The Clothers...

Is Christianity Mind Control?

I've been thinking a lot about engaging and encouraging intelligent thought, especially in context with Christianity.

Some would claim Christianity is mind control, a system of beliefs and behaviors that are repeatedly pressed into us on Sunday mornings and reinforced through peer pressure. And in many cases they would be right. If we allow it to be.

I read a quote this morning that went something like this: "Most Christians treat the Bible like a software license. They never read it, they simply scroll to the bottom and click "I agree.""

Others might tend to treat the Bible as a cookbook, following each chapter and verse carefully to produce the "right" result, without pulling back and pressing into the context and intent of the assembly of these inspired writings.

Where I see God truly transforming Christ followers is where minds are open and engaged in who God is and His ways, and we have our own God experiences every day, not simply at church on Sunday.

I think when we live with open minds, curious and free as Christ Followers to explore our Creator, His creation and our part in it, we can experience the abundant life John 10:10 talks about. When we trust that God's Truth will overpower errant beliefs through the power of the Holy Spirit in our life and the lives of our fellow Christ Followers, we can have an open dialogue about our growth, development, and positive impact on the world around us.

I think that's what God was up to when his Son came to free us from sin and the law and call us to transformed minds in Romans 12:

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Is Christianity mind control? Only if you let it be, just like anything else in life when we allow others to think for us.

The Word of God is alive and active (Heb. 4:12), we just need to be alive and active in it and in Him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What shoes are you wearing right now?

"I wear a lot of different hats..." We hear that expression from time to time as people shift between priorities in their life.

I was talking with our friend Krispin Mayfield the other day, and he suggested that maybe instead of hats we could talk about wearing a lot of different shoes.

He and his wife have chosen a life of simplicity and live among the poor in the midwest as ministry. They walk in the shoes of the poor in and amongst their other activities and other shoes they wear...

Shoes are typically where we and our physical journey meet with the full force of our body, our stride, and our activity. Hats, for the most part, just sit there on our head without a lot of wear and tear other than from being taken off and on. 

When I visited pulp mills as an engineer, I garnered respect in part because my steel toed boots were all beat up. The guys working out in the mill knew I had done more than just taken a tour, I had worked beside them on the floor.

I had a neighbor who retired at 42 after a very successful sales career. One of his secrets to success was he wore shoes that matched those of the clients he was meeting with so they would relate to him.

And today, I suppose I wear a lot of different shoes in my journey with those around me as an ambassador for Christ.

Sometimes I have my good neighbor shoes on as we run into folks passing by and are all dirty from working on our house and yard.  Sometimes I have my community shoes on as I walk the streets and alleys of our city and show up at downtown events.

Sometimes I have my pastor shoes on as I stop in our park to talk with someone sleeping on the sidewalk. Sometimes I have my boss shoes on as I tackle issues that are holding our team back from success.

Sometimes I have my husband shoes on as I seek to love my wife the way Christ loves the Church.

And then there are some times I don't want to wear a particular pair of shoes that I know I'm called to wear because of the difficult road I know I must travel in them.

Shoes are where the rubber meets the road. Shoes are where ideas turn into reality. Shoes are where responsibility turns into action.

What shoes has God called you to wear?

 

 

Love your neighbor whether you see them or not

Life on the streets is hard. Some are there by circumstances or poor choices, others like their indepedence or are hiding from the law. Some want help, others do not.

This last week we discovered the bed roll and belongings of someone who was sleeping on the flat roof of our administrative offices. It's actually a pretty smart place to hide away for the night. Amongst their belongings was drug paraphernalia.

Our admin offices are a mile from our rescue mission and two blocks from my house. The park nearby often has a few homeless folks hanging out, cooking at the BBQ's, or napping on the lawn.

I walk past the park everyday on my way to and from the office, greeting those along my path; Some are neighbors on their porches, others are families on the lawn in the park, and others yet are hardened folks who've been "camping" on the streets for a while, gathered at one of the picnic tables with backpacks, and bikes if they have them.

Back at the office, the question came up as to what to do with the things we found on the roof. We don't want people climbing up there, let along setting up camp. If the party were to grow, who knows what would happen and who would get hurt. So leaving things alone didn't make sense.

We could... throw it in the dumpster. After all its stuff left on our property with who knows what in it... Or we could place it nearby in the park to allow the unknown person to reclaim it with the risk of others pilphering through it... Or we could ask around in the park to see if anyone knows who owns it... Or we could store it and leave a note with instructions for how to reclaim it (drugs and all, I suppose).

