In Galatians 5:1, we find that…

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1).

You’ve heard this verse a hundred times—in sermons, small groups, or scrolling through social media. You can quote it, nod along, and believe it’s true: Freedom is a gift, not a goal. So why does it still feel just out of reach—always waiting on the 'next step'?

If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone—and it might be time to rethink how we learn to live in the freedom Jesus gave.

There’s a long-standing debate, both in academia and the Church, about the value of speeches in how humans learn. Wherever you land, one thing is clear: public speaking is everywhere because it’s the easiest and most efficient way to share information. 

If the goal is to understand an idea or find inspiration, a speech can be effective. But if the goal is to move beyond thinking about an idea to actually living it out, speeches—even great ones—miss the mark.

​​This is where modern Christianity hits a roadblock. We see preaching throughout the Scriptures and assume that learning comes through hearing sermons. What we’ve missed is that sermons and preaching are not the same thing.

Egocentric myopia often blinds us to this distinction. When we’re used to something, we think it’s the only way—clinging to the familiar for a sense of security. But if we only view things through the lens of our own experience, we stunt our growth and limit our imagination.

To truly move forward, we need to look back and realize what’s familiar to us is just one tiny part of a much bigger story.

If the goal is to move beyond thinking about an idea to actually living it out, speeches—even great ones—miss the mark.

For instance, sermons, as we know them today, are a relatively new invention. The modern church service, centered on a one-way monologue from a stage, emerged from the revivalist movements of the 18th and 19th centuries. These movements laid the foundation for today’s familiar format. By the 1900s, sermons had become a polished craft and a “teaching pastor” became a full-time gig.

In contrast, preaching, as seen in Scripture, is a relational act of sharing the good news of who Jesus is for us all. As an example, Jesus only delivers a couple of sermons, but they consist of Him sitting on a rock like a Rabbi, bringing a few short talks to a small crowd. However, the Gospels show Him preaching constantly through open-ended conversations as He walked alongside people as a friend.  

This distinction matters because many of us have been conditioned to believe that preaching belongs to pastors and happens in church services. But in truth, preaching is something every follower of Jesus is invited into. Why? Because… 

Jesus understood how humans learn.

Every diet plan comes with a list of rules promising transformation if you stick to them. The steps are clear. Yet, most people don’t stick with it just because they read the guidelines.

The truth is, information doesn’t create a transformative experience. If it did, everyone would be fit just by knowing what to do and making a checklist. 

Recognizing this, we must grasp the difference between ideas and action. Ideas provide clarity, but action brings it to understanding. Without action, even the best-informed hope for freedom remains just a dream. 

This is where phenomenology comes into play as the study of human experience and consciousness. Focusing on how we perceive and interpret the world around us, it examines the structures of experience—how things appear to us, how we make sense of them, and how they shape our understanding of reality.

For example, phenomenology doesn’t just look at a chair as a physical object but asks how we experience the chair—its comfort, purpose, or meaning in our lives. In faith contexts, phenomenology can help us understand how people experience God, freedom, or community, emphasizing the lived reality over abstract ideas.

In short, phenomenology reminds us why we need to embrace experience over information.

Without action, even the best-informed hope for freedom remains just a dream.

Studies in cognitive science show that for verbal information to truly become part of what we know, it has to be repeated thousands of times. This process, called encoding, moves information from short-term awareness into long-term understanding, but it’s far from simple. Speeches, no matter how compelling, cannot provide the ongoing engagement needed for this deeper level of retention, which is why most messages are quickly forgotten.

Perhaps the best example of this is how AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) sees learning. Knowing that alcoholism is a lifelong disease, AA seeks to help members live sober through ongoing experiences, not talks. Likewise, followers of Jesus, knowing the sin of self-reliance is a disease we cannot think our way out of, must move beyond talks if the goal is to see people live in freedom. It’s a shift that starts with two conclusions: 

1. Words Alone Won’t Work 

Hearing ideas is only the start. Having the right knowledge is powerful, but only when it’s believed by faith. ​​Without experience, understanding remains limited to what you think instead of impacting what you believe. 

2. Experience Matters Most 

Information can’t do the heavy lifting. It’s having the time to go learn what we know in the everyday moments of life that turns knowledge into faith. Transformation of the mind happens when faith is practiced, shared, and felt in real relationships and real situations.

Please don’t mishear me. I am not saying go “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” The gospel of Jesus is news that’s not preached apart from words. What I am saying is: spontaneous dialogue is the best form of preaching if living in freedom is your goal. 

This approach combines open-ended conversation with impromptu teaching, engaging people where they are and adapting to the moment. Unlike a scripted speech, it’s more like a coaching session than a pre-recorded message. Think of improv comedians: they prepare but stay flexible. This dynamic, conversational style is how Jesus primarily taught, making each interaction unique and impactful for all parties involved. 

Jesus invited us all to go learn.

Speaking to His followers, Jesus said: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20).

The word “go” literally means “as you are going through life.” “Disciple” refers to the moments you help people Jesus for who He already is for them. To “baptize” is straightforward—whether it’s in a pool, the beach, or a bathtub. And “teaching them to observe everything I have commanded”? That simply means pointing out what is good.

In a world where many are exhausted by “doing more” for Jesus, this might seem like another task aimed at getting people back to an idea of church. But when we view it through the lens of His words on the cross—“It is finished”—we see it as an invitation to step into the freedom He’s already given, learning to live free alongside others, right where we are (John 19:30).

“Disciple” refers to the moments you help people see Jesus for who He already is for them.

This invitation from Jesus ties directly to Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19: “God gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”

In Paul’s words, we exist for the “world” that hasn’t yet awakened to their reconciled reality. So our “ministry is to help others see—and keep seeing—what is already done. This is the difference between faith and religion—a message entrusted to “us” as people who are the Church, not to organizations or buildings labeled as churches.

Like Jesus, we are free to trade the insulating madness of an institution for the life of friendship and conversation. It’s in these everyday moments—where people are free to be who they really are—that we all learn not to be something more, but to trust in who Jesus already is for us. 

The only question is: Will we cling to what’s familiar for a false sense of security, or will we look back, recognize how we truly learn, and embrace a better way?

In the whirlwind that’s…

Become my life lately, I’ve discovered a surprising freedom to engage in new conversations. Who knew health scares, house projects, a grandson on the way, and a broken AC this week could have its perks?

Through these varied dialogues, I’ve been reminded of the value found in two things often separated within Christianity: ongoing belief in the grace that set us free, and the unplanned life of friendship found in faith.

The more I live and listen to others' struggles, the clearer it becomes why people often choose to separate these two camps. 

On one hand, the hurt caused in the name of “church” and “mission” has reached epidemic levels. This is the cost of the Church operating like clubs, with boundaries defining who’s in and who’s out. It’s what happens when self-preservation models view the world as existing for their sake, rather than seeing themselves as existing for the sake of the world.

On the other hand, a spirituality divorced from place and neighbor has reached a new peak, estranged from the truth that God is Trinity, and Trinity is relationship. We were created to partake in this relationship alongside others. After all, the first time we see God declare something 'not good' is when a human was alone.

The truth is, a spirituality without neighbor is no spirituality at all.

Understanding this, the late Christoph Blumhardt once said we need two conversions: "From the world to Christ, and from Christ to the world.”

The former comes through the realization that to be human is to belong, and to belong is to be free. This is the good news of the gospel. The latter lies in the realization that we flourish not by gaining everything we can, but by giving ourselves away in friendship. This is the great paradox of human satisfaction.

As we navigate the tension between these two realities, a profound truth emerges: freedom and fulfillment aren’t found in isolation or rigid boundaries, but in the messy, unplanned connections we forge with others. This is where grace and faith come alive—not in neatly packaged practices, but in the raw, unpredictable moments of shared life.

We believe these unplanned and unbranded friendships are the essence of the Church Jesus started; a place where a world uninterested in church services learns to live free alongside others.

If that’s something you would like to step into, you’re not alone. So reach out. I’d love to talk with you. Seriously. Just click the link to set up a call. I’ll make the time.

The popular mega-church pastor, Tony Evans, stepped down this week after 47 years of service. While the trend of leaders resigning is not shocking anymore, I found the reasons behind his departure and the reactions to it disheartening.

To be clear, Evans stated he didn’t do anything “illegal.” However, he stepped down due to a “sin” he committed “years ago.” He emphasized, “The foundation of our ministry has always been our commitment to the Word of God as the absolute supreme standard of truth to which we are to conform our lives. When we fall short of that standard due to sin, we are required to repent and restore our relationship with God.”

It’s a belief that was applauded by many Christians. Ironically, it’s also a belief held by the Pharisees of Jesus’ day.

Contrary to their understanding of the Scriptures, the “Word of God” was standing in front of them in the person of Jesus. He shines a “light” as One who lives in the deepest part of our shame, not on the sidelines of our imagined successes (John 1:1-4). Thus, he is not the “supreme standard of truth” to follow, but Someone we live in because we can’t, we don’t, and we won’t (Col 3).

For this reason, we don’t find Jesus calling us to “conform our lives” to a set of ethics, but instead calling us to “repent” of the delusion that God is waiting on us to “restore our relationship with” Him.

From what I see in the comments section, statements like these will get you in hot water. But why?

What part of “there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus” do we not get? (Rom 8:1)

What part of “circumcision,” as in our religious efforts, “counts for nothing” do we not understand? (Rom 5:6)

According to Paul, God is “not counting people’s sins against them” because the only thing that “counts” is the “new creation” we are in Jesus (Gal 6:15; 2 Cor 5:18). The application of this text? “From now on, regard no one according to the flesh” (2 Cor 5:16).

Talk about something that would change the world as we know it.

Sure, realities like these make it hard for those who are seeking systems to “maintain the integrity of the church” (Evans). But the discomfort is needed if we want to stop undermining the integrity of the Church, which lies in its message of forgiveness to all—not in the formation of members.

Don’t mishear me. I’m not saying sin doesn’t matter, or that we should give a pass to what leaders like Mark Driscoll have done. I’m all for people turning a deaf ear to those who repeatedly dismantle others' humanity.

But the idea that a leader must be someone who doesn’t or hasn’t sinned, and therefore can’t teach about the God who already “took away the sins of the world,” is contrary to the “finished” work of Jesus (John 1:29; 19). Especially since leaders are just flawed humans who said, “I’ll go first.”

It’s safe to say we desperately need an imagination for the God who already united himself to all of creation through his Son (Col 1:15-20). And an imagination for the Church as a global movement of unbranded friendships—where this news is free to spread through unconditional belonging and unhurried faith.

To that end, Lark exists.

Lord helps us.

In Jesus’ day, people referred…

To him as “Rabbi” more than anything else. After years as a carpenter, Jesus began teaching about the kingdom of God. So the term is a safe assumption. 

There’s just one problem. 

Rabbis don’t get thrown out of the synagogue for claiming to be the very One all the Scriptures are pointing to.

Rabbis don’t teach in parables to hide the secret to the kingdom of God, much less announce the “kingdom of God is at hand” in his standing there (Mk 1:15).

Rabbis don’t intentionally break Sabbath commandments in front of the religious leaders, recruit dropouts, eat with crooks, or die like a common criminal. 

But Savior’s do. 

And there’s the vast difference between how people saw Jesus, and who Jesus declared himself to be.

They thought the problem with humanity was distance from God caused by disobedience. So, they were looking for a miracle working Messiah who would make the world right through right living, not a lowly carpenter who willingly dies on a cross. 

In their minds, the Law of God is something we should, can, and will keep with the right example to follow and practices to walk in. That’s why they thought they needed a Rabbi to be with and become like. 

It’s also why they made the devastating assumption that they needed to become capable of doing what Jesus did.

EMBRACING THE WORDS OF JESUS

But with any unfiltered look at what Jesus said, or undiluted reflection of human ability, another good example to follow from a Rabbi is the last thing on God’s agenda. Thus, when Jesus shows up, he announces not that He’s a Rabbi to emulate, but that he’s “the Son of Man” 81 times—a term of Deity from the One who said: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father,” for “I and the Father are one” (John 4:8-10).

In Jesus’ words, “I am the way” versus a way to something more than you are. He is “life” itself versus a means to life. He is the embodiment of “truth” in flesh in whom “all things hold together.” He is the creator and reconciler “of all things.” He is the One who came to give his own “life as a ransom” to “set the captives free” from their delusion of who God is (John 14:10; 10:30; Mark 2:10; John 14:6; Matt 20:28; Col. 1:15-20).

When Jesus shows up, He announces not that He’s a Rabbi to emulate, but that He’s “the Son of Man.”

So when they saw Jesus, they didn’t see a Rabbi to imitate, but “the Father” himself—where no one was prepared to find him, saying what no one was prepared to hear as He announced the will of God is not that you become like Jesus, but that you “believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:29).

