Why does my mind work like this?
So I was pumping gas the other night, filling my work truck at the diesel pump when I noticed a moth freaking out. It was on the ground spinning around, all out of control. Maybe it was cuz it was late, I dunno but I watched him for a while. He just kept flying around in circles, frantically. After a minute or so I thought: “Man, he must be getting dizzy. How is he even doing that?” So my CSI mind started racing. Maybe one of his wings is broken and he’s trying to fly but just keeps going in circles. That was a possibility.
Then I thought: “maybe the light is confusing him.” We all know that moths are attracted to the light. So, I like science and stuff like this so I tried a little experiment. The light at the pump was up high so I moved my leg over till the shadow moved over the moth. And he stopped! I moved my leg back and he just sat there for a minute and then flew off. This set my mind going. That poor moth was spinning, toiling in the light until the shadow of my leg passed over him. He then got his bearings and could fly off again.
Sometimes in life we get spun around, disoriented and confused by the world around us. We spin out of control, unable to move. Psalm 36:7 says “How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.” When we go through those times, sometimes all we need to do is rest in his shadow. There is peace, rest and comfort in the shadow of God’s protection. Like that moth, we only need that moment of clarity and we can get our bearings and take off again.
So if you feel like you’re spinning aimlessly and unable to right your own compass, take shelter for a moment under the wings of your loving Creator. And stay away from gas pump lights!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Thursday, March 19, 2009
So I’m writing my second book. I really enjoyed writing the first one. It all came together very quickly. It’s called “Defy The Darkness” in case you’ve never heard me trying to peddle it to everyone. This new one is tentatively called “So Much More Than Worthless”. The basic premise is: Find your worth in God’s eyes, not man’s. We as Christians are very good at seeing with worldly eyes. And yet God does not see what the world sees. He sees the worth that lies within a person. Something that we struggle with, even as Christians. It’s something that’s near and dear to my heart as it’s a major stumbling block to people feeling like we are not being judgmental. Here’s the first chapter.
Chapter 1
Worth-full
Where does your worth lie? Is it in your friends? Is it in how others perceive you? Is it by what you offer? If I asked you “What is your worth?”, how would you answer? My guess is that it would depend upon who’s eyes you’re looking through. Because perception is everything. What you may be may not be what people see. It’s how they perceive you that determines what they think your worth is. But what they see may not be what is in your heart. Because, let’s face it… people’s perception is not always that clear. We are tainted creatures. Our perception can be affected by our opinions.
So does that doom us to a lifetime of worry as to how others perceive us? That can make for a schizophrenic life. Your worth would fluctuate at the whims of those whom you are seeking approval from. Approval addiction plagues not only our teens but most people in general. So how do you maintain your worth in such an oscillating environment? It all depends upon who’s approval you are seeking.
What if you look a little different? What if you don’t act quite like everyone else? What if you are small? What if you have been ostracized by others because of something you went through? What if you are ‘damaged goods’? And try as you might, change as you might, you cannot make people change their perception of who you are… on the inside. What you are worth.
Our hope rests in the possibility that somehow, somewhere, someone can look past all that they think you might be and see you for who you are. And there is One who can do such a thing. One who doesn’t care about your purple hair, your ripped jeans, your lost innocence, your imperfection. There is One who, if you seek only His approval and care only about His perception of the real you, can be secure in your worth. Because man may look on the outward appearance, but God looks at your heart. And it is in Him that you find your worth. For in Him, there is no misperception of who you are, there is no misconception… there is no popular opinion. There is only His opinion. That is where your worth lays. And you are of great worth to Him. How do I know? His faithfulness and reading of others that have come face to face with Him gives us a glimpse.
Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying to seek the approval of anyone in any church. Christians and Christ are different things entirely (I’m sorry to say) We’ve got it wrong. It pains me to say it, actually. Human beings are very good at getting it wrong. Forgive me for my bluntness, but for all the “What Would Jesus Do?” bracelets, and Christian paraphernalia, have we missed what it means to see with the eyes of Jesus? Have we been blinded by our religiosity that we do not have the ability to see as Jesus saw; to look at the world through the eyes of Jesus. When we see a troubled teen, do we see the soul that Jesus died to save or do we see someone that we should try to correct? When we see the girl with the low cut shirt flirting with the guys that only see them as an object to attain and use, do we see their value in the eyes of Christ? Do we tell them how valuable they are to Christ and that they don’t need to act or dress like that to gain the love or attention of her heavenly Father? Or do we condescendingly look down at them and mutter under our breath; “What a slut. Clean yourself up and go to church.”
