Dept and Love

Have you ever heard of digging yourself into a hole. I'm sure we all have. Like spending more than you earn. You get credit cards, max them out and then you have this massive dept that you can't possibly pay off, hence bankruptcies. However, the job or your pay isn't the problem, it's your spending habits. 

With God, we also pile up spiritual dept (sin) and have no way of getting out. No matter how we try, our dept to income ratio is way too high and can never be overcome by our attempts, hence Jesus. Jesus is like filing chapter 11 bankruptcy. Our dept is wiped clean and we have a whole new lean on life. Now if I was hundreds or even millions of dollars in dept, my house was being foreclosed on, my cars taken away and I was actually going to go to jail over my dept, wouldn't I be forever grateful if someone wiped away my dept with no strings attached. Wouldn't I want to be close to them, learn from them, help them and love them forever. Yes I would but in God's case, why do we not see the value of our salvation. Do we even want to live for Him.

We continually place value on all things. It's in our nature. We see the value of something, as again, a return on investment (ROI). If you put into something, what do you get out of it. Simple. However, with God, our ROI isn't seen, it hasn't been revealed. It's like a savings account you have no access to. At your acceptance of Jesus as your savior, an account opened up. We will be judged at the end on how much our account has in it but we have no access to it to see how well we are doing. 

Confusing, I know. Faith clears your dept and opens a new account. I used to think I had to keep a list of my good works, kind of like a spreadsheet. I'd do something good, one point for me. I'd do something I knew God didn't like, a ton of points deducted. I kept a tally in my mind of how I was doing and usually I would do poorly and was in dept up to my eyeballs again. I have come to the conclusion that God doesn't work on a merit system.

God works on Love. That's because He is love. Not the lustful love, but the genuine selfless love we all need to come to understand. God didn't send His Son out of pity, remorse, anger or frustration. Instead, He sent Him because He loves. If we had the ability to swoop in and erase all our children's dept and build them a huge house to live in and give them all they needed, would we. Of course, because we love them. Would we let them suffer first though. Yes. Why? Because suffering brings about humility and appreciation when the suffering is removed.

All of humanity could have been saved right after the fall of man. Would we be a people of arrogance or a people of humility if that happened though. Arrogance. To have someone's dept erased and for them to be eternally grateful for it, they must experience the dept. We must experience and truly grasp our desperation, our inability to make things right, our destitution, our complete and utter need for someone to pull us out of the darkness and into the light. 

In order to appreciate good we must know evil. In order to appreciate light we must live in darkness first. I have fasted for seven days before, and believe me, you appreciate food and it's abundance more after that. We must see our situation. We must grasp where we were and where we are going in order to love the one who has changed our situation. 

He loves and therefore we should love because of that. If we relegate God's gift to us, as a transaction of sorts, and we dumb it down to a simple handshake type of transaction, we never realize the tremendous gift of love. We must see the value of His gift. If we don't, our hearts never change. If we do see His gift for its value, that's where change comes in and it isn't change at a transactional level, it's love. 

The whole situation between us and God is this. He loves us, nothing else but that love must let us also see the value of love, hence suffering. If we don't suffer, we cannot appreciate the value of His gift through Jesus. Eyes that suffer see the value of love more than eyes that don't. It's as simple as that. Why is their suffering in the world people ask, to show us the value of love. Without it, love is devalued and it shouldn't be. Love should be exalted above all else, including self. 

If we ask ourselves one thing, it is this, where am I? Perspective of your situation is paramount in appreciating your current situation. If we have faith in Christ Jesus then we must reflect on that humbly. If we take it for granted, we have missed the entire point. Every day we breath and we have faith, that day should be filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude and happiness. We cannot let the issues of this physical world overwhelm what we have in the spiritual world. We cannot! We see our terrible situation with friends or family or money or jobs and we compare our current troubles and devalue the gift given to us. We cannot do that. 