Now, when you see that, you may quietly rejoice as you think about your spiritual resume. Especially since it would include your every thought and unrevealed motive, which doesn’t meet the call to “be perfect” Jesus dropped on those who thought they could walk in a righteousness of their own (Matt 5:48).

But that’s why the gospel means “good news.”

EMBRACING THE ESSENCE OF FAITH

Galatians 2:20 says that we "have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer [we] who live, but Christ who lives in [us]." You are free to let go of the myth that there is a “you” to improve.

Galatians 6:15 tells us "for neither circumcision [religion] counts for anything, nor uncircumcision [irreligion], but a new creation." You are free to ditch the idea that your religious practices are needed and your performance “counts.”

The application to these verses? “So from now on we regard no one,” including yourself, “according to the flesh” (2 Corinthians 5:16, ESV).

So take heart, my friend. Posturing ourselves as someone who is “okay,” and projecting an imaginary righteousness, has already fallen flat. And this public exposure is not the end of you. It’s the beginning.

Fleshly righteousness is, and has always been, a worthless counterfeit for the perfect righteousness of God we have as those are “hidden in Christ” (Col 3). Like a tiny bookmark lost inside a gigantic novel or rebar hidden within a wall of concrete, our lives are forever hidden in the righteousness of Christ.

To trust him, despite what you see or struggle with, is the life of faith we’ve been given. 

And thank God. 

This blog explores what Jesus said and did. Everyone’s questions deserve conversation, not answers. You are invited to press in with us. Hit the link above to reach out or access all our resources. We'd love to hear from you.

If this post struck a chord, consider passing it on by clicking below.

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We need to have a conversation about the truth. 

To come right out with it, faith is not a commodity you trade for acceptance. Belief itself can never be the actual cause for the life you were given before you even existed. 

faith is not a commodity you trade for acceptance

No matter how “biblical” or “faithful” people claim to be who insist faith is a right of passage, the reality is they’re still thrashing in the uncertainty of their acceptance, rather than thriving in the assurance of their acceptance. 

This is expressly not faith. It is religion. 

Believing acceptance in God’s sight to be contingent upon faith, many proceed to do exactly the opposite of “regard no one according to the flesh” (2 Cor. 5:16). They move right on ahead in the name of “Jesus” and “Church” regarding people according to the flesh instead.

In other words, they DO NOT consider themselves or others to be miraculous “new creations” whom God is “not counting their trespasses against” (2 Cor. 5:19). In the name of “faith” and “faithfulness,” so many of us are bypassing the Gospel altogether and perpetuating the reason the Gospel came about in the first place. 

GRACE ALONE MEANS GRACE ALONE

Making faith about the “pursuit of God” is a disaster because it assumes God’s absence. So, humanity is hell-bent - in distorted understandings of God - on enacting religious crusades of all kinds. 

But, if God used our rejection of him at the cross to announce his acceptance of us, then there’s nothing left to fear and faith isn’t something we exchange for acceptance. 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith…” (Eph. 2:8) is not a catch 22 that should scare you. It has certainly led to consternation and low grade terror for many a would-be rested up disciple of Jesus. 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith…” (Eph. 2:8) is not a catch 22 that should scare you.

Faith is not said, over and over in Ephesians and beyond, to have “made us alive together with Christ” (Eph. 2:5). God did that. In the piercing words of John Mark McMillan, “If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.”

You don’t need to wonder if your faith is sufficient or authentic enough. 

The real question, then, is, “Why won’t we let God love us?”

GRACE DEBUNKS THE RELIGIOUS GOD 

I am eager to dispel this myth of the religious God because it is devastating lives left and right. It leads to divisions innumerable and depression insufferable. 

So, if you haven’t yet, think about whether God is religious. Is he? 

If God is not religious - and if he is relational he cannot be religious - then why would you be? Why would you be transactionally related to the God who is not transactionally related to himself? Is the Father religious in relation to Son and Spirit? 

Are they religious? Are they wrestling and vying for approval from one another? Were we made in the image of a competitive community? 

Do you see it? If you’re made in the image of an irreligious God who desires that none should perish (2 Pet. 3:9), and who has reconciled the world to himself (2 Cor. 5:19), then nothing you do can make your acceptance in Christ any more or less true. 

Actualizing your acceptance is NOT the issue. Faith is not what actualizes your acceptance. Jesus is. Only Jesus. Accepting your acceptance so you can enjoy your acceptance - that IS the issue. Will you accept that his atoning sacrifice was “for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2)? 

Will you accept that his atoning sacrifice was “for the sins of the whole world”?

GRACE MEANS IT’S OK TO LIVE IN SIN??

If you’re “still living in sin” and terrified that means you don’t have enough faith to get into heaven, then keep reading in 1 Corinthians 5. Because, there it says that “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (v. 21). 

This means that “living in sin” doesn’t separate you from God. “Where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7). 

“Living in sin” proves you to be part of and in the one who became sin! Even in sin you cannot flee from his presence! That one is the same one who has been with the Father since before the beginning, the single one in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). 

“Living in sin” proves you to be part of and in the one who became sin!

Friends, if you’re in the one who is life and who is one with the Father and anointed in the Holy Spirit beyond measure, then you are exactly his cup of tea (which is everybody). 

You’re right where you belong - in every sense of the word. 

You can’t find a place or a state of being that isn’t in Christ - it doesn’t exist.  

GRACE MEANS FAITH DOESN’T MATTER? 

I know what you’re thinking: “Does this mean faith doesn’t matter?” Of course not. But it doesn’t matter in the way you think it matters. 

If your faith saves you, then Jesus doesn’t. It is as simple as that. And nothing frees you for real faith like unshackling God’s love from the imaginary prison of your fickle faith. 

God does not withhold his love, goodness, and will just because you can’t seem to put it to good use. 

We have to reimagine everything through the unbelievable reality the scriptures reveal about Jesus Christ - the God who became incarnate, flesh. The ancient words of a very long-dead man ring out more today than ever: “Christ became what we are so that we might become what he is” (Irenaeus). 

Again, if Jesus became sin, then living in sin - which is unavoidable for all of us - is exactly where you’ve been redeemed. If Jesus is in the Father and in you, then you’re in the Father - not because you had faith but because that is how reality works. 

if Jesus became sin, then living in sin - which is unavoidable for all of us - is exactly where you’ve been redeemed.

The myth is that you can be and indeed are separated from God because of your sin. The religions people architect assuming this to be true truly dehumanize the entire world. It is a writhing lie to be regarded as the origin of sin and ought to be forgotten in the black hole of Jesus’ death. 

If there is “one Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:6), then please tell me, who is not a child of God? Who is this Father not in? 

GRACE TURNS EVERYTHING UPSIDE DOWN

The tectonic shifts in the way we see God after letting this mean what it means may feel like a magnitude 10.0 earthquake to you. It does for me and for many others. But, anything else makes a mockery of the scriptures and the Jesus they reveal to us. 

When we’ve lived our entire lives as if our acceptance into the kingdom of heaven is hanging in the balance of the veracity of our faith, we live and die in the hell of fear. 

When we’ve lived our entire lives as if our acceptance into the kingdom of heaven is hanging in the balance of the veracity of our faith, we live and die in the hell of fear. 

We miss out on “the assurance of things hoped for” and “the joy that cannot be taken away.” We never experience “the peace that surpasses understanding” or the do-not-worry-about-tomorrow-life. We believe “the love that surpasses knowledge” to be a fairy tale and the finished work of Jesus to be a baton he handed us. 

When you realize there is “one Father of all, who is in all” (Eph. 4:6), your perception of people will change from potential converts to children of God, from others to friends. 

This means the pressure is off about getting them out of one bucket into another. You and they both get to enjoy and revel in and pass on the astounding reality and reject the atrocious lie. 

This, friends, is church. This is the life of faith in the throes of grace. 

This blog explores what Jesus said and did. Everyone’s questions deserve conversation, not answers. You are invited to press in with us. Hit the link above to reach out or access all our resources. We'd love to hear from you.

If this post struck a chord, consider passing it on by clicking below.

Don’t love reading? Listen instead!

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

ETERNAL LIFE IS NOT FOR THE SPIRITUALLY AMBITIOUS

It is indeed a great mystery. That is why Matthew, Mark, and Luke unanimously quoted Jesus saying the words, “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.” 

Mortals, who had no hand in the birthing of their very existence, also have no hand in ensuring endurance of life with their Maker. It’s a gift they receive, not something they must prove, legitimize, or make payment on.

This isn’t simply a debate over what Jesus said, it is also a logical exercise wherein we really consider the foolishness of the idea that mortal beings can do something to inherit immortal life. It’s just plain stupid. Like a pot finding a way to make it from under the bathroom sink to the top shelf in the potter’s dining room. The potter is the only one that can do that, and he did!

…consider the foolishness of the idea that mortal beings can do something to inherit immortal life.

It’s the age-old issue the Scriptures begin addressing on the first pages. What must Adam and Eve do to inherit eternal life? Trust that the fruit they can’t kill or grow is all they need to survive and thrive. They, like us, chose the knowledge of good and evil instead. 

It’s not an easy way to live, I’ll heartily grant that. I’m about as far ahead of you as a snail can be ahead of a stallion. Faith, the ultimate path of least resistance, is ironically the most difficult way we can bear to go. 

UNAMBITIOUS ETERNAL LIFE 

Still, I’m going to fight about this until those who self-identify as “church” or “Christian” quit twisting and eclipsing the words of Jesus. You could say that I’m out to help people see God like Jesus sees God, or at least those in my tiny little crevice in the parking lot of planet earth. 

I believe that you and me and everybody else are already held by a love that will never let us go. 

And the only way to the life we are made to live is to give up on becoming worthy of it. The peace, justice, and reconciliation we are all longing and working for is outside our control and has been completely dealt with in the body of Jesus. 

…the only way to the life we are made to live is to give up on becoming worthy of it.

Everything we do attempting to fix what is already fixed ends up adding to the pile of injustices Jesus already absorbed in himself. 

It’s not until we die that we live. And death is not an achievement. What is impossible for mortals is possible for God. God has done the impossible. This is the Gospel. The Gospel is that God has done the impossible. 

TRINITARIAN FAITH AND ETERNAL LIFE

I’d like to make one final point about how important this conversation and distinction is. If we persist in the way of life that see’s our inheritance of eternal life as our job, on our list of to-do’s, then we must admit the disintegration of the doctrine of the Trinity.

Hear me out. 

The ancient, credal, orthodox Christian faith established early on that God is indivisibly one, and they are also three: Father, Son, and Spirit. This reality of a single God who is 3 persons, perfectly, equally, mutually at one and coinhering in their eternal, delighted community, has rightly become the centerpiece of Biblical faith. 

In this declaration we are confessing that the God who has become united with us is the one in whom all things were made, are held together, will be made new, and will live on forever. 

Jesus is not the only one we are united with. The Spirit is not the only one filling human temples. The indivisibility of the Trinity means that all of who God is has taken up residence in all of who we are. 

The indivisibility of the Trinity means that all of who God is has taken up residence in all of who we are.

“The Word became flesh and lived in us” (John 1:14). This enfleshing of God in Christ, and then in Christ’s ascension into heaven where he is humanly face-to-face with the eternal Father as the eternal Son, means our sin and brokenness have been absorbed, cured, banished, and we are reconciled to face-to-face presence with the Father. 

THE MYSTERY OF ETERNAL LIFE

Here’s the point. 

If God is still waiting on you to do anything to be loveable or acceptable, or if God requires your faith to be validated by certain measurable spiritual results, then sin is not dealt with, isn’t completely conquered in Christ, and there’s some role you have to play in response to Christ in order to be completely saved, redeemed, reconciled, forgiven, and made new.

“But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26b, NRSV). 

To say that you are still in sin in any way is to say that the God who has united himself to you is still in the same sin. The oneness the Trinity included you in is indivisible and indefatigable. That God included you in him and that he took up residence in you does not mean that he is now like you in your lack of trust, faith, and holiness. This oneness has forever disrupted the power and influence of sin, freeing you completely from the guilty verdict because God is with and in you.

I agree with Athanasius, who said that when God became flesh, he was not contaminated with our sin and disbelief. Instead, his union with us sanctified our flesh entirely. More pointedly, in the Incarnation, what is true about you became true about Jesus, and he left it buried in his grave forever. 

…in the Incarnation, what is true about you became true about Jesus, and he left it buried in his grave forever. 

So, there is no benefit to arguing that there is yet something you must do to inherit eternal life. There is no argument to be had because of the reality that the Triune God has joined you in your life in order to include you in theirs, forever. What is true about Jesus is now true about you. 

Not to mention, if Jesus did not accomplish the reconciliation of all things on the cross, then it follows that this insufficiency reveals he is not fully and completely at one with God, that he is not eternally begotten of the Father, that his saving work did not completely save. And if that is true, what good is what we bring to the table? 

Is our sense of control and contribution to our salvation and holiness really worth the heresy of demoting Jesus? I don’t think so. 

