Are you awake - Part Four

            The more we train our minds to remember God moment-by-moment, the more we discover an entirely different kind of motivation for doing things. We no longer engage in activities in a desperate and futile attempt to acquire Life we don’t yet have; rather, we engage in them as a means of expressing the fullness of Life we already have—apart from these activities. The irony is that when a person no longer needs to succeed to feel fully worthwhile and significant they will tend to be more successful than if they did need this. When we need to achieve, acquire, and accomplish things to find Life, the pressure often compromises our passion, creativity, and flexibility.

            O boundless submission… Let the senses feel what they may, you, Lord, are all my good… I have nothing more to see or do, not a single moment of my life is in my own hands. All is yours, I have nothing to add, remove, seek or consider.

            J.-P. de Caussade

            A clear example of this was a student I had in one of my introductory theology classes at Bethel University a number of years ago. She was clearly brilliant, as evidenced by her class participation, but she was performing poorly on her tests. When I looked into the problem, I discovered that this young woman was putting incredible pressure on herself to succeed. Among other things, she believed her parents’ approval hung on her getting straight A’s and graduating as the valedictorian of her class, just as her two older siblings had done. If ever there was a class she feared not getting an A in, it was in theology, a topic she said she’d always had trouble relating to.

            After some counseling I was able to help her realize that her core worth didn’t depend on how she performed in school or on what her parents thought about her. Her real worth was rooted solely in what God thought about her, and this was unconditionally expressed on Calvary. I encouraged her to remain aware that she was surrounded by this love throughout the day and especially when she took her theology tests. She immediately began getting near perfect scores in my class—precisely because she no longer needed to.

            The bottom line is that we were meant to live life as a celebration of a fullness of Life we get from God rather than as a desperate attempt to get fullness of Life on our own. People whose identity is solidly rooted in God’s love moment-by-moment still try to do their best. But they do so because only this expresses their unsurpassable worth and significance. Moreover, they are now doing all that they do for the Lord who of course deserves our best.

            If disciples who practice the presence of God fail to acquire the wealth, fame, and power that others do, it’s because these things hold no interest for them any longer, not because they aren’t motivated to do their best in whatever God calls them to engage in.

How To Overcome the Flesh Mindset

Unless you have taken intentional steps to change, the way you presently experience yourself and the world around you was mostly chosen for you, not by you. 

 Think about that. You inherited a way of interpreting the world. Your brain has been in the process of becoming programmed by factors outside your control from the moment you were born. Your parents, friends, culture, media, and life experiences all played a part in this programming, much of which has undoubtedly been true and beneficial, but much of which has been untrue and unhelpful.
One of the reasons ReKnew was created was to help people take intentional steps to change, to “re-think” how we interpret the world, God, ourselves, and others. As the ReKnew Manifesto states, “ReKnew exists to encourage believers and skeptics alike to re-think things they thought they already knew.”

In all probability most of our thinking has been developed by viewing and experiencing the world as though God was not present. In other words, most of the programming gave us a mind that is “set on the flesh” and conformed to the pattern of this world” (Romans 8:6-7; 12:2). We’ve been conditioned to have a “flesh-mindset” that habitually pushes God out of our awareness moment-by-moment.
What is particularly insidious about the flesh-mindset is that it largely operates without our knowing it. Once a program is installed, it becomes part of your brain’s autopilot. You don’t have to think about the way you experience yourself and the world. It just happens.

For example, you don’t have to think about the meaning of each word you’re reading right now because your brain automatically associates each group of letters with a meaning, according to its programming. The brain uses this same autopilot to give meaning to everything.
To the extent that we remain in bondage to the flesh-mindset, we will not fully experience the forgiveness, new nature, and abundant Life God has given us. We will, to some extent, experience and live our lives as though we were not forgiven, did not have a new nature, and were not given abundant Life. So long as we remain subservient to out brainwashing in the flesh-mindset, the way we experience ourselves and the world will be largely determined by whomever or whatever programmed us.

Regardless of what we believe, it’s our preprogrammed flesh-mindset that determines how we experience the world and how we live moment-by-moment—if we allow it. We believe in God and his Kingdom, but as slaves to our preprogrammed flesh-mindset, most of the moments that comprise our actual life are spent thinking, feeling, and acting as through God and his Kingdom are not real.
The Bible calls this “double-mindedness” (James 1:8). No amount of resolutions, sermons, Bible studies, self-help books, or conferences will rectify this situation if they just provide us with more information. There is only one thing to be done, as James says, and that is to submit ourselves to God—not just intellectually, theoretically, or abstractly, but to do so in the now, in this moment.
We only have the now to submit to God. This is to become single-minded. Whatever else is going on—whether we’re taking a shower, engaging in a discussion, watching television, or reading a blog—we must try to remain conscious, anchored in the present.