What about the people in our churches that don’t quite look like the rest? What about the youngster that has rips in his jeans and piercings in his face? Do we see them as dear children of God or second class Christians? Do we see them as Jesus would see them? I am inclined to think “no”. Oh we may say that everyone is welcome in our churches, but what we really are saying is “You are welcome here but your worship is not, unless you change how you look.”
I’m afraid that our churches have become Christian country clubs. Places where you must look and act a certain way before being accepted. Again, we may say that everyone is welcome, but with the beautiful, polished and refined suit of the pastor, to the suits worn by the men and the dresses worn by the women, to the manicured carpeting that no one would dare bring a drink of coffee into for fear of staining it… are we really all that welcoming of everyone? Or is it that we are welcoming of everyone that we feel would fit into the socially acceptable group of citizens that grace our buildings? When did it become the church’s responsibility to govern what is socially acceptable attire? Of course there are biblical reasons for women not dressing provocatively, I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the church deciding what is socially acceptable, with no biblical basis for their condemnation.
Show me one place where Jesus refused worship from anyone. Whores, despicable business men, lepers, these are the people that worshipped him. These are the people He came to save. When Jesus came to the temple at the beginning of his ministry he read from Isaiah 61:1-2,
“ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim
good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Where have we gone wrong? Is the modern church reverted back to the days of when Paul wrote to the Galatian church? Warning them to beware of the Judaisers; Jews who went along behind the apostles and taught that faith alone was not enough. That you had to add the rules of the law to faith, adhere to certain laws of the Jews in order to be accepted by God. And yet we have churches that are trying so hard to appear polished and beautiful so they are appealing to the polished, beautiful people. They shine their product up and wouldn’t think of allowing that pierced, tattooed young man to be up front singing a song of worship. What would people think? That’s not the image they want to portray. But aren’t these the ones Jesus came to save?
I know all about the argument: “well we should give Jesus our best, and that includes how we dress.” Show me where that is in the Bible. Show me where it is written. Show me where the acceptable dress for worship is outlined. Or perhaps is it cultural? Is it perhaps a social standard and not a biblical standard? I was told once, “Well you have to wear a certain type of clothing when you go work or at school.” Well the church is not a school nor is it a place of work. It is a place of worship. The church is not an organization, it is an organism. The Church of Jesus Christ is much more diversified than you might think.
If the Bible is true in that we all have been blessed with certain spiritual gifts at the time of our salvation, then wouldn’t it be worthy of using every person’s gift? We are all unique. We all have our own stories, pasts and gifts to offer the kingdom, but when you try to mold each person into the same mold then you reach only one type of person and you alienate all the others. I know that man looks on the outward appearance, but if God looks on the heart then shouldn’t we also? Shouldn’t we be encouraging our congregations to not be like the world and be more like Jesus? Shouldn’t we be encouraging them to spend more time making sure their hearts are right with God rather than making sure that they are dressed how society would deem appropriate? Shouldn’t we be teaching them to see with Jesus’ eyes?
What would our world look like if we had Jesus’ eyes for a day? Would it change anything? Would it change how we see others, perhaps those ones we’ve written off? Let’s try it. Let’s pray for one day that Jesus would give us His eyes. That we would see the world around us, that we would see people, every person, through the eyes of Jesus. And then see what would change. That’s what Jesus did. We’d be wise to do the same.
And if you are one of those people that maybe have felt like an outcast… let me assure you that you are not worthless in the eyes of God. You are ‘worthfull’… if that’s actually a word. How do I know? Let’s look together in these next chapters at all of those in the Bible that you might think were worthless. Let’s look at what God thought of their hearts. God saw some worth in there. So much so that he has special names for them. He sees them (and us) so differently that He has come up with a name for us… a name that we will receive from him when we see him face to face.