Are you prepared to make him out to be a liar? To say that what he has said about us, our sin, our relationship with him and his Father, is not true? I am not. As Jesus said in John 3, “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17, NRSV). 

TAKE UP THE CROSS OF ETERNAL LIFE

Let’s give up on this pursuit. Let’s forsake the life of leveling up, of spiritual ascension, of Christian progress and success. Let’s lean back into death, into the eternal mystery of the Father’s embrace—the love that will never let you go. 

Let’s give up so that the streams of living water can finally pour through us bringing to life the fruit of the Spirit in the world around us. This is and will always be the work and the pleasure of God, the setting free of freedom in his children. 

…the work and the pleasure of God, the setting free of freedom in his children. 

Only as we relent will the reality of who God really is and what he has really done become clear to us. And only as we admit that we’ve been made one with the Holy One will we stop inventing new ways and systems of accomplishing what Christ already accomplished once and for all. 

Let the Spirit sever every last discernable connection between God’s delighted presence in you and your merit. 

You are, by definition and by nature, the most cherished treasure of the eternal, Triune God. Nothing and no one can change this. God really loves who you really are. Because who you really are is eternally bound up in Christ. “You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3, NRSV).

Let it be known. Let it be heard. Let it be believed. May it be so.

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HOW TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE IS THE WRONG QUESTION

When you compile all of the aforementioned stories together where the question is explicitly asked, you find a very compelling, singular answer.

Striving to squeeze salvation out of the Law of Moses will only ever bring about Moses’ condemnation. Moses himself pointed toward Christ. The law, and your keeping of it, was never intended to bring about the reconciliation so desperately needed. 

Again, “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God” (Luke 18:27). The point that Jesus makes, which Paul reiterates, is that there is nothing you could ever have done to right the wrongs or undo evil, brokenness, and sin. 

What was impossible for mortals and for the Law to do, God did in and through the life, death, resurrection, and ruling of Jesus Christ once and for all, “the lamb slain before the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). 

What has always been and will always be needed is trust that the God who made you loves you with a love that will never let you go. And this is no mere starting point or first step. This is the fabric of reality and the Good News that holds all things together. 

Your relationship with righteousness is your relationship with Jesus - it is one-sided. It is a one-way causal relationship: Jesus is the cause, you are the effect, just like your creation, your existence, and your resurrection. 

Your relationship with righteousness is your relationship with Jesus - it is one-sided.

It is a one-way covenantal relationship: Jesus provides both divine and human faithfulness. ‘What is impossible for mortals is possible for God’ is not a cute, motivational hallmark meant to push the almost-courageous ones over the cliff of confidence. It is simultaneously exposure of our dire need and the revelation of the accomplishment of our salvation. 

HOW CHURCH-GOERS INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE

Where the rubber meets the road is in all the things churches deem essential, right, and righteous for followers of Jesus. They aren’t in the Bible explicitly, yet, they have become the barometer of legitimate church in their self-referential perspective. To name a few: singing songs, listening to sermons, and attending Bible studies, mostly on Sundays. 

In church, the way we learn to legitimize our faith is too often through behaviors, allegiances, or progress in a “by the book” sort of lifestyle. But this is exactly opposite of what Jesus has done and declared. There would be no need for the Incarnation of God if all humans needed was a great moral example. 

You are free to stop trying to be or become something in order to get God, his favor, blessings, promises, and life. Eternal life is impossible for mortals to merit, but nothing is impossible for God. You are not called to a life of trying to experience or acquire what Christ promised to bring about in and for you.

You are not called to a life of trying to experience or acquire what Christ promised to bring about in and for you.

If you’re still arguing in your head with what I’m saying, how exactly do you explain away the words, “it’s impossible for you to do something to inherit eternal life”? What argument can you possibly make to legitimize the value of living a life of accountability and moral responsibility for the sake of winning eternal life? 

A life of trying to do “what is impossible for mortals…” can only ever lead to demoralizing cycles of guilt, shame, anxiety, depression, and eventually utter exhaustion. This life of trying and toiling assumes a false reality and sets out to do the impossible.

ETERNAL LIFE IS ONLY GRACE

You can moralize or make a religion out of anything, but it will always be idolatry, inhumane, and insufficient. 

And if you still feel compelled to retort, “but doesn’t God want you to at least try to live a good and moral life in response to what he’s done for you and what he’s made possible for you?” then you are in league with the characters in the Bible who tried to test and trap Jesus to ultimately dispose of him. I’ve been there. And I return there often.

But, the answer is no. Because although we might be compelled enough to trust grace to save us, we rarely trust grace to disciple us. We do things that turn grace into a tool or a means to an end. Another ingredient to apply to your recipe like salt or minced garlic. Just another thing to utilize for your own self-realization or self-aggrandizement.

…although we might be compelled enough to trust grace to save us, we rarely trust grace to disciple us.

But it’s not your recipe and you’re not the cook. And grace isn’t just one more ingredient among many. It is the ultimate reality giving life to everything from atom to planet to galaxy to universe. 

You are the loaf and the yeast is generously applied by the master chef himself, Jesus Christ, the wounded and risen Creator and Savior who has made Himself one with His creation. Jesus is our oxygen, our righteousness, our very life.

ETERNAL LIFE IS OPPOSED TO EFFORT

You may have heard Dallas Willard’s famous saying about the difference between effort and earning. “Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone” (The Great Omission). 

I take issue with this way of thinking because it has long helped would-be followers of Jesus take up the mantle of sanctified effort instead of sanctified earning. 

Willard is splitting hairs to preserve control (over our own identity), a sense of contribution (to our progress in the spiritual life), and the ability to distinguish between who’s in and who’s out. Willard’s work regularly issues a call to get spiritually busy and serious to evidence the fact that you are a Christian and that the Spirit is at work in you. 

In an attempt to really get Christians to take their faith seriously, Willard is suggesting a way of life that is anything but what Christ declared. But Jesus said, “On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:20, NRSV). This astonishing union Jesus speaks of is itself the Gospel of grace and the reality of forgiveness. 

Willard assumes that humans can tell the difference between effort and earning. It seems to me that he fails to give credit to how addicted we are to earning. He also fails to give credit to the breadth of salvation in Christ. Salvation for humans is not Jesus changing God’s mind about humans as is popularly assumed. Salvation for humans is Jesus changing us and our minds about God. 

We need forgiveness because we reject ‘the God Who Is’ and we favor the narcissistic god of our imaginations, the god who demands our slavish allegiance, worship, and progressive allocation of a holiness like his. 

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (1 Corinthians 5:21, NRSV, emphasis added). Our union with Christ brings about a transformation in us that causes us to “become the righteousness of God.” That isn’t dependent upon our cooperation. Insofar as it is dependent on us, it is - again - impossible. 

We are expressly not empowered to make ourselves any more righteous after the way of Jesus. We become the righteousness of God. You have become the righteousness of God. This isn’t a carrot being dangled out in front of you to get you off your ass. 

You have become the righteousness of God. This isn’t a carrot being dangled out in front of you to get you off your ass. 

The spiritual disciplines Willard is convinced will make you more like Christ ironically accomplish anything but. The spiritual disciplines we need are the ones that help us let go of the idea that what we do makes us more or less like Christ. We need to practice things that help us believe that nothing “in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39, NRSV). 

This is the thing you most fear believing. Trusting it to be true undermines everything you’ve previously done to make it true. “What must I do” is the wrong question.  

This is a terrifying jump, but can anything else truly be called “trust?”

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ABSOLUTELY UNCONDITIONALLY FREE ETERNAL LIFE

A similar question to what we observed in Part 1 comes up in John 6: “What must we do to perform the works of God? Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent’” (John 6:28-29, NRSV). 

It is not unclear here, not to mention throughout the rest of John 6, that the one thing we’re being invited to do is to believe in Jesus, to trust that he is who he says he is and that he will do what he said he will do. 

…the one thing we’re being invited to do is to believe in Jesus…

The only actual “doing” left for you and me to do in John’s Gospel is really the antithesis of doing - faith and trust. 

“Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me” (John 6:57, NRSV). As disturbing as it may sound, the call to eat Jesus harkens back to the manna God daily rained down from heaven so the Israelites wandering in the desert could be filled (Don’t forget the instruction not to gather manna for tomorrow!). 

Just exactly how much “doing” did Israel do in order to get the manna to fall from heaven? None. This is the point Jesus is making, he is - himself - the solution to all evil and brokenness. He is salvation for every person everywhere and there is no way to get him or to acquire his benefits. There is only believing in him. There is only trust and faith, for what's done is done.  

There is only trust and faith, for what's done is done.

“It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63, NRSV). “The flesh is useless!” The answer to our question, again, is so clear here. The eternal life we are looking to get ahold of cannot be obtained by us. It is already given, and something that is given isn’t made what it is by the recipient.

SURPRISED TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE

To continue tracing this theme, we need to look now at the book of Acts. After the Pentecost sermon, the hearers were “cut to the heart” and approached Peter and the disciples saying, “Brothers, what should we do?” There’s that question again, like a knee-jerk reflex. 

Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:37-38, NRSV). 

In response to hearing about the life, resurrection, and promise of Jesus, they asked, “what should we do?” And, Peter’s response was, “repent and be baptized!” Change your mind, turn around from your self-referential ways and be immersed into the life and gift that is Jesus, God With Us. 

Oh, and by the way, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit! 

In other words, leave it all to Jesus and forget about everything you thought you knew about getting right with God, for the presence of his Spirit is hereby offered to you and everyone around you without restraint (Joel 2:28-29). 

…leave it all to Jesus and forget about everything you thought you knew about getting right with God…

This Jesus is not like the god’s ancient and present, near and far. He’s wholly unique in that all requirements for life in him are covered always and only from the side of God.

“So, those who welcomed his message were baptized” (Acts 2:41, NRSV). There is no requirement to give away all possessions like the Rich Young Ruler, or to commit to paying two years’ wages for a dying man’s medical bills as seen in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Those who were baptized were those who welcomed Peter’s message. 

ETERNAL LIFE IS A GIFT, NOT A REWARD

Later, when Paul unpacks the Good News in a synagogue in Pisidia, he ties the bow on his talk by saying, “Let it be known to you therefore, my brothers, that through this man [Jesus] forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you; by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39, NRSV). 

The law of Moses, and all that goes with it, could not free anyone. Paul is not confused or confusing about that. He is pointing instead to a man God resurrected while everyone else is looking for right patterns of life and behavior to get on God’s good side and to fix the world.

There’s a universe of difference between “forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you” and “there’s still something you must do in order to qualify for the forgiveness of your sins.” The forgiving of sins is already done. There are no unforgiven sins, now or ever. Think about that. None.

There are no unforgiven sins, now or ever. Think about that. None.

To begin with “through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you; by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free…” is to loosen the chains and bondage of the law - the belief that forgiveness is caused by the sinner. It is to repeat the indescribable absurdity of the Gospel: it has never been about what you do for God or what you bring to the table. 

ETERNAL LIFE IS NOT CAUSED BY BELIEF  

Everyone who believes is set free. Everyone! And they are not given a new ultimatum where they might lose what cannot be undone. To assume they can lose it is to assume that they had a hand in gaining it. If your virtue didn't get you saved, how exactly can it get you unsaved?

Belief isn’t what sets you free, what causes your freedom, what wins you righteousness. These things have been made true about you in Jesus once and for all. Belief sets you free only in the sense that the freedom that is already yours is finally free in you. Setting freedom free is the mission of the Spirit, the will of the Father, and the delight of Jesus. 

Belief sets you free only in the sense that the freedom that is already yours is finally free in you.

Based on what happens to each and every character throughout the entire Scripture, no one is ever freed from the propensity to sin. They continue to sin. But in Jesus, everyone is freed from the just consequences of sin. All are freed from the condemnation they rightly deserved. Sin’s power to condemn has been eliminated. 

After being jailed in Philippi, Paul and Silas were singing hymns and praying when an earthquake shook the ground and freed them from their shackles. Before the jailer could kill himself to escape the punishment for losing prisoners, Paul intervened to show they had not escaped. The jailer “fell down trembling before Paul and Silas… and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They answered, ‘believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…” (Acts 16:30-31, NRSV). 

Believe in Jesus and you will be saved. That is that. The saving is already completely done. Trust not in what you do to get yourself closer to the holy presence of God. Trust instead only in what God has done to bring his holy presence to you. Believe it. Forget about trying to earn or keep it, and forget about the possibility of squandering the gift only to have it taken away.

…forget about the possibility of squandering the gift…

When the eternal God offers you himself as the solution to your impossible dilemma, all you can do is believe and enjoy or refuse and reject him. It's always an invitation, never a threat or a transaction. It's the best news anyone will ever hear. 

Paul agrees with Jesus that with man it is impossible to inherit eternal life. 

