Tenth Avenue North : Journals mike

Don't Live for God! Chapter 6 continued.

February 28, 2009

So, before I get on to Hold My Heart, I noticed that a lot of people
commented on this one phrase from Chapter 6, so I thought we would do well
to look at it a bit further. And let me just say, thank you.
To everyone.
Thank you so much for your comments,
and for taking time to read my ramblings.
This has been so encouraging,
and I am so blessed by everyone’s enthusiasm thus far.
May we all believe the gospel more and more.
Here’s Chapter 6 continued…

Could you imagine what that would look like?
A bunch of people that no longer live for God but because of God?
I mean, think about how terribly liberating that is!
You don’t have to earn a thing.
You don’t have to perform for anyone.
You don’t even have to go and win souls for God.
You just need to know that you’re already accepted,
and live like you actually believe it.

Think about it.
A people that praise Him because of who He is.
Doing things because of what He has done.
A church that loves, and forgives, because He first loved them.

Oh how beautiful that would be.

Like my pastor frequently says,
“Don’t show me a church that loves God, show me a church that believes
they’re loved, and I’ll show you a church that God is using.”

But sadly, most of miss this one crucial point.
We go to church and we hear how we need to change the world,
how we need to be better Christians, and how we need to make our lives
count, and have maximum impact and how we need to live with purpose, blah blah blah….
And we buy into it. We live harder. We make promises to ourselves.
We memorize the formulas and purpose in our hearts to do better.
But for what reason?
To be honest, it makes me sad to think about,
how many people have been led astray
by the self-help methods and strategies of man.
How many people still don’t believe they’re loved because
they just can’t seem to live up to the spiritual bar they’ve erected for themselves!
How rarely do we stop ourselves long enough to ask the most important question?
For what purpose am I living for God?
To be accepted or because I already am?

Friends. This one question will make all the difference.

If it’s for God and not because of God, two things happen.
We will either live up to all our trying,
and consequently feel really great about ourselves
and look down on everyone who can’t live like us,
or we fall short of our resolutions and instantly begin to sulk about how we’ll
never be who God wants us to be!
And so it goes. A vicious cycle of swaggering and sniveling.
We’re up when we succeed, and we’re down when we fail.
Up. Down. Up. Down. On and on and on we go.
Caught up in the halls of introspection, not realizing that the gospel doesn’t
make us better people, it just makes us forget about ourselves!

Kind of like Rocky though, you know?
You ever scene that movie?
Remember when He slurs to Mickey,
“if I just go the distance, then I’ll know I’m not a bum!”
For Him, He had to go the distance.
That’s what it would take to validate Him. To give him worth!
What is it for you?
What are you trying to prove?
What do you need to accomplish in your life that will finally make you feel
like you’re not a bum?

Here’s the deal.
Romans 12 warns us that there’s a problem with living like that.
It says, “therefore, in view of God’s mercy, present your bodies as
a living sacrifice to God.”
Did you notice the first phrase?
“Therefore, in view of God’s mercy,”
And you know what that’s saying?
It’s saying, before you start trying to live for God, you need to really understand
what’s He done for you. You need to understand that you are a bum!
You are a complete and total failure but BECAUSE of chapters 1-11,
because of all that Christ has done, in view of his mercy,
in response to his audacious sacrificing love,
you need to go and live like you believe it.

In other words, our doing is a response to what He has already done.

Just look at how lopsided Romans is!
Paul takes 11 chapters to talk about what Christ did on the cross,
and only 5 to talk about our response to it.
And still, I’ll hear a well-intentioned youth pastor get up and preach on this verse,
telling his kids to go and be a living sacrifice, and live for God, and be
the change, etc, etc, etc, and not once will he even mention the cross
and what Christ has done!!!!
And if you do that, I’m sorry youth pastor man, but you totally miss the point.
And furthermore, you actually make people more wicked!
Yeah, that’s right! You become more wicked when you live for God
and not because God. That’s what the Bible calls “Pharisees.”
You do all the right things but for all the wrong reasons.
And all the while, feeling more and more justified for being your own Saviour.

Because the only way we can possibly live for God
is if we are living because of God.
And what I mean is, that’s the only way our motivations are purified.
If we’re not living in view of God and in response to Him,
then chances are, we’re just living for the praises of man, for the validation of our performance,
and for the pride of obedience.

