Wounds from a friend...

I was reading through the life and events of the passion week. This is the week that leads up to Jesus' trial, death, and resurrection. And there is this story (John 13) about Jesus eating the last supper with his disciples, and during it he states that one of them will betray him.

Jesus is obviously upset about this whole situation, which is probably why he tells them about it. So Peter wants to know who this guy is? An honest question, to be sure...or was it? I started thinking about his question and can only come up with one thing. Peter is really not wanting to know who it is...but rather he is stating that it is not him.

Sure Peter cares and loves Jesus, but it seems that he is really more interested in coming across as a "good" disciple. Peter would not dare betray Jesus right? I mean, he is the "rock" just like Jesus said he was. Peter would die for Jesus, and he would give up all that he is for Jesus. That is why he is trying to find out who is going to betray Jesus, because he knows that his realtionship with Jesus is the perfect "model" among the diciples.

I guess we are all just like Peter aren't we? We judge our relationship with Christ by not what we do...but by what we don't do. How many times do we say to others..."At least I am not as bad as ______" or "At least I don't do that?"

That is what Peter is doing. But a few verses later, Jesus calls out Peter. He tells Peter that he is going to deny Jesus three times. Wait a second...isnt this the same Peter who wants to know who is the bad disciple? Yup, but here he is being called out by Jesus...because Jesus knows that although Judas' heart isn't right...neither is Peter's heart.

We all need to learn this lesson. None of us are where we need to be. None of our hearts are right. None of us are the hero. Only Jesus is...

During this Easter season may we all understand that Jesus loves us all, but we all need to be the people that we were created to be. Our hearts are always in a desperate need of reevaluation, and they need to be closer molded into the image of Jesus himself. Judas was a betrayer, and Peter was a denier...how much worse are we?

Jesus, forgive me...forgive me for being so much worse than your own disciples. Help me become what I truly need to be...help me become more like you.

Is the Church Simply Club Membership

"'They joined the church.' The reduction of Christianity to club membership

can't be said any better than that."

-Reggie McNeal

It seems that maybe we have made to much out of the church. In the South it seems that people judge your walk with Christ by whether or not you go to church. You can be the worst person in your community but as long as you are in church on Sunday morning, everything is okay. Why is this? Membership. Why even use this term?

We have taken something that should be a living, breathing organism and we have turned it into an organzation. In our effort to bring people in, we have made it so much more easy to leave people out. Church should be an amazing place of love, fellowship, friendship, but when all we do is make it an organization we might as well just give out badges and pay dues. In our effort to bring people in, we have made people feel so alienated if they don't come and because of that we have a church that lacks any sort of importance in the culture around it.

I believe that the church should make a difference in the society aroung it. It should be a vibrant place of hope. But when the emphasis of church is simply adding numbers to it, we have missed the point. Too many times you ask someone how church was with the response being: "It was great someone joined the church."

What the heck does that mean? 'They joined the church'

Was their life changed? Did they experience the love of Christ in such a way that they wept? Did they met a group of people who made an impact on them? Will they leave and come back? Did they experience Christ? These are some of the things that need to happen when someone goes to church...they need to experience life-change.

Church should be more than a place of club membership. It should be a place that truly leads others to experience Christ. When it does, it will be such an amazing place. A place where hearts are changed, and lives are touched, it will be a place where the love of Christ flows freely, and people joining wont be the most important thing. It will be an afterthought.

Dreaming.

Adam

Reflections on Church

What is Church?

I mean, if you had to write out a definition of "church" what would it be? I have had the priviledge to be involved in the church my whole life...but because of that I have seen the things that keep people out of it.

Fights. Judgemental attitudes. Sarcasm. Lack of love. Hypocrisy.

I have seen it, been hurt by it, done it, done it again, condemned it, done it again...

But what troubles me now, is that we as the Church have gotten so far away from the love of Christ, and have become so enbittered by the world, that we have lost our God-given call to be warriors for Christ. We have pimped ourselves to the world, only to find that our bodies have become stained and scared by what we thought would pay off.