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A question of epic proportions is tucked into the pages of our Bible. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Seems like a reasonable, common enough question anyone can identify with. 

When this question arises, straightforward answers are given. But you might never know it because we keep asking, over and over. We keep proposing alternative answers as if Jesus didn’t already make it clear. 

In fact, some have suggested one of the most widespread - and most anxiety-inducing - global questions is “What is God like and what does he think of me?” So much human life is a response to this question or to someone else’s answer to this question. 

Looking around at what churches often do with believers (potential, new, and old) reveals that either the answers aren’t as simple as they appear, or that we just don’t care. It’s no accident that such an ultimate question found its way into our sacred text, multiple times. 

Let’s take a look at what Jesus really said. 

HOW TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE

This question shows up in the 3 Synoptic Gospels in uniform fashion, asked of Jesus by a young, wealthy man unwilling to part with his many possessions (Matthew 19, Mark 10, Luke 18). The resoundingly clear conclusion in the text (spoiler alert) is the all too familiar saying, “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God” (Luke 18:27). 

Earlier in Luke, a lawyer asks Jesus this question in a different context. Jesus eventually retorts with the parable of the Good Samaritan, misnamed as it may be. The key link in these stories (other than the verbatim question) is Jesus’ appeal to the law of Moses and the seekers’ claims of utmost personal compliance.

In response to the wealthy guy, Jesus points to the 10 commandments. In response to the Lawyer in Luke 10, Jesus turns the question back on him asking what he reads in “The Law.” Jesus is directing both of them to what they already know from Moses. 

Claiming they’ve already mastered adherence to the Law of Moses, the questioners press further. Jesus tells the rich guy to sell everything to give to the poor, and he tells the Jewish Lawyer to imitate the Samaritan who spent a fortune on a mostly dead Jew - both utterly life-ending and ruinous actions.

PEOPLE CANNOT ACQUIRE ETERNAL LIFE

Jesus’ extreme responses do not satisfy the questioners. Sure, he may have practiced what he preached here, but Jesus is setting himself up as a Savior, not a shining example. And he’s not advocating that these men upgrade their law-abiding game, he’s proving they can’t. This difference makes all the difference and the proof is in the pudding, as they say. 

Jesus is setting himself up as a Savior, not a shining example.

Jesus goes to great lengths to explain in these stories that the answer to the question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life,” is “it is impossible for people.” People cannot and will not do enough of something to inherit eternal life. This is something only God does. 

The repeated appeal to the Law of Moses provokes a crisis of capacity in the questioners. It is a cunning move by Jesus, really. Thinking to trap Jesus by pitting him against Moses, Jesus aims the pressure of Moses’ judgment back on them, showing them the deadly trap in their chosen method of religion-logic.

They can’t embody the heart of their own law, the very center of their profession, “love your neighbor as yourself.” Perfection, the presumed way into eternal life, is not an option. Unable to continue sparring with Jesus, they leave sad and frustrated, beaten at their own game. 

You see, if you’re asking “what are you supposed to do to get into God’s good graces,” the answer is clear. Nothing. You can’t. You won’t. You didn’t. How do you get into the presence of God where life is found? You don’t. This looks and feels like very bad news, especially for a gift-allergic species like us. 

ASKING THE WRONG QUESTION ABOUT ETERNAL LIFE

The wrong question is being asked. And the question being asked betrays the ultimate problem: we cannot imagine a world where God doesn’t need us to live acceptable lives. And we balk at any version of existence in which we don’t have some sort of control. Jesus calls these questioners to follow impossible examples.

There’s no world where people finally overcome the depraved religion-logic of the rich guy and the lawyer. So, it is high time to do away with the theory that these stories are good examples for us to follow or something we must imitate. 

Don’t get me wrong, they are the picture of the world God is reestablishing by the Spirit. But, if the question being asked is “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” then the answer is not actually, “give away everything you have to the poor and needy.” That is the answer given in this story to prove that you can’t, and you’ll never be able to do what it takes to inherit eternal life.

Something else must be going on here. The worn out strategy of spiritualizing and sanitizing these high demands will not do either. Jesus wasn’t saying, “Try your best to be a good neighbor,” and, “As long as your heart is at least willing to give away some of your things to the poor, you’re good.”  

So, what is Jesus actually getting at? 

DEAD IN THE WATER AND ETERNAL LIFE

Jesus is bringing us to the end of ourselves, not teasing out our best selves. Jesus is drawing us to himself, not equipping us for empowered living, “for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing” (Galatians 2:21, NRSV). 

Jesus is bringing us to the end of ourselves, not teasing out our best selves.

The literary context most often neglected when interpreting all these stories is the fast approaching crucifixion of Christ, the focal point and climax of each Gospel-writer’s story. Throughout these encounters, Jesus’ face was set toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51) where he was going to take away the sins of the world and stunningly make us “joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).

Talk of inheriting something in light of what Jesus is doing unfortunately usually leads us to new crusades instead of trust and astonishment that you can only inherit something that already belongs to you by birthright. The question negates the very nature and mechanics of “inheritance.” 

I can’t deserve or not deserve to be an Allen. I was born an Allen, and even if the name is revoked, my DNA doesn’t lie and cannot be changed. 

You cannot deserve or not deserve something that’s fundamentally and irrevocably true about you. You can’t deserve to be human. You are a human being. So also, you are a child of God, His offspring. Always have been and always will be. 

Again, if the question being asked is “what must I do to inherit eternal life,” then the answer is “Jesus already did it.” There’s nothing you must do to inherit something that is already yours. The doing part is already done, God gave you the spirit of adoption through his son Jesus (Romans 8:15). 

Breath that in. 

Check out the LARKCAST episode this blog is paired with to dive deeper into the conversation:

This blog explores what Jesus said and did. Everyone’s questions deserve conversation, not answers. You are invited to press in with us. Hit the link above to reach out or access all our resources. We'd love to hear from you.

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WHY JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS

Because it’s the necessary conclusion of religion: the death of God at the hands of his creation. But, God overcame his death and our religion by absorbing it forever, by going straight through the middle of death, proving it both impotent and also the ground zero of our absolution and reconciliation.

(To be clear, I’m defining religion like Robert Capon in The Parables of Grace: “Religion consists of all the things (believing, behaving, worshiping, sacrificing) the human race has ever thought it had to do to get right with God.”)

Your religion kills God. Your religion has been judged and sentenced to death. It is no longer a factor. The only one not convinced of this is you. 

If you’re right about religion - and you’re not - then you cannot be acquitted. Nothing in the law has any power to cleanse sin or bring about holiness. In a word, religion is a nonstarter.

Religion cannot raise the dead. You are condemned (by the law, not by God) the moment you take up your crusade. You are contending with Moses and all that he said would be fulfilled in the Anointed One, not in you. 

Religion cannot raise the dead.

You and your religion will end up putting God on trial. You will condemn and brutally murder God. This is the end of religion. Always has been, always will be. This is the ultimate fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and why religion had to be brought to an end.

GOD KILLS RELIGION BY BEING KILLED BY RELIGION

The ultimate shocker plot twist is that God eternally established and revealed your forgiveness and reconciliation deep inside the very moment you and your religion happily killed him (Dr. C. Baxter Kruger, “The Mediation of Jesus Christ”). 

So, your and my religion indeed killed God, but in it God killed religion and our connection to it. That’s why the life of religion is so dissatisfying. That is why taking up religion hoping for resurrection is so stupid.

The connection I think my religion wins me with God is purely imaginary, illusory, delusional, even synthetic and poisonous. For it flies in the face of the truest truth that makes all other truths true - that ‘God is With Us’ and always has been. 

The connection I think my religion wins me with God is purely imaginary…

It’s like when my children come up to me after doing something spectacular expecting my applause. I am indeed proud of them for their achievements! But my commendation has nothing to do with my acceptance of and love for them. Commending their accomplishments is my enjoyment of their enjoyment of my acceptance. My acceptance and love for them cannot be changed by what they do or don’t do.

When they confuse my commendation with my acceptance their life deteriorates in the absence of the security of knowing I love them unchangeably.

Religion is born out of insecurity. Freedom is born out of assurance. Only one is God’s vision for his creation! And something drastic had to be done to set our eyes back on Life.

WHY LARK HARPS ON THE CROSS

So we (Lark) will go to our graves pressing the implications of the cross upon the barbarism of religion. We want to change how the world sees the cross, because, by and large, the world can’t help but turn the cross into the precise thing it means to obliterate - the idea that God has expectations of you. 

We (Lark) will go to our graves pressing the implications of the cross upon the barbarism of religion.

The world sees the cross as yet another novel way of motivating people to get their shit together. But the cross is the parasite that inevitably consumes religion from within and without. In the cross, Jesus became one with us and our sin to exterminate all of it, delivering us into life everlasting in him, the only thing we’ve ever had and will ever have (John 1:3-4). 

The cross of Jesus’ death isn’t God changing his plans. The cross is God undoing our plans by fully submitting to them. The cross is where God proves to us beyond every reasonable doubt that truly nothing can separate us from him and that there is no condemnation, no condemner, no condemned. 

Indeed, where the world sees the cross as a call to spiritual arms, Jesus sees the cross as the death of every one of us (2 Corinthians 5:14) and the death of our unfaith and independence. Jesus calls us to see the cross as our invitation into him and the safety of our death in his death. 

None of this is to mention, the One who died on the cross - who the scriptures emphatically say is face to face with the Father (John 1:1) as the very Creator and Sustainer of all things (Col. 1:16-17) - was seen by the religious authorities as irreligious, blasphemous, and cursed. Jesus was not killed for being bad at being God or good, but for being bad at religion. God the Son became “incarnate in a Person of remarkably cavalier attitudes toward religion” (Capon). 

It behooves us to point out that crucifixion was an artform practiced by one of the greatest empires of all time as a strategy for subjecting everyone to state religion - “Casesar is Lord!” they would insist. The King of the Jews and the Creator of the cosmos was crucified by the highway so the many passers-by would never mistake who is boss in these parts (N.T. Wright). Religion at its finest. 

SEEING THE CROSS LIKE JESUS SEES IT

Give up the superstition of your religion and your DIY approval and acceptance before God. The way you see the cross changes everything. Forget the way you’ve seen it before, as the great example and starting point. See it like Jesus sees it: as the proof and the provision of your once-for-all-oneness with God in Christ. 

Give up the superstition of your religion and your DIY approval and acceptance before God.

You can live life under the banner of the finished work of Jesus. You can give up on living life under the banner of your own faithfulness. God’s not wondering if you’ll pull through, because he already pulled you through (Only this can quicken our devotion to doing true good anyway). You don’t have to wonder what God thinks of you or what he will do to you when you misstep. 

And you certainly don’t need to insist on anyone else living life under the banner of their own faithfulness. Nothing ignores the life and work of God incarnate on the cross like trying to help. 

Lay down your spiritual arms, your religious crusades, your moralistic stupor, and take up instead an apprenticeship of celebration, the revelry of death and dependence, the absurdity of your eternal life now. You are held by a love that will never let you go. 

And all your discomfort and dissatisfactions result from pushing away and trying to resist this embrace. You may well get what you wish for, but it won’t feel like you want it to feel.

This way of seeing the cross like Jesus sees it finally frees the Church to be what it is. “It is here for no religious purpose at all, only to announce the Gospel of free grace” (Capon). 

DEATH AS A WAY OF LIVING

Take up this cross. Take up the life that is death in Christ. “Death as a way of living” (Capon) is our only freedom. It is the only Life. It is trusting Jesus to have accomplished both your creation and your commendation. It is a life of trusting that although you have nothing to offer, Jesus is in you (John 14:20). The space and life freed up by not trying to do or redo what Jesus did is enormous. 

Death as a way of living is a way of seeing the cross that assumes acceptance instead of expectations. It is the death of you and all your spiritual endeavors because there’s nothing left undone. All is well and now you live. All has been made right and now you are free. Nothing can undo what Christ has done. You - and every person for all time and in every place - are hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). Trust this. Do not toil for this. 

Death as a way of living is a way of seeing the cross that assumes acceptance instead of expectations.

Remarkably, many people are more prone to view gifts as debts to repay than they are to ever enjoy the gift they received. Even as givers we often imagine we are paying on a debt. 

But the gift of Christ, the eternal Giver, is only enjoyable. It is never repayable. It is un-repayable not only in the sense that it is too great to be paid back. More specifically, it is never repayable because of the sort of gift it is. I did nothing to come to life at birth and creation. I do nothing to stay alive. I can do nothing to be raised to life in Christ. I can only live and enjoy that living. 

You can do nothing apart from the One (John 15:5) who can do only what he sees the Father doing (John 5:19). If this One - who can only do what he sees the Father doing - has revealed his life in you regardless of your darkness, then the One you think you’ve been separated from - the Father - is actually in you. He is the One in whom you live and move and have your being (Acts 17:28-29). 

