Archive for the ‘Mirrors’ Category
Monday Morning from Wicker Park
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It’s Monday morning and I’m kickin’ it at Filter in Wicker Park (I love WP btw). My eyes are tired and my body is moving SLOW. Looking forward to meeting up with Ben Arment and Jarrett & Jeanne Stevens in a little while. Hard to believe that STORY 2010 is already here.
Since I have way too much to say and not enough time to write it all I’m going to bullet a bunch of stuff…. Here we go.
- Had the privilege of interviewing Dawn Schiller at The Orchard this past weekend. If you’re not familiar with Dawn, you can learn more here. She has an incredible story. The audio is up and available for download here. See photos here.
- Who’s going to be at STORY later this week?
- Lots of stuff coming up this fall that I’m excited about. Will be in Minneapolis, Rockford, Atlanta, and…..I think that’s it for now.
- Enjoyed getting to know Mark Sayers last week. Mark is from Australia and has some good stuff to say.
- Celebrated the lives of two very dear people last week. Charlotte and Bruce…you’ll both be missed. Stirred my grief up a bit for my dad. October 12th will make six years since he passed away. Man…
That’s it….gotta run.
Midway Through MIRRORS
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“Grace means that in the middle of our struggle the referee blows the whistle and announces the end of the game. We are declared winners and sent to the showers. It’s over for all huffing, puffing piety to earn God’s favor; it’s finished for all sweat-soaked straining to secure self-worth; it’s the end of all competitive scrambling to get ahead of others in the game. Grace means that God is on our side and thus we are victors regardless of how well we have played the game. We might as well head for the showers and the champagne celebration.” Donald McCullough
LISTEN (.mp3 links)
SUBSCRIBE TO THE ORCHARD’S PODCAST HERE (iTunes link)
The Woman & The Stoners (Part 2)
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Read Part 1 here if you haven’t already.
SO….Jesus challenges the “stoner people” by holding up a mirror and reminding them of their reality – that they are flawed, torn, ragged, and broken. So what do they do? They all walk away. Starting with the oldest. (Oldest = Most Sin?)
But then Jesus does something so beautiful….so reflective of the Father’s heart.
He takes that same mirror that he had just held up to the stoner people…and now holds it up to this woman who had been caught in adultery. Except the reflection she’s about to see is different than the one the stoner people saw. Why? Because she knew her condition. She knew that she was flawed and broken. She knew that she was in a pretty desperate situation. And she knew that deserved whatever she had coming to her.
John 8:10-11 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
You know what Jesus was essentially saying to her?
“Yes, I know about your sin and what you’ve done. I know you’re broken and flawed. BUT…..I also know that you are of great value to me. And I know that I love you and accept you just the way you are – not the way you should be. Now YOU know. Now go…and sin no more.“
When God holds up His mirror to our lives we clearly see the reality of our sin and just how desperately in need of God’s grace we really are. But we also see something much greater – the truth of grace and unconditional love. We see the truth that we are accepted just as we are – not as as we should be.
But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. Romans 5:20 (The Message)
The Woman & The Stoners (Part 1)
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I love/hate the story in John chapter 8 about the woman caught in adultery. In case you don’t know it:
- Jesus is speaking to a crowd of people outside a temple.
- A group of religious teachers (Pharisees) disrupt Jesus by bringing to his attention a woman who has been caught in adultery.
- The Law of Moses says she should be stoned (think rock, not the other kind…).
- So they ask Jesus (trying to trick him): “The Law says we should stone her. What do you say?“
This is where the story starts getting REALLY good. Jesus brilliantly responds by saying:
“All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.” (John 8:7-8)
I’ll be honest. I used to read this story and think to myself, “What in the hell was wrong with these people?! How could they have thought they were so perfect and sinless?”
But the other day it hit me. I don’t think they necessarily thought they were perfect or sinless…..as much as they were just doing what all of us tend to do whenever we forget just how ragged and torn we really are – they picked up stones.
I do it too. Every time I think of myself as being better or superior to someone else. Every time I’m quick to judge. Every time I choose to believe something other than the best about someone. If I were to look down in those moments, I’m pretty certain I would find a big fat stone being tightly clinched in one of my fists. Or maybe both. Not because I think I’m perfect or sinless….but because that’s just what happens when we forget how desperately in need of God’s grace we truly are.
Ouch.
And that’s not even my main point here. I’ll try to get there tomorrow.
God Pursues…..They Hide
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I’m becoming more and more convinced that our perception of who God is and how He sees us is more important than any of us realize.
Think about it.
Adam and Eve. Beautiful garden….blessing…..every need met. “BUT….”, God says, “Honor me. Keep me first. How? By refusing to eat from that tree over there.” So what do they do? Well, they do what all of us would’ve done….they eat from it.
God’s reaction? Pursuit. He pursues them out of a heart of reconciliation. His desire is to reconnect with them and clothe them.
But what does Adam and Eve do? They run and hide. Why? Because of how they believed God perceived them.
Think about it. God loves them, so he goes after them. Adam and Eve run and hide because they think God is pissed!
We live out of our realization of who God is and how we believe He sees us.
It impacts everything. My thinking. My confidence (or lack thereof). My behavior. My motivation. WHY I read my Bible. WHY I go to church. WHY I do good. WHY I give. And of course, it also impacts why and how I interact with others. (More on that later.)
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