God, You are so awesome. We love and praise You today. David was right: if we were to try to name all of the incredible things You have done, there would be too many for us to mention in our lifetimes. John was right when he wrote that if we tried to write down all that You have done, the world would not be large enough to contain all the books. Solomon was right when he said that the world–the heavens and the earth–cannot contain You. You are too infinite and too all-encompassing for us to ever fully describe or explain Your wonder.

But, O God, like David, like John, like Solomon, and like the angels in Your holy presence, we have to try. We cannot be silent about You. Your wonders demand that we speak; and though our words are totally insufficient, and though eternity itself would not be enough time, we have to speak. We must speak.

God, You are the creating God. You made all things. Nothing that exists in any form, regardless of how large or small, can boast of any origin but You. You made all things by Your sheer wisdom, power and strength. You are the life-giver and the creator. There is none like You.

God, You are the sustainer of all things. Not only do You give all things their existence, You also give them their sustenance. Every particle, every atom, every microscopic and tiny element of matter is held together by You. Our earth’s orbit, the seasons through which we pass, the 24 hours in a day, all are ordained and maintained by You. You are in control, O God, nothing could continue to exist if You were not holding all things together. You are the sustainer of all things. There is none like You.

God, You are the end of all things. You are the goal, the direction, the aim of all history. Every event and every moment of history will be summed up in You. You are drawing all things to their perfect and complete end, their perfect fulfillment in You. History does not run its own course. No event, regardless of size or impact, ever takes place without Your approval. You are moving the world to its perfect and precise conclusion. You are the aim and goal of all things. There is none like You.

God, You are the redeemer of all things. All the world has felt the vicious and deadly effects of sin. All creation slipped from its harmony with You into the chaos we know today because of man’s own rebellion. And yet You did not leave us to die in our sin. You, O God, stepped into the world You created with a plan for salvation. You came with the solution to the world’s problems. You gave Your Son. In doing so, You promised that all creation will be restored to its former glory. You will not let death have the final say. You will forgive and make holy all who will believe in Your name. God, such news is too wonderful for us. It is impossible for us to fully grasp what You have done to free us. God, You are the perfect redeemer of all creation. There is none like You.

O God we love You, we praise you and we bless Your glorious name. There is none like You.

If you are a Christ-follower, know that hostile people are not your enemies. God loves them deeply and we must as well. Here are five ways to respond to spiritually hostile people in your life:

1. Pray. Don’t preach, don’t judge, don’t condemn. Just bring their names before God and let him woo them. I prayed for several this morning.

2. Relationship Over Religion. You don’t need to convert them or show them their sins. That’s not your job. Just love them and try to genuinely be their friend. These are people, not projects. They need to know that you will love them even if they never embrace Christ.

3. Stay out of politics and morality. Political discussions are rarely helpful, especially with someone who associates a political point-of-view with a particular religious world-view. So don’t be drawn into the debate. Beyond that, don’t argue about morality. Jesus didn’t come and die to make us moral; he came to make us holy. A person who doesn’t see the value of Jesus doesn’t need to be more moral; he or she needs Christ. Now, there is an exception to the “don’t debate politics” rule. I feel free to respond to political or moral questions when they are addressed openly in the Bible. If a hostile person wants to talk about what the Bible teaches about certain behaviors or social issues, feel free to go there. But beyond that, stay out of the debates.

4. Don’t get angry. Spiritually hostile folks can say some pretty hurtful things about God, the Church and even you as a believer. Many of them are already angry at the Church, and so it often doesn’t take long for that anger to turn personal. Don’t respond and keep control of your own anger. You may be righteously indignant for God and your faith, but neither need defending. God can handle himself just fine and the faith you embrace isn’t going to collapse just because someone is attacking it. If you feel you’re getting too angry to respond well, close off the discussion and circle back later. Remember, your relationship with the person is more important than your wounded pride or theology.

5. Pray. I’m repeating this because I really can’t overstress its importance. The process of serving spiritually hostile people must be blanketed with prayer.

