Posts Tagged ‘grace’

Dec
13
2011

Guardrails and Grace | Covenant Eyes

I wrote a guest blog for the Covenant Eyes blog on the interaction between guardrails and grace. Here’s an excerpt:

A few years ago, Angela and I decided we were going to vacation somewhere in the Carolinas. We settled on Myrtle Beach. So our journey took us through the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and on through North Carolina. The view was breathtaking. Steep gorges. Waterfalls. Lush valleys. We actually stayed in Asheville for a few nights. I told Angela that I could easily live there.But there is one caveat about visiting the mountains. Sometimes the drive up can be a bit harrowing. Driving through Tennessee and North Carolina, there were a few moments where I had my hands firmly at 10 and 2, driving slowly and making sure I kept my eyes on the road.It is in those dangerous passes that I was most thankful for the guardrails. Those guardrails didn’t seem legalistic to me. They didn’t seem overbearing. In fact, I wouldn’t have objected if they’d made them a bit higher.

Read more here: Guardrails and Grace | Covenant Eyes.

Nov
24
2011

10 Things I’m Thankful for in 2011

Today is Thanksgiving. This year (2011) I have much to be thankful for. I could fill pages. But I distilled them down to ten:

  1. Nine years of marriage to a beautiful and godly woman, Angela who has faithfully stood with me in ministry, trains our children in the Lord every day, and enjoys watching crime dramas with me.
  2. Four beautiful children, Grace, Daniel, Emma, and the latest edition, Lily. They are all beautiful gifts from God. I’m humbled to be their father. And I’m finally learning how to change diapers without passing out.
  3. A relationship with God through Christ. The mystery of God’s love expressed in Jesus continues to amaze me, that He loved me enough to sacrifice His son, purchasing my redemption, satisfying His wrath, and displaying His glory.
  4. Parents who loved me enough to introduce me to Jesus, take me to church regularly, and be there when so many kids grow up in unstable and abusive homes. Mom, can’t wait to eat your famous ice cream jello tomorrow.
  5. The Bible, God’s revealed Word. I’ve read the Bible all my life and still feel like I’m scratching the surface of its depth and beauty. It’s even cooler that I get paid to teach and preach and write from this magnificent book.
  6. A church, Gages Lake Bible Church, who allows me to fulfill my calling. They are the most wonderful, kind, loving, beautiful people I know.
  7. New Hope Publishers, who has believed in me enough to publish three (soon four) of my books. This was always a dream of mine and you made it happen. That goes for all the outlets that regularly publish my work, Crosswalk, Patheos, Clash, Stand Firm, CT, Lake County Journals.
  8. A growing circle of mentors and friends who enrich my life. And who are willing to listen to me ramble about politics, sports, and random things.
  9. America, who despite its deep flaws, is still the greatest nation on God’s green earth. Americans are no more loved by God than the rest of the world, but we are definitely the most blessed by far.
  10. Apple, Google, and Starbucks.

Nov
18
2011

Russell Moore on Forgiveness:

When we forgive, we are confessing that vengeance is God’s (Rom. 12:19). We don’t need to exact justice from a fellow believer because justice has already fallen at the cross. We don’t need to exact vengeance from an unbeliever because we know the sin against us will be judged in hell or, more hopefully, when the offender unites himself to the One who is “the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn. 2:2).

Read the whole thing here:  Moore to the Point – What Forgiveness Is and Isn’t.

Nov
08
2011

Penn State and The Danger of Insular Communities

The news from Penn State University continues to shock, anger, and sadden all of us. A once-proud University, known for it’s commitment to excellence and integrity is now humbled by the revelations that it allowed one of it’s longtime coaches to abuse children on their campus. The allegations are still forthcoming and most of us don’t know who knew what.

As I thought about this situation, I was saddened. Saddened for the victims and their parents and saddened for the university. We live in a fallen world and increasingly even our best institutions are failing us. It’s no wonder that young people today trust authority and institutions even less. This includes the Church, not immune to it’s own failings and abuses.

How might we as church leaders learn from this Penn State situation. From a practical standpoint, we might look at and examine our own policies and practices when it comes to screening volunteers and working with children. From a spiritual standpoint, we might be more fervent in our prayer that these types of situations don’t occur on our watch and if they do, we’d be vigilant to do the right thing and not attempt to cover up to protect reputations.

But I wonder if we might look deeper and examine the culture of our organizations. According to some of the commentary I’ve read, one of the characteristics of the Penn State community was its insularity. This can likely be said about many college campuses, but apparently this institution was particularly tight-knit and closed. For most of its history, this was considered a good thing, as the family atmosphere fosters a sense of loyalty and community. But I wonder if this insularity became the undoing of Penn State.