If our dept is forgiven, should we be set up in a mansion too or should we be given a tent to live in until we appreciate the immensity of our forgiveness. The tent of course. We are being judged on the amount of appreciation we have which equals out to love towards He that forgave us. God is love and He wants love in return. In fact, He wants to live in us through the type of love He has. We say, your kid is a chip off the old block, because they act just like you. However, do we act just like God after we come to Faith in Jesus. Hardly. We stay in a self absorbed mentality, bickering about anything not going our way. That isn't love for our Savior or our Father.

Seek first the Kingdom, which is God's love, and all will be given to us. If we could just remove ourselves from our physical, Earthly situations and meditate on our spiritual selves, we'll find we are rich and blessed and so loved. So, go sit and empty your worries about your job, your money, your health, and focus on who you are as a spiritual being outside of your body and things. See where you were and where you are now. See yourself before Jesus and yourself now. If there's no change between the two, ask God to open your eyes to His love for you. Once you see, you'll appreciate your situation more and you'll start to love like He does.

To God be the Glory! 

 

For Though Are With Me

 

Bald River Falls Near Tellico Plains TN off the Cherohala Skyway

I fell asleep on the couch tonight, yet again, and woke up around 1am with those words echoing in my mind; "For I am with you," Words taken from Psalm 23:4. However, how many days or times we think, He is against us or far from us. Our minds are programmed from childhood by our parents that disappointment, regret, errors and mistakes cause separation in relationships. Do we see our parents fight and make up or do we see fights, anger, a build up of regrets and bitterness? We see the later mostly. I grew up in a toxic house where bitterness and hate between my parents was an everyday thing. Divorce came and bitterness ruled the two throughout their lives. Instead of working through problems, they dismissed and avoided the root causes and let the issues be unresolved. 

That's why me and my wife turned the corner in our marriage around the ten year mark to fight through the difficulties and find resolution to our issues between each other. The same goes with God, however with Him, He forgives immediately and forgets forever. He looks at us as white as snow and clear of all issues. We however, continue to rehash our issues within ourselves and we never resolve our problems with ourselves.

I firmly believe, if we get real with ourselves, admit our issues and work through them, we would be a better people. Instead, we never ask, what can I do to improve. It's as though most people think, "this is how I am and there's no changing it." I've heard that before but I am proof of change. My marriage is proof of change. Not compromise where we tip toe around each other but true and real understanding of each other and we made every effort to change for one another. How often do we just throw our hands up and say, I am who I am and if you don't like it you can either get over it or leave. We have that mind set of rigidity and stubbornness. We deflect our faults and issues away from us and on to others or blame our surrounding environment or past wrongs done against us. 

Self evaluation in the presence of God is painful and eye opening for the one doing it. Spiritually, coming to God and asking Him to reveal your faults is like being cut open to reveal your insides. It's painful and necessary. However, if we let the great surgeon do His cutting, to get rid of the cancerous growths in us, He will put us back together clean and whole again. 

Men especially have this major issue of self reflection. We tend to crawl into our holes and seal the door behind so no one can see our emotional issues. Why would we? We are supposed to be the head of the house, the rocks, the fortresses. We are supposed to be the person others come to when they are weak not the other way around. So firstly, for guys, we have to get over the macho persona and begin to look inward at our faults.

I had to do this very thing when we counselled ourselves. I had to dredge up root causes for my behavior and deal with the pain of weakness. I had to tell myself I was a piece of crap. By the way, we are all pieces of crap. No one is good and for those that think they are, lie to their selves. That's of course our condition pre-Christ. We are junk, full of problems, daddy issues, mommy issues, trust issues and the list can go on forever. My point however is we are full of issues and that creates our anger, our bitterness, our personality, no matter how toxic it is. Coming to Christ for Him to release us of that stuff is overwhelmingly painful. Our lives, our problems, our roots are shown to us and we must either deal with them or suppress them and never change.

Change comes from dealing with our problems but to deal with our problems we must first see them and admit we have them. Denying we have issues never resolves anything. Like I said before, I had to see myself as a piece of crap, garbage and low. If we roll in the mud and get disgustingly filthy and never wash, how would we look. If we continue to roll in the mud and not shower, the build-up of mud and dirt and filth would build up. Over time the build up becomes so heavy, it weighs us down to the point of no return. 