What would you do? Through this process, I realized the decision probably had more weight to me than others, because I walk by the park each day and the person sleeping on our roof may full well be watching me each time I pass. But should that matter?

Jesus tells us to love our neighbor. And I wonder, do we express love to those we see each day more easily than those we have a chance meeting with, or may never actually see at all?

How do we treat the guy who cuts us off on the freeway, the waitress that's rude, the person who takes our parking space or our place in line? The homeless person pushing their cart down the sidewalk? What do our actions communicate to those who are watching but we may never see at all?

Something to think about.

As for how we handled the person on the roof. That story is still unfolding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Are God's Potatoes

Give 100 people in a room each a potatoe and ask them to study it for one minute. Throw the potatoes all in a pile, and send each person looking for theirs. Everyone will end up reunited with their potatoe. Amazing.

Peel the potatoes, and it's much harder.  Mash them, and its game over.

 I realized the other day, that I was not just forgetting the names  of people I had met recently, but I wasn't remembering their faces.

That's a symptom of moving too fast, of people looking like a pile of potatoes, maybe even mashed potatoes, to me. I need to slow down and really invest time, even just one focused minute, with the people I meet; much more with the people I do life with.

I have to admit, some times my Latino neighbors all look the same to me, brown people with black hair; brown and black mashed potatoes. It's because I haven't stopped long enough to gaze into each person's face and take in their uniqueness, to learn their name, as difficult as it can be to communicate sometimes.

I'm glad God sees us as individuals. Check out Psalm 139 here. He created us as individuals to be known and loved and to love Him. He doesn't want us to all be mashed potatoes in the name of Jesus, he doesn't even want us to peel off all our distinctive traits. He wants us to be be potatoes in His pile for His purposes. And He can pick each one of us out of the pile!

What do people look like to you? Are you taking the time with the potatoes God brings into your life? Are you letting others see the real potatoe in you? Are you comfortable in your own skin before God and others?

 

 

Rubber Band Ball

Three years ago, as we settled into our new home in Oxnard, I began a rubber band ball with the rubber bands that came around most of our daily papers. It was a mere novelty at first.

Then some days when I found myself frustrated that I hadn't accomplished more, I found satisfaction in adding one more rubber band to my little rubber band ball.

Although seemingly insignificant, I was aware of each little contribution I had made. I joked with my co-workers about how when I didn't feel I was making a difference in my work, at least I could add a rubber band and feel I'd gotten something done that day.

More recently, as I add rubber bands to my growing rubber band ball, I realize that everyday we have a choice to do something small that matters. And even though it doesn't seem to make a difference today, the little things add up. 

The little things make a big difference, even if we can't see or feel it in the moment. The little things define our character. The little things demonstrate our love. 

How are you adding to your rubber band ball?

 

 

Reflection

As I was driving the other day, I was thinking about my need for reflection, for looking back.

I need time after events, conversations, books, and the like to reflect, to absorb, to process and learn, otherwise my experiences just drop out of sight with little or no consequence, or even memory for that matter!

Cameras are nice for capturing some things, so I take a lot of pictures, and reflect on them later.

Here are some thoughts that come to mind about reflecting:

Harry Nielsson wrote a song suggesting "Life is just a memory." Think about it. So much of who we know ourselves to be is what we remember.

When we stop to reflect, we allow our experiences to be absorbed, to become a part of us, or be shaken off if they shouldn't be a part of us.

When we stop to reflect, we have time to remember who and what are most important to us, and who and what are not.

When we stop to reflect, we can recount things that didn't work out so we don't repeat mistakes. We may also realize we ran over someone, and need to go back and help them back up.

Every once in a while I hear someone misuse Phillipians 3:13 "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead" as an excuse to plow ahead without dealing with the past. It makes me a little nutty.

We musn't allow ourselves to be defined by our past (what Paul is speaking about here), but we sure can learn from it and allow it to shape us for a better future, and in turn help shape others.

Are you moving too fast to truly value and absorb what's important to you? Are you running ahead to avoid dealing with the past?

 

 

We can't help them if they're dead.

Yesterday we were talking on how to offer refuge to the hungry, hurting, and homeless through our rescue missions without enabling or fueling a sense of entitlement among those we serve. We want to help our guests with "next steps," not just the means to continue to survive day to day.