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”
Revelation 2:17
If we are to take that literally, that is, that it’s not merely some fanciful metaphor meant to conjure up gushy emotions, then what exactly will that name be? What word will be etched on that alabaster stone? What word is on the stone you carry now? Oh, you don’t think you are carrying one now? I beg to differ.
If the white stone is carved with the name God has for you then the black stone you carry now is the one engraved with the name the world has said you are. Or worse… it’s what you’ve allowed the people in your world to convince you that you are.
Loser. Drunk. Adulterer. Punk. Murderer. Broken. Shipwrecked. Worthless. What’s on your stone? The Bible is full of stories of people who are the very worst of the world and yet they gave God those old black stones and traded them in for the white stone we read of in Revelation 2:17. So look at the stone in your hand. Rub your fingers over the writing for the last time. You don’t need it anymore. For you don’t need to hold on to it any more. Turn it in. Leave it at the blood soaked stones at the foot of the cross. Jesus didn’t give up his life, enter hell and defeat evil and death for those whom he thinks are worthless.
Worth-full
Where does your worth lie? Is it in your friends? Is it in how others perceive you? Is it by what you offer? If I asked you “What is your worth?”, how would you answer? My guess is that it would depend upon who’s eyes you’re looking through. Because perception is everything. What you may be may not be what people see. It’s how they perceive you that determines what they think your worth is. But what they see may not be what is in your heart. Because, let’s face it… people’s perception is not always that clear. We are tainted creatures. Our perception can be affected by our opinions.
So does that doom us to a lifetime of worry as to how others perceive us? That can make for a schizophrenic life. Your worth would fluctuate at the whims of those whom you are seeking approval from. Approval addiction plagues not only our teens but most people in general. So how do you maintain your worth in such an oscillating environment? It all depends upon who’s approval you are seeking.
What if you look a little different? What if you don’t act quite like everyone else? What if you are small? What if you have been ostracized by others because of something you went through? What if you are ‘damaged goods’? And try as you might, change as you might, you cannot make people change their perception of who you are… on the inside. What you are worth.
Our hope rests in the possibility that somehow, somewhere, someone can look past all that they think you might be and see you for who you are. And there is One who can do such a thing. One who doesn’t care about your purple hair, your ripped jeans, your lost innocence, your imperfection. There is One who, if you seek only His approval and care only about His perception of the real you, can be secure in your worth. Because man may look on the outward appearance, but God looks at your heart. And it is in Him that you find your worth. For in Him, there is no misperception of who you are, there is no misconception… there is no popular opinion. There is only His opinion. That is where your worth lays. And you are of great worth to Him. How do I know? His faithfulness and reading of others that have come face to face with Him gives us a glimpse.
Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying to seek the approval of anyone in any church. Christians and Christ are different things entirely (I’m sorry to say) We’ve got it wrong. It pains me to say it, actually. Human beings are very good at getting it wrong. Forgive me for my bluntness, but for all the “What Would Jesus Do?” bracelets, and Christian paraphernalia, have we missed what it means to see with the eyes of Jesus? Have we been blinded by our religiosity that we do not have the ability to see as Jesus saw; to look at the world through the eyes of Jesus. When we see a troubled teen, do we see the soul that Jesus died to save or do we see someone that we should try to correct? When we see the girl with the low cut shirt flirting with the guys that only see them as an object to attain and use, do we see their value in the eyes of Christ? Do we tell them how valuable they are to Christ and that they don’t need to act or dress like that to gain the love or attention of her heavenly Father? Or do we condescendingly look down at them and mutter under our breath; “What a slut. Clean yourself up and go to church.”
What about the people in our churches that don’t quite look like the rest? What about the youngster that has rips in his jeans and piercings in his face? Do we see them as dear children of God or second class Christians? Do we see them as Jesus would see them? I am inclined to think “no”. Oh we may say that everyone is welcome in our churches, but what we really are saying is “You are welcome here but your worship is not, unless you change how you look.”
