After Christmas there seems to be all sorts of leftovers – food in the fridge, half-price sales in the stores, a mess in the house. Joyfully we anticipated the coming of Christmas, but now that it is over, what do we have to show for it? Leftovers?
I think there is a great question for us to ask on the Sunday after Christmas – I am asking the congregation I pastor this question and I ask you as well – over this Christmas season did you get a chance to see Jesus?
The apostle John talks about that – he got to see the glory of God manifested before his very eyes. I love the way he words it in 1 John 1 – "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life – and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you." Historically John was one of those blessed few who saw the glory of God in the flesh.
There were others who had seen the glory of God – the splendor, the majesty of God Almighty. Isaiah in the temple, Moses before the burning bush, Israel in the cloud, Ezekiel and God’s throne. But this was different for John. "We beheld his glory," John says in John 1:14 – but it was not a glory that overwhelmed people, not a brilliance that blinded, not an excellence that shamed. No, as one writer put it, His splendor was robed in the coarse garment of human nature; His brilliance shone through the prism of human flesh, His excellence was seen in the light of our common day.
We beheld his glory, John says – and in his gospel he tells about the ministry of Jesus, His compassion for a woman at a well, a failure from every other person’s standards, an outcast, one who had crossed the line – and yet one who could receive from the Creator of the universe life.
We beheld his glory — we saw the lame walk, the leper cleansed, the hungry fed, the blind see.
We beheld his glory – and for John, that meant the suffering and the cross. John 1:14 declares, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory" – we saw what he had come for, the moment in time when the cradle was replaced by a crown of thorns, when the baby’s coo became the Creator’s cry, when a mother wept not in joy, but in horror. We beheld his glory – His battle with death, His confrontation with sin, His paying of the ultimate price – that we might live.
We beheld his glory – that Easter morning the grave was opened and confusion and chaos was replaced by the shout, “He is alive! He is alive!”
We beheld His glory – the glory that brings the same confession as that which slipped from the lips of Thomas – “My Lord and My God!” Thomas saw the face of God in Jesus.
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory.” And so here is the leftover question of the season – have you seen Jesus? If not, it’s not too late.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
On Christmas And Having Christ Within...
Every year she’s there. You can’t miss her, she is just off center, a look of love and adoration on her face. She has a robe on, and for some reason it is almost always blue. Her hair is covered, with a strand or two escaping the folds, long, often dark, sometimes blond, maybe red, a slight wave.
She is the mother of Jesus, and once a year we honor her, we give her a place in a manger scene, we dress up a little girl in a bathrobe and give her a plastic baby doll and let her walk on stage. Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary, the one the angel called “blessed.”
A lot of Christians don’t know what to do with Mary. Many things have been said about her through the centuries, and a good number of those have no basis in Scripture. Some even reflect a gross misunderstanding of Jesus. Bottom line, nobody knows us like Jesus, and a mother’s love is a distant second to the love of the Savior.
Still, Mary was in on things from the beginning. She received the angel’s greeting, and she pondered what it meant to have the Lord with her. If she has anything to teach us, it is in her response. Listen to her words in Luke 1:38, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” What a contrast that is to other Biblical characters. When Abraham heard God’s promise, he didn’t know how to respond. Sarah responded with laughter. Zechariah asked for proof. But Mary simply responds with belief, a belief wrapped up in obedience. That should be our response as well.
We speak of having Jesus within us as Christ followers. Paul gives us a basis for that when he says in Galatians 2:20, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Max Lucado says that we must not miss out on the reason we are placed on this earth, to be so pregnant with heaven’s child that He lives through us. I really like that image – so pregnant with heaven’s child that He lives through us. What would that be like for us to have Christ within? Lucado writes these reflections in his book, Next Door Savior:
And it all begins as we give God Mary’s response, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said." May that response be our Christmas gift to God this year.
She is the mother of Jesus, and once a year we honor her, we give her a place in a manger scene, we dress up a little girl in a bathrobe and give her a plastic baby doll and let her walk on stage. Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary, the one the angel called “blessed.”
