How to NOT become Hitler.

    Sometimes I can be judgmental.  Actually, I am judgmental most of the time.  It’s not easy for me to not be judgmental; honestly it’s very easy, it’s second nature.  Within my judgment I create the ability to be more than judgmental, I create the space for bitterness, envy, anger, hate, jealousy, and just about any other similar emotion or thought you could think of.  That’s what judgment does; it creates room for something greater.  Think of a courtroom and the judgment passed out by a jury or a judge.  Their decision, or judgment, creates more room for either freedom or captivity.

    Judgment stems from some form of insecurity.  Conscientiously or not, I have a bit of insecurity inside of me and it plays itself out in my judgment of the people in my environment.  Everyone deals with insecurity and judging others to some degree.  However, insecurity and judgment, when left out of check, can breed all those feelings and issues mentioned above; hate, anger bitterness, etc.

    From what I remember of my world history classes in school, Hitler was a very angry man.  Obviously we all know the horrific atrocities committed by Hitler and the Nazi party.  It’s easy to say that Hitler was very simply an evil man.  Don’t misunderstand what I am saying; I am in no way defending Hitler.  (I can’t believe I just wrote that sentence.)  Anyways, my memory tells me that Hitler wanted to become an artist one day.  He went to school and studied art.  He spent the next years working on his craft and one day believed he had a painting worthy of praise.  He decided to bring his piece to a local gallery where the curator laughed at him and sent him away telling him he was no good.

    He had worked so hard at his craft, his dreams and is desires were to be an accomplished artist and in one meeting his dreams and his years of work and study came crashing down.  What happens next in his life is where things turn horribly ugly. 

    Because of his hatred, his bitterness, his envy, his insecurity, and his anger, Hitler eventually murders millions of innocent people.  His hatred was sparked by this one encounter and given the time and fuel it needed, that spark turned into a massive flame that overtook a man and destroyed millions of lives.  I don’t believe Hitler was born as the evil person he became.  I think the evil took root when he allowed the insecurity and judgment and hatred to enter and breed.

    It is far too easy for anyone of us to become a person we were not meant to become when we allow our hurts and insecurities turn into judgment which can very easily lead to hatred, bitterness, anger, and strife.  I am not saying anyone of us has the ability to become the next Hitler.  I am saying that we have the ability to become something we were never created to become when we don’t check ourselves.

Some of the easiest ways to fuel our issues are to isolate and meditate.  When we become angry and bitter we often meditate on the encounter that caused us to become bitter, and angry, and hateful.  We play out the scenario in our minds and we talk to ourselves and imagine what we would say if the person were standing in the same room.  The other fuel is isolation.  We can become embarrassed or even more insecure and so we isolate ourselves from community and from familiar environments.  In our isolation we very easily add fuel to the fire of our bitterness.

    Don’t let bitterness, anger, hatred, judgment, and insecurity rob you of becoming who you are and who you were meant to be.  Don’t let isolation keep you from growing in community.  Forgive those who’ve hurt you no matter what the offense has been.  Move on with your life.  Extinguish the spark before it turns into a fire you cannot control.  Forgive. 

    Jesus told His disciples that if they walk into church and remember an offense they have against someone or an offense their brother has against them, they should walk out of the church right then and there, go find their brother and make restitution.  He told Peter, the most offensive man in the bible, to forgive those who hurt him 7 X 70.  In other words, always forgive.  There is NEVER a good enough reason to withhold forgiveness from ANYONE.

    Go ahead, pick up your phone and call the people in your life who’ve hurt you or those people you’ve hurt.  Find them and make restitution.  Allow forgiveness to take hold in your life.  Because we want the world to know us by the love we share with one another.

Turning your back on the world

There is a worship song that my church has been singing lately.  A portion of the song says “The cross before me, the world behind me.  No turning back.”

This morning while making my coffee that part of the song was stuck in my head for some reason.  I don’t even like the song so it was odd that it would be stuck in my head.  I sung that part of the song out and then thought “that’s wrong.”

I think there are a lot of songs with a similar message.  Stay with God, turn towards the cross, look to Jesus, but stay away from, out of, don’t go near, turn your back on the world.

While the songwriter is not present to define what they meant by “the world”, I will judge them strictly for the sake of this blog.

Why are Christians so afraid of the world?  You know we live in the world, right?  It’s like there is some evil force that we have no power of, but apparently the world has something enticing to offer most Christians because they keep having to remind themselves to look at the cross and not to turn their eyes to left or the right for fear of embracing the world.

