Transformed Changes and changing

Last summer I was watching the moon rise over the lake…one of the most beautiful moments I have experienced each summer…something I truly look forward to each year! This particular time I was struck by the thought that, “I am like moonlight…just a reflection of the Son.”

As I prepared last week to speak at our church service yesterday, I was confronted with a new challenge in Paul’s exhortation for us to “shine like stars” (Phil 2:15)…stars have their own light…they do not simply reflect.

Then this morning, I was studying the two times that God speaks out to affirm Christ, once at the river during His baptism, and once on the mount of transfiguration. Both times God says, “this is my dearly loved Son, in who I am well pleased”. Something within me longs to hear God speak this over me…yet I am aware that I am powerless to achieve this on my own. I am simply not able to be good.

I was brought to an awareness that Christ, on the mount of transfiguration, experienced a metamorphosis; a change on the outside that comes from the inside. Jesus did not simply reflect God’s glory, but rather it radiated from within Him, and thus He shone like a star.

I guess, as pretty as it looks, I don’t just want to be moonlight. I’d rather be transformed from within…to experience God intimately so that He shines forth from within me…and in this being glorified.

Posted under Transformation

“Self-worth is not created, it is discovered.”  (Richard Rohr)

We do not recognize ourselves, just as we did not recognize Him. (1 John 3:1)

What is so insignificant about being created in the image of God that we would pursue the understanding of it so little? Our worth is not in what we achieve or put our efforts into…it is a dictate. As a creature, our value is dictated by our Creator, and it is most amazing that He created us in His image…a reflection and representation of Himself for the rest of creation. Very cool.

I have been studying the “Enneagram” quite a bit lately. It has been an enlightening (albeit sobering) undertaking. On one hand I am discovering that I have more that is broken within me than I realized (which grieves me), and on the other I am finding articulation for much of the struggle that wreaks havoc with my emotions…or should I say “emotions which wreak havoc…”?

The Enneagram (info here: 9types.com…or alternatively “The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective” by Richard Rohr) is helping me to understand that I am not alone in my internal battle over self; all of us have an ruling party and official opposition within…sometimes it is hard to tell which is which. It is also helping me to see the eventual outcome of the choices I could make. There are basic routes we can choose in our journey: to withdraw, to attack, and to stay humbly engaged. The first two make it impossible for us to receive or extend true love…only the latter offers this opportunity.

Transformation is all about growing the capacity to receive and extend love.

All we have as creatures comes from our Creator. All our efforts to live on our own  remove us from drawing on the life-giving energy and love of the Creator. As we continue in our own efforts throughout our journey, with an honest assessment, we eventually arrive at a place of disgust with ourselves. We cannot be the good we want to be on our own. (Am I alone in this?)

We need a greater love…we need true, deep, authentic, rich, energizing, empowering, sustaining transformation. The kind of transformation that can only flow from the Creator…not a form of Him captured in religion…but rather the source of all life, directly…in the person.

I resolve to pursue this at all cost, for I have been close enough to the edge to see that anything short of this will only end in the destruction of life.

Posted under Transformation

Enter guest writer Ken Rutherford…

Joy To The World

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Do I really believe the words of this familiar Christmas carol? It seems to be saying that joy comes when the Lord (Ruler, Master) comes, and people allow Him to be King. Doesn’t it seem more believable that joy comes when I get what I want?

Could it be that real joy comes when the “Lord” Jesus Christ gets what He wants in my life? It seems that the pursuit of happiness can be the strongest motivation in life. If we engage our pursuit based on wrong assumptions we will definitely miss the goal.

I recently met a man who was having major heart problems. In fact, his heart had stopped 3 or 4 times and had to be revived. He was told that he would need a pacemaker. He didn’t want to have a pacemaker because of certain wrong assumptions he had about pacemakers. He believed that a pacemaker would be limiting; that it would hold him back from really living. The reality was that he would die without a pacemaker, but be free to really live and enjoy life with one!

It is easy to get the idea that surrender of the control of my life to this Lord or King would be a hindrance; that it would be limiting. The truth is that without Christ as King in our lives we are dying.

This simple Christmas carol declares the truth that often gets overlooked. All of creation will “sing” when people allow Jesus the Creator to be King.

Posted under Transformation

On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe…This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.” From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

John 6: 60-69

Why do I get the feeling that, through most conversations, we all assume (imply) that we are (would have been) one of the 12…not one of the multitudes that walked away?

Are we so sure?

Posted under Transformation

My faith story – my benefit

a) The desire: Fulfillment

b) The problem: Bondage to sin – penalty of death

c) The transaction: I chose to believe in Christ

d) The benefit: I can enjoy freedom…peace…

His Larger Story

a) The desire: Creation reconciled

b) The problem: Bondage to sin – penalty of death

c) The transaction: Christ paid the penalty for sin

d) The benefit: Reconciliation

I once was lost, but now am found…who found who? Who purchased who?