And then this morning I woke up to read today's paper; to find that one of our chronically homeless women in the neighborhood had been strangled to death just down the street. A 42 year old woman with problems. Problems that now will never be solved this side of death.

And I stopped in my tracks.

I've been thinking so hard about how we want to help people move forward, that I momentarily lost sight of the need for them to survive their situation to be able to receive help.

I am thrilled that our women's shelter here in Oxnard will always take in a woman, no matter her condition, because it's simply not safe on the streets at night. They offer a safe place and a loving touch.

And now I'm working my way back through my thoughts on how we help people on the streets. First to survive, then to come to grips with their problems and deal with them, and ultimately find release to a new life. Our hope, a new life in Jesus.

But remembering again, first they have to survive.

Is there someone in your life that just needs help surviving right now?

Someone that just needs a safe place to just be? A loving touch?

 

In or Out Feels Like the Wrong Question...

Do I have to be baptized to be saved?

What if I don't go to church regularly? Read my Bible? Pray? Love my neighbor? What if I still sin? What if it's a really bad sin?

I feel like often times we are trying to figure out where the line is so we are just inside of it rather than enjoying the fullness of the lives God has called us to.

Do we really want to follow Jesus, or are we trying to figure out just how close to the line we can get?

I love what my friend Phil Graf said the other day.

"I don't pray asking God to help me want to follow Him more. I ask Him to help me want to want to." Think about it...

Do we believe Jesus is who He said He was, and has that taken over who we are?

Are we talking about who Jesus is, or experiencing who Jesus is?

Is the world around us experiencing who Jesus is through us?

Paul wrote the following to the church at Corinth:

"For the love of Christ controls us...

... if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation...

...we are ambassadors for Christ..."

(2 Corinthians 5:14-21)

 How close to the line are you living?

Life Transformation. What is the cost?

I ran across the adjacent opportunity on Union Rescue Mission's web site. These guy do great work on LA's skid row. You can learn more here: URM

While the opportunity here is to sponsor someone's mission program journey to a new life, it got me to thinking. What is the cost of life transformation?

Ephesians 2:8-9 says " For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."

We have been given a no cost invitation into God's family through His Son Jesus. You can't work your way into the family, only accept the invitation.

But what about life transformation? I suppose it depends on how you define it. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Cor 5:17). So we become a new creation in Christ. That's certainly transformation...

But what about growth and development? Does it just happen when we accept the invitation into God's family?

Galatians 5:22-25 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."

And there it is. A wonderful description of a transformed life. And a simple explanation of the cost. "Keep in step with the Spirit."

Open and available to God's desires for us, not our own.

Open to the thought that a transformed life is not what we do, but what we allow God to do in and through us.

Ephesians 2:10 "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

What cost will we accept for a transformed life? Will we "crucify the flesh with its passions and desires?" or prefer to be tossed to and fro by the broken values of a fallen world?

 

 

Is Jesus who he said he was?

As I survey the miriad of churches, denominations, and faith traditions that surround Jesus, I have to pull back a bit to the central figure of the good news. Jesus.

Not questioning whether we will go to heaven or hell if we believe in Him or not. Not questioning whether we will live in peace and love with or without Him, but is He who he said he was?

Evidence That Demands a Verdict, The Case for Christ, and any number of books and people have applied themselves to this question, many ultimately concluding Jesus is the Son of God. He's the only religious figure out there who proved His divinity in resurrection. And most of the evidence seems to clearly support this.

But I guess anything is arguable for us humans, until we've experienced it.

Does the Washington Monument really exist? Yes, I've touched it.

The Great Pyramids? Seen them in lots of movies and pictures. I'm pretty sure they're real.

Did we really land on the moon, or was it done in a movie studio? I don't know. I think we did... but we did declare in 1961 that we'd put a man on the moon before the end of the decade (to keep pace with or beat the Russians' technological development) and it was July of 1969 when we met the goal. Pretty close to the deadline. Sounds suspicious...

Is Jesus who he said he was? Well, a lot of people who were there in person when he walked the earth died for telling others he is. No photos or movies, but a movement that spread like a virus ensued. Something sure happened.

I only know, that in spite of any debate, my personal experience with Jesus is real to me. I have touched Him, and He has touched me. And everything else falls into place from there. Forget all the debateable theologies, here's what Jesus said (John 12:47):

“If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world."

Who is Jesus to you? Someone you'd listen to? Believe? Do you believe Jesus is who he said he was?