6 guys jumped in a van and took the 20 minute trip to Franklin St.  The scene was unbelievable.  It was pretty tame compared to the violence that happens at some championship celebrations, but the jubilation was unparalleled.  People leaped over fires like Jack jumping over the candle stick.  I have to admit, that was one I got in on.  People were climbing trees.  They were on rooftops, store fronts, and traffic poles.  One guy was surfing a six foot Columbia Ave. sign being carried by a stumbling mass of college students. 

Everyone was excited, dancing, giving five, cheering and just all out celebrating.  Nearly everyone had the same purpose, to let the world know who they loved!  As we waded through the sea of people, it hit me like a ton of bricks, "why doesn't the church get this excited about Jesus...ever?"  I know it may be a little much to ask that we all stay that excited all the time, but how about every now and then?  There are times that call for true quiet reflection and reverence, or even righteous anger, but couldn't every couple of months or so, throw in a little joy and jubilation?  I know why the joyous moments are too few and far between for me.  Maybe the same reason rings true for you as well.  I don't get too excited with the Jesus that we've created.    The savior who demands just enough to save us from hell, but not enough to change the world or shake up my daily life.  The Jesus that says more in trinkets and t-shirts than from my lips.  And I definitely don't get all hot and bothered by the Jesus who is little more than a community organizer and doesn't scream from the cross, "It is Finished!"  

Maybe its time that I and maybe even you get reacquainted with the Savior from the Word.  Who knows, things might get a little rowdy.

Kablooie!

It's funny to watch kids try to hide something they are not supposed to have.  Even though you've already seen the toy, switchblade or other contraband in their hand, they put it behind their back.  They think that they've hidden it from you and magically erased all memory of the object from your psyche.  We laugh to ourselves and think, "O, Silly little person."  That's not exactly what we think; but you get the picture.  

But just how different are we than little kids?  There are things in our lives that we try to hide from God and each other and we fail miserably.  In theory, most of us know that we can't hide anything from God, but yet we still try.  

In I Samuel 15, we find King Saul going to attack the Amalekites as God commanded.  Now this might be troubling for you, but God said, "totally destroy everything that belongs to them."  God clearly included even the women and children, cattle, sheep, and other animals.  You might be asking why.  The basic reason, for sake of time, is that these people had known God and rejected Him and were very evil.  If they were brought into the Israelite nation, they would have led many astray.  God, in His wisdom, knew that they could not withstand an attack from within.  

But that's not the point.  The point is, Saul destroyed everything.  Almost.  He destroyed every person and creature except the King, and the best of the livestock.  The Bible points out they spared "everything that was good."  Saul claimed they spared these things to offer them to the Lord.  It seemed like a good reason.  God didn't think so.  The text says that God was "grieved". His heart was broken that He had appointed Saul as king.  

In Saul's mind he had obeyed God, he even said that he had.  But Saul came to understand a major point and we would do well to follow.  God does not desire 75% obedience.  He doesn't want 9/10ths of your life.  He doesn't want half of your devotion.  He wants it all.  Every last drop.  When he calls you to purge sin from your life, he means every sin (Hebrews 12:1).  He doesn't want you to hold on to that secret sin that no one knows about.  He wants it all destroyed.  He doesn't want you to spare the best.  It all has to be put to death.  Why?

Why is God so demanding?  He knows that if you leave one small morsel of sin in your life, that it will grow and devastate you.  It will soon become your master and run your life.  Just like Saul, you won't be able to fellowship with God, you won't be full of God's spirit anymore.   

So what do you and I do?  We spend time everyday asking for wisdom to see ourselves as we really are.  We pray that God will help us to look into the mirror that is God's Word and we'll rejoice over the things that bring him joy and be disgusted by the things that turn his stomach.  If we have the goal to utterly destroy sin in our life, we'll be a part of the kingdom...forever.

26.2

     I ran a Marathon! Yes I did it.  It seems like forever ago but it was only a year.  Just to make it clear, it was 26.2 miles.  It was one of the most challenging and fulfilling things I've ever done.  And every step closer to the finish line made me understand why Paul compared the Christian life to a race.

I probably took off too fast and didn't replenish enough early on.  It's easy for us to take off too fast in the Christian life and not replenish early on.  What I mean is, early on we tend to survive on the euphoria of being in the race and don't feed on God's Word.  It's easy to burn out quickly.  

There were times I wanted to quit.  Leading up to my race I ran into all kinds of obstacles (pun intended).  I met people who thought I was stupid for running a marathon.  You'll meet people who think you're stupid for following Jesus.  I met people who doubted I could finish the race. You'll meet people who will question your ability to stay faithful.  And you will meet those special people who are thrilled you are getting in the race.  They drown out the doubters if you listen.

     During my race there were a few times that I wanted to quit!  The course was too tough, they weren't enough encouragers, I thought I wasn't strong enough.  

