How To Be A Christian Without Being A Jerk

Faith in real life

Are Self-Help books a waste of money?

September 14th, 2012

VIM- Means

The “means” to live in God’s Kingdom now are to fool every part of our normal self into trusting that we can actually be transformed. In football, we would call this an “end around.” If you take the direct approach it almost always fails. Like,

This time I am really going to live a godly life! I am going to quit being so impatient. I am going to be patient and I am going do it- right now!

Whenever we take the direct approach, our whole being cries out,

It can’t be done!

Or,

Who do you think you are?!

Or,

I’ll just die if I follow through on this!!

How do we go about indirectly impacting ourselves to live the transformed life? The spiritual disciplines that Jesus practiced are the key.

Through silence and solitude, study, worship and such, we are able to focus on what is there in front of us, and it will naturally be used by the Spirit to change us from the inside.

For instance, we don’t say, “From now on I am going to be a loving person,” but rather we say, “I am going to work on becoming the kind of person whom can love.” The spiritual disciplines then become the tools that make us available for that transformation.

Think about the various types of “self-help” you have attempted.

Do we have to sin? The answer will surprise you…

September 12th, 2012

VIM- Intention

Here is where we start to get bogged down in our spiritual growth. Two things happen.

One- we don’t really trust what we say we trust

Two- we don’t really intend to obey what we learn

We must intend to trust Jesus.

Here is where “thinking it through” is so important. There is a whole area of study that is critical to trusting in Jesus. It is called, “Apologetics.” This means, “making a case for,” or “making a defense.”

In Christian apologetics, you make a logical case for your faith in Jesus. You build confidence in the reasonability of the Christian faith. Why is it important to trust intellectually?

You cannot sustain a living, influential faith in Jesus unless you trust in what he says and does. You cannot thrive as a disciple unless you have confidence that the Bible is the Word of God, Jesus is who he says he is, and the Christian worldview is the most reasonable and rational view of reality there is out of all religions and philosophies.

Sunday School/ “Jesus loves me this I know” faith, does not survive teenage and adult skepticism in a person who is truly testing out their faith. You can get by when times are good, but when crisis and uncertainty hit, which they will, to have confidence in the authenticity of your experience and the evidence of the truth of the Gospel are essential.

The good news is: Jesus is totally trustworthy, and so we can obey his ways.

Christians are not really honest on this point. Often we talk a good faith but we don’t live it. Usually, this has something to do with focusing almost entirely on a God of love and forgiveness.

Yet, God is equally a God of justice and righteousness (right living). The God who totally loves us is the God who totally expects obedience. We emphasize all the accounts in the Bible where Jesus is caring and forgiving, but many times we skip over his call for our radical self-denial.

For example, when he tells the woman who is caught in adultery, “Go, and sin no more,” he wasn’t winking at her when he said it (John 8:1-11).

We can actually choose not to sin.

We can choose to do what is right.

It is possible to do this in this life. We are already a new creation when we place our trust in Jesus and begin to live in his Kingdom now. We do not have to give in to our old human desires for pleasure and power. The fact that we fail at times, and fall back into our sinful human ways, doesn’t cancel out the equally truthful fact that we can choose not to sin. Unless we go into this whole enterprise intending to live a transformed life, we will fail before we get started.

We can live our lives as Jesus would live our lives if he were us. He created the means.

What do you really want?

VIM- Vision

September 11th, 2012

We start with a vision to be a Kingdom person. This is someone who is actively working with God in living a kingdom life. Before we can understand this we need to define “Kingdom.” Dallas Willard defines it this way:

Kingdom of God- the range of God’s effective will

We have confidence that God’s will is done everywhere. Therefore, his Kingdom is infinite because his domain is wherever there is the possibility his choices are accomplished. We pray this frequently.

Thy Kingdom come: Thy Will be done: On earth as it is in heaven.

This is the life of our possibility. Where God’s desires and our destiny are identical. We are invited to the greatest cause of the galaxies. To live our lives the way we are designed to live. Think about it this way.

Everyone in the world may be working against God’s Kingdom coming because they have given in to a life of self-worship. Yet, if we are working for the sake of God and others, we are being transformed. As a result, creation itself is being transformed because we choose to follow God’s Kingdom vision.