A lot of Christians don’t know what to do with Mary. Many things have been said about her through the centuries, and a good number of those have no basis in Scripture. Some even reflect a gross misunderstanding of Jesus. Bottom line, nobody knows us like Jesus, and a mother’s love is a distant second to the love of the Savior.
Still, Mary was in on things from the beginning. She received the angel’s greeting, and she pondered what it meant to have the Lord with her. If she has anything to teach us, it is in her response. Listen to her words in Luke 1:38, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” What a contrast that is to other Biblical characters. When Abraham heard God’s promise, he didn’t know how to respond. Sarah responded with laughter. Zechariah asked for proof. But Mary simply responds with belief, a belief wrapped up in obedience. That should be our response as well.
We speak of having Jesus within us as Christ followers. Paul gives us a basis for that when he says in Galatians 2:20, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Max Lucado says that we must not miss out on the reason we are placed on this earth, to be so pregnant with heaven’s child that He lives through us. I really like that image – so pregnant with heaven’s child that He lives through us. What would that be like for us to have Christ within? Lucado writes these reflections in his book, Next Door Savior:
To have my voice, but him speaking.
My steps, but Christ leading.
My heart, but his love beating
in me, through me, with me.
What’s it like to have Christ on the inside?
To tap his strength when mine expires
or feel the force of heaven’s fires
raging, purging wrong desires.
Could Christ become my self entire?
So much him, so little me
that in my eyes it’s him they see.
What’s it like to a Mary be?
No longer I, but Christ in me.
My steps, but Christ leading.
My heart, but his love beating
in me, through me, with me.
What’s it like to have Christ on the inside?
To tap his strength when mine expires
or feel the force of heaven’s fires
raging, purging wrong desires.
Could Christ become my self entire?
So much him, so little me
that in my eyes it’s him they see.
What’s it like to a Mary be?
No longer I, but Christ in me.
And it all begins as we give God Mary’s response, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said." May that response be our Christmas gift to God this year.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Old Friends
Something happened this week that brought delight to my soul. Three old friends made contact with me in as many days. Two of them were from a church I pastored in the early 1980's, and the third was a pastor friend I hadn’t seen or heard from in more than twenty-five years. Through Facebook, emails, and phone calls, we caught up on the happenings of those silent years, and I was reminded that life went on for each of us even if we had completely forgotten about each other’s existence. I am sure those years carried a lot of joys and sorrows for each of us, but it was good to know that God had continued His kindness to each, and that each of us had a journey to share.
We sometimes forget that the first Christmas was the breaking of the silence by an old friend – in this case, I should capitalize “Friend.” The Old Testament era ends with God’s people struggling to form a faith community again, clinging to the promise that some day God would send the Christ. As the years passed, I wonder if some forgot – forgot the promise, forgot the hope, maybe even forgot the Father. Those years were shaped by all the things that shape our lives – the ups and downs of economy, the birth of babies and the death of elders, the expected and the unexpected, the hoped for and the feared. And then one day God broke the silence – angels spoke to an old man and a young maiden, a dream assured a worried husband, and before all was said and done the heavens exploded with shouts of glory and the assurance that God, having once broken the silence, would never be silent again. As John puts it in John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
Christmas reminds us of that Friend who wants to journey with us through life. He split the heavens and came in person into our midst, and now He comes to reside in the heart of every person who will receive Him. Spend some time catching Him up on the joys and sorrows of this past year. Yes, I know, He already knows them all, but it will do you good and you will find your spirit lifted and your soul delighted as you journey with this old Friend who promises never to leave you or forsake you. What a friend we have in Jesus -- One who will never lose touch with us!
