Tag: Jesus

Posted in Uncategorized

hard sell?

Posted on by Wick

I’m a pretty good salesman.  I’m also a horrible salesman.  It depends on what you’re measuring, I suppose.  When we first followed God’s call & relocated closer to family, I took a couple different sales jobs.  I volunteered at a small church in town, and learned what it was like working 9-5 (or 8-6, as it often was).  A few months was spent in Radio Advertising, and almost a year was with Pitney Bowes, selling “postage meters/folding machines/etc”.  I was pretty good at connecting relationally with my customers.  I even closed deals.  I could talk excitedly about what I had to offer them, and honestly believed I could help them out.  But when they asked me for the best deal – I’d usually give it to them.  So even though I made sales, I wasn’t the profit-generating machine that was celebrated in the sales realm.

Because of working on the world of advertising/ROI and the like, my radar picks up on sales-pitchy things much more than legosit used to.  I shrink back quickly from anything that smells like being a “salesman for Jesus/Heaven/Youth Group/Church”.  Unfortunately, that’s a large percentage of what’s out there for people seeking Christ to consume.  Bible studies, self-help books, and small group curriculum all geared toward convincing/reminding humanity that to come to Christ is to come to the end to all of your problems.  To arrive at the doors of the church is to arrive at an oasis of plenty.  To believe in Jesus Christ is to have all your prayers answered, every day is a holiday, and every meal’s a feast.

In a broken world, that sounds awesome.  We’re in debt, and even credit is running out fast.  We realize that something better than what we’re experiencing must be out there.  So when the man with the Bible, the nice smile and smooth words tells us that coming to church (and perhaps buying his book) will help fill the void we’ve got, and open doors of potential we previously thought were closed….we’re quick to follow.  The problem comes after some time of believing.  Time of offering our devout faith to a God/Genie, and becoming frustrated when nothing we ask for happens.

You might be nodding while reading this, agreeing that yes – we need to be honest about our expectations.  We need to remember that a call to follow Christ, is a call to the cross.  That we’re not promised what we want will work out the way we plan, by simply “trusting really really hard”.  But at the same time, I want my children to know the Hope we have in Christ.  I want them to experience putting their faith in Him, and having a life transformed.  I suppose it all depends on what we emphasize:

1 – We could emphasize the wrong things to our 5 year old.  Tell her that God wants everything to go perfect for her, and if she invites Jesus into her heart, it will enable all her dreams to come true (Jeremiah 29:11, right?).  Or, we could take the threatening route and tell her that someday she’ll either spend forever in flames or in golden streets and whipped cream.  If she asks Jesus into her heart, she won’t have to burn.  Sure, these spiritual things are bigger/different, but it’s important to speak in a language they simply understand, right?

2 – We could be honest with our 5 year old from the very start.  Tell her that people have made some really bad choices, that make this world a hard place to live sometimes.  But tell her how God has moved in our family already, and how He’s calling & enabling us to be different.  That we can choose to love/forgive, even when it’s hard.  We can be humble, and look for ways to serve others & love our neighbors globally.  We can pray, and know that spending time in God’s presence changes us.  We ask him to fill us with His love, so that in the simple ways we live, God is changing the world.

Sometimes that will lead us down paths where people know our name and smile or applaud.  Other times it may lead us down paths where people know our name and angrily yell.   Still many more times it may mean know one knows our name, but God is with us.

We are never alone, and that seems to be a pretty big point to a savior who was called

“Immanuel – which means ‘God with us’. “

But in a culture where more and more churches and youth ministries are selling the fun/loud/exciting/blessing/health/prosperity/nice teeth/etc…it may become increasingly difficult to be heard.  Still…this is what we speak.

Posted in Different Scriptures, Different Thoughts, Uncategorized

consuming.

Posted on by Wick

Once there was a murderer who was the best in his trade.  He was so twistedly good at what he did, and enjoyed bringing death more than any could understand.  Not only did he exist to bring death, he enjoyed playing with his victims…convincing them they were safe while he employed his trade.  Also, he wasn’t content to simply kill.  His true pleasure came in consuming the flesh of his victims.  Sometimes all at once, but often bit by bit, over a long period of time, until there was nothing left but the bones laying on the floor in a room more silent than a winter chill.

But there was a problem.  People had heard of what he had done in the past.  They knew his face.

They didn’t trust him, and ran whenever they saw him approaching.

So he became creative.  He found 7 others who were just as twisted as he, and sometimes even helped twist those who were open to being befriended.  Friends who would move with his movements, and speak with his words.  Who would find out what he wanted to accomplish, and set out on his behalf.  Not many people knew their identities, and many who did found so much pleasure in their company, they quieted any desire to sound the alarm.