Ok Mike. What on earth is the pride of obedience?
Here’s a simple real-life example.
You’re driving through the drive-thru at your local fast food dining establishment.
Wendy’s. Starbucks perhaps?
And after a strange, disjointed conversation with the broken voice over the speaker,
you drive up to the window, hoping that they actually got your order right,
and then you’re greeted by a not so friendly, refreshment attendant,
who gives you the wrong change, the wrong order and seems completely
annoyed that you would have the audacity to bring that to their attention.
So with a surly look and a snatch of the bag, they yell for a change of order over
their shoulder and then slam their little drive thru window thingy closed,
leaving you in your car with a unnecessary guilty conscience and a
brief moment to assess the situation.
And so at this point you lean over to the person next to you, and say,
“Goodness. Can you believe the attitude with these people? I mean,
I would never act like that. Totally unprofessional.”
And at just that moment, the little double glass doors swing open,
and said disgruntled employee emerges from his grease cave,
looking at you with that same disheveled expression,
and then with a monotone mumble says,
“Here’s your order. Sorry about that.”
To which you cheerily respond, “Oh, no problem. Thank you so much.”
And off you go.
All the while, feeling really good about yourself, because you were so nice with your
response, and you didn’t even reach out through your window and strangle them to death.

Now, some of you might be thinking, “yeah, what’s wrong with that?”
A business is a business right? People need to do their job.
Well, I would agree with you, but that’s not the issue.
The issue is the underlying sense of pride under statements like,
“Can you believe the attitude?” or “I would never…”
You see, both of those sentiments carry with them an undercurrent of condescending
self-esteem that looks down on the individual who doesn’t obey like they do.
I call it, the pride of obedience. And it comes from older brother types who
expect everyone to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and live the way they’re
supposed to. It comes from people who are living for God, and not because of Him.

However, if you rewind that tape and play it back
with someone living because God,
I think you’d get a much different response.
First of all, the because God person is not
surprised when a person who’s never experienced the love of Christ acts like it.
They wouldn’t exclaim, “Can you believe the attitude?” because quite frankly,
yes. They can believe it. If they’ve never known Christ
then what else should they expect?
And they certainly wouldn’t say, “I would never act like that.”
Because they know, that without Christ, they would.
Maybe not right to someone’s face, but definitely in their heart.
And thirdly, they might actually take time to see the person behind the Wendy’s
uniform, and ask, “Man, I wonder if they’ve ever tasted the love of Christ.
I wonder why they’re so disagreeable?”

Pride is a sure fire sign that you’re not living because God.
People who live because God, are marked by an overwhelming generosity and
a propensity for mercy. They are so aware of they’re need
and what they’ve been given,
that they gladly treat people better than they deserve.
And isn’t that the question for us today. For me?
Do I treat people better than they deserve?
Or have I lost sight of how God treats me?
Remember, our obedience must be fueled and driven
by awed and grateful love or else it doesn’t mean a thing.
(See 1 Corinthians 13)
Do not live your life for God.
Live your life Because God.

“Therefore, in view of God’s mercy…”

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Chapter 6 Break Me Down

February 03, 2009

“Come, let us return to the LORD.
He has torn us to pieces
but he will heal us;
he has injured us
but he will bind up our wounds.”
-Hosea 6:1

Excuse me, what?!!
Who has torn us?
Who has injured us?
The Lord?!!!
Wait a second there Hosea, didn’t you mean to say Satan has torn us?
Or maybe bad people?
You sure that’s not a typo or something?

Personally, I think one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to reconcile in my head
and my heart is this idea that a loving, merciful, compassionate God
would hurt me.
And not on accident either, but purposefully and willfully.
God will unapologetically tear me into pieces so that He can heal me.
And you.
Strange huh?

And I suppose it isn’t so terribly surprising coming from a prophet who was made
to marry a harlot. If anyone would know something about being hurt by the
Lord it would be him right?
I don’t know if you know the story, but
I mean, just put yourself in his place for a second.
There you are. The man. The dude. You’re the prophet over all of Israel, and
you’ve been keeping yourself pure, praying every day for the woman that God will
give to you and then He finally speaks, but its not at all what you were hoping for.