I cannot see Peter, Paul, John, Luke, Timothy, or any of the other disciples, apostles, teacher, preachers, or prophets of the New Testament holding the same opinion.

See, most Christians today are afraid that of they spend more of their time in “the world” than they do in the Church they will somehow morph into sinners.  I would imagine if Paul or Peter spent more time inside the church than they did outside, in the world, ministering to the needy and the hurt and the confused and the politician, they would feel guilty.

Don’t misunderstand what I am saying.  Obviously I understand the importance of keeping our focus on Jesus and having the relationship that we do with Him.  But if we are so ignorant as to assume we should turn our backs to the world we may have some serious issues.

How can we fulfill the great commission if all we do is keep our eyes on the cross and our back continually to the world?  Should we just wait for the lost and hurting to walk in front of our path in order for us to see them and reach them?

No, we should turn towards the world and forge forward towards a goal of bringing love and healing to a lost and dying world.

So please, enough with the songs and sermons about how bad the world is.  Enough with turning your backs on the world that needs you more than the church does. 

- Cheers.

Do I really love you?

"If I give away everything that I have and hand over my own body to feel good about what I’ve done but I don’t have love, I receive no benefit whatsoever.
 Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t jealous, it doesn’t brag, it isn’t arrogant, it isn’t rude, it doesn’t seek its own advantage, it isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints, it isn’t happy with injustice, but it is happy with the truth. Love puts up with all things, trusts in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things." (1 Corinthians 13:3-7 CEB)

For the last week or so these verses have been lingering around my head.  It started last Thursday.  I was sitting at work and began thinking "I should read 1 Corinthians 13."
For whatever reason I chose not to read those verses that day.  Actually I didn't pick up my bible to read 1 Corinthians 13 until the following Saturday, and when I read these words I felt like someone had thrown a bucket of cold water on me.

I've read this chapter about 5 times over the last few days and each time I realize that I haven't been someone who lives up to these verses.  Why is this such a big deal?  Because I've always thought of myself as someone who is extraordinarily loving.  However, as with most things concerning Christian life, if my life doesn't measure up to what the bible holds as truth than I am not living my life properly.  That sounds a bit harsh even as I write the words out.  I don't mean that in a "perfection" sort of way, but Christ is my guide for how to live my life.  I will never become like Jesus in every way, I am a man and I make mistakes.  Setting my life on a course that aims to follow Him is however what I feel is necessary.

Read those verses above one more time.  If my actions towards those I love do not align with these verses than I am not really loving those people I claim to love.  The text says "Love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous..."  What does it say about my love for others if I am not patient, if I am not kind, if I am jealous?  Does it mean I don't really love those people?  I'd like to believe there's some room for error.  In other words, I feel it's somewhat possible to love others without being in perfect love according to 1 corinthians 13.  Will that love last for the long haul?  I don't know.  What I do know is that I have never genuinely loved someone specifically according to the text above and still I know I had love for people in my life.  I sometimes wonder if it will ever be possible to love someone exactly as it's laid out in 1 corinthians 13.

The most staggering words in the entire text, at least for me, are "love doesn't keep a record of wrong doing...". Is that even possible?  In the past, I've always kept a record of the wrongs done to me.  Not literally a record, not a list I keep in a notepad in my back pocket or anything like that.  A record filed away in the back of my mind that I reflect upon when unfortunate things happen?  Yes.  At least I used to do that.  What I used to do was prepare myself for the same mistakes to repeat themselves.  If someone hurt me once before I expected to be hurt in the same way again.  It's sad that I keep the people I love in the same position and never allow them to grow or change.  And that is exactly what happens.  If I keep someone I love locked forever in the place of hurt, in the place of a mistake, in the place of unfortunate circumstance, than I never allow them to change for the better.  Said person will not be able to grow in our love outside of their mistakes because I keep them locked in that emotional and spiritual jail.

Now of course the person can change and grow, but in my perception of that person, they'll never move forward.  When this happens there are two possible outcomes to explore.  A. ) There will be a constant darkness lingering above the relationship and things will always seem like something is wrong creating a sadness inside each persons heart.   B. )  The person that made the mistake will move forward towards forgiveness and change in their life.  When this happens that person will eventually leave the relationship because the other person cannot move past the mistakes and into forgiveness.

To be honest with you, I am incredibly tired of living my life as a hypocrite of love.  Claiming to be in love, claiming to love others, claiming to be an extraordinary lover of people, and not following one single verse from 1 corinthians 13.

