JESUS AND SOLITUDE

Do you understand the value of solitude in your walk as a disciple?

Ruth Haley Barton is one of the nation's leading mentors in the area of spiritual growth and transformation.  I first heard her speak at the National Pastor's Conference in San Diego several years ago and have been blessed by her writings ever since.  Here is a clip from an interview done with Ruth on the topic Jesus and Solitude.




You will also want to check out her web site TRANSFORMING CENTER.

FORGIVENESS IS NOT A FEELING

Steve: I am re-posting this excellent post from Blake Coffee to help you in your daily discipleship.

Forgiveness is Not a Feeling

Isn’t it funny that an entire Spiritual revolution (the one called Christianity) can be founded upon the concept of forgiveness but the concept itself can be one of the most misunderstood concepts for those of us who are a part of the revolution? For so many in the Western church today, it may as well be written in Chinese (for those of you who actually read Chinese, my apologies, the illustration loses some punch with you).

Chinese symbol for forgiveness

Sometimes when I am counseling with someone about forgiveness, especially when it is someone who has been hurt deeply by another person, he/she will say something like this to me: “I know I need to forgive them, but I’m just not ready to forgive yet.” Most likely, what this hurting person is conveying with that comment is that he/she is not yet ready to start trusting that person again, because trust is a process and it takes time both to earn it and to give it. But I don’t think of forgiveness in that same way. As Christians, I think it is better for us to think of forgiveness as a promise. It is not something we wait to do, it is a commitment we make right up front, just as soon as the pain has occurred. That’s how God forgives us, and we are instructed to forgive others in the same way God has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32).

I think too often we wait to forgive. We wait until it feels right to do so. But forgiveness (in the way the Bible describes it) is not a feeling at all. If we wait until we feel like forgiving, it will never happen.

Forgiveness is more about wiping away a debt. It is saying to a person, “You owe me nothing more…no money, no apology, no hugs, no sympathy cards, nothing…I really am no longer looking for any of that from you…you are released from any moral or ethical or legal obligations to me for this pain…as much as is possible, we are going to move forward now and I will not be holding this over you any longer, waiting to hit you on the head with it if you mess up again…I will not be keeping score because where I am concerned your slate is now wiped clean…I wish the very best for you and God’s blessings on you.” Forgiveness isn’t something we wait to feel, it is something we communicate to the person who hurt us irrespective of how we feel.

And it is hard to do. If it were easy, everybody would be doing it. But it is not easy. This is why the very act of forgiveness tends to separate Christ’s church from the rest of the world. It is a distinguishing characteristic of Christ followers. We have been forgiven much, so we forgive.

So while trust may be a process, the promise of forgiveness is not. But though trust and forgiveness are two different things, there is a definite relationship between them. Making the promise of forgiveness is what triggers the beginning of the trust process. Without forgiveness, there can be no more trust. But once forgiveness is given, the process of trusting again begins. Forgiveness takes a broken relationship and places it back on track for the healing process to begin. It is the first step in the healing journey.

 © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

 

OSWALD CHAMBERS ON DISCIPLESHIP AND SALVATION

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS NOT A DESTINATION, IT'S A MOVEMENT

Keri Wyatt Kent recently wrote in Christianity Today:
"The kingdom of heaven isn't just a place we go when we die; it's a movement we're part of today. It's living in the presence of God forever, starting right now. Eternity, by definition, is all time, including the present moment.

"Instead of being about the kingdom of God coming to earth, the Christian religion has too often become preoccupied with abandoning or escaping earth and going to heaven," pastor and author Brian McLaren writes in The Secret Message of Jesus. "Too often its members have forgotten the teachings of Jesus about making peace and turning the other cheek and crossing boundaries to serve people formerly considered 'outsiders.'

"Jesus talked about the future, no doubt. But mostly he lived as if the kingdom of God truly was "at hand." He told us to pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). This prayer isn't just hoping for change, but asking God to direct us in facilitating that change and then—often the most neglected part of prayer—actually doing what he commands.

"Jesus also said his disciples would be known by their sacrificial love for each other and for God (John 13:35). How do we show that love? Jesus said: "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me" (Matthew 25:35-36).

"People who live in the kingdom of God right now choose to give, to practice hospitality, to be kind to the suffering, sick, or poor. We experience the kingdom of heaven on earth when we recognize God's presence here with us and serve him as if he really is our King."
To read the rest of this excellent article go to the link KENT

As a pastor seeking to lead a church to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit, I believe that Kent is on solid, essential ground. The kingdom of heaven is not a destination, it's a movement. Too many Christians have been co-opted by the consumerism of our culture and think only in terms of personal needs and satisfaction, For them the emphasis is on heaven and once they are assured that they have a place prepared for them there and a ticket to ride to that destination, they pretty much stop thinking intentionally about living in the kingdom of God on this side of eternity.

In that mindset they have abandoned or forgotten the powerful reality that we are a countercultural movement. Our job is to be distinct within our culture as witnesses to the more perfect way of the kingdom of God than the temporary way of the kingdom of this world --a kingdom that is not eternal. Jesus calls us to be "salt and light" - to flavor our world with the distinctiveness of Christ, to preserve the world by making sure that God's eternal values are brought to bear and influence in this life - to bring "light" to a world that embraces its darkness as truth, by demonstrating what the real truth of God is and showing how it can transform our lives (and our world).

Too often our destination mentality excuses us (or so we think) of living like Jesus. Too often we believe it is safe and sensible to embrace our temporal cultural values rather than representing God's eternal ones. And in the "reality" we create, we actually contribute to the problem of God being out of sight and out of mind for most of the world. Our steeples, and T-shirts, and publications are insufficient to overcome the powerful message of human culture.

In this world we think membership where Jesus commands discipleship.
In this mindset we think savings, where God works for salvation.
We chose preservation, God desires sacrificial obedience.
We desire comfort, God wants us to take up a cross and follow Him.

How very different the 21st American church would be if we were truly citizens of the kingdom of heaven that is being manifested here on earth! How very different our world would be if we believed the kingdom of heaven was not a destination, but a movement of God.

Note: This post original appears in LIFE MATTERS July 24, 2010. LIFE MATTERS is my general public discussion/reflection blog.

UN-MOVEMENT

This is from the archives of Nick Francis Stephens' blog Reflections.

“But Lot’s wife looked back”At the moment we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ our whole present reality shifts from one of immobility to a life of wide open spaces. Freedom instantly becomes the platform for our everyday lives, complete unbridled freedom!

So why is it that so many who declare to have this new life still find themselves immobilized, powerless and still suffering from a lack of movement or un-movement? The problem is that we have not yet found the determination to leave the old life behind.

We will not find ourselves able to step into a new future until we are first able to let go of our past and the things we hold to be deceptively beautiful. Like Lot’s wife our cravings continue to drive us toward our sinful life. We yearn for the distractions and escape that we once had. But if we continue to neglect our pre-conditioned responses to those memories, we will always walk away with the product which they intend.

A lie, keeping you from a fulfilling life of intimacy, destiny and meaning!

What do you need to let go of? A need for validation, permission, abandonment, rejection, and criticism? The escapades of glory, consumerism, pride, or lust? Go ahead, stop looking back, a whole new world of faith, love and hope waits for you if you can only walk in that direction and stop looking back.

OUR DAILY WORK IS HOLY

Eugene Peterson has some provocative thoughts on why we view our daily work as holy.

ASSURANCE