What happens is that an organization prides itself on loyalty (a good thing) and routinely has a “way”, such as the Penn State Way. Colleges have this as do successful organizations and churches and businesses. This is good until it becomes bad. It goes bad when the reputation of the organization becomes more paramount than the well-being of individuals.

And this transition happens slowly over time. Perhaps unfair attacks embolden the leaders and foster a sense of unity that leads people to adopt an “us against the world” mentality. Or years of repeated successes calcify the thinking in the minds of institutions so that they no longer need to learn and grow. They simply continue to point to their accomplishments and believe that they have found the perfect formula for success. Why change when you’ve discovered the secret to success?

Perhaps the biggest sign an institution is becoming dangerously insular is when they stop receiving criticism. When it becomes more of a crime to criticize the institution than to do what’s right. When PR becomes the predominant mission rather than the original mission.

It’s easy to criticize Penn State for their failings. How could they allow this abuse to go on? But perhaps they really believed that they were above something like this and that it couldn’t happen on their watch. Perhaps they dismissed the charges as baseless. Perhaps they squashed the evidence to protect the guilty. Few of us know the rationale.

But what happened there could happen in any organization, including Christian ones. This downward slide begins when we are more interested in telling ourselves how good and successful we are rather than allowing constructive criticism or objective analysis. When we refuse to grow as an institution.

This can happen in churches as much as it can happen in universities. It can happen when power is valued more highly than servanthood, when PR is more valuable than truth, when success becomes less about individuals and more about numbers, when organizations strive for what they can get away with versus what is morally right.

In an insular, closed community that shuts off all criticism, the community makes the rules and bends the rules and becomes a law unto itself. This is dangerous territory.

So what’s the cure? For churches and Christian organizations, the gospel is the only medicine. Our sinful condition and helpless state before God, our need of the redemption of the Cross, and our dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit should all serve as a constant reminder that nobody is above the worst kinds of sins. No leader has good judgement all the time. No one is above selfish and sinful motivations. This reality should make us open to constructive correction and criticism as a critical tool to create an authentic, Christ-honoring environment. Leaders should assemble a team that is loyal to the mission, but free to point out weaknesses both in the leader and in the organization. This iron-sharpening should be embraced, not penalized.

What happened at Penn State is a sinful, horrific tragedy. We should pray for the victims, the perpetrators, and those who selfishly covered up the offenses. We should pray for the community at Penn State that is reeling from shock. We should pray for the gospel to penetrate that campus during this dark hour. This is more than a story. There are souls at stake.

And, yet those of us who live thousands of miles removed from Penn State should pray that God would use this to sharpen our leadership in creating open, authentic, gospel-saturated communities of faith.

Oct
24
2011

Cautions for Christians in a Political Season

In America, politics is all around us, whether you want it to be or not. But as we anticipate the election of 2012, it is reaching a fever pitch. Being a political junkie myself, I find myself being, at times, so consumed by it that it distracts me from my main calling as a follower of Christ. So I thought perhaps it would be good to consider a few guidelines that might govern our conversations, activism, and online discussions in this political season.

1) Don’t Convince Yourself that One Election Will Solve Everything. Elections do have consequences and good leadership can effect social change. Still, the root of our problems in America is as old as civilization itself: its the problem of sin. And the solution is not a politician or a platform. It’s not the tea party or the Republican party or the Democratic party or any party. The solution is the gospel. And as good as we try to make life on earth here, it will never be the utopia we desire. This longing will only be fulfilled when Jesus returns as King and establishes the New Heaven and Earth.

2) It’s Ok to Favor a Candidate, but Don’t Do it at the Expense of the Others. Politics is strange in that you not only line up behind a candidate you like, you have to do so by convincing yourself and others that the other candidates are inept, incompetent, dangerous, malicious, and the cousin of Hitler. It could be that good men and women are running on all sides, but you favor the polices, experience, and character of one in particular. Can you do that without tearing down the opponent? That may seem impossible in this environment, but I think its worth a try.

3) Remember There is More to Life Than Politics. I know some people (myself the chief), who can’t have a single conversation without it breaking into a political discussion. Every social ill is traced back to the ideology they oppose. But everything doesn’t have a political component and every single wrong thing in the world isn’t the fault of the politicians you despise. And remember that while politics is important, it’s not ultimate.