For He is with me, encourages me. It's like someone rooting for your victory. He's your cheerleader, your coach, your running partner who's right there to help. We can't realize our filth until He points it out. Once He reveals our filth, He gently washes us to remove it but we must be willing to be washed. Sore and infections are cleansed and healed and we are returned to new. Take the imagery of the leper, who is full of sores and rotting flesh. Unable to make contact with others, lepers are shunned and sent away from society. They were sent into colonies to die. However, Jesus healed them. It's a perfect visual representation of our hearts. 

For He is with us! Once we receive the revelation of our filth, we must let Him cleanse us of it. You can be told your filthy and you can let that understanding cause you to spiral into a pit of despair and self hate. The enemy says, "yes you are a disgusting creature and you're not worthy to be fooled with, let alone be forgiven and cleansed." Once revelation hits us that we are dirty, another revelation must take hold and that is, God loves us and He wants us. No matter how dirty we are, He reaches out His hand of love and says, let me wash you clean. For the leper, he's been told not to touch anyone his whole life, yet it takes trust in Christ for Him to touch you and heal you. Don't draw away but draw closer. The closer you get, the cleaner you become.

So, my whole goal for this entry is this. Know that He is for you, not against you. If you feel unworthy, lay in His lap and let Him hold you. If you feel dirty, admit you're dirty and move closer to Him so He can wash you. If you feel alone and lost, know He is walking right next to you. 

Thank Him, Praise Him and Most of all, trust Him. For He is for us and not against us. He leads us and guides us. For He is with us! Go through the process of self awareness, revelation of the filth, confession of it, and the willingness to be washed of it. It is a painful but necessary process in our walk with Him.

To God be the Glory!

   

 

Let the Blind See

Taken at the Morton Overlook in the Smoky Mountain National Park

 

I've waken up at 3:30am again. Not sure if it's a consistent bladder thing or God wanting time together. I'd like to say God wants some quality time but I usually hear very little from Him. Recently, I've been wondering about the end of all this; the second coming of Christ. I have reservations about the process or the popular rapture theory as I've written before. As I have been watching "The Chosen" series, Season 5 especially, which leads up to the Garden of Gethsemane, it makes me think of how set we are, like they were, in tradition. I mean, they were so set on tradition they had a man who performed multiple public signs and wonders right in front of them yet they denied who He was and crucified Him. To be honest, I don't get that. Did God blind them or were they so blind already with how they thought the Messiah would be, when He showed up and didn't fit their mold, they killed Him.

It makes me think of our situation today. Who has ever been to a church that is so steeped in tradition that if Jesus walked through their door, they'd not recognize Him? I have and it is scary how we cling to tradition and preconceived notions of how things are going to unfold. Most Baptist churches subscribe to the rapture theory. If Jesus Himself walked into one of them and said you've got it all wrong, they'd run Him out just like they did in His home town of Nazareth and if stoning was a thing, well they'd do that too. 

Religion is powerful and full of human nature! It's the human nature Jesus died to get rid of so we could obtain His nature, yet we cling onto our ideas, our comfort, our way of thinking so much, there's no room for Him and His nature. Therefore, I'm very worried about the end. Am I steeped in "Me" or have I let the Holy Spirit rewrite my way of thinking. If I say, like many would, I love the Lord, I read the Bible, I know scripture, I do many good things and I stand on those things as foundational, I could miss something. When you think you know something definitively, you close yourself up for further understanding. You basically set yourself up to fail. 

I could think, I have faith in Jesus and that will do, or I could say daily prayer keeps me close to Him I am in no need of anything else, again we limit ourselves. I want to say one thing, I don't know it all and I need more. Yet the opposite is true as well, you can spend your whole life seeking, thinking you are missing something, and miss the blessings you already have. If I say I need more and Jesus says I am enough, then why are we searching for more. So I stand in the middle, wanting more of Him yet appreciative of what I have already. Is this the way?