The death of your imaginary life apart from God is the dismissal of your spiritual anxiety. It is the beginning of your enjoyment of the reality of the Father’s, the Son’s, and the Spirit’s delighted eternal residence in you. Live free or live a lie. 

After all, if there’s no religion among Father, Spirit, and Son, why would there be religion between us and them?

Lark is a society of friends you can laugh with, lean on, and learn to live loved with. If you’re up for faith as an adventure of freedom, join the conversation today! 

Check out the LARKCAST episode this blog is paired with to dive deeper into the conversation:

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“Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons” (John 2:6, NRSV). 

MISSING THE PUNCH LINE

Not a word is to be lost when reading and interpreting the Scriptures. Before Jesus saves the wineless wedding day in John 2, we see what he sees: the emptiness and impotence of religion. 

While these 6 huge jars stand empty, unable to purify anything, a wedding runs out of wine. The futility of religion is on full display. John is simultaneously revealing the glory of Jesus and the emptiness of human self-corrective measures. 

Running out of wine at a wedding celebration is like running out of purification water at a religious ceremony. The wind has left the sails, and something must be done. John's story is written to stun us with the plot twist that Jesus solves both problems!  

Running out of wine at a wedding celebration is like running out of purification water at a religious ceremony.

The party is about to become a lot less fun, but Jesus is compelled by his mother to do something about it. What we may view as only a miraculous confirmation of Messiahship, Jesus enacts as an announcement of otherworldly liberty. 

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

In other words, there's much more going on in what Jesus does than simply solving a wedding planning glitch. He's not working a miracle to merely preserve the reputation of the bridegroom or impress the crowd. 

He proclaims that God is not collapsing his beloved creation in a cosmic do-over. He's not calling us to try harder or construct better systems. Instead, he will take what we've made, fill it to overflowing with himself, and utterly reconcile and transform all of it and all of us. 

[Jesus] will take what we've made, fill it to overflowing with himself, and utterly reconcile and transform all of it and all of us. 

In Baxter Kruger's words, when Jesus sees the empty purification jars, it's as if he says, "This doesn't work, it doesn't cleanse, it's empty. I'm going to fill it and transform it." This is what God in fallen flesh does.

Somehow, the physics of turning water to wine is upstaged by the obliteration of Jewish messianic expectations.

TAKE A CLOSER LOOK

Jesus didn't have to make wine, use purification jars, or employ the help of the servants. He could have spoken with the bridegroom or performed the miracle for the entire wedding crowd. 

Let the little things in this story move the big things in you. Consider what's happening in the story and in the Gospel of John. The "light of all people" (John 1:4) is being unmistakably revealed as already present. 

The man Christians claim to worship and imitate handed an already drunk wedding party a truckload of the best wine they'd tasted. Something other than religion is going on here. Something well above and beyond merit or moralism is at hand. 

The man Christians claim to worship and imitate handed an already drunk wedding party a truckload of the best wine they'd tasted.

SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY 

Our unbelieving hearts and unrelenting minds can't help but question the Gospel's sheer absurdity and radical novelty. John is weaving together the announcement that eternal life has come to earth in Jesus. The nature of the living God is to share their life with those they've created. 

Our unbelieving hearts and unrelenting minds can't help but question the Gospel's sheer absurdity and radical novelty.

This is the most practical and beautiful message we'll find in our Bible. It is what the Gospels are at pains to show us.

But, only the lowly know. Only the dead will rise. Only the broken can be healed. Apparently, only the servants and disciples knew Jesus made the wine. God did not reconcile the world via our preferred or presumed pathways of power. 

UNDERSTATED ASTONISHMENT 

Jesus insisted on understating every impressive thing he did except when he crossed the lines of Jewish law. He happily became notorious for "sinning" boldly but refused to be elevated for his wonders and miracles.

Think about it. Most things Jesus did provoked the religious leaders' suspicions and awakened the religious lepers' hopes. For those who were desperate, Jesus was clearly from God. For those who are dignified, Jesus is clearly a threat. 

Most things Jesus did provoked the religious leaders' suspicions and awakened the religious lepers' hopes.

Kruger also laments how embarrassing God's judgment is for us. He said it's like strutting to the first-class seats only to realize you're on the wrong airplane. We've mistaken God for a business person or an exacting earthly deity. We've assumed God is like us. 

But, the Good News is Jesus came to show us what the Father is really like, and he is nothing like we thought. He makes wine, does not corroborate religion, doesn't celebrate the successful, and doesn't crush the culpable. 

[Jesus] makes wine, does not corroborate religion, doesn't celebrate the successful, and doesn't crush the culpable. 

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

Today, this means for you and me that we are free. 

I was stunned in conversation when visiting my cousin. She is a distinguished sommelier and I had been asking her questions about wine expecting stereotypical snobbery (maybe I’m the stereotype!).

Instead, her smile became contagious, her posture energetic, and her words inviting. She said, “I don’t care to fight with or convince anyone about wine, I’m only out to help people enjoy wine because it is so wonderful.”

Is this not what Jesus is like? Is she not like Jesus helping us enjoy the Good instead of demanding we be good? 

“I don’t care to fight with or convince anyone about wine, I’m only out to help people enjoy wine because it is so wonderful.”

We have to see that we're religiously conditioned to assume we've got to keep together what Christ put together. But, if that were true, not only would Jesus never have come, but he would not have redeemed all we've wrecked.

He would have more likely ratcheted up the standards of religious rites. He would have skipped over all the little, lost, least, and last ones to pass on his message through the powerful, obedient, and accomplished ones. 

You are free indeed. Free to enjoy the abundant wine of the new covenant. 

You are free from the pressures, anxieties, and compulsions of religion. Every condemnation spoken over you, and every accusation that you cannot keep up or comply, is drowned out in new wine. 

You are free from the pressures, anxieties, and compulsions of religion.

The blood of the new covenant has been uncorked and is flowing freely and eternally. Come, taste and see. Come, drink and never forget that your life is secure in Life himself. The “light of all people” can never be revoked, robbed, or ripped away.

You have only to believe because you cannot acquire someone already alive in you. 

Check out the LARKCAST episode this blog is paired with to dive deeper into the conversation:

This blog explores what Jesus said and did. Everyone’s questions deserve conversation, not answers. You are invited to press in with us. Hit the link above to reach out or access all our resources. We'd love to hear from you.

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“The next day [John the Baptizer] saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29, NRSV).

There's a startling misunderstanding about if and how people can live in union with God. 

The modern, Christian vision of union with God is often a two-way street marked by conditions and determination. More often than not, conversations about Jesus conjure up anxious feelings instead of assurance of acceptance.

The modern, Christian vision of union with God is often a two-way street marked by conditions and determination.

Mention the concept of abiding, and you will be handed a list of things faithful people do. Bring up worship, and the never-ending pursuit of authenticity will rise to the surface. Talk about discipleship for more than a few minutes, and something is bound to be measured or mapped for multiplication. 

FAITH AS ADVENTURE

While many people walk the life of faith on the tightrope of religion, the story of Jesus in the Bible shows that faith is a journey that starts out accomplished. It's a life lived from freedom, not toward it. 

Jesus handed us his Olympic gold medal, not a pair of new shoes and a training program. Not even a baton and a great head start. 

While many people walk the life of faith on the tightrope of religion, the story of Jesus in the Bible shows that faith is a journey that starts out accomplished.

But, you might be asking, how do we stay in union with God? To that, I say, how do you stop being human? How do you stop needing oxygen? How can you possibly crawl back into your mother's womb and cease to be? 

Jesus Christ is not a great example to follow, a supplement to enhance your humanity, a lights-out motivational speaker to get you pumped, or an inspirational leader worth dying for. He's the firstborn of a new creation raised to life after death.

JESUS AS OUR UNION, NOT OUR LEADER

This means that, in the words of C. Baxter Kruger, "Jesus is our union with God." Jesus himself, not a contract. Jesus himself, not a list of commands. Jesus himself, not our comprehension of him, his words, or his achievements.

Jesus himself. Jesus himself. Just Jesus. Jesus is - and has always been - our union with God. 

Jesus is - and has always been - our union with God.

So to trust in Jesus is to trust not in your toil. To trust Jesus is to lean not on your own understanding. To trust Jesus is to trust not in your progressive reformation, your ability to be good, do better, make the world right, or help others do the same. 

This means all your human effort is freed from the anxious motivation to grow in holiness. You can finally enjoy your holiness as you eat with friends, take care of your family, help the helpless, go to work, watch a movie, and go to sleep.

…all your human effort is freed from the anxious motivation to grow in holiness.

GIVE GOD THANKS, NOT TOIL

So rejoice that the life Jesus has called you to is an accomplished one. You've been adopted into the life of the Living God and do not have to work to inherit his home. He has unalterably given all of himself to you.

Rejoice that Jesus didn't make religion more stringent but instead rendered it obsolete by revealing his own heart beating within your chest.

Rejoice that Jesus didn't make religion more stringent but instead rendered it obsolete by revealing his own heart beating within your chest.

Rejoice that the life Jesus expects you to live isn't one loaded with purer morals or progressive improvement but with the command to see and believe that the sin of the world has been taken away by the Lamb of God. 

The Gospel of John is written "so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31, NRSV). 

Rejoice! Believe! Raise a glass and spread the Good News! 

Check out the LARKCAST episode this blog is paired with to dive deeper into the conversation:

This blog explores what Jesus said and did. Everyone’s questions deserve conversation, not answers. You are invited to press in with us. Hit the link above to reach out or access all our resources. We'd love to hear from you.

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When I think about…

“Childlike faith,” I think about my dad. When I wonder what I’m invited into by the God of the Scriptures, I begin my exploration in my experiences with my parents. What else do I have? 

I think of my dad because he’s my father, and God is frequently called the Father of all. I believe God is also my Mother, but that is another conversation. For now, we are dipping our toes into the mystery of childlike faith. 

There may be few things Jesus said and did as disarming as taking time to embrace and converse with children while chiding his impatient and indignant disciples. 

It begs the question, why did he point to these little people as exemplars of faith? 

THE WOOL PULLED OVER OUR EYES OF FAITH

Why does maturity in the eyes of Jesus look so little like what most churches are striving for (independent, self-feeding, constantly growing, fruit-bearing disciple-makers)?

To avoid walking on eggshells, I’ll say what I mean: when a culture is steeped and saturated in religion, it has no stomach for faith or freedom. 

When people believe God accepts them based on conditions, they develop and codify appropriate tracks for measuring and maintaining their sense of progress and achievement. It's what we do. It's how business, physical fitness, and all sorts of things work. But it makes a devastating mess of spiritual living. 

What then is childlike faith, and how do we rediscover it? 

MATURE FAITH IS IN DEPENDENCE, NOT INDEPENDENCE

Let’s get back to my dad. No one has perfect parents, and no one should expect to be a perfect parent. But I do have a great dad. I grew up seeing him as a provider, refuge, advocate, and encourager. He was someone I could trust at every turn to be for me, my well-being, and my development. 

This means I grew up with the privilege of not doubting my dad. I didn’t have to wonder or question if he’d show up or if he loved me. I had my moments of questioning, but those were usually more about me than him. 

Go back in your memories to what it felt like to be completely dependent on someone who regularly came through for you. The experience of being needy and helpless is something we Western moderns disdain like an infectious disease. But, I remember feeling more free and secure as a vulnerable child than I ever have as a mature adult. 

I remember feeling more free and secure as a vulnerable child than I ever have as a mature adult. 

My dad has been an illustration of what God is like. I am unspeakably grateful for this. But to make my point a bit more provocatively, consider a few thought experiments. 

Have you ever wondered how weird it would be if you sang a song to your parents about how holy they are? Or spoke the same creed to them every morning before eating your cereal?

Or what if you only felt confident asking them for help if you had faithfully read from their memoirs that week? What if you begged them to meet your daily needs, even though they’ve met them for years? 

As a father of 4 children, I have to say that I’d be creeped out by the singing, recitations, and the assumption that I’d ever let their needs go unmet. To be the father of my children is for my heart to be inseparably bound to their well-being and joy. It is for me to be absolutely delighted and utterly committed to their thriving, enjoyment of life, and potential for passing on the same. 

If I am like that as a human father, I can't even begin to imagine to what degree God is like that as the Father of all that is.

TAKING THE FATHER FOR GRANTED

Think about that…. God as Father is one of the most common pictures in the Scriptures. If God is our Father, then worship and faith, Christian maturity and freedom, must be other than something we do for God’s love or even because of God’s love. 

In other words, childlike faith is more like the revelry of a child in the security of their Father than it is the doing of right and appropriate things for fear that the Father might disapprove. Childlike faith is wholly absorbed in and obsessed with the object of faith, the Father. It takes for granted that the Father is loving, trustworthy, and protective. 

Childlike faith is wholly absorbed in and obsessed with the object of faith, the Father.