4) Remember You Are a Christian. Yes, even in your political discussions and activism, you’re a follower of Christ. Is your faith so intrinsically tied in with your politics that people think the gospel equals low taxes, less government, and ending Obamacare? And do you obey the Scripture’s commands to love, forgive, honor, respect,and pray while you’re discussing political leaders with whom you disagree? It doesn’t really matter that “the other side does it.” Christians don’t play by this calculus. We’re different. We’re followers of Jesus, called to a higher standard. In this, we demonstrate the gospel.

5) Reaffirm Your Belief in the Sovereignty of God Over All Things. Every year they tell me this is the most important election of my lifetime. And maybe this election is really that vital. We want to elect and appoint men of character and competence. But ultimately God holds all things in his hands. He’s not limited by voter turnout. He can work with rulers of all kinds and ultimately will use what happens to bring about his Kingdom. In other words, God won’t be in Heaven on Tuesday night, November 6th, nervously watching CNN. (And no, my conservative friends, he won’t be watching Fox either.)

6) Remember That the Most Important Thing Already Happened. Elections may be hugely important in America. But the most important and most consequential event in history already happened. Jesus rose from the dead. He’s alive. He’s coming back as King. And Christians live in light of this profound reality. So in spite of the decaying world around us, we have hope. So we can smile. We can shed cynicism. We don’t have to give in to the anger and despair of our age.

Jun
08
2011

Forgetting the Past – Of Others

I had a conversation the other day with someone about a guy we both grew up with. This guy was considered a “bad kid”, always getting in trouble, kicked out of school, and proudly wearing the reputation as “no-good.” So when he came up in this conversation, the person I was talking to sort of picked up where he had left off with this bad dude.

But his information on him was dated. I happened to know that God had done a work of grace in this former bad kid’s life, not only helping him overcome a serious addiction, but also moving him into a beautiful marriage and a terrific ministry. But in certain circles, he’s only known as bad news. As much as I tried to convince, this other person couldn’t believe in the new “bad guy.”

Part of me was upset, but then I was reminded by the Lord of my own attitude toward people of my past. We have a habit of remembering the pasts of others, even if God has forgiven them. We like to hold on to the 1996 version of this person instead of the 2011 version, which could be two completely different people.

It’s funny because we don’t want to be remembered by who we were in 1996. I certainly don’t. I’d hope folks would understand that God has really worked in my life. But I don’t have the grace to do that with others.

We hear a lot of preaching in church about forgetting the past–our own pasts. This is vitally important, because the enemy wants us to dredge up our sins as if to make us think Christ’s forgiveness on the cross was incomplete. But perhaps it’s time for us to start talking about forgetting the past of others. It’s time to realize that God just might have done a work in them since the last time you saw them. I imagine how this might restore and renew relationships. The parents who only know their troubled kid as being a troubled kid might actually take a second look and see how God is moving in her heart. The kid who carries wounds from childhood might realize that God has changed the hearts of his parents. The pastor who saw little potential in the scoundrel who messed up Sunday School might be surprised to find that guy graduating from seminary. The teacher who had to repeatedly discipline the unruly 8th grader might be overjoyed to know that her pupil is now the mother of three and leading a family.

Christians ought to lead the way in forgiveness and grace. How do we do this? I’m thinking we go back to where we started in our faith: the radical gospel which liberates us from the power of sin and promises us a new life in Christ. At the cross we were all hopeless and helpless. I was and so was the bad dude from high-school. And just as I like to claim God’s work in the deep and sinful recesses of my own heart, I must be faithful to see that in the hearts of others.

Nov
17
2010

On Criticism

One of the hardest things for a Christian to do is accept criticism. I should know, because I typically flinch at criticism. Immediately my defenses go up and I’m ready to lash out at the critics. But this is always the wrong approach.

After all, we’re Christians and we should be, as James 1:19 instructs, swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Even the most biting criticism has an element of truth that can help.

I think this is especially true for those in levels of leadership. I wanted to share a few points about criticism and leadership that I’m learning:

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Aug
14
2010

A Response to Rachel Held Evans

So right before my wife and I left for Colorado Springs for a pastoral retreat, I read Rachel Held Evans post on the blog at onFaith. I read it with interest, because it seemed to “represent” all next generation evangelicals. I wrote a response post questioning why the prolife cause has been so out of favor with young evangelicals while causes like sex trafficking, etc are chic.

Rachel, to her credit, wrote a thoughtful response that generated a lot of very smart and thoughtful comments. I have had time to think this over the last week and wanted to continue the conversation.

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