Middle of the road, or the narrow way is the life Jesus spoke of. We are people of extremes. We're like a pendulum, swinging from one extreme to another and never settling for a middle position. We either see in color or black and white, nothing in between. Because of this, I think most will miss Him. Relationship is all about meeting in the middle, finding common ground and building upon it. We could still be under the law right now and we'd still be sacrificing animals to atone for our sins, however, because God saw another way, a better way, He sent His Son to abolish that old system and to establish something new, faith. He met us in the middle. He knew sin was never going to leave us fully, He knew we could never get back to how we were before the Fall, so He met us in the middle and came down to us. We couldn't go up so He came down so we could have access. 

It's early and I may just be rambling this time but I have a genuine concern for all of us, that we don't get it. Change came and it was denied. Change is coming once again and I hope for our sakes we don't deny it again. We're so entrenched in this world we don't see or understand anything about the Kingdom. The church was meant to bring the kingdom to Earth. We were meant to be the light of the world and be Jesus. Instead we eat and drink of the ways of the world instead. It's a tragedy indeed. My heart aches for those that don't see. It aches for me, do I see. I'm not sure but I see enough to know, when He comes back, He won't be happy. 

When a child is told to pick up his room and an hour later you check and a bigger mess is there, how happy are you with them. Not very. So too is our situation. We were told to clean up a mess, not make a bigger one. Religion divides, relationship brings together. Party lines divide, no lines, no division. We divide amongst ourselves, we categorize, we organize, we partition each other until there's no one standing together. Jesus talks about a lion and a lamb laying together, that is unity. When a Jew and a Muslim and a Catholic and a Protestant can love one another, then we have unity. When we no longer see lines we win. When we no longer hate one another for differences, we win. When there are no differences, we win. Love is the way. Can we drop our divisions and our wars and our separation. We'll have to in order for His Kingdom to come. Can we though?

It starts with one person. Me, you, it starts with us. We no longer need to see others as enemies but as loved ones. Our eyes must be opened to see how Jesus saw us. He never saw a prostitute or a tax collector or a sinner, He saw a child of God. He looked past the labels and saw what they are, His. We are all children of God, equal and same. From the murderer to the mom we are all His. If we could only drop the veil of division and see with the eyes of Christ, we'd be in a better place. 

Drop anything that divides and hold onto Him who brings together all in love. I think the hippies had it right, it's all about Love!

Lord, let me see others with your eyes. Let me see myself with your eyes as well as I continually judge and divide myself into good and bad. Let me see me as you see me so I can go out and see others that way too. Let your love spread through me and out to others Lord. Amen

To God be the Glory!

It's all About the Perspective

 

         Can we agree that perspectives change per viewer. For instance, one viewer may see a cloud in the sky and see a dragon, where another may see a giraffe. Each person sees things differently and it's all because each viewer has different life experiences. You can take a person who has lived a hard life of constant abuse, being abused and abusing self and others, then they come to Faith in Jesus and make a huge 180 degree change in their life. They have a story now and those around them see the change and follow suit. Then you have a person who grew up in the church, falls away and runs to a life of self. Perspectives of each person dictated a result. One grew up in need and the other knew no need and each had a different attitude towards faith. One saw it as freedom and the other saw it as prison. Because the one grew up knowing what true pain and hardship was, they ran towards salvation. The other became indifferent and callous from being surrounded by hypocrisy. 

Results varied between the two because of perspectives. Take a teenager versus a toddler as another example. A toddler sees their parents as a source of everything. They see the world around them as scary, intimidating and huge. To them, parents are givers of food, comfort, pleasure, love and more. However, when a teenager starts to have a taste of freedom and independence, they start to turn towards the world as a source of their needs instead of their parents. They see parents as a road block to that freedom and bitterness sets in. Like the person who grew up in church, the child now sees flaws in their parents and they run to the world for their needs. Of course each child's perspectives makes them the adult they become. One could come from a supportive family, one could come from a broken one. Each child's perspective molds their hearts, changes their minds, locks them into patterns of phycological issues.

When it comes to each person on the planet, their are literally as many perspectives as there are people. Even in the same household, each child becomes a different adult than their siblings. One instance in all their lives, say a divorce of their parents, could create bitterness in one child's heart and empathy in another. Age differences, things they've heard, outside opinions and emotional ties are all variables, in an infinite amount, that changes a person's perspectives within their hearts.               