Most of the time, though, Christian faith looks more like absorption and obsession with the one who has faith - the self. We fret and we worry whether what we’ve done and said or not done and not said will be allowable. Instead of living in the constant assurance of a God whose love never runs out, we suffer the nagging anxiety that God has unmet expectations of us. 

FEAR AS DELUSION, FAITH AS DELIGHT

If there’s one thing Christians I’ve met throughout my life have consistently been afraid of, it's disappointing God. We are terrified we are not enough, we cannot do enough, we will have done it all wrong, or we will miss the mark. We have the personal, communal, and societal disintegration to prove it.

I call it spiritual psychosis.

Along with Adam and Eve, we bought the serpent's lie that God isn’t who he says he is, he’s holding out on us, and he is a threat to our living of the good life. Instead of the reality that God holds us with a love that will never let us go, we live in unreality, the illusion that he has set up a conditional cosmos in which he rewards only the faithful with his love. 

Pair this with the fact that the most significant human development happens in infancy. Whether or not we are and feel safe with our parents changes everything about us.

Curt Thompson, PHD., says, "We are born into this world looking for someone who’s looking for us." If we are not found, if we do not feel seen, our person begins disintegrating immediately. 

I think this is true spiritually as well. If you believe life is about pursuing a desire for God instead of assuming God’s desire for you, you will not live by faith.

What I’d like to do now is proclaim to you what is true about God and you. I'm going to pull on the thread of spiritual psychosis in you. 

GOD IS NOT DISAPPOINTED IN YOU

God is not disappointed in you. He has never been, and he never will be.

God will never abandon you and has never abandoned anyone. God’s love for you has nothing to do with anything you have to offer him. That God would ever be any of these things is the beginning of sin, the delusion of separation, and the detestable lie of Satan. 

Do you see what this means?

Sin is the antithesis of childlike faith. Sin is the life of believing the wrong things about God. Sin is not primarily disobedience, for, in the garden, distrust preceded disobedience. Sin is how you live when you believe God isn’t good, that you aren’t enough to make him happy, and that your eternity hangs in the balance of what you’re able to muster. 

Sin is how you live when you believe God isn’t good…

Religion becomes the only thing we can find to soothe ourselves as we sink deeper into insecurity and anxiety. We build fake metrics, and we track phony achievements to prove to ourselves, the world, or God that our life isn’t futile. We matter. We belong. We followed the right path. 

The security of a helpless child in the warm embrace of their Father is the last way I’d characterize most of the people I’ve met, inside and outside the Church. 

The Father’s children have always been the Father’s children. We have never been other than the beloved of God, the ones who he delights to hold in existence as an expression of his joy and goodness. No matter what, you could never be anything other than the child of the Father. You are one of his children forever. 

“I AM YOUR HOME”

The poorly titled parable of the Prodigal Son shows us childlike faith most emphatically.

Typically, this story is told to help you understand whether you’re the younger or older son. But, I think this story is all about the Father and the way home works in the kingdom of heaven. You could even say it displays childlike faith in the Father. 

…this story [of the prodigal son] is all about the Father and the way home works in the kingdom of heaven.

I mean that the Father is foolishly and ridiculously assumptive that his home is always his children's home - no matter what. 

When the father first goes out to welcome home the sulking son, who has a moral speech prepared, he spontaneously combusts into celebration without acknowledging any wrongs done. Nothing has changed about this younger son’s belonging to the family of the Father.

The father then goes out to bring in the sour son who lectures him about his reception of the younger son (a moral speech). The father responds to this indignation and entitlement with the most astounding words imaginable, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours” (Luke 15:31, NRSV). 

The posture of God the Father toward all his children is on full display here. Many preachers twist this story into a moralistic motivational speech. Some may focus more on the graciousness of the father. But few will allow the father’s uninhibited sharing of all that he is and has. 

Neither son’s moralistic framework was recognizable in the slightest by the father. The father’s only thought was, “I am your home.” He will not have the groveling of the younger son or the breast-beating of the older. Even if they kill him in the name of what is “moral,” he will not waver. 

RADICAL, UNINHIBITED TRUST 

Henri Nouwen, reflecting on this parable from Jesus, said, “Faith is the radical trust that home has always been there and always will be there“ (The Return of the Prodigal Son). The way this father loves his sons reveals to us the sort of Father we have and what sort of “faith” will free us to enjoy him. 

The only faith that recognizes our Father for who he is is childlike - the kind that trusts without inhibition. The sort of faith that gets lost beholding the Father while enjoying freedom.

The Father’s children are the Father’s children because he fathered them, not because they distinguished themselves as his children. My kids will always have my love because they are mine, not because they followed, worshiped, represented, or glorified me. My dad, even when he’s most frustrated with me, has always been overcome with the desire for me to know how he loves me. 

The Father’s children are the Father’s children because he fathered them, not because they distinguished themselves as his children.

May your soul, mind, and body be at rest and ease, dear reader. There was never a score to keep. You will always be one of the Father’s children. 

This blog explores what Jesus said and did. Everyone’s questions deserve conversation, not answers. You are invited to press in with us. Hit the link above to reach out or access all our resources. We'd love to hear from you.

If this post struck a chord, consider passing it on by clicking below.

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Today, I'd like to introduce you to a few of my friends who are helpfully navigating the waters of faithful work one day at a time. We have a hard time imagining things we've never experienced, and stories help facilitate freedom and stimulate the imagination. 

But first, let’s set the stage for the stories.

HOW WORK FITS INTO FAITH

Work has always been part of the good life for human beings. According to Genesis, God placed humans in the Garden to work and keep it. Since this precedes "the fall," work appears to be a good, right, and natural aspect of life. 

If work was there from the beginning, we must admit how we work is more relevant than that we work. But, work often gets a bad rap as an inherently negative, distracting, menacing part of life. We treat it as a necessary evil, a stepping stone, a self-justifying story, or an escape from the pain of life. 

If work was there from the beginning, we must admit how we work is more relevant than that we work.

Last week, Russ and Tony talked about Finding Freedom in Work on the Larkcast. They identified workaholism as one of the most pervasive religions in America. 

If that is where you live, you likely wrestle with the tensions between making ends meet and finding meaning and purpose in life. Sprinkle in the Christian anxiety of making a difference for the kingdom and a dash of the false dichotomy between ministry and secular work. You have a recipe for a spiritual identity crisis. 

…you likely wrestle with the tensions between making ends meet and finding meaning and purpose in life.

But what if we don't need freedom from work but freedom in work? What if work is a space to be who we are with a message of Good News and encouragement, whether we're a plumber, parent, pastor, photographer, or president? 

What might it look like to see work as less about personal dignity or contributing to God's desired utopia? 

Here are a few little snapshots to encourage you as you are going.

THE SIMPLICITY OF FRIENDSHIP

First, meet Chad Mezzera. He is a career firefighter and a beloved husband and father. After attending Moody Bible Institute, a well-traveled pathway into full-time ministry, he decided to pursue something different. 

The American firehouse is an environment where toughness almost always means suppressing emotion and pain and a refusal to admit the need for help. While seeing some of the most gruesome and disturbing tragedies imaginable, many of these firefighters and EMTs suffer from deep depression, an unimaginably high suicide rate, and dysfunctional home life. 

What struck me about Chad's perspective was how comfortable he is in his own skin. Instead of joining all the characteristic heckling and machismo, he remembers things that matter to his coworkers and brings them up later to check-in. 

…he remembers things that matter to his coworkers and brings them up later to check-in. 

Inevitably, this simple way of tending to the real lives of his brave friends ends up creating a safe friendship, somewhere they can be known and not judged. It's disarming, encouraging, and, sadly, uncommon. As people become more comfortable with Chad, they express more about how they're really doing. 

That is where Chad can offer simple Good News and a sympathetic, meaningful friendship. His strategy is not to ask, "if you die tonight, do you know if you'll end up in heaven or hell?" 

He has far more opportunities to speak the words of life because he begins with friendship.

He has far more opportunities to speak the words of life because he begins with friendship.

Cheers to Chad.

THE POWER OF HEARING A STORY

Now meet Chad's wife, Sarah. Sarah is a tattoo artist with her own business in Hannibal, Missouri, Butterbee Tattoo. She also attended the Moody Bible Institute but began earning income in a way she hadn't planned! 

She shared that she usually asks her customers if they feel comfortable telling her about the tattoo she's giving. She then feels like an "unlicensed therapist tattooing over all sorts of painful memories." 

Sarah also told me, "Tattooing is automatically an intimate and vulnerable environment as I touch their skin and hear their story. I may not bring up Christ in the conversation, but I want to ask questions that help them feel seen as a human being."

“I want to ask questions that help them feel seen as a human being.”

What's so striking to me is that instead of feeling like she has to force a conversation or pursue a particular outcome, she allows the interaction to breathe. And often, the conversations take a very personal, encouraging turn. 

Another insight Sarah offered was this: "Be relational around people where they are relational. None of the church jobs I held were conducive to this because so much of our mission was about getting people to enter the fold or the building. Little time was spent in their neighborhoods, coffee shops, libraries, parks, or bars."  

"Be relational around people where they are relational.”

Not everyone has a job where people are readily vulnerable as they are with Sarah. Still, we can all learn from her willingness to honor people's stories on their terms. And we can be encouraged that our message is powerfully communicated and platformed by a friendly, faithful presence. 

Cheers to Sarah. 

HELPING PEOPLE SEE EACH OTHER

Next up is Ryan Mayfield, a Teamwork Coach, husband, and dad hailing from Arkansas. 

After working in a church job, Ryan felt he needed a change. "This work was a way to be around people who are not already inside a church bubble. In church and many other communities, you can suddenly find yourself talking only to people in that bubble."  

“In church and many other communities, you can suddenly find yourself talking only to people in that bubble.

While helping teams and leaders, he doesn't have many opportunities to talk about faith explicitly. But helping leaders and teams function healthily means teaching each person to celebrate and lean on every other team member's unique value and contribution. 

The goal of his work isn't sharing the Gospel. Still, people learning more about themselves and their teams are often willing to dive deeper during in-between conversations. Ryan sees this as a great natural outworking made possible by genuinely helping make their lives and work better. 

Ryan is an encourager whose availability to his customers surpasses the value of his compensation. He believes that his work helps people get closer to experiencing the freedom of being who they are in Christ.

…his work helps people get closer to experiencing the freedom of being who they are in Christ.

Cheers to Ryan. 

THE BEAUTY OF HOSTING WELL

My friend, Annette, owns Smalltown Coffee Co. They're all about "Roasting the highest quality coffee for coffee geeks, restaurants, cafes, breweries, cities, and businesses in Crown Point, IN." 

She shared with me an incredible moment of gratitude that struck a chord. While coming downstairs from her apartment into the coffee shop, she noticed a brand new relationship sparking at that very moment, a common occurrence at Smalltown. 

Annette has artfully cultivated a business where meaningful interactions can occur while caring about coffee farmers, brewers, and drinkers alike. You never know when making that cortado for the newcomer who didn't know you weren't open yet will be a gesture of kindness that launches a brand new friendship. 

Annette has artfully cultivated a business where meaningful interactions can occur while caring about coffee farmers, brewers, and drinkers alike.

After some experiences in church and ministry, she also shared that "You can be part of a church for a long time and still feel extremely disconnected. Doing work like this helped free me up to be more myself than if I was in a ministry setting. It also encouraged others to be more comfortable in their own skin." 

As Annette reflected on her business's value of care, she brought it home by saying, "Isn't that more what God is like anyway?" I smiled and said, yes, I think so!"

"Isn't that more what God is like anyway?

Cheers to Annette.

THE PRODUCTIVITY OF VALUING PEOPLE OVER PRODUCTIVITY

Lastly, I wouldn't feel right ending a piece like this without telling you about my dad, Tom Allen. 

Few people have so helped me see what it really means to do good work in the world without neglecting the people you work with and for. His profound trust in Christ has worked itself out in every area of his life for the benefit of everyone he knows. 

He grew up a Christian, and he has always been a professional tradesman. It didn't take long for him to start building what is now a more than 35 year successful business as a sales representative and consulting agency for a commercial roofing product. 

When asked what made his territory perennially successful, he explains that caring about the real lives of contractors and treating them as people instead of pawns makes all the difference. 

…caring about the real lives of contractors and treating them as people instead of pawns makes all the difference. 

My dad has been known to show up to a contractor's office with a list to conquer. But they never touch the list because the big, burly roofer ends up weeping and sharing his burdens. 

Whether it's deep debt, divorce, internal disorganization, self-doubt, or basic ignorance, they tend to feel safe sharing it with my dad. Someone finally cared to ask and took time to listen. 

After all, when you help a person heal toward wholeness and help improve their business skills instead of demanding success, you end up with a better result anyway. People are loved, product is sold and installed, and more people can make ends meet. 

It turns out that investment in people makes their productivity better than it ever could have been otherwise. Who would have thought? 

