Blind Spots

Remember when you were learning how to drive a car and were told to “make sure you check your blind spots” before doing something as simple as changing lanes? Those areas slightly behind us and to our sides are hard to see in our mirrors, so we have to make a concerted effort to quickly turn our head to ensure no other vehicles are occupying that space, before we change lanes. Otherwise the outcome is going to make for a bad day or worse.

It’s odd to me that with two side-view mirrors and one rear-view mirror, we still can’t see an area around us that is large enough to fit an entire car.

Blind spots aren’t just limited to our cars. A quick recap of history has certainly proven that even when we are not in our cars, we have blind spots.

Consider a few of these examples…

During the Spanish Inquisition in the late 1400’s, the church expelled Jews and Muslims from a multicultural Spain because they wanted to ensure the orthodoxy of their religion and blamed the Black Death (Plague) on the Jews.  As a result, many Jews and Muslims were tortured and killed because they refused to be baptized by the Church.

Slavery dates back thousands of years, even in the church.  While even some forms of slavery still exist today, most people the world over would agree that slavery is inhumane.  Slavery in America wasn’t abolished until the Thirteenth Amendment was signed in 1865. Even after that date, racial segregation was very real and tensions still exist today.

Or how about the Apartheid era in South Africa from 1948 to 1994 was a time when the church supported a movement of racial segregation, creating a nation of violence, repression, and imprisonment.

In each of these examples the church played a significant part in starting or enabling these horrible periods in history. Though during those periods they believed in the cause they were supporting, we can look back at them now and clearly say these were probably not what Jesus was telling us when He said:

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35

We all have blind spots in our culture today. I hope one day soon, humanity will look back on abortion and say that allowing unborn children to be murdered was a blind spot.

Identifying blind spots in our lives is a very difficult task. Not only is it hard to identify them, but if you do, it’s very likely you’ll encounter resistance from culture (not to mention our own hearts).

Here’s another example:

Could the American Christian Church say that owning $230 Billion* in buildings and land is justified, while millions of people around the globe die of starvation and preventable disease every year? 

Conservative estimates are that it would require $30 Billion (US) to feed every starving person on this planet for a year… I’m not “anti-church” or saying church buildings are bad. I’m simply asking the question: what is really important to the church?

The Bible never once instructs the church to build actual buildings or temples, but more than 300 times tells us to care for the poor.  Again, I’m not against the church having buildings, I’m just asking the question… Could this be a blind spot?

To take it a step further, we all have blind spots in our own lives. I certainly do.

How many of us think looking at pornography is harmless, I can think back into my own life. I thought looking at pornography was harmless, just “stuff” on the internet.  If it was harming anyone it was me, in my own sin.  During that time not only was my life walking away from Christ instead of towards Him, I was ignorant to the fact that that every time I clicked one of those websites I was supporting women being sex trafficked.  Here’s a great video explaining more about that topic if you’re interested.

Another Blind Spot Identified!

You can probably think back into your own life and consider mistakes you have made, thinking they were harmless or even for the betterment of humanity.  As you look back, you’re seeing past blind spots.

Even today, I still have blind spots. I don’t know it because I can’t see them but others can. I just don’t know what I don’t know.  This is where discipleship comes in.

Discipleship is an often-used word in the church, but is it really being done?

In John 15, Jesus teaches His disciples that He is the vine and we are the branches.

“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” John 15:2

It’s imperative that we disciple each other, ensuring that we are bearing fruit and attached to the vine (Jesus) in all areas of our lives. We must be open to being pruned and be willing to prune each other. For me, this seems like Jesus’ solution to blind spots.

If you are not intentionally making a disciple, and being discipled, let me encourage you today to step out.  This will not only build some of the deepest relationships you’ll ever have, but will help you to identify your own personal blind spots.

Here are some practical keys to discipleship.

1.     Identify a brother or sister in Christ whom you look up to and respect. They don’t have to be older than you but consider “who do I know that looks most like the Jesus I read about, when I read my Bible?”

2.     Be Intentional. Put it on the calendar.  Don’t be wishy-washy about trying to get together. Make it firm and do it regularly.

3.     Step out. In order for discipleship to be effective, you must be willing to do uncomfortable things. Be Vulnerable, Pray together, Confess sin, Keep each other accountable, Find a way to serve others together!

4.     Read the Bible together, out loud if you can (Romans 10:9, Revelation 1:3)

Nothing sharpens like God’s Word (Hebrews 4:12). 