That is why we have division and struggles amongst each other. It's the difference of opinion, which is built on difference of perspective, that creates tension between all of us. If I see one way because of my upbringing and another person sees it the opposite way because of theirs, division is created. A difference of opinions is the only cause for all the worlds problems. One person has an opinion that is completely opposite another person's opinion. They look at each other as potential enemies because of it. They don't talk to each other, they whisper gossip about one another, they sway other's opinions about them and all in the name of having different perspectives.

With the differences among all of us, comes those varying opinions and the need to reinforce our opinions. We love to be right and we love to prove ourselves to everyone else. Hence the social media issues. Everyone wants to promote their opinion 24/7/365 and instead of the lounge at work, we now have the internet as our sounding board. Opinions between coworkers was one thing but now we have the world to argue or agree with. That's why it's my opinion that social media is a bad thing. We just aren't mature enough to handle it.

Speaking of mature, what can we do about all these perspectives creating individual opinions? Nothing really. In an ideal world, we would all have the ideal childhood, the ideal parents and the ideal adulthood. However, because of the cascade of individual perspectives through the centuries, we are left with a complete train wreck of attitudes towards one another. The fragility of our world emotionally is so scary it isn't funny. 

Solution = Work

When you come across someone with a difference of opinion than yours, what's your first reaction. Repulsion and the need to defend your own opinion. Right? To term a Star Trek phrase, your shields go up and you get your phasers and torpedoes ready to fire. You immediately show signs of defense. Why is that? Why are we so entrenched in our opinions that we cannot invite the perspective of others into our hearts. We've seen it through organized religion throughout history and into today. A person of ill reputation come into the church to see for their selves what it is all about and they are met with retribution, anger and hate. Why is it so hard to drop our defenses and learn of others. 

We call it empathy, which the dictionary defines as "the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another." Empathy takes something from us. It takes time, it takes change from what we know to what someone else knows. Often times empathy is a one way road. One person can empathize with another but it is rarely reciprocated. To empathize with someone, you learn and explore that persons perspectives without judgement. You just listen and hear. You're never fulfilled but are often burdened with that persons life experiences. True empathy makes one person bare the other person's tragedies and pain. They take on all of their fears and doubts. They see the other person through these things and suddenly, instead of an enemy, they bond as friends. Those that share loss, share bonds. 

This is why we see so many people in defense of their opinions instead of  listening for opportunities of empathy. It takes effort, time, emotion and love. Division is easy, union is hard. Personally, that's why I think God came to Earth in Jesus, to empathize with us, to experience what it's like to be human. He went through life, tragedy, poverty, judgment, pain, loss, grief and death. He immersed Himself in His creation. He loved us enough to change His perspective from a judging Father to a loving Father. 

As God has done, so should we. However, as most of these writings I've done are directed towards me, this one is especially. It is hard to look at someone with empathy and not judgement. What's the old saying, they made their bed now let them lye in it. However, we don't know the whole story and often times their stories are hard to hear. Judgement is so much easier. It takes two seconds to judge, wrongly I might add, and walk away. To stop, show interest and listen is truly a talent I have not achieved yet. 

So in a perfect world, our looks of judgement would be replaced by emphatic love and it would change us one heart at a time and eventually the world. Borders would cease to exist, money would disappear, the opportunity for us to live for each other and not ourselves would take over. Hate, crime, grief and fear would be changed into love. Sound familiar, it's what the Holy Spirit does within us daily. 

Our perspectives changed the moment we said, Jesus I believe in you and they are still changing if we let Him do His work in us. As we have judged others, do we judge God too. Do we throw our opinions and our perspectives in His face and ask that He honor them without us having the slightest empathy for Him. The road goes both ways. I mentioned, empathy rarely flows on a two-way street. One person shares, the other hears yet the sharer is so wrapped up in sharing they usually never hear. In our case with God, we share all our pain when we come to Him in the beginning, we usually never become good listeners though. We continue to share our pain, disappointments and problems but we never sit down and ask God to share Himself with us. 

