Having a great week in God's great creation at BSA Scout camp with my youngest son!

Scout Oath (or Promise)

On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.

What is your burden?

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
   who daily bears our burdens. 
Our God is a God who saves;
   from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.
Psalms 68:19-20 (NIV)

God does not bear our burdens, occasionally. We don't have to wait in line or make a request via email, fax or in writing. He started working in our lives before we knew we needed him and before we even asked! He daily bears our burdens.

His work in our lives is on a daily basis. Salvation's work is every day. It isn't a once at the altar, once at the pearly gates deal. Salvation is God working in us every day. Maybe I don't see, understand or like what God is doing, but he is still working. Christ Jesus always lives to intercede for us. 

What is your burden today? What is the death that God is leading you to escape? He is Sovereign which means he has ultimate power over everything. He works everything out for the good of those love him. Look to God because he is looking after you.

Father, open our eyes to see your salvation working in our lives. Praise be to you in us today!

Fear and Legalism vs Love and Freedom

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:16-18 (NIV)

I have worked with two different kind of bosses/leaders. One is the person who leads by fear, the other by calm competency. I am sure you can relate. 

I have worked mostly in construction, restaurants and education. When I think of a "by fear" boss I think of one in particular who may have been, for me, the prototypical tyrant boss. He told me that if I didn't walk around with a pit in my stomach worried that something could go wrong then I didn't care and would not be ready for something that could go wrong. Consequently he would run around yelling at people, making up stuff to be upset about, accusing people of not working hard and generally just trying to make everyone work in a constant state of fear to "keep us on our toes". The real effect was that he was very distracting making people pay attention to a possible problem rather than dealing with the situations at hand. Thus creating more mistakes and problems which he would just yell about. 

The calm, competent people who I have worked with in a moment of crisis calmly identified the issue and resources and dealt with the problem at hand. I have seen this type of leadership deal with a house built one foot too tall, cooks and food servers not showing up at a restaurant (plus various disasters dealing with food), and anything from angry parents who want to deal out justice by themselves to fights and on campus turf wars. Calm and steady leadership always keeps things in perspective and seeks to resolve the issue with the minimum amount of damage. 

As Christians if we live under fear we are not free to love. Often we are afraid of being hurt, or of hurting others. Most of the time people make up rules to not get hurt. That usually ends up being legalism. For example, we fear the damage of alcoholism so we add to the word of God and say, "No alcohol." So, if someone has one drink, they are in sin or disqualified from leadership and condemnation keeps them free from being able to love. To be frank, I have seen a lot of people who didn't drink, dance, smoke or run with those who do (some of you older folks may remember that), cheat on their wives, lie, and do some pretty sinful things. Being afraid doesn't always stop you from being hurt or sinning.   

Loving God and my wife keeps me from being unfaithful more than being afraid of being caught. Love causes me to view everyone with humility and grace. People don't need my attention, they need Christ's love. So if I interact with another women (and as an educator I often do) I deal with her with respect and distance. Because I love my God and my wife I am not going to put myself in a place,  physically or emotionally, that will produce intimacy. I also realize I am an emotional moron. A woman's emotional language is on a graduate school level and I am in elementary school (probably kindergarten). Someone once told me that if a women talks to you about "a problem" and you can't identify  it and start to work on a solution in three minutes, she doesn't have a problem, she just wants to talk to you. 

Love is not afraid to do the right thing, to give of yourself or to allow others to freely enjoy what God has provided for them. Our faith in the love of God in Christ trusts that he is sovereign over our attempts to be like him and love in his Name. Try to love like Christ. 

Father, help us to be like Christ and love with the perfect love that casts out fear. Praise be to you in us today!

Love Is Not a Warm Fuzzy

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 4:12 (NIV)

"Love one another". What an iconic phrase, something we hear all the time. You see it on mugs, Facebook, Twitter and hear it in sermons and worship songs all the time. It has become what I call a warm-fuzzy phrase. It feels good to say but it's hard to do. In a way we have heard it so much that we are kind of immune to it's real meaning and true intent.

When it matters is when real love is needed to deal with the hurt and injuries inflicted by sin and our sinful, selfish ways of dealing with each other. Real, Christlike love is sacrificial, do what needs to be done, love. The writer of Hebrews said, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Emphasis mine.) Jesus was not feeling all warm and fuzzy on the cross, he was experiencing all the pain, separation and rejection of our sins. That is the love John is talking about when he says to love one another. 

If you are married, you know that it isn't a warm fuzzy that gets you through sometimes. Dying to yourself, forgiving a wrong that your spouse can not see or acknowledge, is what makes a godly marriage work. All relationships need Christlike love to make them work. 