When we can experience all of life against the backdrop of God’s ever present love, moment-by-moment, it makes us single-minded. Every moment we remain aware of, and submitted to, God’s presence becomes a Kingdom moment, for it is defined by the reign of God. In these moments we are defined by God rather than whomever or whatever programmed us. In these moments Christ is our actual Lord rather than whomever or whatever programmed us. In these moments we are truly free rather than pathetic slaves who are mindlessly “conformed to the pattern of this world.”

—Adapted from Present Perfect, pages 84-90

Dressing Up The Deeds Of The Flesh

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. --Proverbs 16:18

In certain countries there has been an emphasis made by foreign preachers that God wants us wealthy. These "teachers" say that they can demonstrate their faith by how many material possessions they have. This has been a very vexing message for the local pastors to deal with, because many people are poor and have a tendency to see poverty as a curse. A cow zipped up in a horse suit is still a cow. Likewise, it is amazing how deeds of the flesh can be worked around until they are actually presented as spiritual virtue. Someone may say with pride and boldness, "I told him he offended me!" That person just admitted complete spiritual defeat. Another admits spiritual defeat when he says, "I believed God, claimed a jet airplane, and God gave it to me." We are to be seeking the things above. One fellow even said, "I cannot look at pornography too long because it is vexing to my spirit." He can look at it for a while, but he is too spiritual for a prolonged look? It is one thing to avoid thinking about our flesh, but quite another to actually make it out to be something spiritual; that reveals the heart of a true Pharisee.

Michael’s title for this day’s writing speaks volumes, doesn’t it?  How sad, man is so prone to doing just that.  We love our flesh.  We love “dressing it up.”  To the point that we can zip ourselves up in another suit and play like we are something we aren’t.  That’s a beauty, isn’t it?  Not.

What’s crazy is that we can even do as Michael says, work the deeds of the flesh around “until they are actually presented as spiritual virtue.”  How far fetched is that?!?  When the mind is not in tune with God, anything can be concocted. 

And so it is that pride can rear its ugly head…  Pride is the root of every sin and evil.

Truly, as Michael says, “We are to be seeking the things above.”  That is a remedy for pride.  That is the direction of humility.  Andrew Murray has said, “Humility, the place of entire dependence on God…is the root of every virtue.”  Well, amen.

The Ministry of Damnation .......Is it the Gospel?

God paid the price for every act of disobedience and transgression of man so that He could reconcile man to Himself. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:19). 

God has not committed unto us the word of DAMNATION in hell fire as is preached and taught by many...He has committed unto us the word of RECONCILIATION reconciling people unto Himself...which is practiced by few!

Man must understand, that he is not responsible for the condition he was born in. Men's fallen condition is a result of Adam’s fall and they can take no responsibility for their fleshly carnal nature. God showing His love for fallen man, was why Jesus went the way of the cross, and would understand that God knows that man, in his fallen condition, can't do anything in and of themselves to be reconciled to Him, so Jesus came to do what we could not do. He came to be the reconciler to reconcile mankind back to God. When Adam and Eve fell, God didn't throw a tantrum and condemn them nor did He abandon them; He had already made provision for their redemption before they fell, He reconciled them unto himself.. 

Here is a profound truth...Adam and Eve's redemption was based on God’s choice, not on their choice...Did you GET that!

WOW, does that not mean that...OUR REDEMPTION IS ALSO BASED ON GOD'S CHOICE NOT OUR CHOICE!

- Glenn Regular

What Jesus Is Saying to Us Through the "Washing of the Disciples Feet"

Jesus washed the disciples feet..what was He saying through that act of servanthood and humility?  I love what my friend Woolly hears Him saying to us in that act:

“You might not understand what I’m doing now, but you will, you’ll get it yet. See, a person’s feet get dirty from the journey that they are on, but not the rest of him/her. By what I’m doing here on this Earth, living and dying for you, I’m going to show you that you are already clean and that you’ll only get dirty from the journey that you’re on.

While you’re on your journey through this world you’ll feel pretty dirty on the outside, all of those outside bits, the bits that are outside of your heart, outside of that special place where we already are One. Those bits that are subject to the troubles of this world, your faults, your failings and how you feel because of your circumstances or upbringing or religion or culture, all of the things which are put upon you by forces outside of your control, they’ll all make you feel unclean, but you’ll come back to me and I’ll make you clean once again.
 

I want you to go and live and whenever you get dirty, go and find me in each other and let them clean you up once again, let them remind you of who you really are deep down underneath all the layers, all of the dirt. If you can, go and find me in a still place and remember who you are, who I say you are. And don’t worry, I’ll see you again, one day all the layers will fall away once again and you’ll plainly see that there was nothing to fear all along the way.”

