Tag Archives: sin

Following Jesus Is Tough Today

Sometimes it’s so hard being a Christian.  (Of course, it’s harder not knowing Jesus or getting to follow Him, but that line of thinking only makes it harder to feel sorry for myself.)  So many times, I want to do what I know is right.  I want to act like Jesus, I want to speak like Jesus, I want to love, forgive, hope, and pray like Jesus.  And, so many of those “so many times”, I don’t do any of those things.  I live for myself, I think about myself first, I protect myself, and dream of what I think is best for me.  Paul talks about all of this mess in Romans 7, which is in today’s Amazing Race reading.  He’s as confused about it as I am.  But as He goes on in chapters 8 and 9, he talks about when we have the Spirit alive in us, that we are given the power to live for Jesus.

Ok, I see that.  But why then is it STILL so hard to do the right things?  If we’ve moved from dark to light, bad to good, evil to Jesus, why do we, why do I, still struggle?  No, seriously, this part of following Jesus drives me nuts!  I want to have it all move to good, all the time.  As someone who loves Jesus, I really, truly, desperately want to be just like Him.  I’m convinced His way is best, I believe He knows better than I do, I hear His voice tell me how to live and what to do.  But, somehow, I still choose to go my own way.  Stubbornly, selfishly, destructively go my own way.  Why?

Why does it have to be this way?  I want a different system.  I read in Romans 8 that if Jesus is for me, then who can be against me?  I’ll tell you who… me.  I am against me so much of the time.  I want it to be over.  To be free.

The only comfort I have in this is Paul’s discussion in Romans 8:22 ff where he gets into the whole “waiting in childbirth” example.  He says that “… in this hope we are saved.”  This hope for something more, something better, something truly free.  That’s the challenge, the struggle of this world.  We have met the King, the Prince who brings Freedom.  We see touches of His power, we hear whispers of His voice, we feel the hope of his love and care.  But we are not yet completely free.  Not in the sense that we will be one day.  We have to fight.  Fighting is hard.  It’s tough.  It hurts.  It gets tiring.

But it is our calling.  Fight the good fight today, love everyone around you, and hold on for tomorrow.  While the Kingdom of God is here, Jesus says, it’s coming tomorrow in an even better way.  So, yes, we fall.  Alot.  We come up short of even what we want to be as Jesus’ followers.  Just don’t quit.  Don’t stop.  One foot in front of the other, and we will get there.

Ok, I can do that.  I’ll keep moving.  And hoping.  The freedom is coming.  I can just feel it.

Taking the gods (with little g’s) to the Dump

Cleaning out the junk in your room or house is such a mix of emotions.  On the one hand, you hate letting things go that at one time had some value to you.  On the other, it feels so good to clean out and have a fresh start.

There was a king named Josiah who cleaned house for God and the whole nation once.  He decided to follow God after generations had ignored Him.  The priests were ordered to clean up the temple, and they discovered a book that no one had ever seen before.  It was the Bible.  Yep, that’s right, no one had seen it or heard of it.  THAT’S how far off the track the “children of God” had gotten.  Once they started reading it, and understanding what God wanted, they panicked.  Josiah decided to really clean things up, and went on a rampage.  You can read all about it in 2 Kings 22 and 23.  It’s pretty fascinating.

The amount of junk that was in the temple, that was used to worship fake gods, is appalling.  I was amazed as I read everything that the kings had put in this holy house of God.  It was almost incomprehensible that they could get so far offtrack that they would cram that much trash into such a sacred building.  I mean, after all, this is where God was supposed to meet with the people.  But they turned it into a religious storage barn, cramming in it stuff to worship any god that they happened to hear about.

So, Josiah comes along and cleans house.  He has to tear down monuments his father, grandfather, great grandfather, and more had built.  He had to destroy places where people worshiped everyday.  He had to destroy people’s misplaced hopes and dreams, and places they found comfort in.  It was all fake religion, and he had to destroy it.  So, he did.  Piece by piece, angry person by hurt person, he dismantled the mess that had been made, and returned things to a state of purity and focus.  It cost him greatly, but the reward was even greater.

I fully realize that you and I are not king of a country.  We don’t have to clean out a temple.  Or do we?  Scriptures tell us that we are now the temple of the Lord.  He doesn’t live in a building anymore, He lives within each of us who follow Him.  So, what junk is in the temple that needs thrown out?  How are you and I worshipping false gods of hopelessness, and messing up the relationship we have with God?  What habits do we run to for comfort that are not centered on God?  What images/videos/movies/websites/books/TV shows/etc. are we setting up to focus on that lead us, step by step, piece by piece away from God?  What god of power/money/authority/control have we set up a pole to bow down before and worship?  Which people in your life have become a little-g god to you?  What needs cleaned out in the temple today?

Yes, it may cost you.  Almost certainly, someone won’t like it.  It will take focus and effort.  We will have to replace what we remove with the right things of prayer, Bible study, community, service, worship, etc.  You can’t just toss out the bad and leave the room empty.  You have to refill the space with what was supposed to be there to begin with.

So, seriously, what is it for you?  What idol needs to fall?

Oh, by the way, Josiah was 8 when he became king.  He was 12 when he began cleaning house.  If he could pull it off, I’m pretty sure you and I can.  Just thought you’d like to know.

Long Distance Miracle


The passage in Matthew 15:21-28 is a tough one. You have this woman who is not a Jew come to Jesus and beg Him to heal her possessed daughter. Jesus doesn’t answer her. She keeps after them to the point of driving the disciples nuts, and they want her sent away. When they ask Jesus to get rid of her, His answer is interesting. He says “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” That answer would have made sense if they were asking Jesus to heal her daughter, but they weren’t. They said “Get rid of her.” You would think His answer would be like “You send her away” or “Let her follow us, she is doing no harm” or something dealing with whether or not to get rid of her. Instead, He throws out a “theological” answer dealing with whether or not she qualifies for His help. “I was only sent to help lost followers of God” is what He says.

She comes in front of Him and begs for help. His answer again is based on this idea of who He is there to help. “I am here to help those who are seeking God”, at which point she proves with her humility that she is a God follower. He then tells her that her daughter is healed, and He doesn’t even go see the daughter. He healed the daughter based on the mom’s faith.

It’s a really different story. It seems that He loves to work with people who aren’t Jews, and heal their kids from a distance. He does it with the centurion’s servant, and some others as well. So, what’s His point?

It’s not about the systems we think God cares about. He is focused on who lives out a vibrant faith, not what their background is. Does a person believe that Jesus is God, and do they act on it? Yes? Great! Drop the rest of the requirements, He will bless them.

The challenge is in digging in my own life and rooting out where I am more traditional Jew than I am Canaanite mom. Where am I counting on my understanding of God’s system and not really running to Him, begging and trusting for mercy and power? I don’t like this question, because it pokes deep in my soul and brings up long ignored sin.

Why does the Bible have to be such a living book, anyway?