Jesus wept, He was alone, He needed support in His moments before His trial and death, yet all of His followers fled. Scattered to the wind. See, even they wanted empathy from Jesus but when it was their turn to empathize, they fled in fear. It's often the case but it doesn't have to be. Instead of coming to God in prayer for you, go to Him for Him. Change the script and truly seek Him for Him and not for yourself. If your a parent and your child does something spontaneous for you without provocation, doesn't it melt your heart. Doesn't it fill you with love. So, be spontaneous, go to God in prayer to hear, not to receive but to hear and be surprised.  Again, I'm guilty of not doing this but as these words flowed out of my fingers, I can hear God wanting time with me, without me needing from Him all the time. I just need to listen and change my perspective.

To God be the Glory!   

      

Laying it on the Altar

You may be wondering, photography or God, which is it. You're oscillating back and forth. Well, your right. As my relationship with God oscillates, unfortunately this blog did as well. 

Have you ever had a wilderness experience? I've had several over my years as a Christian and trust me they are no fun. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, it becomes a time of wandering, suffering, disobedience, trials and ultimately, redemption. Some call it a trial of faith or a trial of fire but the process is the same. It's meant to purge the unwanted parts of us out. Like the Israelites, no one over 40 was allowed to enter the promised land. So those that left Egypt, never made it due to their rebellious nature.

This principle is still at work in us today. As we are being changed, called out of Egyptian slavery, which is a type of people not saved, we go through stages of purging. 

The slavery in Egypt is like our slavery to sin before coming to Jesus. Then, like Moses, the Holy Spirit becons us to flee from our sins and slavery and go to the promised land, which is the kingdom of God. Like the Israelites we are required to be full of faith. We no longer get our food or water to feed our desires from Egypt/the world but we are supposed to feed and drink upon Jesus. He said eat and drink of me, this is a reference to the rock bringing forth water or manna appearing on the ground each morning. Jesus is the rock that brings forth a spring of water in us so we thirst no more and He is our food that nourishes us.

However, like the Israelites, we tend to be disobedient and lose sight of the promise. They became dissatisfied and complained. So too did I. I lost sight, became complacent and for it, I've been wandering. 

The distinct difference however between them and us is Jesus. They screwed up, they died, we screw up and the blood is there to cover us. Although, God still wants us to purge out the old life and claim the new so a type of death still takes place. The apostle Paul put it, I die daily. If we are covered, then why do we need or what needs to die? Good question, we have two parts in us. One part is our human nature. Desires of the flesh work in that nature. Lust, greed, and all the bad stuff work in that nature. Then there's God's nature which we receive at the time of our conversion, when we accept Jesus. 

Once we receive Jesus, the Holy Spirit enters us and begins cleaning house. Things we once found desirable, we find repulsive. However, in some cases, God wants us to lay something down of our own volition. Like the offerings of sacrifice, we are to repent or turn away from something that is in our human nature. Which shows our commitment to Him. It's like when Jesus was taken to the wilderness to be tempted. He just received the Holy Spirit and would now be tempted to see if the human nature in Him would respond or if He'd laid it on the altar to be burned.

It's no different with us, trials and temptations are a part of the purging process. We must have our faith tried or it isn't faith. If we go through and come out on the other side, then we have been transformed into a person that has more of the kingdom of God in them. The wilderness is an effective place for reflection and purging. It won't let you go back to Egypt or to the promised land, it is meant for death. The death of the old life so we can walk into the new life.

So, I've been wandering and am now dying to the old. Once the dying is done, I'll walk into the promise. Until then, I die daily.

Photography or God?

Photography was my distraction from death. All Christians must die, spiritually speaking. We all must have the Holy Spirit identify in us, what needs to die. Whether it's a problem with not forgiving or an issue with drinking or any possible issue God finds offensive, it must die.

For me photography was a distraction from what I needed to do. It was my denial. Instead of facing the issue head on, I found a distraction. Mind you, I've not given up photography, it's just not my crutch anymore.

Dieing daily is about denying self, denying that human nature in us all. In the end of self, is God. He's waiting, watching and rooting for us and like Jesus at the end of His temptations, we will be ministered too, uplifted and have a greater relationship with Them.

To God be the Glory! 