God: “Hosea.”
Hosea: “Yeah Lord?”
God: “It’s time.”
Hosea: “Ahhhh Yeaaahhh! That’s what I was hoping you were gonna say.
Time for a wife right Lord?”
God: “Yes Hosea, it’s time for a wife.”
Hosea: “Ooohh, I can’t wait!!! Just tell me though God, is she hot and holy?
Cuz you know, I’ve been keeping myself pure, and I just know you’re gonna
reward me with a wife that’s hot and holy. That’s all I’m asking for because,
hey, that’s what I deserve right?”
God: “Well, not exactly. I don’t think she’s quite what you had in mind.”
Hosea: “Wait, what? .....Oh… I see! She’s even hotter and holier than I thought!
Oh yeah Lord, I know how you work!
God: “Well, no.”
Hosea: “What you mean, no?”
God: “Hosea, I don’t know how to tell you this, well, of course I know how to tell you this,
I’m God, it’s just, well….she’s a prostitute.”
Hosea: “prosti-what?”
God: “Prostitute. Whore. Lady of the Night.”
Hosea: No, no, I know what it is, but a PROSTITUTE!!!
God: Yeah, I know that’s not what you were planning, but its what I was planning, so you’re
gonna marry her.
Hosea: “I’m gonna do what?”
God: “you’re gonna marry her, but then of course, she’ll cheat on you, and sell herself
so you’ll have to go buy her back.”
Hosea: “Go what?”
“Yeah, you’re going to forgive her and buy her back and when she cheats on you again
and has children with other lovers you’re going to love them and take her back again.”
Hosea: “Come again?”
God: “you’re going to love her kids and take her back.”

Long awkward silence

Hosea: “What’s her name?”
God: “Gomer.”
Hosea: “Oh Come on!!!”

Now I apologize if you’re name is Gomer, but you do have to admit,
it’s a rather unfortunate name, and an even more unfortunate situation.
But the Bible records that it did happen.
Maybe not exactly like that, but God did tell Hosea to marry an adulterous wife.
And the reason that the Lord supplies in Hosea 3
Is that their marriage was to show us how he loves his people.
He loves his people like an adulterous wife.

And the story is so insanely beautiful when you see it from that angle,
but when you look at it from Hosea’s angle it’s just plain crazy.
Think about what you’d say if your pastor got up in front of the congregation and
announced that he was about to marry a whore. What would your response be?
Now, I’m not suggesting that every one go out and marry someone from the local
street corner, but I am saying that it is evident that God will do whatever He has to do
to bring you to a place where all you want is Him.

He’ll break you, He’ll hurt you, He’ll ruin your plans, and He’ll tear you into pieces,
and He’ll do it all out of a perfect holy love.
And look, I know that sounds crazy, but think about it for a moment.
A lot of people want to use God to give them something other than Himself.
If we’re honest, we’ll admit that we all do it on some level.
For instance, we don’t have sex until we’re married, because then God owes us a virgin.
We give 10% of our income to a church, because then God owes us prosperity and wealth.
We pray and pray and pray, and then God owes it to us to answer and give us what we want.
And in all those cases, Jesus is no longer the end, but simply a means to something else.

You’ve got to see that in Hosea’s case, or perhaps in the case
of that one friend of yours who thinks marriage is the goal of their existence.
Don’t laugh. It might be you.
But if you think about it, It would actually be unloving of God to go
and make our marriage perfect and make that person fulfill our every hope and dream.
Why?
Because that person will die.
That marriage will end, and if your whole life and existence and joy depends on another
human being, you will inevitably be in for heartache.
Just read the Twilight series (it’s true. I’ve read it, though I’m not proud of it)
and see how the heroine Bella, how her entire life falls apart when her vampire
lover leaves her. Put simply, If our joy rests entirely upon human love or
vampire love, or any other kind of earthly love for that matter,
then one day, our joy will be destroyed.
Is this making sense?

Of course, marriage is just one example.
Money. Security. Fame. Obedience. Sex. Drugs. Worship Music.
If our hope is set in anything but the living person of Christ, then we’re just setting ourselves
up for failure. And so God, in his infinite and everlasting love, will do whatever He has to do
to break, bend and conform his people’s hearts to Him.
He will no longer be the means to some other end, but the end Himself.
Like a surgeon who has to cut you open,
so God must tear us apart to create in us a new heart.
A heart that is obsessed with Him alone.
But unlike a doctor, He doesn’t just use a knife. He uses the most bizarre people,
circumstances, and tragedies to change our hearts until they only treasure Him.