What difference does it make?

Revelation 5:9-10 (New International Version)

⁹And they sang a new song:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
¹⁰You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.”

Posted under Transformation

More questions…

Have we chosen to be “Christian” because of the benefit we receive? Have we “purchased” this benefit?

OR…have we been purchased? And if so…for what benefit? What purpose?

Chris⋅ti⋅an⋅i⋅ty

–noun, plural -ties. (dictionary.com)

Posted under Transformation

Consumer: “an organism requiring complex organic compounds for food which it obtains by preying on other organisms or by eating particles of organic matter” (Merriam-Webster)

I wonder…how many ways could this be true?

What do you think?

Posted under Transformation

I think I have finally surrendered (maybe more like given up) the dream of being a full time musician. Sold my gear, stopped booking concerts, and stopped writing songs. Tough choice for me…it has been a long standing dream.

Of all the songs I have written, my favorite is quite easy to pick. It is not that it has the best melody or greatest composition or production…it is the core of the message that compelled me to write the song…

Genesis 6:6 (NIV)

“The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.”

This thought led me to the question, which became the song: “What Does it Take to Break (Your Heart)?”

You can’t break someone’s heart if they do not love you intensely; intimately.

Intimacy can be defined as: being “characterized by or involving warm friendship or a personally close or familiar association or feeling”…or “showing a close union or combination of particles or elements: an intimate mixture”…or “of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the inmost or essential nature; intrinsic: the intimate structure of an organism.” (dictionary.com)

I wonder if this is what God had in mind when He inspired the writing of 1John 4:

vs 13 – “We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” (NIV)
vs 16 – “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” (NIV)

Or, as the Message translation puts it…^13-16“This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.”

I have been feeling an absence of deeper intimacy. My heart longs for more than I have experienced. I have wondered why I don’t get a sense of God’s intimacy…I get that He loves me…I get that justice and mercy are served at the cross, and that HE PAID it for me…I can intellectualize that God obviously loves me…but I have longed to feel it more. I fear that if I don’t, I will choose false intimacy as a supplement / replacement / substitute.

This morning, I have come to wonder…why does He have to make me feel that He pursues me with intimacy? We all long to be pursued in pure intimacy…but who is more worthy than He? He is the Creator…and He has allowed His heart to be broken by His creation…a sovereign, omnipotent God permitting, embracing brokenness in His heart, for the sake of His treasured creation.

Should this not compel us to pursue Him with intimacy…and if so, how?

1 John 3: 18-20 “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”

Posted under Transformation

Matthew 10:39
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

This is a puzzling scripture. It sounds very spiritual and full of martyrdom. Until recently, I felt I knew what this passage meant, and in part, I did. Yet, this morning I find I am understanding it within a new light.

My daughter gave me Donald Miller’s latest book “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” for my birthday. I have always enjoyed Miller’s pointed phrasing, objective views and paradigm challenges. One of his earlier writings “In Search of God Knows What” is one of my all time favorites…but I digress…In this latest book he talks about lessons learned while editing the story of his life. (A great read)

I think I have always wanted to live an impacting life. I have wanted the words and actions of my story to move people to conviction; to discover something they didn’t know before, and especially to come to a compelling awareness of the Creator’s love for them. Somehow, though I know I am powerless to “compel” anyone toward God, I came to feel that I was responsible for this so much so that I assumed the lead role; more than that, the authorship.

I didn’t actually decide to remove God as the author…I just sort of forgot. It’s hard to tell when I have taken over…but the signs are there if I take the time to follow the trail. Loneliness and depression are common signals. These emotions reveal that I have begun to wonder whether or not I will be successful in my story. They expose a selfishness within my plot: I must be discovered, affirmed, validated…as if the pure essence of the gift of life were not enough.

I am a creature…the writing of my story was initiated by the Creator…He enhances the story each day grace-fully…and He will finish it.

Posted under Transformation

Chicken or the egg…which came first…yadda, yadda…

The end justifies the means, or not…yadda, yadda…

The sin of Sodom, as outlined in Ezekiel, was “arrogance, self-indulgence and indifference”…indifference in this case = unhealthy.

The sin of Sodom establishes an interesting foundational perspective: “The poor may or may not NEED us…but we definitely need the poor…for it is through love, compassion and charity that arrogance, self-indulgence and indifference are transformed.

Which brings me to yet another challenge / question / principle…you decide:

1. Is it that we accomplish vocational purpose through transformation?
or
2. That the purpose of transformation is served through vocation?

If it is #1, then we are focussed on the outcome of our efforts, primarily the effect of whatever we put our hand to do…which of course is not such a bad thing. However, we may be prone to justify the means based on the end.

If it is #2, then we must do what is right and deal with the consequences, trusting that God is accomplishing something in us, no matter what we see as the end. In this case the journey itself is our end…

Posted under Transformation