But one day, killing through his accomplices ceased to quench his desire to bring death.  His hunger for consuming the living grew to a point where he was unable to suppress it any longer.  But surely he would be unable to approach anyone, right?  After all, they still knew his face.   They still knew his name.  They avoided him at all costs.  They prayed for protection from him.  But being full of pride, he was not easily discouraged.  He decided to reach for the stars, offering himself as a guest in their homes.  He moved on quickly, not expecting any response.

But the responses came.

“COME!!”  “Come on over!!”  “We’ll come pick you up!!”  He smiled, and even laughed deep inside himself.  These were the people so aware of him???  These were the same people he’d been cast out from among over and over again….and didn’t know if he’d ever again taste.  He looked at himself in the mirror one more time….adjusted his collar…and smiled as he set out on a familiar path…

____________________________________________________________________

A silly story, yes?  Fiction….horribly written and imagined….right?  Except for the fact that there’s so much truth in it.  We and our families/homes are being consumed by things like anger, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony.  When we recognize these in our homes and lives….we should confront them in the name of Jesus.  Allow our lives to be transformed, made new, and freed from their presence.

Instead, often the opposite happens.

Certainly, we usually leave these things at home while we head to church for a couple hours each week.  But I was reminded 7617-Conjuring2.jpg.220w.tnrecently by the box office success of a film like “The Conjuring”, not to mention shows like “Ghost Hunters”, or any of several other shows these days.  We enjoy poking sticks into the cages of the realms of spiritual evil we believe Christ came to declare Lordship over and our freedom from.  It shouldn’t be surprising when we get bit.  (Eph 4:27)

Standing in life-giving contrast, we re-member Jesus.  Not threatening to consume, but rather offering His own flesh and blood, and saying “Take, and eat…”  Asking if we’re hungry, and offering a banquet.

“Why would you go watch ________?”  Ask the question, and you’ll most likely get the answer, “because it’s scary/freaky!” said with a smile.  I can understand when the movie is about aliens, or even someone who’s pretty messed up.  These are things we are able to safely close our doors and lock them against, or realize they aren’t real (or aren’t coming to our planet because they’re allergic to water).

But to be entertained by the feeling you get when we watch a movie about demonic forces because you believe those forces exist?  To play a game that opens a door to a spiritual realm Jesus has died to keep us freed from?  If you didn’t realize that was not a good thing…..this is my polite way of saying….it’s not a good thing.  It’s true….inviting a cannibalistic serial killer into your home/mind/heart may not result in you being killed and eaten.  But I’m guessing most of us still wouldn’t unlock the door in that scenario.

And no, not because I think you’ll be possessed, or have sharp objects flying around your room or see demonic hands clapping out of cabinets.  Those are obvious ways for evil to be discovered/dealt with.  But rather, I believe the forces I’m talking about here would much rather be manifested in quiet, undetected slowly-building ways of broken relationships, bad decisions, and loneliness.

Instead, may this week find you feasting on Christ…(and go see Despicable Me 2 if you really need a flick)

Posted in Uncategorized

not guilty?

Posted on by Wick

“Not guilty”

the verdict flashes, and the masses don’t take long for their chance to pounce

To own just an ounce of the minutes that come after, to be a voice in the chatter

To say the one thing that remains unsaid, but the fact remains –

Someone is dead.

Someone died at the hands of another, a mother lost her son,

a gun that ripped through more than flesh and marrow,

but through the narrow veins of racism still pulsing through a nation

still committed to pretending it’s United. It’s invited all sorts of analytics, and politics, and tricks

of logic boosted by words spoken with great emotion.

All the while it’s simply a stream leading to an ocean.

There’s a larger problem than this case, or that person, or that issue

Something worth wetting more than single tissues,

Worth mourning floods and wails of confession,

and worth both individual and communal confessions

of we.

We’re comforted by pronouns that point the finger, the fact that guilty feelings never linger as long as we keep tuned in to the latest thing, the latest stream of others doing worse than what we’ve done.

But we’ve become numb, and so dumb – unable to speak for our lack of practice, but the fact is

We have a choice, and we’ve chosen against those without voice.

We strive for dreams labeled by nationality, but in reality an empty promise,

and throwing Doubting Thomas off the boat…see if he’ll float.

Authors wrote about days like these, and called them “last”.

But don’t move too fast, and twist my words into a chance to merchandise,

Rather, view this moment with new eyes…

Let the blasts of accusations fade, even the ones most recently made as the feed ticks slowly by

Your need to reply, or question why goes slowly the way of realizing the ocean beyond the stream.
See what I mean?

In the silence that follows, find solace in the hollows of comments never made

Take shade from the torrents of words and emotions, pray over that ocean.

Because even though the words spoken were “not guilty”, there is not end to what has happened

Neither was this the beginning, as our grip on morality is thinning

We realize it was not he, but we, who were on trial.

And We. Are. Guilty.

But there. Is. Grace.

Amazing.

Seek His Face.

(To hear this spoken by a young man who used to be a student in my youth ministry, click here!!!!)