How do you need to love today?

Father, thank you for your love for us in Christ, what he endured on the cross so that we may be your children. Help us to love one another like you loved us. Praise be to you in us today!

The Enemy Gets a Victory, Not the Victory

I knew something was amiss when an assistant pastor read Psalm 51. Not a few verses, all of Psalm 51 and asked the congregation to really think about what the verses meant. The enemy had a victory. One of the leaders sinned and was resigning. 

A marriage, a family, people, a ministry all decimated by sin, by the actions of people, real people. I can't imagine the depth of pain, betrayal and loss his wife is experiencing. That she chose to forgive and try to work through this has got to be one of the single greatest examples of love, forgiveness and grace I have ever seen. 

I called a friend of mine who I have known a long time and we have been through a lot, seen a lot and worked through a lot. We talked at least an hour. Sometimes it's not about pointing out the sin because that is obvious. Sometimes it's just about connecting in Christ.

Passion, like all emotions can be a two-edged sword. Unfortunately many people do not realize that a person who has a passion to serve Christ, see people come to know him as Savior and Lord, and then shepherd them to growth in Christ, is a passionate person. I think lust is uncontrolled and unconcerned passion. Pastor's can be easy prey for the enemy because they are passionate people. Some people might think that pastors, priests and preachers are almost immune to passionate desires and lust. No, they are human and just like everyone else. Here's a question or two: Who do you talk to when you are dealing with passion, temptation? Who can your pastor talk to? 

I hope to be able to help in some way. I think my relationship with him was just a bit beyond acquaintance because we were only able to talk a few times. But, if I can I will walk along side to help. In the battle for our faith, it is a loss. The enemy won a battle. Not the war, a battle. The war still rages. We fight on in faith, battling with mercy, grace and forgiveness. 

Father, may your grace abound. Praise be to you in us today.

Do You Have a Forgiveness Plan?

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 4:10-12 (NIV)

Sometimes perspective is everything. Seeing God's love only from the time we encounter him is just a partial picture of the reality of his love for us in Christ. 

I first saw my wife while greeting at church. I saw her come in a week or so later and thought maybe she might go by the church bookstore after the service. So, I went by there to "look at some books" after church and lo and behold she came in with a friend. I made my way over to her and struck up a conversation, trying to not look to obvious. 

After we had dated for awhile she shared with me her perspective. Apparently she told a long time friend of hers that she had see this guy who smiled at her funny or something at church. They decided that I might drop by the book store and guess what? I was there.

If we only think of our relationship with God from the time we first were confronted with the gospel we won't fully appreciate the depth of his love for us. God loved us before the beginning of time, before we were even a twinkle in our mama's eye, before we loved him. Here's the other part of the equation we often overlook. He knew we would rebel and sin so, he planned for it and chose to send his Son to die for our sins. 

We all are sinners. Everybody sins. We all hurt each other. Since God deals with our sin in foresight, knowing he will have to forgive us, we should do the same for each other. Do you get that? Plan to be forgiving. Know you will have to be forgiven. Remember, in Christ God has forgiven you. 

Father, thank you that even though you knew we would rebel and sin against you chose to send your Son Jesus Christ to die for the sins we would commit. Help us to love each other in the same way. Praise be to you in us today!

Know That You Know God

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 

1 John 4:7-9 (NIV)

Lately people like to make a heart with two hands. Even soccer/futbol players did it after they scored a goal at the World Cup. As a guy I find it amusing that women love to post stuff about love. Love is this love is that. Love, to many people is a super strong urge or emotion (warm fuzzy) that compels them to attach themselves emotionally to another person and look to them for emotional fulfillment. 

I love my wife and have pretty strong emotions for her. But, if I only loved her when I felt like it our marriage would of failed a long time ago. I learned pretty quickly that love was about choice. Love is giving when I don't particularly feel like. If you know God and know his love you understand the depths of love, true love, what the Bible calls agape love. It is beyond friendship. It is beyond erotic physical love. It is love by choice, love by action. 

My wife kind of got upset with me one time because she noticed that I had written down on my planner to send her a note or buy her a little gift to let her know I loved her. I know she wanted spontaneous but, knowing that spontaneous doesn't do well with busy I chose to make sure I did something to love her. Let me tell you, sometimes the thought doesn't count, only an action will do. You know, actions speak louder than words. 

If we know God, says John, we love. If you don't love, you don't know God. We know what love is like because the love that God has for us was demonstrated by sending his only Son into the world that we might live through him. Get it? Love is giving. Love is action, serving others. 

Father, help us to love not just in word but in our actions. Open our understanding see the opportunities to love you place before us today.  Praise be to you in us today!