So here is the challenge I am giving myself.  If you'd like to join me that would be wonderful.  You can e-mail me and share how it's working for you or simply comment below.  I am going to memorize the verses above.  I am going to make them a very real part of my life.  And I am going to compare my heart, my love, my words, and my actions to these verses.  If what I am doing, thinking, feeling, or saying does not line up with this text than I am not really living my life in love.

Wish me luck and maybe say a prayer for me.

- Cheers.

What Does A Real Pastor Look Like

"Brothers and sisters, we were separated from you for a while physically but not in our hearts. We made every effort in our desire to see you again face-to-face. We wanted to come to you—I, Paul, tried over and over again—and Satan stopped us. What is our hope, joy, or crown that we can brag about in front of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Isn’t it all of you? You are our glory and joy!" (1 Thessalonians 2:17-20 CEB) I've never had what I would consider a "real pastor" in my life. I take that back, my Uncle Jim is a "real pastor" and was in my life as my pastor for a little over a year, but I was young and really didn't understand things yet, so I didn't understand that not every church leader is a pastor, until last year. We have the 5 fold gifts or offices: Pastor, Prophet, Apostle, Evangelist, and Teacher. But not every church leader is a pastor. I worked with a "pastor" for two years until I learned that he was really not a pastor. He was a prophet and an evangelist. This became a big deal when I came to a point in my life where I didn't need a prophet as the main influence in my life. I needed a pastor - a true pastor. Pastors are more relational than the Prophet, Evangelist, Teacher, or Apostle. Having never been led by a "real pastor" when I was growing up, I never understood the importance of getting involved in someone’s life in detail. I always saw my "pastors" or church leaders out of the picture in the regular church members’ lives. For example, when a family member was in the hospital, the main "pastor" didn't show up to pray with the family, the "real pastor" did. When a church member wanted to go get coffee and speak to someone in the church the main "pastor" didn't go, the "real pastor" went instead. So growing up I always assumed that the pastor or main church leader didn't perform these tasks. What I now realize is that those main "pastors" were not pastors at all. They were prophets, teachers, apostles, or evangelists operating as pastors. Now that I am older and moving towards a place in life where I am beginning to understand which area of ministry I want to participate and focus, I am realizing that I have the heart of a "real pastor". I love getting involved in people’s lives on a daily basis. I love going out for coffee with someone and being involved in their love, their hurt, their fear, and their joy. I love listening to them and praying with them, and sharing new things I'm discovering in my relationship with Jesus. I enjoy inspiring them to walk into a deeper relationship with God. I also enjoy giving and being a part of prophetic ministry and evangelism. But I need to be a bigger part of a person’s life than the prophet and evangelist. If the Lord gives me a prophetic word for someone I want to be around them to see how that word plays out. I don't want to simply breeze into a town, says some good words, pray some powerful prayers, collect my offering and move on to the next town. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with those types of ministers. Each one of the 5 gifts or ministries is vitally important to the overall health of the church body. All I am saying is, as I've grown up I've realized that I cannot work in that style of ministry. I enjoy living in people’s lives through the good, bad, and the ugly. I love the verse above where Paul says "What is our hope, joy, or crown that we can brag about in front of our Lord Jesus when He comes? Isn’t it all of you?" When I read this verse, I can picture myself standing with the Lord on that glorious day. He'll ask me "What did you do with the name of Jesus?" and I'll respond by telling Him the stories of each person I lived life with and how I helped them by discipling, mentoring, and loving them. "I didn't lead millions to You, but let me tell You about Jason and how through my relationship with You I was able to introduce Jason into that same loving relationship I shared with You." As I get older I am seeing more and more how vitally important it is for us as Christians, to live a more personal and intimate life with one another. We need to become invested in each others’ lives. The older generation has to mentor and disciple the younger generation in the ways of the Lord. We have to love each other in more radical ways. What appeal does the church have if we don't have love? Without love don't we become a clanging cymbal? I look into some church communities and see a bride that has been abused, that has been self-centered, that has not been pastored, that has not been genuinely loved. It's not their fault. It's just the way Christianity went for a few years. My heart breaks for those communities. Those are the people I want to love. Those are the people I want to inspire through my relationship with Jesus. I'd like to encourage you to pray and ask The Lord to bring you into the lives of people that need you. Call someone on the phone and ask them out for coffee, get involved in peoples lives on a very real level. Don't be afraid, don't be superficial, and don't be arrogant. Love people, after all that's what life is all about.