5.     Pray for each other.  Prayer is one of the most important aspects of any mentoring relationship. Do it live, out loud, and in front of each other. For some of you this will be very uncomfortable. Relax, you are in a safe place with someone who knows exactly how you feel! It becomes easier, I promise!

We all have blind spots. We just don’t know what they are because we can’t see them ourselves, and we need each other to help us to look more like Jesus.

Step out! Be Discipled! Make Disciples!

*From a NCLF study conducted in 2013 showing that the American church would NET $230 Billion (US) if they sold all of their buildings and land, and after all debts were paid.

Our Sin Problem

Have you ever had a dinner reservation at your favorite restaurant, or maybe a favorite meal at your Grandmother’s home, where you would be so excited about awesomeness of the food you would partake of, that you would not eat for the entire day leading up to it?

When tempted to grab a snack, you decide not to because you want to be able to ingest (and enjoy) every delicious bite of food that awaits you! The anticipation of that meal continues to increase as the day goes on until you sit down to eat.

Finally that time comes!!! You eat the food and it is as amazing, maybe even better, than you imagined! It’s not only because you are so hungry from avoiding food all day; but it’s just as you thought it would be - So Perfectly Prepared!

As you’re enjoying your meal, you look to your left and see someone else picking at his or her food. Instead of waiting to enjoy this glorious meal, they ate snacks and meals throughout the day and they’re really just not that hungry. It is as though they settled for lesser things and simply don’t have the capacity to enjoy what is in front of them.

I think that’s how many of us treat sin.

We settle for temporary pleasures now, which leave us unfulfilled instead of focusing on the Greater Glory that awaits us!

Here’s what I mean: Let’s look at the current state of our culture.  TV, movies, books, and society teach us that we should have sex before we are married to make sure we are “sexually compatible” or that is perfectly okay to have a bunch of partners. In fact, if we don’t then something is wrong with us.  Don’t believe me? Just look at the harsh criticisms that outspoken Christian athletes Tim Tebow or Lolo Jones get about savings themselves for marriage as God intended. 

The idea that it’s okay to give up what God intended for your spouse, to satisfy a temporary pleasure is perpetuated all around us.

Or how about men and women who indulge in pornography regularly because it is a quick and easy way to satisfy the flesh, and is easily hidden. Statistically, 2 out of every 3 men reading this, and 1 out of every 2 women reading this struggle with pornography. By the way, that statistic is no different in the church than it is in the world…

Don’t believe me? Read this

Or how about money? Why are so many people upset when the church talks about money? We hold on to it so tightly because we earned it! It’s ours and we want to decide how it’s used, Right? 

So when the church gives you the opportunity to give, rather than doing so joyfully, many of us clutch our wallets tighter and think about what we could buy now instead of give to the church. Maybe it’s a car, new wardrobe, a vacation, or something else.   Regardless of what it is, it’s temporary and is incomparable to furthering God’s Kingdom, which is eternal.

The truth is, our money is not actually ours, and it all belongs to God. It’s in that moment of us clinging to our money that we choose to love money more than we love God.

“The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” Psalm 24:1

You see it’s not that we love money, pornography, or sin too much, it’s that we don’t love Jesus enough.

We have to bring ourselves to a place where we love Jesus so much that we are willing to let go of the sin that we continue to clutch on to.  We have to have a shift in our minds to think eternally, knowing that something greater awaits us!

The amazing thing is that when we decide to eat a snack (sin), God’s grace is there for us in abundance because Jesus Christ died for it!  If we truly understand that we were bought with a price, and that it cost God something – His own Son, then our nature will strive to avoid sin and grow in our relationship with Him!

My intent in writing this is not to tell you how to live morally. It’s to point you to Jesus with a greater love and purpose! He will deal with your (and my own) morality!  I want to encourage you just like Paul encouraged the church at Corinth to move past their sin and think eternally:

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

2 Corinthians 4:17-18

Consider the greater glory that awaits us one day when we are joined with King Jesus in Heaven. A new heaven and a new earth! No more death, crying, pain, or sin! Fellowship with God Himself!

Need some encouragement? Cling to this!

“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”” Revelation 21:1-6

The Poop that Changed Everything

If any of you have ever potty-trained children, you can relate to this.

My 3-year-old son is in the midst of some epic potty training adventures.  Now this isn’t my first rodeo, as my 5-year-old potty-trained quite well. It was pretty easy for him, or at least it seemed that way to me.