Cheers, dad. 

PLAYING IN FIELDS OF GRACE

Undoubtedly, there are countless other ways to talk about how we can be relieved of the pressure to make something of ourselves or God's kingdom with our work. I only intend to begin a conversation here. 

At the very least, I hope you feel some spark of inspiration or a note of encouragement. Since God's not expecting anything of you, you are free to go out and play in the fields of grace. You are already safe and secure; when God sets his love on his children, he never removes it. 

…when God sets his love on his children, he never removes it. 

Living loved is good for you, for whatever you set your hands to, and for the rest of the world. Enjoy the freedom you have in work!

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Allison and I opened our home hundreds of times over the course of a decade in Chicago. We joined countless others in their homes or at parks, pubs, coffee shops, beaches, and beyond. It was a way of life. 

We were adamant that the Christianity we grew up in was far too anonymous and private. We ached to help more people experience the liberation of being known and loved at the same time. The message of Jesus had to matter in real life and relationships. 

We ached to help more people experience the liberation of being known and loved at the same time.

Make no mistake, there is nothing picturesque about it. Living transparently in community while constantly encouraging the discouraged takes a toll. In fact, it can become a religion in itself - something used to build a case for self-justification or a sense of worthiness. We definitely wrestled with this. 

THE RELIGIOUS IMPULSE 

But what we wrestled with even more was the religious impulse in our communities. More times than I took care to count, someone would come up to me and privately ask, "when are we going to start?" Something more always had to be done for our time to matter. 

…"when are we going to start?" Something more always had to be done for our time to matter. 

Mind you, this question was always asked part-way through a casual evening and the inevitable flurry of arrivals throughout at least an hour. People would be scattered about the house like a family reunion on Christmas Eve. Some were laughing in the kitchen, others enraptured in a debate at the table, kids running the halls like a playground, and others on the couch either crying or discussing the latest Bears loss. 

The question always hit a tender spot because I knew how rare it is for people to find somewhere to belong that doesn't measure behavior. Christian community is often marked by prayer, Bible study, even the almost forced sharing of struggles and sins without the mess and safety of unconditional friendship. The wrong element is featured, and some communities even hold auditions of sorts or just come out and label themselves "exclusive." 

I knew how rare it is for people to find somewhere to belong that doesn't measure behavior.

I love (and we practiced) prayer, Scripture reading, and confession. But what I longed for deep in my soul was a connection with other people who would revel in the undying love of God. In general, Christians in our church were not lacking ways to commune with God, but ways to commune with people. 

WHY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY IS OFTEN NOT FUN

This is more true of Western Christianity than we're willing to admit. We have book stores and churches full of ways to inch yourself closer to the kind of person you'd want other people to know. Even the practice of community has become a means to that end. 

We have book stores and churches full of ways to inch yourself closer to the kind of person you'd want other people to know.

When people view their time at the Allen house on Sunday night as a way to become a better version of themselves (or to help others do the same), they miss out on the celebration of what has already become of them in Christ. They turn the experience into the exact evil opposite of what it is meant to be.

The truest experiences of life in the body of Christ come with no strings attached. The kind of reconciliation Jesus accomplished is not one you have to apply to your life like you apply lotion to dry skin. It is eternally complete and objectively true. It's something you slowly learn to trust and believe because Christ already applied it to your life. 

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY AS RELIGION

I want to draw more attention to all of this. In the name of Christian community, lots of Christians who came to our house became uncomfortable with how much time we spent freestyling and how seldom we offered a plan or teaching.

…lots of Christians who came to our house became uncomfortable with how much time we spent freestyling and how seldom we offered a plan or teaching.

"We started over an hour ago" would be my response most of the time. Some people wouldn't come back because their time was too valuable to be wasted like this. Others would love it and press in. I'd point out the beautiful value of a house full of people experiencing the freedom to just exist in mundane, ongoing relationships. 

I'd help people explore the idea that spirituality doesn't work like corporate ladders or physical health. We'd grapple with the reality that no one can outrun the love of God. You came expecting to do something for God, but you enjoyed what God has done for you instead. 

You came expecting to do something for God, but you enjoyed what God has done for you instead. 

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY AS CELEBRATION

Here's the moral of the story: Christian community is a celebration of the love of God. Christian community isn't the way you become more faithful; it's the way you enjoy the faithfulness of God. It is never a prerequisite to the love of God. 

Christian community isn't the way you become more faithful; it's the way you enjoy the faithfulness of God.

You could really sum up all Christian practices that way. Religion addicts need miracles, not manuals. Religion addicts need to learn to let God love them. They need to be convinced that God isn't holding out on or threatening them. 

We need to be convinced that self-justification is like chasing after the wind. The message of the Bible is not about changing God's mind but about changing yours. God has never needed to be convinced to love you - loving you is what God does by being God. 

…loving you is what God does by being God. 

You are the one who needs to be convinced that the god who only loves you if you love him enough is a myth. You need to be shown how to do what free people do. You need to be shown how to waste time and enjoy the other people around you. They are as free as you. 

You are invited into friendship with God and with his beloved creation. You are welcomed into the eternal life, joy, and love of a God whose story is your redemption. Enjoy!

This blog explores what Jesus said and did. Everyone’s questions deserve conversation, not answers. You are invited to press in with us. Hit the link above to reach out or access all our resources. We'd love to hear from you.

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In April 2021, my wife and I moved our family of 6 into a travel trailer. We sold many of our belongings and stored what little we couldn't part with. We left Chicago, a city we love very much, and we became nomads. 

The only way to sustain our mission is fundraising. So, if you think 6 people living in 300 square feet that goes 70mph is crazy, imagine asking people to sponsor it. Many people have incredibly backed us and made this dream a reality to our delight. 

…if you think 6 people living in 300 square feet that goes 70mph is crazy, imagine asking people to sponsor it.

PROVIDING CONVERSATIONS ABOUT GOOD NEWS

We're approaching our 1st anniversary of setting sail as mobile missionaries, and I am both surprised and not surprised by what we've found. The vision that drew us into this was that people everywhere are desperate for conversations about their spiritual questions, not canned answers. 

The vision that drew us into this was that people everywhere are desperate for conversations about their spiritual questions, not canned answers.

I joined Lark to help bring community, connection, and encouragement to those who are exploring what God is really like through what Jesus really said and did. I believe people everywhere are frantically searching for a freedom they already have. 

But, I wanted to make time and space for the extended version of people's stories. I wanted them to have time to process their unabridged questions about God. I wanted to be able to sit with them long enough to feel the things they felt so I could even begin to know what sort of encouragement they might need. 

I wanted to make time and space for the extended version of people's stories.

THE LOST CAUSE OF GOOD NEWS

More people than ever before wonder if the way church is now is how it's always been and always ought to be. Sadly, many get direct answers in the affirmative. Others are quietly gaslighted and fade into the background of their church and eventually leave dismissed, neglected, or patronized. 

More people than ever before wonder if the way church is now is how it's always been and always ought to be.

Nearly 80% of society is uninterested in attending a church gathering of any kind. More than 80% of Churchgoers cannot articulate what "the Great Commission" refers to.* I believe something different than what's allegedly always been done is imperative if people are going to learn to let Jesus' perspective of God overtake theirs. 

I believe something different…is imperative if people are going to learn to let Jesus' perspective of God overtake theirs. 

After 11 months on the road, it is safe to say the people we've encountered are feeling this strain. It's scarce to find a Christian who exhibits assurance like Jesus'. It is equally rare to find someone who is not a Christian who isn't also searching high and low for that same kind of satisfaction to no avail. 

People everywhere are medicating themselves with deadly, synthetic spiritualities, and it's spreading anxiety instead of assurance like wildfire. Churches with pretty Instagram feeds or water-tight doctrinal statements are in the same boat. They're losing ground in the mission to make the love of God known in a world where people are dying in search of it. 

People everywhere are medicating themselves with deadly, synthetic spiritualities, and it's spreading anxiety instead of assurance like wildfire

When we sit with people to draw out and honor their stories and encourage them with another look at what Jesus actually said and did, we observe their shoulders relax. We see the relief in their face when they realize they aren't alone in their disillusionment, doubts, questions, and vague hopes. The solidarity is powerful, even if they fight it with the insatiable need to self-justify and appear as a member of a winning team.

THE ADVANTAGE OF A MOBILE MISSIONARY FAMILY

I've been on phone and zoom calls with people from New England to Seattle, Miami to Phoenix, and everywhere between. We camped through St. Louis, Louisville, Nashville, Atlanta, Ft. Myers, Miami, Fayetteville, Conway, Kansas City, Dallas, Waco, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. I've also done Lark events in Charleston, Wilmington, San Diego, Los Angeles, Louisville, and St. Louis, with more on the books. 

The conversation about reckoning with the actual words and witness of Jesus has been on everyone's mind. They realize words about Jesus are not the same as the words of Jesus. The "news" heard in churches is not nearly as good as the news for which Jesus was crucified and commemorated. 

…words about Jesus are not the same as the words of Jesus.

We've had long conversations with friends, family, camper-neighbors, strangers, and people following Lark. We've met in homes, back yards, porches, pubs, coffee shops, playgrounds, and campgrounds. We've sat around fire pits, pizza boxes, football games, juice boxes, whisky bottles, dinner tables, and computer screens. 

Travel trailer life has allowed us to set up our home in whatever town we're in. This avails us for local connection without the more typical cost of airfare, lodging, and family separation. Our kids get to see and explore the U.S., and when we visit people, we aren't a burden and don't need to be hosted.

Our kids get to see and explore the U.S., and when we visit people, we aren't a burden and don't need to be hosted.

We can stay somewhere for 1 night or several months. Granted, over 1 million Americans live in an RV full time now. The cost of campsites is creeping higher while campgrounds fill up faster. But so far, the benefits outweigh the inconveniences. 

RE-ENCHANTING THE DISENCHANTED

The bottom line is people deserve conversations about the Good News with no strings attached. People rethinking their spirituality need open conversations exploring what Jesus really said instead of pat answers, pressure to fit in, or threats of being excluded. 

People rethinking their spirituality need open conversations exploring what Jesus really said instead of pat answers…

Everywhere we go, we encourage people with the unthinkably Good News that they are already included in the "all things" that Jesus reconciled by the blood of his cross (Colossians 1:19-20). Reframing spirituality, faith, and church around this truth is the most beautiful journey I've ever been on. 

Nothing else compels someone to trust in the very good God revealed in Jesus Christ. Nothing else leads to real freedom, satisfaction, or assurance. 

*

https://blog.lifeway.com/newsroom/2016/06/28/research-unchurched-will-talk-about-faith-not-interested-in-going-to-church/

http://bit.ly/barna-new-sunday-morning-part-2

http://bit.ly/half-churchgoers-not-heard-great-commission

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I like to think I’m a pretty honest, approachable, humble guy. I like it even more when other people tell me they think I’m those things. But boy does something monster-like rise up in me when I receive accusations to the contrary. Something as simple as a clarifying question can make me feel like my character is being dragged through the mud. 

But that is my guilt talking, not other people. 

I’d venture to guess you’re a lot like me, at least when you’re honest with yourself. Even the most modest among us hate insinuations about character flaws, even if we’re good at pretending to appreciate the feedback.

I believe we come by all this honestly. But why is this happening? What do we do about it? Why does it have so much control over our emotions and reactions? 

I think it has something to do with the one belief we build all others on. 

THE OFFENSE OF THE GOSPEL 

There is something deeply offensive and undignifying about the Gospel of Jesus. In short, the fact that God felt the need to save us by allowing us to kill him reveals that something in us was gravely distorted. Hearing “you are forgiven,” implicitly includes the stinging message “you needed forgiveness.” 

But here’s where our coping mechanisms go haywire. In an attempt to triage what’s going on in us, we either suppress the feelings of inadequacy or we imagine that we are not the worst on the list. We simply can’t stand acknowledging that the forgiveness offered to us in Christ was absolutely necessary and completely free. 

We simply can’t stand acknowledging that the forgiveness offered to us in Christ was absolutely necessary and completely free. 

And it seems odd, when we really look at the Gospel, that we’d be so prone to resist the truths it reveals. “Yes, you were obstinately estranged, but in the death of Jesus, you’ve been completely healed and made new, for the One who made you has now become one with you.” 

A STORY OF MY GUILT [MIS]MANAGEMENT

For me this resistance is easily illustrated in relationships. I remember a time when I was arguing with a dear friend. While I thought I had a great point that I insisted should only encourage her, she ended up bursting into tears and leaving the room. 

After she calmed down, I was seeking clarification and she said, “sometimes you just make me feel so stupid.” Sometimes, something like that activates compassion and remorse in me, leading to a slightly quicker apology and reconciliation. But, other times, I bite my lip and stubbornly nurse a feeling of being offended that my words would be so misconstrued. 

“…sometimes you just make me feel so stupid.”