He will break us down.
And it will be painful, scary, and altogether beautiful.
Friends, if the Lord is tearing down your world today,
if all the walls on your so carefully constructed plans are caving in on themselves,
then ask Him in faith, God, are you my treasure?
And if you find the answer is no, then ask Him to bring it on.
Break out the scalpel. Tear down the walls. Let loose the storms.
Ask Him to do whatever He has to do, until you can proclaim with the psalmist,
“Whom have in heaven but you,
and earth has nothing I desire besides you.”
(Psalm 73)

All this world is fading away anyway right?
Then take heart.
This life is not about succeeding.
It’s not about changing the world.
It’s not about living with purpose, or leaving a legacy
or making the maximum impact with your life.
It’s actually not even about living your life for God.
Did you hear me?
Don’t live your life for God.

Live your life because God.

Because He has loved us, redeemed us, and because He is all that our hearts are longing for.
It’s no longer about what you do with your life at all, because He is your life.
May He do whatever it takes to open our eyes to see that.
He is the means and He is the end. And everything in between is from his hand.
It can be terrifying at times, I know, but its worth it.
Believe me, and I guess more importantly believe Him.
It’s worth it.

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing
with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
-Romans 8:18

”“Come, let us return to the LORD.
He has torn us to pieces
but he will heal us;
he has injured us
but he will bind up our wounds.

2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will restore us,
that we may live in his presence.

3 Let us acknowledge the LORD;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth.”
-Hosea 6:1-3

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Chapter 5 Let it Go

January 04, 2009

“And avoid fear, for fear is the consequence of every lie.”
-Fydor Doystoevsky, (the Brothers Karamazov)

Today, this single phrase has been beating in my head like a war drum.
On the battlefield of my mind, and in the fragile chaos of my machine-like heart,
this simple line has been echoing on.
Reverberating off the walls of war-torn streets,
I can faintly here the Roman calvary choirs singing.
And for me, it sounds a lot like freedom.
This one thought, this shining flickering light is my lighthouse in a thundering sea.
Maybe not you, but I for one have been rather sick and tired of myself as of late.
And more specifically, I’m tired of the lies that I so blindly believe.
I know it may sound melodramatic, but if my heart is where my treasure is
then I’m tired of this love affair I’ve made with doubt and
the seemingly never-ending struggle in my heart.
I want you to get it. I want you to understand that if you struggle with the answers
that you’re not alone. But I also want you to know the root, the cause,
and the fight that’s in between.

Lies
. There are lies everywhere.
Blinking neon lights, and sweetly penned secrets.
A movie. A sermon. A Day after thanksgiving sale.
How quickly we forget that the things we hear and see are making an impression.
Like an empty place in the bed where a body used to lay,
they’re wrapped up in the sheets, but they don’t need the rest.
They can come without warning and talk for hours without a sound.
Lies tell the future, insist on interpreting the past,
and seem to always keep us paralyzed to the present.
They can fill a closet with skeletons and invite monsters under the bed.
Lies are strangers in friends clothing and fill your house when you’re alone.

Fears.

The inevitable, unstoppable result of listening to something other than the truth.
Cousins, sisters, brothers perhaps? I’m not exactly sure the relation
but I know that its a tie that binds.
Feed one, and you nourish the other.
Nurture a lie, and watch the panic grow.
Forget the truth and welcome anxiety.
Give up on hope, and welcome misery with open arms.

So then it should comes as no surprise
that the most recurrent command in all the Bible is this:
“Do not be afraid.”
Easy enough right?
Well maybe it could be,
but I don’t think we’ll ever live free of fear as long as fear itself is our problem.
Fydor reminds me. Fear is the consequence of a lie,
Which means, if I find in myself some irrisistible anxiety, chances are,
I’ve welcomed a lie into my heart.
And maybe I didn’t exactly welcome it.
Maybe I just forgot to close the door on some memory
or I left the window cracked, but whatever the reason,
if the lie has crept in somewhere,
and has made its home where my faith has worn through,
I must recognize it for what it is.

It should also come as no surprise then, that the work of God is belief.
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one whom He has sent.”
Or as Jon Foreman sang, “belief over misery.”
Do we understand that fear isn’t something that we are meant to live with?
Do we have any idea how free we would be if we could just believe?
And trust me, I know. It’s not easy.
In fact, its the hardest work any of else will ever have to do,
but its the war we were meant for.
Since we’re grafted into Israel as Romans says,
that means we’re brought in to “wrestle with God,”
for that is exactly what Israel means.
So we fight to rest.
We work to stop working.
We war for peace.
We run to stand still.
Life is waiting for the ones who lose control.
“taking captive every thought, and making it obedient to Christ Jesus.”
Take captive?
Yeah.
Take it freaking captive.
Smack that lie in the mouth and slaughter it with truth.