I am a sinner, I although I try to be better daily, and I try to fall madly in love with Jesus...I fail. I want to bleed, Jesus. I want to be used by Him, I want to draw people to Him...I want big things. But what I have found over the past few years is that only when we allow ourselves to be drawn to Christ, Himself will we be able to draw men to Him.

We will not have a church that meets needs of people. We wont have a church that is missional. We wont have a church that allows Christ to change and transform lives. We will have just dusty buildings that people strive to stay away from. Not because they dont think that God is good, but because they see us as so bad.

God change our hearts...

Dreaming,
Adam

Dirty Dishes

"Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and evil. Fools! Didn't He who made the outside make the inside too? "

Luke 11:39,40

It seems as if there are a lot of dirty dishes within the church today. The church is infested with the Pharisee-like religion mongers, who claim to have geniuine faith, but are so corrupted that they make no difference within the world that they live in.

The Pharisees that Jesus talked about, where so fake, and callous and Jesus called them out on it. He pointed the finger in their face, and told them that they were in the wrong. What of the church of 2007? What about us? Where to do we fit in? Here in the Deep South, everyone goes to church, and everyone "believes" in Jesus.

We are just like the Pharisees. We have cleaned the outside of the cup, but the inside is filthy, rotten to the core. We are just a bunch of dirty dishes. But are we satisfied being this way? Do we even know what is on the inside? It seems to me, that we have neglected the hard commands of Jesus. "Love your neighbor as yourself." "Take up your cross, and follow me." "Love others, just as I have loved you."

We get so dressed up on Sunday. We put on our Sunday best, spray on some foo-foo juice to smell good, and a big smile. Then we get to sit in church and wallow around in our own self-righteousness. And for what? To have the outside of our cup look good.

But inside is a dirty dish. We must clean the inside of our life in order to be all that the Father wants us to be. We must be willing to let ourselves be naked, vulneravble, open to the Maker. And when we do, we will find ourselves clean, spotless, beautiful. We will find that we are no longer worthless, dirty dishes...instead we will be the fine china that is saved for the special occasion.

Lord, allow us to be who you have called us to be...allow us to be clean- on the outside...but more importantly...the inside.

dreaming...

adam

Do we trust Him?

Over th epast couple of months I have suffered from intense back pain. And upon going to the doctor, I have been diagnosed with a ruptured disk in my back, which is pressing upon some nerves which in turn is causing tremendous amounts of pain. As a result I will be having surgery tomorrow to remove the disk.

Now, it is not a serious surgery, but I cannot help but feel a little anxious because I really do not want to have surgery. But without it, I will have to deal with this pain. Now, the pain is incredible, so the question is: what do I do?

Is it not the same in all of our lives? We sit with something on our mind, or we wonder why our life stinks. We sit back and question God...cry out to God? We are often faced with uncertainties, and certain things that will cause us hurt, and pain, and grief.

While contemplating this surgery, God handed me a revelation about my life...

You see I am suffering with an intense pain and burden, but I am so scared about what the remedy is...I want to feel better, I just dont want to go through the surgery.

The same is true in our own lives...

We want to get better...we just dont want to: Give up the what-ever, stop the sin, let go of doubt, or let go of the past. Because we know that when we let go of whatever it is that is holding us back, we are weak. We are vulnerable. We are naked.

But only then, will we be able to heal, to get better, to get over our past. We must allow the Father to heal our hurts, bandage our wounds. We must allow ourselves to be naked before Him, in order for Him to truly give us what we need...

So tomorrow I will be having surgery. After I will have a few months of recovery, and rest...but most importantly I will be recieving healing.

May you too, give up some of yourself to recieve that special touch that comes directly from the Maker of Heaven and Earth. May you accept the glorious gift of God Himself, and may that specialness spread out to all that are around you.

Dreaming...
adam