The latter is always a problematic and painful experience. My ego inflates to shield me from what I am apparently interpreting as a personal attack. I essentially feel offended that she was offended by me, that she honestly shared her real feelings about what I said to her. 

It often takes me way too long to realize that I have a complete Guilt Management Systems Failure on my hands. The guilt is real and true. But admitting that feels out of the question and so I attempt to transform the guilt into bravado, wit, or some manipulative reinterpretation of the interaction. 

My sense of guilt is only increased by my attempt at mitigating it.

THE PARADOX OF MANAGING GUILT

In my scenario, the guilt is actually multiplied instead of avoided. If I accept it and acknowledge what I’ve done to my friend and she forgives me, the guilt will cease to exist. But, avoiding and rejecting it only confirms what I’m most terrified of: I am not good enough. 

This becomes a cyclical narrative and my soul acquires layer upon layer of scar tissue as I refuse to believe that I can be accepted when known for who I really am. It’s a risk, to be sure, but it’s the only pass available through the mountains of guilt to the plains of freedom. 

This becomes a cyclical narrative and my soul acquires layer upon layer of scar tissue as I refuse to believe that I can be accepted when known for who I really am.

To take it one step further, I find myself in heaps of anxious exhaustion when I try to manage my guilt. Hiding seems to be a viable option, but it leaves me with only one possible course of action. I have to find a way to prove myself not guilty or atone for my guilt, and I’ll work my fingers to the bone thinking that’s just what I’m doing. 

This is the madness of sin and the illusion I believe to be true: I am not good (enough), and so I must become good (enough). This is the belief we build all others on, and it is like building your house on the sand. No wonder insecurity is humanity’s most chronic epidemic. 

No wonder insecurity is humanity’s most chronic epidemic. 

THE REMEDY FOR THE GUILTY 

Even so, this spiritual psychosis is no match for the foolishness of the cross. Because that is where Jesus, the great I AM, willingly surrendered to the deepest reaches of our disbelief and delusions, all the way to death. 

Jesus beholds the false visions of god our guilt has meticulously painted. But, on our behalf, he believes in his vision of the Father, with whom he’s as at one with as he is at one with us. This is the mystery of the Gospel, and I believe this is why the Gospel is better than you or I had previously imagined. 

We have been cured of our disease by God himself because he was willing to subject himself to the life we live and the lies we believe. The One who has been face to face with the Father for all eternity joined us to be face to face with the god of our imaginations. By standing with us there, by being God With Us there, he has set us free.

The One who has been face to face with the Father for all eternity joined us to be face to face with the god of our imaginations.

DEACTIVATING GUILT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

So, the next time you experience a Guilt Management Systems Failure, try to remember that the guilt is probably true, but whatever is true about you was true about Jesus when he died. He took all of the guilt of every person everywhere for all time and left it buried in his grave. 

…whatever is true about you was true about Jesus when he died.

That means you are free even in the midst of your overwhelming feelings of guiltiness. It means that the guilt cannot be held against you by anyone anymore because you have already died and risen with Christ. It means that you are free to be known for who you really are because that is who Jesus really reconciled. 

…you are free to be known for who you really are because that is who Jesus really reconciled.

Oh, and while you may not be able to completely deactivate your Guilt Management Systems, you can at least begin to distrust them and learn how to bypass them when activated. They are foreign to your person and only serve to reinforce the lies of the serpent. 

*For much of the thinking in this piece, I am indebted to the work of C. Baxter Kruger.

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THE GOOD NEWS OF BEING FOUND OUT

Being found out may be one of the most liberating experiences of all. Pain, embarrassment, and consequences come to bear anyway, but the charade is over. There is no joy in the edited life, burying reality under a mountain of lies and aesthetic manipulations. 

Being found out may be one of the most liberating experiences of all.

The incarnation of God simultaneously reveals two truths we always bet against. First, it shows that our belief that God is far off, angry, and waiting for us to come to him is ungrounded. Instead, he has come, and he is here. And he isn’t leaving. 

Second, it exposes the truth that we needed God to do something outrageous to rectify what went wrong. We were dead with no way back. Helping ourselves was further gone than the reversal of aging.

When the blazing light of Christ hits our skin, we feel the pain of our death peeling off and the ecstasy of his life raising us up. In this way, being found out is the best, worst thing that can happen.

When the blazing light of Christ hits our skin, we feel the pain of our death peeling off and the ecstasy of his life raising us up. 

THE RAGS OF MORALISM EXPOSED

It is sad and twisted, sneaky in Voskamp’s words, how we convince each other there’s an appropriate response to God’s love and grace. It’s mostly sad because our attempt to hold a high view of God’s grace nullifies it instead. 

Taking issue with “cheap grace” and “abusing grace,” we fill in the fine print Jesus forgot. All that can ever get you to God is Jesus. As he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). 

So we construct religion after religion for getting to Jesus, now that he can get us to God. We relocate the religion Jesus judged instead of leaving it where he buried it. No matter how many times we read Jesus’ words, we default to a false view of God that leads to truckloads of false expectations. 

…we construct religion after religion for getting to Jesus, now that he can get us to God.

“We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind” (Isaiah 64:5, NLT). Our best efforts are useless garbage. 

The exiled people to whom Isaiah prophesied desired their old temple way of life (Isaiah 64:11) like Israel desired Egypt just after being set free (Exodus 16:3). Sounds all too familiar. Today, Christians desire their temples to faithfully (anxiously) worship the God who ironically ended religion forever. 

OUTED BY THE SCANDAL OF CHRISTMAS

All the ways we’ve always thought we get to God have been confronted and confounded in Jesus. When Jesus was delivered by a woman who never had sex with a man, the judgment of all our “raggedy rags” began. Our ability (and need) to contribute has been exposed as illusory, and God arrived in utter weakness to reveal just how free we’ve always been.

Jesus’ arrival showed that for grace to be grace, it must be uninhibited and boundaryless, limited not even the extent of the rebellion. The only alternative is the affirmation of the most terrifying fear of all: we can out-sin the grace of God. In truth, this is absolute nonsense because for God to be God is for God to be gracious. Grace was not a decision God deliberated over.

Grace was not a decision God deliberated over.

God is known throughout the Bible for making mothers out of barren women. But Mary is the first mother he made out of a virgin. The message of Christmas is that God brings life out of the lifeless. The Gospel in Christmas is that God became the most delicate form of life to reveal his devotion and to disillusion his creation.

The message of Christmas is that God brings life out of the lifeless.

The Incarnation of God was not a concession. God was not bothered, annoyed, or embarrassed by becoming immersed in our life. It was his crowning celebration of our life in him and the primary expression of what it means for God to be God and for humans to be human. 

‘God With Us’ is not a myth or a metaphor. It is the reality that holds all things together, and it is the only thing that can ever convince us that we already eternally matter to God. 

‘GOD WITH US’ IS NOT FAIRNESS

This is where we finally allow ourselves to accept the blazing light and life of Christ. As we slowly warm to the idea of being fully seen and exposed, the scales on our eyes begin to give way. The pain of being shown what we are without him is finally surrendered to the medicine of his promise to never forsake us (Kruger, Across All Worlds).

The pain of being shown what we are without him is finally surrendered to the medicine of his promise to never forsake us.

“I have sat in offices for years and watched frightened people draw new breath once the worst was said and nothing bad happened as a result… Life takes on a completely different hue once we tell just one person what it is that we’ve worked so hard at not saying.” (Joan Chittister, Radical Spirit). Truly, it is we who cannot forget our sins, not God. It is we who fight for fairness instead of forgiveness. 

The God who became a Messiah by becoming a human baby has forever pronounced his love over people who only fail to prove their love for him. The Gospel in Christmas is that God is not running away from us or waiting in the distance. He is sprinting toward us.

“I am loved so much that I am left free to leave home. The blessing is there from the beginning. I have left it and keep on leaving it. But the Father is always looking for me with outstretched arms to receive me back and whisper again in my ear: ‘You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests’” (Henri Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son).

This means no one, no, not one, must change their ways to be counted among the faithful. Our “raggedy rags” have been proven obsolete and unnecessary by the birth of Christ and the Incarnation of God. We are finally free to really live without fear of failing the one who will never fail us.

This means no one, no, not one, must change their ways to be counted among the faithful.

This blog explores what Jesus said and did. Everyone’s questions deserve conversation, not answers. You’re invited to press in with us. Hit the link above to reach out or access all our resources. We'd love to hear from you.

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UNIVERSAL HUMAN FEAR: "GOD IS NOT WITH ME"

I think every person lives with some variation of the ever-nagging thought that there's a higher power with a good and a bad side. A god with a naughty and a nice list, if you will. A deity from whom we are separate until we get back in line.

So we set out to please and appease this god hoping to get him to draw near. We wrestle with the idea of a god who demands things of us, and we only feel safe if we become enough of whatever we think this god wants of us. 

…we only feel safe if we become enough of whatever we think this god wants of us.

This is how we discover the impossibility of becoming enough. Say we believe we acquire this enoughness. Will we not inevitably drop the ball again, realize there's no pot of gold, or worst of all, think well of ourselves for what we've become and call others to match us?

UNIVERSAL GOOD NEWS: GOD IS WITH US

The thing about the Gospel is that Jesus didn't get us on God's good side or empower us to do it. The Gospel didn't change God's mind about us. Emmanuel is God in a body - 'God With Us' - God's mind about us, if you will.

The Gospel changes our minds about God. Left to our devices and natural inclinations, we will live against the grain of reality believing we are unloved and not with God. Even the most confident among us suffer this fear.

The Gospel didn't change God's mind about us…The Gospel changes our minds about God.

The issue facing humanity then, which Christ became incarnate to address, was not that we needed someone to convince God to keep us around. The problem is that humans do not trust the one who made and loves us. Believing the God of galaxies has no time for our badness, we do everything we can to find purification and reconciliation. 

This is the lie Christ debunked. God put on flesh to convince us that we have been taken captive with illusions of God. Jesus said if we have seen him, we have seen the Father (John 14:9). But, the story of Jesus is not the kind we like; he is an ultimate loser. 

HOW WITH US CAN GOD REALLY BE? 

Suppose we're finally honest with ourselves, like an alcoholic for the nth time in a hospital bed, this time on the edge of death. We finally admit we're ultimate losers, too. We are simply unable to measure up to the expectations we think God has of us. 

It's in spirals of self-doubt and hopeless despair that we are finally ready to see clearly. That's why God came to be one with us instead of prescribing ways to restore withness on our own (John 17:21, 23; Romans 8:9-11).

It's in spirals of self-doubt and hopeless despair that we are finally ready to see clearly.

Read Kruger's words at the top again. That is the perspective of Jesus, his words to you and me. God made himself in his own image so he could enter the center of the core of our painful unbelief (Kruger's insight on this is not to be missed. I heartily recommend his book, Across All Worlds). 

We seem to think that Jesus came to fix disobedience. Although we continue in disobedience, we seek out more and more novelty solutions to make us more obedient. In light of our incurable disobedience and discouragement, can Jesus be considered sufficient? 

Jesus didn't fix unbelief by providing a new spirituality cocktail for humans. Through the mystery of his incarnation, death, and resurrection, Jesus did something we will never fully understand: he replaced our unbelief with his belief. 

Through the mystery of his incarnation, death, and resurrection, Jesus did something we will never fully understand: he replaced our unbelief with his belief.

He came to restore our trust in the Father by showing us what the Father is really like. His invitation to us is to join his trust in his Father. You don't have to fix disobedience. You don't have to fret over your unbelief. 

WHAT 'GOD WITH US' MEANS FOR YOU 

Jesus Christ is the Father's embrace of all of us, expelling the liar and the lies. That God is with us means that our nightmare has been exposed as such. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it... From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace" (John 1:5, 16, NRSV). 

Jesus Christ is the Father's embrace of all of us, expelling the liar and the lies.

You are not rejected. You are not abandoned. You are not separated. You are not left behind. You are not left out. You are not ignored, abhorred, or tolerated. You have not been issued an ultimatum or a death threat.

You are, and always have been, the child of God. You will never cease to be the delight of his eyes and the desire of his heart. Your home is the living God who holds all things together (Col. 1:17). 

In closing, remember the story of the so-called prodigal son.

Your self-righteous offers to be the Father's slave (like the younger son in Luke 15:18-19), and your self-righteous claims of always being faithful (like the older son in Luke 15:29-30), will forever be buried in the Father's embrace as he declares "...you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours" (Luke 15:31).

Your self-righteous offers to be the Father's slave… and your self-righteous claims of always being faithful… will forever be buried in the Father's embrace…

Let this thrill of hope draw you into the party. Raise a glass to the scandal of the Father whose love endures all things.

This blog explores what Jesus said and did. Everyone’s questions deserve conversation, not answers. You’re invited to press in with us. Hit the link above to reach out or access all our resources. We'd love to hear from you.

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