How could we live in any safer, richer, more joyful place than in the reality of what God wants done? Do you think he can accomplish what he intends to accomplish?

Then I would suggest we all get on God’s bus and go for a ride!

What do you really want?

The Secret to Weight Loss…And Any Other Transformation

September 7th, 2012

What is VIM? Let me use an example.

For most adults in America, one area we frequently wish to change is being overweight. If you take all the weight loss products, all the weight loss programs, all the health club memberships, and all the diet books, then you add it all together, you are looking at billions of billions of dollars. Yet, most people simply go through a cycle of losing and gaining. Most people don’t see permanent results. Why? Could it be they went directly to means, without really considering vision and intention?

In vision you think about what you would look like if you lost weight. Would you be more attractive? The bit of narcissism in all of us would enjoy that. Then you think about what you would feel like if you didn’t have to carry around those extra pounds every day. The aches and pains in your joints. Just the overall dragging that goes on by the end of the day. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to face the world as a “lean, mean, fighting machine?” (If you haven’t seen Stripes, do so; classic Bill Murray) Do you have a vision for weight loss?

The vision is not enough. You can’t just sit there daydreaming about how great it would be to lose weight. You can’t just read testimonials. You have to carefully consider what life would be like as a slimmer you. You have to count the cost. Jesus knows that.

Luke 14:28 (NLT)
“But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first getting estimates and then checking to see if there is enough money to pay the bills?”

After this careful consideration, if you are truly ready this time, then you state you intentions. Maybe you confide in a friend that this time you really mean it. You have a vision for weight loss. You have the intention to do what it takes to achieve it. Now, the final step is the easiest. How to do it. The means.

Obesity is most often spiritual at its core. David Housholder, in Light Your Church On Fire Without Burning It Down, has this to say,

“One only has to think of our grossly overweight society, and the massive trillions spent on resulting medical care trying to cure the symptoms caused by obesity, when there is deep inner pain trying to get covered by overeating. Why not go right to the cause?”

Healing prayer will deliver a person from this inner pain. Along with this, healthy habits follow. Proper diet and exercise, and sleep are important for weight loss. A healthy lifestyle includes these three.

Healing prayer and healthy habits are the means to losing what we are dragging through life.

You can see what practicing vision, intention, and means can do for weight loss. What would it look like to change a whole life? Through VIM, you yield yourself to the power of the Holy Spirit for lasting transformation.

Where do you need healing?

The First Step to a Healthy Life

September 6th, 2012

Our love of God directly impacts our love of neighbor. When we receive God’s love for what it is, it becomes possible to love our neighbor as Jesus does. Not for what I can get out of them, but out of genuine generosity. Through this process, the five parts of who I am (heart, mind, body, social relationships, soul) come into proper alignment. More and more, I am living as I am designed to live.

The choices I make out of my heart are for the benefit of others. My mind is filled with thoughts and feelings that focus on good rather than tempt me toward evil. My body is used to worship and glorify God rather than pursue pleasure and power. All of this affects the people I choose to hang out with. In this way my soul is in harmony with God’s intentions.

Specifically, as I am dying to myself, I am becoming the kind of person who does not have a crisis when I don’t get my own way. It does not surprise me or bother me. I am confident that I am perfectly safe in God’s hands and will face life centered within his presence.

As I become an apprentice of Jesus, I am able to live in his kingdom now. Instead of feeling I belong away from God and becoming more and more a person who cannot want him, by dying to self, I am at home with Jesus and living my life as he would lead it if he were me. This is a reality waiting to be discovered.

Renovation of the heart is possible and it is the only option to true living. I will live as I have been designed to live all along, and I will be at home with Jesus. I will be my best, true self.

Now where do I start?

When do you support unhealthy life being lived out by a friend?

Taking on Jesus As Your Partner

September 6th, 2012

In order to have lasting transformation, Jesus chooses to partner with us. Dallas says it this way:

Without Jesus I can do nothing, but if I do nothing, it will certainly be without Jesus.

The path of self-denial is a one of cooperation. Not everyone understands this. I come out of a faith tradition (Lutheran Christian) that so strongly emphasizes grace (God’s free gift of love) that any effort on our part will smack of “works righteousness.” We are trying to earn God’s love if we talk about doing the right things. The spiritual disciplines are not a focal point of life because they seem to be human effort to earn God’s favor.