We sometimes forget that the first Christmas was the breaking of the silence by an old friend – in this case, I should capitalize “Friend.” The Old Testament era ends with God’s people struggling to form a faith community again, clinging to the promise that some day God would send the Christ. As the years passed, I wonder if some forgot – forgot the promise, forgot the hope, maybe even forgot the Father. Those years were shaped by all the things that shape our lives – the ups and downs of economy, the birth of babies and the death of elders, the expected and the unexpected, the hoped for and the feared. And then one day God broke the silence – angels spoke to an old man and a young maiden, a dream assured a worried husband, and before all was said and done the heavens exploded with shouts of glory and the assurance that God, having once broken the silence, would never be silent again. As John puts it in John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
Christmas reminds us of that Friend who wants to journey with us through life. He split the heavens and came in person into our midst, and now He comes to reside in the heart of every person who will receive Him. Spend some time catching Him up on the joys and sorrows of this past year. Yes, I know, He already knows them all, but it will do you good and you will find your spirit lifted and your soul delighted as you journey with this old Friend who promises never to leave you or forsake you. What a friend we have in Jesus -- One who will never lose touch with us!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Thirty-Five Years
Thirty-five years ago on December 7, 1974, my wife Holly and I were married. I have said to our children that we were just kids and didn’t know what we were doing, and I think there is more truth to that then I care to admit. I didn’t know how great marriage could be but also how difficult and challenging. For whatever reason, I thought if you picked the right person it was easy. I am sure there have been times in our marriage where my wife wondered if she picked the right person – but then, maybe she understood more what marriage would mean than I did.
I am fond of quoting David and Vera Mace when I perform weddings. They write, “A wedding is not a marriage. A wedding is only the beginning of an undertaking that may or may not, someday, develop into a marriage. What a couple have on their wedding day is not the key to a beautiful garden, but just a vacant lot and a few gardening tools.”
A vacant lot and a few gardening tools – most of us thought we were getting more than that when we said, “I do!” The years of marriage include a lot of hard work, breaking up the soil, tossing out the rocks, pulling weeds, planting seeds. But the years of marriage, if we work at it, also yield a great garden to enjoy with your beloved. I think it also makes us better people if we will accept what marriage offers us. We learn to put the other person first, deny ourselves for a greater good, be mature rather then petty, giving rather than grasping. I am not saying that this happens automatically or easily – in fact, we will wind up doing a lot of praying in the midst of it all. But again, when we accept what marriage offers, the payoff is tremendous and the joy is sweet.
Lewis Smedes once said that his wife had been married to seven different men in her lifetime, and everyone of them was him. My wife could probably say the same. We do change, just as our lives together change. Simplistically we may divide marriage according to tasks, whether it is starting out, having children, coping with teenagers, or facing the empty nest. But we do change – we change with the passage of time and the best marriages change as well, growing deeper and wiser and greater and stronger and more loving than ever. That has certainly been my experience, and for that I am grateful.
My son Chad was married this past year, and he shared a quote with me by C. S. Lewis. Lewis talks about “falling in love” as the engine that gets a marriage started, but it takes a lot more to keep it going. For Lewis love “is a deep unity maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced (in Christian marriage) by the grace which both partners ask and receive from God.”
Those are wise words – the unity of marriage requires an act of will, a daily choice to put the other before yourself. It is strengthened by habit, which means we all should pay attention to what our marriage habits are, whether they help or hinder marriage. And marriage calls on both partners to receive and extend the grace of God.
Thirty-five years ago I said I would take Holly for better for worse, in sickness and health, for good times and bad, be we rich or poor. I didn’t really know what all that meant then – but I have to tell you, thirty-five years later I am exceedingly grateful to share my life with Holly and I can’t imagine life in any other way. My wife said that thirty-five years is a long time – but we both agree it is not long enough!
I am fond of quoting David and Vera Mace when I perform weddings. They write, “A wedding is not a marriage. A wedding is only the beginning of an undertaking that may or may not, someday, develop into a marriage. What a couple have on their wedding day is not the key to a beautiful garden, but just a vacant lot and a few gardening tools.”
A vacant lot and a few gardening tools – most of us thought we were getting more than that when we said, “I do!” The years of marriage include a lot of hard work, breaking up the soil, tossing out the rocks, pulling weeds, planting seeds. But the years of marriage, if we work at it, also yield a great garden to enjoy with your beloved. I think it also makes us better people if we will accept what marriage offers us. We learn to put the other person first, deny ourselves for a greater good, be mature rather then petty, giving rather than grasping. I am not saying that this happens automatically or easily – in fact, we will wind up doing a lot of praying in the midst of it all. But again, when we accept what marriage offers, the payoff is tremendous and the joy is sweet.
