Burned Alive

I have always been one that has been intrigued by the imagery of fire and light living as a Child of God.  The imagery ranges from "we are the lighthouse standing strong in the storm to guide and direct others" to "in order to start a burning in someone's soul with the Gospel, you must first be lit" and more.  I have just always been inspired by the power of these ideas and how effectively they convey  the overwhelming impact God has upon our lives and how we live it.

Well, life led me to meet a person with a Jeremiah 20:9 tattoo with a flame around it, so obviously I had to check it out.

Jeremiah 20:9 (NIV)
⁹ But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.




When I initially read this it gave me the shivers.  For a moment, I want you to close your eyes and picture a roaring camp fire, popping and cracking heat through the night.  Now imagine what it would be like if that was inside your bones.  Crazy right?  When Jeremiah says these words, he is saying (it seems) that God's Word is so powerful and contagious that when he tries not to speak the Gospel, the Gospel just burns inside of him like a fire.  Now the message from this section is two-fold.

Firstly, the obvious: speak the Gospel.  When we chose to let Christ become the Lord of our souls, we also chose to let His entire presence inside of us (the fire).  If you turn on the oven and keep the door closed, it will just keep getting hotter and hotter.  Jeremiah is "weary of holding it in".  Well...the short answer is this...don't.  If the obstruction of the salvation of mankind is causing you pain, then stop obstructing.  Let it loose.  Go find the highest point in your area and shout to the world what the name Jesus Christ means.  You say you do not have that fire...yes you do...you probably have not been tending to it.  When the power and presence of the Lord is upon you, it takes your best to not just unleash everything.  Point One:  kiddle the fire and let it loose to start a forest fire.

Secondly, the less obvious: God will get you.  While vs 9 may be a very popular verse, the previous two are probably not so much.

Jeremiah 20:7-8 (NIV)
⁷ O LORD, you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me.
⁸ Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long.




Jeremiah the prophet is complaining to God about his life situation.  He was "deceived..and...overpowered". He is "ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me".  He is referring to the fact that when God called him to be a prophet, he did not feel like he had a choice.  Jeremiah's situation is so bad that even when he tries to share what the Lord has given him (which is usually violence and destruction...not a good way to become well liked), he has to cry out.  He cannot even calmly share like a sane man...no, he has to "cry out" like a mad man.  The prophet feels like God forcibly put him in a very un-ideal position.  "So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long."  Point Two:  if God wants you to do something, you will do.  Point Two (again): what He calls you to do will often mean terrible things for your emotional, physical, and societal health.

This is God's world, and we are just living in it.  People who spew fire so that they may be lit and burning are called arsonists and criminals.  Being a christian and a prophet, the actions and the results are no different.  You are called to be a spiritual arsonist.  You will be treated like a mad man crying out and (in many places now and everywhere soon) a criminal.  You are filled with the fire of life...the fire of love...the fire of everlasting peace.  Time to share.

Just Boring Old Life

Life is…life.

Sometimes we as humans expect life to be jammed packed with these incredible, pulse-pounding moments, worthy of stories that can be told generations from now and still be funny, entertaining or inspiring.  Truth is your pulse is pounding all the time and thus every moment of your life is worth a story.  It just depends how you choose to look at it.

In the beginning of Mark 9, we see one of those “epic” life moments.  Jesus took Peter, James, and John up with him to the high mountain and he, get this, reveals himself to him.  Now we now that Jesus is God but for the last 33 years he has been residing in the very boring and dull form of a homosapien (If you think about, humans have to one of the blandest, least visually stimulating beasts in all of creation) but here in verse 2 and 3, he transfigures.  “…His garments became radiant and exceedingly white”.  The dude was shining like the sun that He helped create, and the Three Stooges are standing there in person to witness it.  And it gets better.  Vs. 4 says that Elijah and Moses appear before them and start chatting with Jesus.  These are probably the two most influential men in Israel’s history and they appear (probably also shining some) next to brilliant Son already radiating in glory.  Now skip ahead to vs. 7, “Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!’” God!  God himself showed up!  These three mere men were privy to probably one of the most indescribably fantastic awe-inspiring moments in the history of ever.  Elijah, Moses, radiating Jesus, and speaking God…this is epic and awesome and note worthy and every other poorly understated human description of the situation.  This is definitely one of those moments that you tell people later on.