It’s not about setting aside cokes and snacks so we can lose weight. It’s about denying yourself things so you can gain God. And, it’s a great concept.

God is rarely found in the world of surplus. Often the scriptures associate wealth and luxurious living with pride and rejection of God. It takes a mature person indeed to keep God first in his or her life when living with wealth. So the Bible calls us to seasons of fasting, prayer and self-denial so we can keep things and God in proper perspective. And if you’ve ever done that, you quickly learn that less really is more.

The wealth, surplus and comfort that are promoted in our culture as the good life really isn’t the good life at all. It’s a myth, an illusion. There is an amazing spiritual dynamic in the practices of releasing, not accumulating, of giving, not receiving, and of downsizing, not spreading out.

Simplicity, peace, less stress, heightened spiritual awareness and joy are found in settings of less, not more. In the crazy, upside-down economy of God’s Kingdom, small is big, last is first, empty is full, and poor is rich. It’s counter-intuitive, and you’ll never move toward less without taking deliberate steps to set aside more. The culture pull of stuff and our appetites are just too strong.

So, let’s pursue less–not for a season, but for our lives:

• Start by giving a minimum of 10% of your income to the church you attend, and then give above that to ministries and non-profits you believe in
• Go through your closet, take out anything you haven’t worn in the last year, and give it away.
• While in your closet, take out half of what you have more than two of–jeans, shirts, socks, suits, whatever. Where you have clothing redundancy, give half away.
• Consider downsizing your house and car.
• Get involved in serving those who can’t serve you back
• Spend one week a year doing mission work in a third world country

Each of these ideas–and there are many others–will help you start down the road of discovering the joy of living with less.

Let’s seize the opportunity that Lent affords us. Give something up and give something away. And at the end of 40 days, don’t pick it back up and don’t replace it. Less really is more.

*If you want to know more about finding more by living with less, I’ve written an entire book on the subject called Enough. You can pre-order the book (and save a few dollars on it!) here.

I would like to offer an alternative solution—abstinence. It is my conviction that we don’t have a pregnancy problem in America. When a woman gets pregnant, her body is doing exactly what it was designed to do. There is no mistake there; rather, everything worked as it was supposed to. Conception remains one of the greatest miracles that God has given us, and we get to witness it every day.

No, the problem isn’t that women are getting pregnant. The problem is with our culture’s growing acceptance of an “anything goes” approach to sex. Men and women and boys and girls have very few voices telling them today that sex is a privilege and responsibility for marriage only, that one should be abstinent until married, and that if you happen to get a girl pregnant (boy) or get pregnant (girl), then you are in that person’s life and that child’s life for the rest of yours.

In other words, if you don’t want to risk getting pregnant, don’t have sex, especially sex outside of marriage. And if you do get pregnant or impregnate someone, then be ready to accept the responsibility that comes with it.

We’ve made sex way too much of an entitlement issue. With concert promoters and bands passing out condoms at concerts and our sports, political and entertainment heroes constantly making headlines for their sexual exploits, how can we not but get the impression that leisurely sex is what we’re supposed to have. No wonder we have an unwanted pregnancy problem in the US. But again, pregnancy isn’t the issue; sexual irresponsibility is.

And what we don’t need to do is offer more outs to people by providing government-funded contraception. That is the ultimate in failure to address the real issue. But that is the only option the government has since it can’t get in the mortality/values business.

So I propose that churches and parents take the pressure off our government leaders and take on this problem. We can do so by:

1. Preaching and teaching in our churches God’s design for healthy sexuality. Pastors have gone silent on this. Shame on us.
2. Teaching our kids about sex and responsibility, and that if they produce a child, we’re not going to bail them out
3. Mentoring kids who don’t have access to good parental role models or church teaching. We’re going to have to help some kids that aren’t our own make good choices.
4. Challenge Christian couples who live together before marriage to stop playing house and to honor God’s teachings on marriage. We’ve got to stop looking the other way.
5. Be the first in line at the foster homes and adoption agencies, so those kids who are “unwanted’ can find a place where they are wanted
6. Volunteer at and fund non-profits that teach abstinence and that offer help to couples or women who have unwanted pregnancies. We must be willing to take in teen moms who may need a place to live while pregnant and even after delivery. We need to love them and welcome them into our homes.