     Nearly every runner in a marathon hits "the wall".  It's usually around 19 miles and it affects every runner differently. Some runners' bodies give up on them, some just get really tired or discouraged.  I was really focused on not hitting the wall at 19 miles.  When I started to see that wall coming, at just the right time, I made some friends! I caught up to a husband and wife who had tons of experience and a  good attitude.  The husband had run 25 marathons!  His wife had a little more experience with 40!  They encouraged me that it could be done and they took my mind off the struggles.  When you want to give up in your Christian life, if you're patient, God will send help at just the right time.  

     Like I said, I avoided the wall at 19 miles!  It was great, but then like a ninja the wall jumped out of nowhere and roundhouse kicked me in the spleen at 21 miles!  No one was around at the time, no other runners or crowds cheering me on.  It was quiet and I was alone and the only voice there was my doubt.  I came the closest to quitting at that point.  

     I know too many people who have quit the race with Jesus with just a few miles to go.  A few things kept me in the race and I'm confident the same will keep you in the race with Christ.  First, I knew others had gone before me.  I knew that people had completed the race.  I knew people like me had finished.  I knew I had friends and family that were looking for me to finish.  I couldn't let them down.  I made a decision to start the race and I was going to finish. And finally, I remember thinking, that Jesus went through so much physical pain and didn't quit when he had every right to.  

     So remember, there is a great cloud of witnesses that has gone before you that is cheering you on. There are others counting on you to finish. A lot of it boils down to making the commitment and sticking to it.  And most importantly, there's Jesus.  He has won the prize and won the war and gives you and me the privilege to run with him and even receive the winner's crown.  I was nowhere near the front of the pack, yet when I got a quarter of a mile from the finish and heard the people cheering, I began to hold my head up higher and felt my legs grow stronger.  I began to run like the starting gun had just gone off.  And when I crossed that finish line to the cheers of a great cloud of witnesses, I raised my hands in victory.  I finished  and you can too.

A little thing...Big Difference.

In 1840, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was alarmed by the number of babies and mothers dying in the maternity ward in his Vienna hospital.  The fact that was more alarming was that one particular room had a death rate three times higher than another room in the same ward!  The room that was so deadly was staffed by medical students whereas the other was staffed by midwives.  He struggled over the problem until the cause came to him.  The medical students were coming to the delivery rooms straight from dissecting the human bodies in their anatomy classes!  They never washed their hands!  Once they started washing their hands the death rate in the maternity ward dropped to under one percent!  

Dr. Semmelweis was cheered as a hero and promoted among the ranks of his fellow physicians.  Oh how I wish that were true!  The sad truth is the good doctor was ridiculed by his colleagues.  He soon resigned his position because of the shame and even though he repeated his practice in a new hospital with the same great number of saved lives he died in 1865 still ridiculed for his stance on hand washing!

It's amazing how one small act made all the difference in the lives of countless women and children.  Doctors took a few moments to wash their hands and lives were saved!  It's interesting to me that people are dying all around us; not just outside but inside the church.  So many lives could be saved if we would just wash.  A few moments in God's Word everyday would help to cleanse our minds and our hands.  Ephesians 5:26 reads, "to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,".  The Word cleanses us!  It definitely cleanses us in the early stages of our relationship with Jesus because Romans 10:17  says, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." But it doesn't end there!  God's word cleanses us daily!  Spending just a few moments in God's Word every day can be the difference between life and death.  Be washed, be clean and live!

James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

1. Do you see the difference in your life when you don't read God's Word versus when you do?

2. Do you have a set time to read the Bible everyday?

3. Pick a time everyday that will be your time with God and His Word.

4. Tell someone about your commitment.

Loved beyond measure.

I just heard about a child that was born without a brain.  The more unbelievable fact is that the child lived.  Even more so, is the fact that the child is two years old!  The little boy's brain stem is intact which controls his breathing and the basic activities of life, but he does little else. Sometimes his arm will flail and the family holds out hope that he's learning to wave.  The reason they hold out hope is there are some brain cells on the stem, so it's hard to say what he is capable of or not. 

 

Do you want to know something almost as amazing?  The child is adopted.  His birth parents did not feel that they could handle the stress of raising a child that could not function on the lowest levels and could die at any time.  So a family that has a reputation for foster-parenting children like this boy, took him in and eventually adopted him! Amazing, they knew his struggles, knew what lay ahead and still took him in.  According to a friend that has met the family, they shower love on him, though often with little response.  The boy that was unwanted became wanted and loved beyond measure.

As I listened to this amazing story, I was hit between the eyes by the fact that this child's story is not so different from my own.  I seemingly had nothing to offer, was unlovable in the eyes of many and yet still I was loved.  Jesus looked at my sin-filled life and in spite of what I had done he looked to who I could be.  His child!  He adopted me, took me into his family and made me one of his own. He showers love on me though I can never repay Him or truly give back to Him like he's given to me.  It's good to know that there is still hope for the unwanted.

Read:      Romans  5:8;   Galatians 4:4-7