Isn't this such a relief to know?  The dirt and grime we see, that makes us feel we are so dirty, is only outer muck and unrelated to the treasure we truly are beneath.  Through it all, we've never been anything but clean and holy deep down.  Jesus knew that all along, and He makes sure we know it, too.  To realize this in the ultimate way is to truly know that "There was nothing to fear all along the way.."  :) 

 

- Under the Waterfall

The Good News That’s Really “Good”

Often we view our relationship with God in terms of a legal contract. For instance, people often ask questions about salvation in this way. They see God as the judge, we are defendants, and salvation is about staying out of prison. With this perspective, questions about salvation and the Gospel—which means “good news”—are about the specific terms of a contract between God and us that allow us to remain acquitted and thereby stay out of prison. 

 When our relationship with God gets framed in terms of a legal contract, people are inclined to treat the Bible like a confusing litigation manual, the purpose of which is to resolve technical theological disputes and clarify ambiguities surrounding the terms of our contractual acquittal before God. All of this presupposes a picture of God as a judge who leverages people’s eternal destinies on how well they can litigate theological disputes or at least how lucky they were to align themselves with a competent expert (a pastor/teach) who correctly interprets this legal manual.

Is this the “good news” Jesus and his earliest followers were so excited about proclaiming?
Not by a million light years! God isn’t interested in entering into a legal contract with us; he wants a profoundly interpersonal, covenantal relationship with us that is characterized by honesty, trust, and faithfulness. Along the same lines, salvation isn’t primarily about receiving an acquittal so we can avoid prison when we die. It’s about participating in the abundant life and ecstatic love of the Triune God, and doing so now, in this life.

If we understand it in biblical terms, faith isn’t primarily about our beliefs—as if God were an academic who was obsessive about whether you arrive at the right intellectual conclusions. Even less is faith about engaging in psychological gimmickry as you try to suppress doubt to convince yourself your beliefs are the right ones so that you can feel accepted, worthwhile, and secure before God.
Rather, faith is about trusting in the beautiful character of Christ, about being transformed from the inside out by the power of his unending love, and about learning how to live in the power of the Spirit, as a trustworthy partner who increasingly reflects his love and his will “on earth as it is in heaven.”

This is the real “good news.”

—Adapted from Benefit of the Doubt, pages 118-121 - Greg Boyd

The Impossible Command of God

Paul tells us we are to be “imitators of God” (Eph 5:1). The word for “imitate” (mimetai) literally means to “mimic” or to “shadow.” This means we are to do exactly what we see God doing, nothing more and nothing less, just like our shadow does exactly what we do. We are to imitate God’s every move, just as Jesus did.

Paul then fleshes out what this mimicking looks like in the following verse: “Live in love … as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.” We are to love others just as Christ loved us, dying for us on Calvary while we were yet sinners. The call of Jesus followers is to ascribe unsurpassable worth to all others, at cost to ourselves, the way God ascribes unsurpassable worth to us, at cost to himself.
Notice that Paul says we’re to “live” in this love. Manifesting Christlike love isn’t something we can choose to do sometimes but not others. It’s to characterize our life moment-by-moment. There is to be no “off” button. Jesus tells us we’re to love others the way God causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall—indiscriminately (Matt 5:44-45).

This love fulfills the whole law (Rom 13:10). If we live in this love, everything else we’re supposed to do will be done. But if we fail to live in this love, it doesn’t matter what else we manage to do; it was, from a Kingdom perspective, worthless.

This may sound too basic, even boring. Perhaps on some level you suspect your time might be better spent if we were discussing hot topics like the end times, gay marriage, abortion, open theism, church growth strategies, or something of the sort. Our addiction to information inclines us toward mentally stimulating material that requires no sacrifice of our life and makes us restless with the profoundly simple topic of love that requires everything.

This costly command to love is not only difficult to obey, it’s impossible—if we’re trying to obey it on our own power. If we’re not operating out of the fullness of life that comes from God, everything we do—including our noblest attempts to love—is inevitably motivated by a desire to acquire life for self. If this is our motivation, we can’t help but “love” those who feed our sense of worth, significance, and security and despise those who threaten our sense of worth, significance, and security. Operating out of our inner emptiness we invariably love our friends but hate our enemies.
The challenge, then, is not first and foremost to love like Christ. The challenge is to live in Christ’s love, for only then can we love as Christ loved. And as with everything else about our lives, this can be done only as we experience the presence of Christ in each moment.

The quality of our life as followers of Christ isn’t determined by how much we know or don’t know. Nor is it determined by what we did or did not do in the past. Nor is it affected by what we may or may not do in the future. It’s determined by our awareness of the love of Christ for us in this moment.
Will we open ourselves up to God’s ever-present love? Will we allow our thoughts, attitudes, and actions to be ruled by this love? Will we allow this moment to be a sacred Kingdom moment, or will it become just another “ordinary” moment, conformed to the pattern of the world?
—Adapted from Present Perfect, pages 102-109 - Greg Boyd