Here’s some fights I’ve had so far.
Lie: “you’re too screwed up for God to love you anymore.”
Reliation: “God proves his love, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Lie: “I’ve made too many poor choices. I’ve missed God’s will for my life.”
Truth: “Even what you meant for evil, God meant for good.” (Gen 50:20)
“God works all things together for good for those who love God and who have been called”
Lie: “Someone might break in and kill me.”
Word: “Do not fear those who can kill the body and after that can do no more.
Fear him who after killing the body has the power to throw you into hell.” (Luke 12:4,5)
Lie: “I’m not good enough”
Truth: “In this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us….” (I John 4:10)
Lie: “I’m awesome. God owes me.”
Truth: “God is not served by men’s hands as if He needed anything…” (Acts 17:25)
Lie: OMG. Can you believe this guy? What a jerk!
Truth: “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but with sober judgement,
according the measure of faith God has given you.” (Romans 12:3)
Lie: “Sex will give me the pleasure I’m looking for.”
Truth: “I have no good thing apart from you.” (Psalm 16:2)
“In His presence there is the fullness of joy, at his right hand are pleasures forever.”
(Psalm 16:11)
Lie: “God’s command is going to ruin your good time.”
Truth: “The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but I have come to give you life,
and life more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Lie: “I don’t have the strength to say no to this!”
Truth: “if anyone is in Christ He is a new creation.” (2 Cor 5:17)
“and He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” (I Cor 10:13)

The war drum goes on.
It never ends,
it doesn’t stop.
And so avoid fear, for fear is the consequence of every lie.
Belief is a fight. Work at it with all the power that God supplies.

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Chapter 4 By Your Side

December 25, 2008

The snow is falling today.
Michigan on Christmas for the first time in my life,
and my wife woke me up with a sudden gasp and excited breath.
It’s coming down like waves of manna in that perfect heavy silence
that only snow fall brings, and I’m watching from the kitchen table.
Perfect December.
I just woke up and so I’m still a little groggy, but upon first glance of the
celestial downpour, my body catapulted from the bed like
I’m back in second grade, and before I knew it
I’m down the stairs, clothes on, and gazing out the window
at the great white wilderness and all its wonder.
Some things never change huh?

I’ve always loved to watch the snow fall.
From the first time I can remember to every time since,
there’s something so overwhelming in its peacefulness,
something completely mystical in the way the whole world can change in a moment.
In the cold, in the frozen stillness,
it’s like you can almost hear God whispering, “Behold, I make all things new.”
“Behold, I will wash you as white as snow.”
He doesn’t waste words either, does He?
And He knows that some things you have to see for yourself.
The death of winter can seem so impenetrable as weeks turn to months,
as sweaters turn to coats and mittens, as long and lazy afternoons turn to
shivering blackness until suddenly, and without warning,
you find yourself shimmering with life at the sight of heaven’s covering blanket.
The smell of ice and the sound of silence telling you that death will not win,
and though we’re not there yet, home is on its way.

And what better day to wake up to heaven coming to earth?
What better day than Christmas to hear his voice,
and be in awe of his movement toward us?
“God became flesh and dwelt among us.”
Like the snow from the sky,
He descended upon us in the dead of night, in the smell of stable and in the
muffled cries of a baby. He fell from heaven, down to earth, and underneath the weight of
our shame, that He might one day, lift the burden of the law upon his broad shoulders
and clothe us in white.
We and the earth are now one.
We are new. Clean.
One by one the snowflakes fall, and one by one I’m reminded that death
has now become something beautiful. It has become the path to life.
Like snow to the ground, and like God to man,
“unless a seed falls to the ground it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears forth much fruit.”

And of course, that’s what I love about snow.
With every flake that falls, something new is made.
Something like grace.
Something like redemption.
Reminding me that things can always change,
and silently speaking beauty into every moment, even in the falling.

Isn’t that the great mystery of what Christ has done?
He has turned falling into finding.
He changed failing into forgiving.
He was clothed in sin, that He might cover us in perfection.
He gave Himself over to death, that He might give us life.
Snow covering muddy streets, His righteousness has covered us.