Lewis Smedes once said that his wife had been married to seven different men in her lifetime, and everyone of them was him. My wife could probably say the same. We do change, just as our lives together change. Simplistically we may divide marriage according to tasks, whether it is starting out, having children, coping with teenagers, or facing the empty nest. But we do change – we change with the passage of time and the best marriages change as well, growing deeper and wiser and greater and stronger and more loving than ever. That has certainly been my experience, and for that I am grateful.
My son Chad was married this past year, and he shared a quote with me by C. S. Lewis. Lewis talks about “falling in love” as the engine that gets a marriage started, but it takes a lot more to keep it going. For Lewis love “is a deep unity maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced (in Christian marriage) by the grace which both partners ask and receive from God.”
Those are wise words – the unity of marriage requires an act of will, a daily choice to put the other before yourself. It is strengthened by habit, which means we all should pay attention to what our marriage habits are, whether they help or hinder marriage. And marriage calls on both partners to receive and extend the grace of God.
Thirty-five years ago I said I would take Holly for better for worse, in sickness and health, for good times and bad, be we rich or poor. I didn’t really know what all that meant then – but I have to tell you, thirty-five years later I am exceedingly grateful to share my life with Holly and I can’t imagine life in any other way. My wife said that thirty-five years is a long time – but we both agree it is not long enough!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Chosen
John Ortberg writes, “To be loved means to be chosen. The sense of being chosen is one of the very best gifts love bestows on the beloved... On the other hand, there is no pain quite like the pain of not being chosen.” I understand that last part – I have the emotional scars to show for it. I still remember the fourth grade experience of a bunch of kids playing a game. Two boys claimed the right to choose teams, and they went back and forth, “I want Jim.” “I want Doug.” “I want Mike.” On and on the choosing went.
The dread of that moment is still with me, etched in my psyche. I have to be honest, I was never very good at sports of any kind. Too clumsy, awkward, two left feet, not the right genes – I don’t know, I just know that when God gave out talents in the athletic arena, He gave me zero talents. You can guess what happened that day – down to the last two, and then one – the team leader griped, “Oh, I’ll take Johnston if I have to.”
A childhood experience, of course. Builds character. Makes you search for what you are good at. Creates strength. You’ll be good at something. I heard all of those things and said them and more to myself. But it took a long time for me to find out what I was good at, and those many experiences of being picked last created a good bit of self-doubt.
I projected much of this on God. I didn’t blame Him for my lack of athletic prowess, but I was quite sure that if He began dividing folks up that I would be at the tail end, not completely worthless but not much better – “Oh, I’ll take Johnston if I have to.” I tried to believe God loved me, but frankly, I had a hard time believing that.
I was in college when the message got through my dense skull. I still remember Bill and Ruth Martin encouraging me to change John 3:16 from “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” to “For God so loved Bob.” I struggled to believe that – and then began to read the New Testament with new eyes, recognizing that God truly did love me, not because I was valuable to His team or exceptional in skills, but because I was valued by Him. He loved me because He loved me – amazing! I experienced this overwhelming sense of being chosen – of being wanted by God. I looked at what Jesus did with new eyes – it was as if God said, “Bob, I did all of this for you.”
Chosen – it really is a wonderful thing. Marriage at its best conveys much of that, a person picking us out, knowing us warts and all, and they say, “I choose you.” It truly is a tremendous gift – but no one outdoes God. I love the way Paul begins Colossians 3:12, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved...” The holy part is what God does, not what I do. And the chosen part, the loved part, that is God’s as well.
Colossians 3:12 and the verses that follow tell us the kind of spiritual clothes our Lord wants us to wear – things like compassion and kindness and humility and patience – it is a fairly complete list, I hope you will look at it. But this isn’t a list of necessary characteristics to earn God’s love – these are things we strive to do simply because we are loved. Because we are chosen. Because one day God said, “Oh, I’d love to take Johnston!” Thank You Lord!
The dread of that moment is still with me, etched in my psyche. I have to be honest, I was never very good at sports of any kind. Too clumsy, awkward, two left feet, not the right genes – I don’t know, I just know that when God gave out talents in the athletic arena, He gave me zero talents. You can guess what happened that day – down to the last two, and then one – the team leader griped, “Oh, I’ll take Johnston if I have to.”