As a result of this kind of thinking, after we become Christian, we are supposed to just sit back and be transformed through some kind of spiritual osmosis. That is not the reality of Kingdom life, however.

By fearing we would have a “heart attack” if we dare speak of doing something to grow in our faith, we become complacent in our non-response. Strangely, for some Christians, it becomes a badge of honor not to do anything.

Trouble is, transformation doesn’t happen this way. This is why the lives of most Christians don’t differ that much from anyone else. Without partnering with Jesus, we are on our own. He will not do our self-denial for us. Oh, we don’t doubt we will be with him in heaven someday, but Jesus actually wants to work with us in Kingdom living now.

There is another way. Our efforts fall into the category of VIM. “Vim” is defined as ”energy and enthusiasm,” from the Latin vis, meaning “strength.” Dallas uses it as an acronym for Vision, Intention, and Means. Through this three-step process, Jesus transforms us into the kind of people who can do the things he would do if he were us in any situation.

“We don’t do good things so that God loves us. God loves us, and our response of thanksgiving is to do good things.” Explain

We are in this together

August 7th, 2012

How do you move from a life of radical ruin to a life of radical goodness? You have to get off the throne of your life, where you are the ruler and god, and allow Jesus to take his rightful place on the throne. You need to be transformed in all five parts of heart, mind, body, social life, and soul.

That should be easy, right? Just get a little more focused? Just try harder? Actually, you can’t change using the direct approach at all. Either you won’t think you are capable of changing, or your instinct will be you don’t need to change. Self-worship is a powerful force. Everything that makes you, “you,” will scream out, “No!”

We need to take a different approach. Just like in athletics and the arts, we need to practice. We need to take a disciplined approach.

There are age old spiritual practices that have been effective for those who have become more like Jesus over the centuries. These “spiritual disciplines,” as they are called, take what is unnatural, self-denial, and make it natural. We address ourselves indirectly, because the direct way will fail. The devil and our own sinful selves’ gang up on us to convince us that there is no way this denial is possible; or it is not necessary.

Spiritual disciplines like silence and solitude, prayer, Bible reading, fasting, study, journaling, practicing simplicity, worship, and the like, make it possible to become more and more like Jesus. This indirect approach to transformation distracts our natural tendencies to rule in our own lives. Let me give you one example. You are experiencing one of the disciplines right now.

By reading this, you are practicing the discipline of study, and I trust it is helpful. Yet, I’ll let you in on a little secret. This is one of my key spiritual disciplines, as well. I study and think about what I am studying and pass that on to you in the form of this book. This is a good discipline for me and I share it with you, because whoever you are, if I can be any influence on your expanding as a disciple, I expand, as well.

Why is it so important that we encourage each other in transformation?

Chik-fil-A, Dog and Suds, and A Good Donut…my take on the controversy

August 3rd, 2012

If I were running a fast food restaurant chain, I would try to recruit the best and brightest potential employees to work for my company. I would not have someone’s political position on “gay marriage” as one of my criteria for employment eligibility. Not legal for a business and not smart, either. Chik-fil-A management would agree with me.

If I were running a fast food restaurant chain, I would welcome with open arms anyone who is hungry and has money, regardless of political position on “gay marriage.” That wouldn’t be legal and it would be dumb. Chik-fil-A management would say, “Ditto.”

I would, however, draw the line and require shoes, shirts, and no dogs. Except service dogs, of course.

Wait a minute…Allow me a little side trip down the rabbit hole.

If I could get away with having a “dog friendly” fast food chain, it might not be such a bad idea. I am not aware of a chain like that. We had “Dog and Suds” when I was growing up, specializing in hot dogs and root beer, but it wasn’t about people and their dogs. Come to think of it, I can see the neon sign out front…

“Dog and Suds: No, Really!”

That’s it! A restaurant chain/ brewpub for people and their dogs! Welcoming customers with dogs to spend time eating, and sampling micro-brews (Sorry, Fido, humans only). Perhaps brews with dog names, like Poodle Pilsner, Beagle Bock, and Abyssinian Ale (I know Abyssinians are cats, but it is the one cat that looks cool enough to be a dog). And when you leave, you could even take home a growler!