Bottom Line: This shouldn’t be our government’s problem. We in the church must step up and be the solution.

Thoughts?

The Truth Will Set You Free . . .and Upset Some Christians

“I want to talk with you about today’s Mid-Morning,” began the voice mail left on my phone following Thursday’s show with Will Davis Jr., author of 10 Things Jesus Never Said. That type of statement usually means the caller appreciated the show and wants to tell me why.

This was not one of those calls. I could tell by her tone.

Bekah prayed with me (thank you, friend) and I called the woman – who left only her phone number, no name – back. She was surprised to hear from me, even though she was adamant about wanting to speak with me about the “horrible” show that “gave people permission to sin,” before threatening to pull her pledge, and then hanging up.

The conversation went something like this:

Me: Tell me what was said today that upset you.

Listener: That man said God knows all of our sins before we do them and that He forgives every sin.

Me: Do you believe the Bible says that?

Listener: Yes.

Me: Then why are you upset that Will said that on Mid-Morning?

Listener: Because he said that God knows all of our sins before we do them and that He forgives every sin.

Me: Do you believe that the Bible teaches that and that Will was telling the truth?

Listener: Yes.

Me: Are you saying we shouldn’t tell people about those truths on Mid-Morning?

Listener: No, but when you say things like that people will think they can just go out and sin

Me: Will talked about that, quoting Paul…that just because God lavishes grace on us, it doesn’t mean we go out and sin. In fact, God’s cross-love compels us to not sin…because we are so grateful for what He’s done for us.

Listener: Yes, but God is a jealous God and your guest didn’t mention that.

That’s when the Spirit turned on the light for me. This listening friend and I talked for quite a while beyond the conversation in this blog. What I heard in her voice was devotion to Jesus and a frustration with Christians who say they belong to Jesus but act as if they’ve never met Him. I get that. Truth be told, I sometimes feel that way myself. But what I also heard was fear. Fear to trust that God will do what He has promised: transform us by the power of His Spirit. All we need do is give ourselves to Him, moment by moment.

I grew up in a church that preached the saving love of God, but not the Father-fondness of a God that takes delight in me, is broken by my brokenness and wants me to know Him and rest in Him. Or to paraphrase Augustine (though this is pretty close to his original statement): Love God and do as you please.

The main message I received was, “You’re saved, now be good.”

That kind of Christianity sucks the life out of you. All these many years later – after much sinning, which I take full responsibility for, and a line-in-the-sand repentance moment – I choose to be hemmed in by God’s love, forgiveness and holiness, rather than my own rules, which will be too strident, stomping to death God-given  joy, pleasure and laughter, or too loose, allowing regular visits to the far country of sin.

Trust me, being hemmed in by God is like saying the continent of Australia is my home – and it’s not big enough for me. God offers freedom; sin enslaves us in a dark, cramped space.

I don’t know if my conversation with our listening friend changed how she feels about the straight-from-the-Bible truths Will Davis Jr. shared on Thursday’s Mid-Morning. When we re-air it later this year, I just may find out.

Thanks, Lynne, for a great blog.

So what do you think? Did I overstate the case? (You can listen to the full interview here) Does telling people that all their sins (even future ones) are forgiven give them a license to act any way they please?

Tell us what you think!

This relatively gentle slope becomes a real struggle in deep snow and in the face of a fierce, cold wind.

The same is true spiritually.

For those of us trying to thrive in our respective walks with God, winter can be deadly. Now be certain, I’m not talking about the season on the calender we call winter, I’m talking about the spiritual winter that results when we isolate ourselves from God and his people. It’s like living without the sun for weeks or months at a time. It’s just really hard for plants to grow without access to light. The same is true for us. Without access to God’s light, we can’t grow. And his light is still best found in praying, reading his Word, worshiping and communing with his people.