And so now what?
Well, by God’s grace, we stop living in fear.
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
If you and I, like these driveways and sidewalks out the living room window have
been made white, then white we are.
Unlike Ralphie from “A Christmas Story,” we’re not waiting for our father to come
home and give us the beating of our life. We’re not waiting for the bar of soap in our mouth,
because Christ drank it for us. “By his stripes we are healed.”
Healed of fear, and the ever nagging feeling,
that we’re about to “get it,” for the things we’ve done.
Remember Randy whimpering under the sink?
“Daddy’s gonna kill Ralphie!” Well, no. The Father filled Christ for Ralphie and for us.
We’ve been covered. We’ve been forgiven.
The blessed God came down and covered us with Himself.
Death has been swallowed up in victory, and we get away scott free.
Fear is gone. Hope has come. The snow has fallen.

And I pray that this sinks in this Christmas. I pray it sticks.
I know its not snowing everywhere.
In fact, this is my first time ever seeing snow fall on Christmas day,
but you get the analogy don’t you?
Hopefully you don’t have to see it fall for yourself to get what I’m saying.
If the snow of Christ’s blood has fallen on you, then you are new. You are white.
Get back up!
Do you get that?
Get back up. That’s all that He’s asking of you.
Be freed from your fear that judgement is just around the corner.
If you are in Christ, then fear is gone. Judgement has already come,
and it wasn’t you who received it!
“He who knew no sin became sin for us,
that we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21)

But punishment is not the only thing that brings fear, is it?
Not at all huh? Especially during the holidays.
How many of us woke up in fear this morning,
afraid we wouldn’t receive a “Suzie-talks-alot” or an iphone or an
“official red rider, carbine action two hundred shot range model air rifle?”
Probably even more than the fear of not being forgiven,
Christ has finally saved us from the tyranny of stuff.
That’s right. The tyranny of stuff. I know it’s not exactly poetical,
but I think it gets to the heart of the matter.
And after all, wherever your heart is, there your treasure is also.
And I’ve got to believe that only Christ is a treasure worth having.
Only Christ is a treasure that can free you from the fear of missing out on all other treasures.
Only Christ is life, and I’m pretty sure He’s got more to offer you and me than whatever we
unwrapped under our trees this morning.
I mean, hoping in any gift other than Him, only leads to more anxiety.
Its no wonder then that Jesus said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth
where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves
do not break in and steal.”
He came to give us peace, and since He is peace, then we can’t expect to have peace
if we don’t have Him right? Only when we want Him who is peace will we have it.

And so I guess the question left to us this Christmas is simply this.
“Is Christ a means to an end or an end in Himself?”
In other words,
This Christmas, If you could get everything you ever wanted,
I’m talking, snow, family, maybe a 70’‘ plasma screen,
if you could have no more pain and no more crying,
streets of gold, angels in the sky, or a castle on a cloud;
if you could go to heaven and receive relief from your guilt,
healing from your diseases, and safety from your enemies,
but you couldn’t have Christ, would you still have everything you ever wanted?
Would you be happy?

Because, I’ve got to be honest.
This Christmas, sitting by the fire in Michigan,
watching the snow fall and being reminded that I don’t have to earn grace,
the one thing i want this Christmas is to be home.
You can keep your music and gifts and all your movies, I just want home.
As I’ve gotten older, and as the years have gone by,
and as I’ve been disappointed year after year by
the very presents that I thought for sure would bring me happiness,
I’ve begun to realize that this world is not my home.
My life is hidden with Christ, He is my life, my righteousness,
and the very treasure that my heart is aching for.

So Merry Christmas everybody.
May Christ alone be your hope of forgiveness and the treasure of your heart.
May He make his face shine upon you, and his snow fall upon you.
May He give you peace.
May He give you Himself.

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God With Us

December 22, 2008

Isn’t it strange how many of us love Christmas so much,
but so often question if its true?
We love the lights and the presents, and the holiday
cheer (not to mention the sales) but when it comes
to believing that God is with us, well, that’s the
one pill that seems the hardest to swallow.
How many people do you know ask that one
simple question?

Is God with me?
Is He here?

Well, if we believe the true meaning of Christian,
then the answer is most definitely yes.
He was actually here. He clothed himself in humanity
and He dwelt among us.
So, this Christmas, let us rejoice in our Emmanuel.
He is, “God With Us.”
You are not forsaken, you are not forgotten.
He was forsaken for us, so that we will never
be alone again.
Merry Christmas.

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Mike

How does one love God?
Well, John says, "we love because He first loved us."
And if that's true, then my whole approach must change.
No longer am I condemning myself in the mirror,
saying, "come on Mike, get your act together."
No. Instead I simply incline my gaze to the cross.
If I'm not loving God, it's because I'm not believing I'm loved.
And how do I know that I am loved?
"This is how we know what love is, Jesus Christ laid down his life..."

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