I think I may be on to something. If you take my idea, just remember where you heard it first.

Alright, I’m back…

Because I am a follower of Jesus, He defines who I am and He did not tell me to define myself by my political position on “gay marriage” or “traditional marriage,” not by my political views in general, and not by my “sexual orientation.” I will not have political rhetoric dictate who I am. I will not have post-enlightenment labels created in university psychology and linguistic labs in the last 150 years or so, be my primary identity choices and tell me how I have to define myself, either.

Labels like “homosexual,” “heterosexual”, “GLBT”, “homophobe,” “heteroist,” and such, have often become a means to marginalize someone else. Or these labels have become some overarching “Identity May Pole” that I need to dance around to be cool, so the “man” can tell me who I really am. (Whoa there…Sorry, no pagan ritual or innuendo intended with the “May Pole” comment. Just a phrase, like, “Rally ’round the flag,” but, wait…whose flag?? See how hard this label thing is? O, and the use of the word “man?” If it’s a bad thing, it’s still good to use masculine nouns)

Jesus tells me to define myself by my Father’s love. I am His beloved! God is a Father who loves all- those who know Him, those who don’t, and especially those who don’t love him back. The concept of love includes “giving yourself for the sake of the other.” Who is more “other” than someone you differ with, or even more, someone who considers you the “enemy?” Think Jesus left a fairly clear example of this kind of love in his model of living and his journey to the Cross.

My central identity has nothing to do with the fact I am married to my wife, Nancy, and we have three awesome kids (note to loved ones: y’all are part of my bonus package, but I’m just saying…). My central identity is all about Jesus and joining Him with the Father and the Holy Spirit as we go out on a love adventure! Hallelujah! Loving my Father with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving my neighbor, as myself. Glory! Doesn’t get much better than that!

My neighbor is everyone. Especially people who think way differently than I do. Honestly, if I am not in relationship with people who have viewpoints and lifestyles way different than my own, how will we discover how many shared values we do have in spite of our differences? That is a fertile field for even greater love. See, being open and respectful attracts love. It’s all about what we have in common. And, while we are at it, how will I get to see how amazing God is when He draws those are not far from Him to me who is not far from Him- or them, either?

So, stop with the labels. Stop with the angry and aggressive spirits that eat your soul. As rapper Brother Ali spits (that’s “says,” for my white over 50 friends out there. Wait, sorry- this no-label stuff is tough!),

“First of all, Scooter, take the bass out your voice.”

You are not being Christlike if I am describing you; if that means something to you. And if Jesus is not a model for you, take it from me, you still look totally unattractive and shallow. No, really, everyone, stop!

You want a label? Why not try, “Friend?” Radical, huh?

Now, here is a bonus, especially for those of you who are my brothers and sisters in Jesus. Friends not in that category, please go ahead and read along anyway. It won’t take long.

On Boycotting Businesses or Rallying Around Businesses as Political Discourse: “I’ll See Your Disney and I’ll Raise You a Chik-fil-A”

First, put aside your political positions or freedom of speech speeches on this issue. This is a restaurant chain and the market will decide the success or failure of the business. Always does. Chik-fil-A will be fine. No one needs to bail them out, quite yet. We are talking chicken, after all, not cars.

It is not necessarily a compelling, persuasive gesture to eat at Chik-fil-A, now. It is understandable. Especially if you appreciate them. Maybe it will stir the political pot a little, just in time for the elections, but it is not that compelling from a faith influence standpoint. With one exception.

If Christians who support “gay marriage” would line up at Chik-fil-A, that would be something. That would preach.

You see, I have a little secret of my own. Something I do often. I seek out businesses that are owned or connected to people who have viewpoints or lifestyle choices way different than my own. I seek them out.

Again…

I WANT TO DO BUSINESS WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE VIEWPOINTS AND LIFESTYLES WAY DIFFERENT THAN MY OWN (Please no comments about strip clubs and such. Why did you go there right away, huh?).

Why do I do this?

Simple. When I frequent your business, it is a positive gesture, even if it is subtle, or even if you don’t see it as such. It’s not all about you; it’s about me, too.

“Loving my neighbor” certainly includes being gracious and respectful to people, and the more I have to stretch, the better. More opportunities to bless them which becomes a blessing to me. And more opportunities they have to bless me directly, which again, blesses them. I don’t get my affirmation or validation from how people respond to me. I am already my Father’s beloved. But, it doesn’t hurt to discover new friends.

