Before You Tweet

Before you speak (or tweet or FB) in passion, speak with God in humility.

Today, a culture shaping decision was made.  The US Supreme Court, by a vote of five to four, declared that same-sex couples may now marry in all 50 states, striking down the bans of states who have attempted do so.  We’re not the first country to come to this conclusion.  In the past five years, Ireland, Finland, Scotland, Luxembourg, England, Brazil, France, New Zealand, Denmark, Uruguay, Portugal, and Argentina have made decision to allow gay marriage (and many others before 2010).  This is also not the first culturally controversial and divisive decision made in the past five years.  Any number of issues have polarized our communities in terms of views regarding politics, economics, healthcare, war, technology, racism, and sexuality.  Are you curious what people are passionate about?  Just check your FaceBook or Twitter feed.  These are the domains that allow people to say things without fear of a punch in the face and the ability to walk away and ignore the consequences of their actions.  I wonder, on a day like today, when a current event brings about such heated debate, how many relationships go sour.  How many friendships fail?  And how many will let the sun set on their anger?  

Friends, let’s remember that Christian maturity involves a lot of things, but surely it includes knowing how to process your deepest emotional feelings.  Today (and everyday) before you speak (or tweet or FB) with passion, pray to God with humility.  This is wise advice, taken from the example of our Lord, Jesus.

Before Jesus’ passion, He prayed with humility in the garden.

On the eve of His passion, Jesus went to the garden of gethsemane to pray.  It was there that Jesus prayed the greatest prayer in the world.  Among the most debated, heated, and divisive issues you’ve encountered, none could be as controversial as the one Jesus faced.  Here, people rejected and were to kill, God’s own eternal Son, through whom everything and everyone has been created (John 1:3-5).  Without doubt, there was more angst and confusion, more passion and fury than in today’s decision.  The world itself teetered on this moment.  What hung in the balance was the glory of God’s grace and the salvation of the world.

Before Jesus’ passion, He prayed with humility in the garden.  He prayed openly and honestly, in conversation with God in heaven, and He consecrated Himself to God’s divine and providential will over His feelings of anxiety and hurt.  The righteous Son of God set aside His rights; His prayer was for God’s will, not His own righteousness.  Jesus then went, not to crucify others, but to be crucified.

Today (and everyday) before you speak or act in passion, pray to God in humility.  Ask Him to help you understand your feelings.  Ask Him to give you the posture that most glorifies Him.  And if it is His will, be ready to set aside your rights (of free speech and of being justified in your position) that His passion may be seen. 

Yes, God has spoken definitively on sexuality, as He has on many ethical and moral issues that evoke heated discussion today.  Yes, God’s intents, purposes, and His Word should be the final word for all of His creation.  Yes, Christians should watch their life and doctrine closely (a la Paul to Timothy) that we might live in the salvation that Jesus died to provide.  But when it comes to how we confront the world and all those we disagree with, we should follow the example of Jesus, and be more concerned with our own submitting to God’s will and dying to self than striking out to crucify others.

So today (and every day) would you, before you speak (or tweet or FB) with passion, pray to God with humility?

The Most Interest(ed) Man in the World

I recently introduced my girls to “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.”  They’re fixated on this show now, in the same way that I was at their age.  Why is Mr. Rogers so universally and timelessly beloved?  It’s because the “Most Interesting Person” may grab our attention, but it’s the “Most Interested Person” that grabs our hearts. 

Any and everyone that Fred Rogers spoke to was the most interesting person in the world, because he took such great interest in who they were, how they felt, and what they loved.  [Watch his response to the woman, playing violin, in this episode from 17:04-17:24.]  We can be so quick to think and talk about ourselves that we never really listen to people.  And those we don’t listen to, we don’t know.  Those we don’t know, we don’t love.  Mr. Rogers was a pro at listening and paying attention to others.  In his neighborhood, everyone felt special.

Jesus had much to say about selflessness during His earthly ministry.  His first commandment was to love God completely, and His second was to love your neighbor as yourself.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that the Christian is expected to love even the unlovable, because this is how we become more like God, who gives blessings to everyone (Matthew 5:45).

In Philippians we’re told that in coming into this world, “[Jesus] made himself nothing” and took upon Himself “the very nature of a servant”(Philippians 2:7).  Now, as followers of Christ, we are to “have the same mindset” (Philippians 2:5).

Selflessness runs counter to human nature, which is why being selfless is so much more difficult than being selfish.  Somewhere deep within each of us is a self-centered, self-preserving and gratifying nature that is brought on by sin, and popular culture can be so good at encouraging that in us.  Yet, the example of Jesus still calls out to me a a better way:

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

• Who do you see everyday, but not know very well?

• Who around you could really benefit from your Christlike attention and care?

• Who will you love, "as you love yourself", this week?

Adventures in Missing the Point: BIBLICAL GIVING

Do you ever wonder if we’re not doing what we’re supposed to be doing?  …That there’s a way that God wants us to live, and somehow we’ve missed the point?  Somewhere, as we wind through life’s journey, the things we see and experience along the way can distract us from what God is really up to.  It’s time to face our own distractions and rabbit trails, clear our vision, and be realigned to God’s best for our life.  Adventures in Missing the Point is for those who simply and passionately want to see.  As a church, we focused our first 'adventure in missing the point' towards where we may have misunderstood the point of giving away money; and investigated why and how God calls us to give.



God Needs My Money? (2 Samuel 7:1-23) from LegacyChurch on Vimeo.

Can God Be Robbed? (Malachi 1 & 3:5-10) from LegacyChurch on Vimeo.