Without God’s life-giving light, we can’t thrive spiritually. We love less, serve less or not at all, give less and are much more prone to sin. And, much like hiking in the snow, everything is harder.

Are you in a spiritual winter? The great news is that you’re only one prayer, one confession, one moment of worship away from Springtime.

A judge sentenced Brandon to twenty years in prison and ordered him to pay $520 dollars in restitution to the little girl’s parents. Brandon has to mail a weekly check to the family for $1 for ten years, with a note in the memo line reading, “For causing the death of your daughter Whitney!” While Whitney’s mom has forgiven Brandon and even visits him in prison, Brandon will never be able to escape the reality of what he did. He has an ugly, weekly reminder of what his sin cost, not just him, but several other innocents.[i]

Too many Christians live with terrible guilt over mistakes made years, even decades before. They live in the shadow of what they’ve done, not who they are in Christ, and in essence write checks to God in some unhealthy effort to remind themselves of what they’ve done and how bad they are. That’s not what God wants. He sent Christ to the cross to free us from our pasts, not chain us to them. Seeking God’s forgiveness in your daily prayers helps you keep your slate clean before God. It makes your yoke easy and keeps your burden light, which is exactly what Jesus offered when he promised to give us rest.

Click here to learn more.

What do you get when you cross a man or woman with a really nice car? Nothing. That’s right, absolutely nothing. Cars in no way add to you’re value. But, by the way we pursue the more expensive cars and the status we attach to them, one would think that they add infinite value to our souls. I talked to a woman recently who is married to a movie producer. When they lived in Hollywood he was required by contract to drive either a Jaguar or BMW. He was told that if he didn’t look successful, potential clients wouldn’t take him seriously.

It is a ridiculous notion that any inanimate object–including a car–can add value to a person. You insult the priceless soul God placed within you if you think that it is somehow defined, improved upon or cheapened, by what you wear, where you live, what you drive or what you do. And yet we spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year in pursuit of those very things, as if they somehow had the capacity to give us life.

It’s really silly if you think about it.

So, I have a question: Are you willing to drive a car for more than 100,000 miles? Would you be willing to keep the car you have a few more years and when you replace it, go with a cheaper version? I can already hear the pushback: But I need this type of car–I have to have the extra room–I’m on the road and really need to be comfortable, etc.

Go out in your driveway or garage, look at whatever you drive and say outloud, “This doesn’t define me. I am not what I drive, and I will not ever (again) seek to drive a status symbol.”

Then, look up to heaven and thank God for making you infinitely valuable, no matter what you drive.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:17-19

Valentine’s Day is the day of poets, and I have a poem for you. Years ago I heard the hymn The Love of God for the first time. I cried then and still do so whenever I hear it sung. The third verse and chorus are one of the most beautiful descriptions of God’s love that I have ever read. Scholars believe that this verse was written in the 11^th Century A.D. by a Jewish patient in a German insane asylum. I offer it on this Valentine’s Day for you to think about God’s grand love.

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky.

 CHORUS:

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall for evermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Praise You God for Your Grand Love!

1. Marriage is God’s idea–don’t try to redefine it. There is lots of marriage tweaking going on these days, and none of it actually seems to be helping marriage. Since God designed marriage, we’d be wisest to use it as he intended.

2. Marriage is covenant. Forget the pre-nups, trial runs and escape clauses. Marriage is a agreement you make with God to love and serve another person just as God loves and serves you.

3. Marriage is temporary. You won’t be married in heaven, so enjoy your spouse now. Beyond that, if you and your spouse are both Christians, then he or she is your brother or sister in Christ. The commands for how we treat fellow Christ-followers still apply. Thus, we ought to treat our brother/sister/spouses better than anyone else.

4. Your spouse is your most important human relationship. We’re supposed to love our spouses even over our own kids. When it’s all said and done, all we have left is each other.

5. God is your most important relationship. You’re ability to love and be loved by others depends greatly on your ability to love and be loved by God. Put him first, and every other relationship will fall into place.

To watch or listen to the full message, click here.