I’ll tell you what else happens.

Frequently, walls begin to crumble- all around.

So, if you are a baker who is hostile to followers of Jesus in general, or who thinks Christians are absolute hate mongers, if that’s you, then, as Doc Holiday said (in “Tombstone” w/ Val Kilmer),

“I’m your huckleberry.”

Where is your bakery and when do you open? I’m so there. And you don’t have to have huckleberry Danish, but it wouldn’t hurt!

And this certainly includes brothers and sisters in Jesus who may see things different than me. For example, if you own a bakery with the name “Manna from Heaven,” and you have a fish on your sign out front and a “Beam me up, God” bumper sticker on your car out back, and you might look rather askance at a brother who is a slightly irreverent/ Old Earth creationist/ mildly sarcastic/ “intellectualist” on occasion/ pentecostal-type- all with Lutheran roots showing- Whew! Let me catch my “labelist” breath here- Well, if you can bake a cruller that melts in my mouth, I will be there directly and I am bringing friends. We are going to get along just fine.

O.K. Friend?

Alright, that’s enough for now. I’m getting hungry. I can’t help myself…

Does anyone know where I can get a good chicken sandwich?

Our Purpose: Loving God and Neighbor

August 3rd, 2012

What is the central focus of our lives as we are following Jesus?

God and neighbor.

Loving God and loving our neighbor becomes the key. We are created with love of God and neighbor as our purpose. When we think of the deep questions of human life, this is how we are designed.

What is the meaning of life?
What is my purpose?

Loving God and loving your neighbor.

The bestselling classic book The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren, needed only one paragraph to answer the purpose question. The purpose of every single human being is identical. “Love God and neighbor.” The differences all revolve around the question, “How?”

The life of radical goodness is to give and forgive. Give of yourself for the sake of the other, seek forgiveness when you mess up, and forgive when you are wronged. If we are always giving and forgiving doesn’t that mean our lives become all about losing and sacrifice? In the “God and neighbor” centered-life it is just the opposite. As we reach out, we are enhanced and expanded. Jesus said it this way,

Luke 6:37-38 (NLT)
“Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. Stop criticizing others, or it will all come back on you. If you forgive others, you will be forgiven. [38] If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving—large or small—it will be used to measure what is given back to you.”

The path of self-denial is possible because God designed us this way. We are perfectly safe to let God worry about our desires and needs. We don’t have to try to enhance our own lives by always looking out for #1, because God is always looking out for us. We are free to give everything we have and everything we are to God and neighbor. Our very soul is given back to us and we become truly human for the very first time. This is just what God has in mind all along.

What does loving God look like to you?

Some things are black and white

August 2nd, 2012

The path to radical ruin is wide and easy. It is made possible by following our own desires.

It looks like this:

Make choices based on your interests.
Do what you think best.
Do whatever your gut instinct tells you to do.
Do whatever makes you feel good.
Don’t worry about how you affect someone else.
Don’t think about the consequences of anything.
Just do it.

This is the life of radical ruin. It looks strangely like the normal life of an animal. Yet, you are not an animal in relationship to the rest of creation, in that you have a choice. There is another path you can join. The path to radical goodness.

Created in the image of God, in part, means you can choose to be affected by God.

Here is the choice. Either you choose a life apart from God or a life set apart by God. This is the meaning of the word “holy.” “To be set apart.”

The way to holy living begins and ends with self-denial. This is the antidote to self-worship. Now, this doesn’t mean self-rejection. It is not designed to take away our dignity so we can become a doormat for the world; allowing everyone to step all over us.

Self-denial is dying to having to be the center of the universe and allowing Jesus to rule on the throne of our lives. Death to self brings life in Christ. The ultimate reference point in our lives becomes God. We live according to what he wants rather than what we want.

Living with Jesus on the throne of your life, where he lives for you and through you, brings about a restoration of your very soul. You can do what he wants rather than what you want. You can become the kind of person who lives in his Kingdom now as he desires you to live. As the words of the ancient psalm proclaim,

Psalm 23:3 (KJV)
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

The answer to the “What is the meaning of life?” question is…