But what do these disciples do in the moment with all this glory being unveiled before them?  They ask to build Jesus, Elijah, and Moses tents.  Peter says, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here.”  No duh.  But even if we look beyond this moment of wisdom and basic brain operation, after all seeing dead people and a glowing man and a talking cloud can be pretty overwhelming, we need to see how they handled themselves later on.  In vs 31, Jesus tells them that He will be killed and then raise three days later.  Cool.  The disciple’s reaction: “But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him”.  Not all were there for the transfiguration but even the three that were did not get the point.  They SAW the Son of God and they missed the point.  I mean Peter later denies that He even knows Jesus.  He saw Jesus light up like a light bulb, talk to (the long since dead) Elijah and Moses, and be engulfed by the presence of God (beyond all the other miracles that he saw) and yet he still did not get.  These men had probably one of the greatest dinner party stories to tell ever, and they squandered it.

We in life get so caught up in that next great moment or story.  We want that next spiritual surge of guiding a friend to Christ or feeling some godly buzz at a worship service.  We are hooked on the big time.  Well Peter, James, and John got the big time and it did not seem to affect them much.  

Here is a secret...everyday of your life is the big time.  It may not be spectacular or adrenaline inducing but you are living with the presence of God inside of you and all around you every moment.  You get to walk out that door and go to work and radiate like the sun because the Son is in you.  I have had conversations with my family about where we are in a walks with Christ and several times the words “Nothing too crazy is going on” or “I am just living life” are used.  First, God (you know the dude that created the ENTIRE UNIVERSE…that dude) lives inside you.  Second, life is God.  In Genesis, He breathed life into us, us the ones He made in His own image.  Those salvation stories are great and the spiritual highs are stimulating but so is life.

Enjoy life because life is the breath of God, and He lives in you.  That is about as epic as it gets.  It would be incredible to see what those three disciples saw but we are already seeing pretty cool things…just open your eyes.  Realize the intricacies of your body and Creation as a whole.  Realize the magnitude of the calling to save the lost sheep.  Realize how epic your life is.

So may your life be…life.

A Pile of Crap

There is a rather popular contemporary Christian song, for which I cannot remember the name, that contains the lyrics "let me reach the unreachable, teach the unteachable, and love the unlovable".  I think I get what the artist is trying to say.  He wants God to give him the strength and courage to reach out to the people for which it is difficult to reach out to.  He wants God to provide the ability to love those that society say should not be loved or the parts of society that do not want to be loved.  It is overall a great idea for us all to go beyond our own personal boundaries to witness to and be the love of Christ the world.

But then this nasty little thought popped into my head the last time I heard this song on the radio, "This is a bunch of crap."  I understand that the song is coming from the humanistic view of love and how and to who we show that love but the whole concept that we, as Christians, could ever say that there is anyone that is unlovable is a bunch of crap.  I may just being getting overly technical with the wording of this song but come on...we can do better.

So what if a co-worker ignores you or thinks that you are a little strange.  So what if your classmates find you awkward.  2 Timothy 3:12 states, "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted".  If you want to live as Christ you will be persecuted.  Loving on mean people is almost a prerequisite for being a true follower of Christ.  It is a must...not an option.  Calling someone unlovable is like an Olympic hopeful saying training is impossible.  They want to get there but have put up a giant immovable wall with their mentality.  John 3:16 does not say, "For God so loved the lovable that He sent His one and only Son...".  NO..."For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son (to die a miserable death and be PERSECUTED to an extreme degree) so that ALL (every person to live ever including the really stupid and jerkish ones that do not deserve the air to live) that might believe in Him shall not perish (spiritually) but have everlasting life (spiritually)."

People may think that I cannot say, "God loved everyone so we have to love everyone," because that would be comparing us to God.  You are right.  And one of my favorite verses is the biggest slap in the face in history: Matthew 5:48 - "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Unlovable is not a word allowed in the Christian conversation.  Unlovable = Persecution = Blessings.

 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV) 
⁹ But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
¹⁰ That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Time to change your vocabulary and get rid of that pile of crap called "The Unlovable" that is keeping you from running your race for God.  Embrace the persecution.  Embrace the pain.  Embrace the Rage.

No more crap.