Clean Hands, Dirty Feet?

Photo taken in the Smoky Mountains National Park 

 

    This one is going to hit hard so be prepared. 

I have an analogy for you, a story if you will. A man or woman is found on the street, just as nasty as can be. Muddy, gross, stinky and diseased. This represents all peoples before coming to Jesus. We can all agree that our lives before Christ was like that description. So, Jesus comes along, convicts our heart through the Holy Spirit, we accept Him and He washes us of our Sins (nastiness) and we are made new. However, most churches teach of a rinse and repeat theology. 

Say our person is a homeless man. A church member walks up to him and teaches him about Jesus. Upon hearing the good news, the man wants to come to faith in Jesus. The church member takes the man to the river, baptizes him, washing him clean. The member takes him to a clothing store and buys him all new clothes, gets him a hair cut, a shave and plugs him into his church. The man has been been renewed. Just like our hearts are when we come to faith. However, our homeless man is taught that he will always have that homeless nature in him and he needs to try and avoid it at all costs.

The man eventually falls back to the streets, not fully but his feet stay dirty. Everywhere he walks, he leaves a trail of mud. He becomes set in the fact that his feet will never be fully clean and he becomes complacent in it. Everywhere he walks, he leaves dirt. Those living on the street that he talks to, recognize the dirt on his feet and say, your just like us in clean clothes.

The fact of the matter is this. This man represents all who get washed initially but deny the fact that Christ cleaned us and we stay clean because of Him. Teachings out there contradict what the Bible says about this. They say, your washed, going to heaven but you'll always be a sinner saved by grace. Get used to failure. The Bible doesn't state that though. Christ came to make us free, not to open our prison door so we can come in and out of prison. It would be like a prison opening the cell doors and telling everyone they are free but they must come back to sleep there every day. So every day you wake up in the same cell. You go outside and try to be a productive member of society yet your bed is still in the prison. How does that help, it doesn't.

Jesus or the apostles never taught this idea of a somewhat clean philosophy. They taught that Jesus came to rid the world of sin through His sacrifice. He atoned for our sins once and for all. For our homeless man, instead of being told he's just a cleaned up homeless man, he is now told, your the  richest man alive. How would his perspective change? If he was told, you are rich because the man that picked you up on the street, clothed you, washed you and made you new is now sharing His inheritance with you, wouldn't his actions change. Instead of walking around in defeat, he now walks around in pure joy. He's even told to share his new found wealth with others. So he goes out to tell people, love on people and show them how to be clean and free. 

It's our self defeating attitude that plagues our churches. It's the once a sinner, always a sinner message that cuts us off from our inheritance. We have been given a great gift, handed to us by God. It's not earned or deserved but given none the less. He loves us so much that He handed us the keys to the kingdom. Yet we stand at the edge of the property, unwilling to step into His house because we are afraid of getting his rugs dirty with our unclean feet. We see dirt, He sees clean. Who is correct? Of course He is. 

If you went to a persons house and said, my feet are dirty, I can't come in. They then wash your feet, yet you still refused because you perceived them as still dirty, who is then offended. The owner of the house is. Here they took their time, effort and love to wash your nasty feet and afterwards you basically deny their gift. They say thank you, they appreciate it, they may even show praise but they won't enter fully into the house. They may stay on the porch or deck or just outside but never fully enter, because they still believe there feet are dirty. 

Back to the homeless man, if he goes from homeless to limitlessly rich, what would he do to test his new wealth. Buy a car perhaps, go to a fancy restaurant, buy a huge home. For those believing they still are homeless, his spending of the wealth seems disrespectful. However, his new benefactor tells Him, spend as much as you want.

The point to this is nothing new to my writings, yet I need to be reminded constantly that I am rich beyond my wildest dreams. It's because the world says I am not. Every system in place here on Earth is to do one thing, keep us from reaching our true potential. Systems are in place to keep us reliant on them. It's so pervasive and engrained in how we see ourselves, when we are given a new choice of how to be, we reject it. Same as when the religious leaders had Jesus crucified. They rejected His teachings because they couldn't see beyond their current belief system. They justified His death through God's law which was directly violated by killing Him. 