I’m afraid that our churches have become Christian country clubs. Places where you must look and act a certain way before being accepted. Again, we may say that everyone is welcome, but with the beautiful, polished and refined suit of the pastor, to the suits worn by the men and the dresses worn by the women, to the manicured carpeting that no one would dare bring a drink of coffee into for fear of staining it… are we really all that welcoming of everyone? Or is it that we are welcoming of everyone that we feel would fit into the socially acceptable group of citizens that grace our buildings? When did it become the church’s responsibility to govern what is socially acceptable attire? Of course there are biblical reasons for women not dressing provocatively, I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the church deciding what is socially acceptable, with no biblical basis for their condemnation.
Show me one place where Jesus refused worship from anyone. Whores, despicable business men, lepers, these are the people that worshipped him. These are the people He came to save. When Jesus came to the temple at the beginning of his ministry he read from Isaiah 61:1-2,
“ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim
good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Where have we gone wrong? Is the modern church reverted back to the days of when Paul wrote to the Galatian church? Warning them to beware of the Judaisers; Jews who went along behind the apostles and taught that faith alone was not enough. That you had to add the rules of the law to faith, adhere to certain laws of the Jews in order to be accepted by God. And yet we have churches that are trying so hard to appear polished and beautiful so they are appealing to the polished, beautiful people. They shine their product up and wouldn’t think of allowing that pierced, tattooed young man to be up front singing a song of worship. What would people think? That’s not the image they want to portray. But aren’t these the ones Jesus came to save?
I know all about the argument: “well we should give Jesus our best, and that includes how we dress.” Show me where that is in the Bible. Show me where it is written. Show me where the acceptable dress for worship is outlined. Or perhaps is it cultural? Is it perhaps a social standard and not a biblical standard? I was told once, “Well you have to wear a certain type of clothing when you go work or at school.” Well the church is not a school nor is it a place of work. It is a place of worship. The church is not an organization, it is an organism. The Church of Jesus Christ is much more diversified than you might think.
If the Bible is true in that we all have been blessed with certain spiritual gifts at the time of our salvation, then wouldn’t it be worthy of using every person’s gift? We are all unique. We all have our own stories, pasts and gifts to offer the kingdom, but when you try to mold each person into the same mold then you reach only one type of person and you alienate all the others. I know that man looks on the outward appearance, but if God looks on the heart then shouldn’t we also? Shouldn’t we be encouraging our congregations to not be like the world and be more like Jesus? Shouldn’t we be encouraging them to spend more time making sure their hearts are right with God rather than making sure that they are dressed how society would deem appropriate? Shouldn’t we be teaching them to see with Jesus’ eyes?
What would our world look like if we had Jesus’ eyes for a day? Would it change anything? Would it change how we see others, perhaps those ones we’ve written off? Let’s try it. Let’s pray for one day that Jesus would give us His eyes. That we would see the world around us, that we would see people, every person, through the eyes of Jesus. And then see what would change. That’s what Jesus did. We’d be wise to do the same.
And if you are one of those people that maybe have felt like an outcast… let me assure you that you are not worthless in the eyes of God. You are ‘worthfull’… if that’s actually a word. How do I know? Let’s look together in these next chapters at all of those in the Bible that you might think were worthless. Let’s look at what God thought of their hearts. God saw some worth in there. So much so that he has special names for them. He sees them (and us) so differently that He has come up with a name for us… a name that we will receive from him when we see him face to face.
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”
Revelation 2:17
If we are to take that literally, that is, that it’s not merely some fanciful metaphor meant to conjure up gushy emotions, then what exactly will that name be? What word will be etched on that alabaster stone? What word is on the stone you carry now? Oh, you don’t think you are carrying one now? I beg to differ.
If the white stone is carved with the name God has for you then the black stone you carry now is the one engraved with the name the world has said you are. Or worse… it’s what you’ve allowed the people in your world to convince you that you are.
Loser. Drunk. Adulterer. Punk. Murderer. Broken. Shipwrecked. Worthless. What’s on your stone? The Bible is full of stories of people who are the very worst of the world and yet they gave God those old black stones and traded them in for the white stone we read of in Revelation 2:17. So look at the stone in your hand. Rub your fingers over the writing for the last time. You don’t need it anymore. For you don’t need to hold on to it any more. Turn it in. Leave it at the blood soaked stones at the foot of the cross. Jesus didn’t give up his life, enter hell and defeat evil and death for those whom he thinks are worthless.
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