A childhood experience, of course. Builds character. Makes you search for what you are good at. Creates strength. You’ll be good at something. I heard all of those things and said them and more to myself. But it took a long time for me to find out what I was good at, and those many experiences of being picked last created a good bit of self-doubt.
I projected much of this on God. I didn’t blame Him for my lack of athletic prowess, but I was quite sure that if He began dividing folks up that I would be at the tail end, not completely worthless but not much better – “Oh, I’ll take Johnston if I have to.” I tried to believe God loved me, but frankly, I had a hard time believing that.
I was in college when the message got through my dense skull. I still remember Bill and Ruth Martin encouraging me to change John 3:16 from “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” to “For God so loved Bob.” I struggled to believe that – and then began to read the New Testament with new eyes, recognizing that God truly did love me, not because I was valuable to His team or exceptional in skills, but because I was valued by Him. He loved me because He loved me – amazing! I experienced this overwhelming sense of being chosen – of being wanted by God. I looked at what Jesus did with new eyes – it was as if God said, “Bob, I did all of this for you.”
Chosen – it really is a wonderful thing. Marriage at its best conveys much of that, a person picking us out, knowing us warts and all, and they say, “I choose you.” It truly is a tremendous gift – but no one outdoes God. I love the way Paul begins Colossians 3:12, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved...” The holy part is what God does, not what I do. And the chosen part, the loved part, that is God’s as well.
Colossians 3:12 and the verses that follow tell us the kind of spiritual clothes our Lord wants us to wear – things like compassion and kindness and humility and patience – it is a fairly complete list, I hope you will look at it. But this isn’t a list of necessary characteristics to earn God’s love – these are things we strive to do simply because we are loved. Because we are chosen. Because one day God said, “Oh, I’d love to take Johnston!” Thank You Lord!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
God's Heartbeat
Have you ever heard your own heartbeat? Chances are you have. You exert yourself and you can hear your heart beating as you try to catch your breath. Or maybe you lay in just a certain way and you can hear your pulse beat in your head, the gentle throbbing just at the edge of your awareness.
What does your heartbeat say? Sounds like a stupid question, I know. My heartbeat isn’t very eloquent – the best I can translate it, it says something like “Thump-thump, thump-thump.” Our hearts don’t say much except to a doctor who knows what an irregular or unruly beat means – for us, it is just a steady beating of a drum that means we are alive.
We celebrate Thanksgiving this week, and I will spend time thanking God for a good number of things. Included will be gratitude for my family and friends, for good health, and for the privilege of serving such a great and gracious God. I will let you in on a little secret – I will also spend time listening to God’s heartbeat and thanking Him for that as well.
God’s heartbeat – I am speaking in images now, but I think you can get the point pretty easily. You hear God’s heartbeat in an amazing Scriptural passage known as Psalm 136. The Psalm starts out with a triple plea to give thanks to God, and then there are statements that direct our attention to God as the One who created us, redeemed us, and sustains us. Pretty standard stuff for the Bible. What sets this Psalm off from all the rest is the refrain, the steady, recurring, ever beating, never stopping, always pulsing “thump-thump” of God’s heart. Only, God is more eloquent – twenty-six times the refrain sounds in Psalm 136, “His love endures forever.”
Writer Peter Wallace says this refrain continually and repeatedly reminds us that God loves us. Despite our weaknesses and failures, our circumstances and struggles, even our doubts and fears, God’s love for us is unswerving. “His love endures forever.”
The Apostle John reminds us of God’s tremendous love for us as manifested in Jesus’ determination to go to the cross for our sins. John 13:1 says, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” What was the “full extent” of His love? He let His heartbeat stop on the cross so that when our heartbeats stopped in death, we would awaken in eternity with Him. Now, that is a love that endures forever.
Take some time this week and try to listen to your own heartbeat – and then listen to God’s heartbeat as reflected in Psalm 136 and in all the experiences of life as you follow Jesus. Sing a song of gratitude for the God who made us, saved us through Christ, walks with us through life.
Thump-thump, thump-thump – “His love endures forever.”