We do the same thing today. I couldn't possibly be completely clean, no shame, no dirt, no nothing. Surely there's residue on the bottom of my feet you missed? How can we boldly deny the truth and call it true? Seems like someone is wrong in this equation and it's not God.

Identity in Christ

2 Corinthians 5:17

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Colossians 3:3

“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

Galatians 2:20

You Are a New Creation, Not a "Saved Sinner"

Colossians 3:9-10

“...you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”

Righteousness and Holiness

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me...”

2 Corinthians 5:21

“God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Hebrews 10:10

“And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

You Are the Righteousness of God

Romans 5:17

“...those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”

Live Free from Condemnation

Romans 8:1

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus...”

Hebrews 10:14

“For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”

Be Transformed by Renewing Your Mind

Romans 12:2

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...”

Living Free from Sin and Condemnation

Romans 6:6-7

“We know that our old self was crucified with Him... so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.”

Romans 8:1-2

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”

1 John 3:5-6

“But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning.”

Become Love (Not Just Know About Love)

1 John 4:7-8

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

Ephesians 5:1-2

“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us...”

John 13:35

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Relationship and Intimacy with God

John 17:3

“Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.”

Hebrews 4:16

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence...”

James 4:8

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

Don’t Live for Yourself

2 Corinthians 5:15

“And He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”

To God be the Glory

  

Easter 2025

The week of Easter. A reflection time? A celebration time? A dedication time? All the above and more. I just walked out of the theater from watching the last three episodes of The Chosen Season 5 and if that doesn't make you reflect, celebrate and dedicate, I don't know what will. 

It's been a three week release of three parts. Part one, episodes 1-2, part two 3-5 and the third part 6-8. If you missed it, look for it on Amazon prime "soon" (inside joke for fans). Anyway, you can't just watch Holy Week unfold in front of you without having some reflective moments. For me, I've been doing some major reflection of my own life. It's been a stressful year, culminating in my joblessness currently. However, I've understood trials to be a firey flame that burns away the unwanted parts, if you let it. It says faith without trials is not faith, it must be tested. If faith isn't tested, then is it faith at all. I get that implicitly, I'm living it currently. However it doesn't make it less stressful. 

Coincidentally, the last episode of season five is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. His trials led Him into a great faith that the Father would raise Him despite the massive amounts of abuse and pain that He was going to suffer. Obviously my trials seem trivial comparatively but everyone goes through something that tests them. 

So I've been reflecting on my life, my trials and my faith which leads me to a rededication of sorts. I've been drifting for a few years through the waters waiting for some puff of wind to push me in the right direction yet I came to the conclusion, I cannot stay directionless and expect Him to honor that. So, I've brought out the oars and I'm rowing each day in faith. 

Not sure where to go but isn't that what faith is about? Releasing control of everything, no worrying, just walking in faith. So, I have no clue of my next job or direction but I'm trusting in Him to lead me.

We can't get hung up on the crucified alone, we must focus even more on the resurrection. Because, without it, we have no evidence for our faith. So we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and our collective resurrection with Him. Because it says if we are in Him we have died with Him and are raised new, spotless, white as snow.

To me that's an incredible celebration. It's like being released from prison, where I'm rotting away to an everlasting separation and wallowing in my insecurities, hate, pride and all things evil forever. I was locked up, hopeless and without parole until one day my door swung open wide and light poured in. My choice to step out into that light that was extended to me was the best thing that's ever happened. To celebrate is an understatement. 

It's day 2 of this writing as I fell asleep writing it on good Friday. Today, Saturday I spent an hour or more talking about Christ to my in-laws which has me pumped up. I'm celebrating in my heart. Tomorrow, on Easter I'm attending my daughter-in-laws church to support her while our son is at basic training. 

She's had it rough emotionally and I want her to feel loved. So, tomorrow, I'll celebrate with her, her family, my wife and it will be good. Because Easter Passover is about more than a historical moment in time, it was a revelation in thought and existence. Let's say one thing, to God be the Glory for His masterfully executed plan to bring us back to Him through the selfless acts of Jesus. More later on this......