What does your heartbeat say? Sounds like a stupid question, I know. My heartbeat isn’t very eloquent – the best I can translate it, it says something like “Thump-thump, thump-thump.” Our hearts don’t say much except to a doctor who knows what an irregular or unruly beat means – for us, it is just a steady beating of a drum that means we are alive.
We celebrate Thanksgiving this week, and I will spend time thanking God for a good number of things. Included will be gratitude for my family and friends, for good health, and for the privilege of serving such a great and gracious God. I will let you in on a little secret – I will also spend time listening to God’s heartbeat and thanking Him for that as well.
God’s heartbeat – I am speaking in images now, but I think you can get the point pretty easily. You hear God’s heartbeat in an amazing Scriptural passage known as Psalm 136. The Psalm starts out with a triple plea to give thanks to God, and then there are statements that direct our attention to God as the One who created us, redeemed us, and sustains us. Pretty standard stuff for the Bible. What sets this Psalm off from all the rest is the refrain, the steady, recurring, ever beating, never stopping, always pulsing “thump-thump” of God’s heart. Only, God is more eloquent – twenty-six times the refrain sounds in Psalm 136, “His love endures forever.”
Writer Peter Wallace says this refrain continually and repeatedly reminds us that God loves us. Despite our weaknesses and failures, our circumstances and struggles, even our doubts and fears, God’s love for us is unswerving. “His love endures forever.”
The Apostle John reminds us of God’s tremendous love for us as manifested in Jesus’ determination to go to the cross for our sins. John 13:1 says, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” What was the “full extent” of His love? He let His heartbeat stop on the cross so that when our heartbeats stopped in death, we would awaken in eternity with Him. Now, that is a love that endures forever.
Take some time this week and try to listen to your own heartbeat – and then listen to God’s heartbeat as reflected in Psalm 136 and in all the experiences of life as you follow Jesus. Sing a song of gratitude for the God who made us, saved us through Christ, walks with us through life.
Thump-thump, thump-thump – “His love endures forever.”
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Falling From Grace
Periodically I spend time praying and planning for future sermons. This has been a week for doing that, and I am spending time with the theme of grace. I recognize why grace is so important to me – before I came to Christ I felt I was completely unacceptable. I had this mental image of God as stern, unloving, and lacking compassion. Becoming acceptable was something I had to achieve, and it didn’t take me long to recognize that wasn’t going to happen. Imagine my surprise when I was blindsided by the tremendous grace of God found in Jesus (sounds like a good sermon title, “Blindsided By Grace”). Jesus did for me what I could not possibly do for myself, and I love Him for it.
I love Him for it, I say – and I imagine many Christ-followers would say the same. But something often happens, and I am trying to get a handle on it. Those who are touched by grace and immersed in the love of God often become ungracious and unlovely – in short, unChrist-like. There are many relationships this affects, but it especially affects our relationship with those who are watching us. Sheldon Van Auken wrote, “The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness.” And what is the best argument against Christianity? Van Auken continues, “When Christians are somber, joyless, self-righteous, smug, narrow, repressive – Christianity dies a thousand deaths.”
What’s up? How can those who enter the kingdom of God through the gracefulness of God come to the place where they do not reflect that gracefulness in their day-to-day living? To put it in Luke 15 terms, how can young prodigals greeted by the tremendous love of the Father become elder brothers who look in judgment at those around? How can we fall so far from grace? How does the drift occur – and what can we do about it?
I love Him for it, I say – and I imagine many Christ-followers would say the same. But something often happens, and I am trying to get a handle on it. Those who are touched by grace and immersed in the love of God often become ungracious and unlovely – in short, unChrist-like. There are many relationships this affects, but it especially affects our relationship with those who are watching us. Sheldon Van Auken wrote, “The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness.” And what is the best argument against Christianity? Van Auken continues, “When Christians are somber, joyless, self-righteous, smug, narrow, repressive – Christianity dies a thousand deaths.”
What’s up? How can those who enter the kingdom of God through the gracefulness of God come to the place where they do not reflect that gracefulness in their day-to-day living? To put it in Luke 15 terms, how can young prodigals greeted by the tremendous love of the Father become elder brothers who look in judgment at those around? How can we fall so far from grace? How does the drift occur – and what can we do about it?
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