The thing about my 3-year-old son is not that he doesn’t know how to go, it’s that he doesn’t want to stop what he’s doing to go.  He goes sometimes, just not all the time. As a parent this can be extremely frustrating because we know they can do it, they just don’t want to.

(Many of you are nodding your heads and know exactly what I’m talking about.)

Recently my son had “an accident” not once but three times during the day and I was fed up. I was tired of scrubbing and washing poop-stained Toy Story underpants. I had reached my limit and told him after the third accident that he would get a spanking if he did it again.

Sure enough about an hour later as he was playing I smelled something and BINGO he had pooped in his pants again.

I sat him on the toilet, and began round four of cleaning poop off Buzz Lightyear and was ready to let him have it. I was furious and my emotions rationalized that if I spank him and show him how disappointed I am, he’ll “get it.”  I was ready. He was about to get his well-deserved spanking.

Just as I was finishing washing his underpants, my son looked up at me with the most tender of faces and said “Daddy, are you mad at me?” He truly looked as though he did not know, but really hoped he hadn’t let me down and made me mad.

Ouch!

His question was instantly followed by another voice, an inaudible voice that said to me:

“This is YOUR son, just as you are MY son. If I took him away from you tomorrow, you’d spend every day for the rest of your life begging ME to have him back just so you could wipe his butt.”

Every Day…

And it wrecked me…

Holy Spirit was right…

If my son were taken from me, I would be begging God for the chance again.

I found myself not giving the same precious Mercy and Grace that I cling to, that Christ extends to me every single second of every single day, to my own son.

I embraced my son and told him I loved him and I wasn’t mad at him. He thought my tears were tears of disappointment; and they were, just not at him. At myself…

I further encouraged him to try better but that he could never do anything that would make me not love him.

It was then that I was reminded that I’m not different. I don’t poop in my pants, but I sure do screw up.

I sin. I fall short. I just do. I just did.

I’m thankful that God loves me, embraces me, doesn’t beat me, or give me what I deserve.

I’m thankful that God is not punishing me for my bad choices, or sins I’ve committed. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to pay for all of our sin on the cross. This doesn’t absolve me from consequences realized in this world, but those consequences are not God showing His mighty wrath towards me. That’s just part of being in this world.

In Isaiah 53, the prophet Isaiah speaks about the coming Messiah and God’s plans for Him.  He says in verse 10:

“Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.”

Did you see that? “It was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer…” God was pleased to not just watch, but also crush His own Son, Jesus Christ, and to die a heinous death so that you and I would not have to take the spanking we deserve when we “poop in our pants.”*  

He did this so He could look at us and see us blameless and pure, not marred in sin. So that He could know and love us and we could know and love Him!

Think about that…

Jesus demonstrated this in His own life as He took up for the adulterous women in John 8.  He kept the Pharisees from punishing her according to their law, by addressing their own tendency to sin, instead of self-righteous judgment of this poor woman.

Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” – John 8:10-11

Jesus shows us that her sin is no better or worse than my sin or yours. He shows mercy, grace, love and encouragement.  Without Jesus being there, she would have undoubtedly been stoned. Because she had Jesus, she was shown unmerited favor and mercy.

Without Jesus, we would be doomed.

When we encounter those who sin against us, live lifestyles we don’t agree with, or believe we have the right to straighten someone out, let's remember that throwing stones is not going to be received with enthusiasm.

Try to recall when the last time you changed your behavior because someone threatened you. How did that make you feel?

Now recall the last time someone embraced you in your mess and loved you through it.  How did that make you feel?

It’s time that we choose love. We bring Heaven to Earth! We can’t do that by simply throwing stones or handing out spankings, but we can do that with Love, lots of it!

We were created to Love God and Love people and God wants a real, loving relationship with you!  

It’s so much bigger than test to see if we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior and some day go to heaven, or reject Him and go to hell. Sure, part of the Gospel of the Kingdom is salvation, but it’s also to bring Heaven to Earth!

Once you get this revelation, everything changes…

And God might even use poop to show it to you!

*(In case you didn’t catch that “poop in our pants” is a metaphor for sin)

Leftovers Just Aren’t Good Enough

It’s the holiday season and that means endless amounts of turkey and green bean casserole, Black Friday shopping madness, children writing their wish lists, Christmas music in stereo 24-7, wrapping paper, bows, and an abundance of holiday fever! 

Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years, College Football Bowl Games...  The list goes on!  There is just something special about the holiday season. We get together with our extended family and friends, laugh about the ugly sweaters, hide silly magical elves for our kids, eat, drink and are full of holiday cheer!

But that holiday cheer doesn’t resonate everywhere…

Sadly there are families that don’t know where their next meal will come from. Most days are dark for them, not just a particular shopping adventure we vainly show our greed for, on a Friday. The children’s wish list is simple – they just want something that tells them somebody loves them. For these families the holidays are just another reminder of what they don’t have.

Many of us will laugh about putting on a few pounds during the holidays, while there are children whose only certain meals are breakfast and lunch on school days. During their two-week holiday break, they will be left to wonder where their next meal might come from.

These aren’t just people on the other side of the world or in someone else’s town, these are people in your community, and mine.

Many of you make it a point each and every year to serve meals or donate toys, and that is great! When you do, ask yourself:

Are you serving them because it makes you feel good or because you truly love?

Jesus tells us in Matthew 22

“Love your neighbor as yourself” (Verse 39)

Do you love others as much as you love yourself?

Sounds simple right? I suppose you could say that is about as simple as it gets, but I’d argue that is a very difficult thing to actually do.  I know it is for me.

I can recall the many years where I would box up the toys my children no longer played with and the clothes that no longer fit my family. I’d take them to the Goodwill store to be donated and leave feeling good about myself. I was helping others, right?

If I was honest with myself, I was just taking stuff I didn’t want anymore and donating it in case someone else wanted my leftovers. It wasn’t stuff I was going to use anymore. I had gotten my utility out of it and it was time to pass it along to someone else.

And that is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 22 right?

I was loving those in need by giving them my leftovers.

If I’m going to love my neighbor as I love myself, I shouldn’t be giving them my throwaways, I should be giving them my best. If my loving others doesn’t cost me anything, doesn’t’ require me to adjust my own lifestyle in some way, then I’m not doing it right.

I’m not saying donating used items is bad. It’s not, and there are people who can use or want second hand items. But there’s a huge difference between donating that sweater you wore twice and giving away ratty clothes.

My perspective changed again when I was delivering holiday meals to families in need. A local restaurant and grocery store chain donated the food, and we were tasked to drive it to their homes.  Admittedly when I saw what was in the donations, I was disappointed. It wasn’t much, but who am I to condemn a business that is willing to donate food?

One home in particular wrecked me, as the mother of four malnourished kids was so grateful for the donated food we brought.  While thanking us, I noticed all the kids were bundled up in blankets and she was heating her home by turning the oven on and leaving the door open.  Embarrassed by the condition of her home, she told me about the broken heater and I could see the shame on her face.

I just wanted to cry. I wanted to give her everything I have.

It was in that moment when it became real to me, and I realized the pitiful amounts of food we were delivering wasn’t good enough.

Not for me.

Not for them.

Not for Jesus…

So we got more. A lot more, went back and Love-Bombed them.

In Matthew 25 Jesus tells of a parable about the difference between the sheep and goats. He teaches that some will say they loved God with all their hearts and demonstrated it by giving others something to eat, something to drink, providing shelter, clothes, and love. These are referred to as the sheep.

While others will seek righteousness by their actions, not born from their heart. They’ll do things try and earn God’s love while ignoring others in need.  Jesus says to those:

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” Matthew 25:45

Simply put, our lives will be measured by how much we love.

I’m not here to make you feel bad about yourself. It’s not my goal to condemn you, judge you, or make you feel guilty. I want to encourage you to love!

This holiday season I want to encourage each of you to go and serve those in need. When you do, be intentional about asking someone his or her name. Shake a hand; give a hug. Make a new friend. If it’s not already, it’ll be real to you at that point.

These are real people, who God loves, and we should love too. If we are called to love them as we love ourselves we can’t be okay with giving them our crap. Not sharing our ratty clothes, broken toys, or leftover food. They have feelings, wounds, thoughts, love, and purpose. God made them just as carefully as He made you and me.

And He loves them just as much as He loves you and me too.

God didn’t send us His unwanted Son to die for our sins. He sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.  The best possible thing He could have sent. 

Are you serving with your best?

“We’re not giving what we’re called to give, unless that giving affects how we live — affects what we put on our plate and where we make our home and hang our hat and what kind of threads we’ve got to have on our back. Surplus giving is the leftover you can afford to give; Sacrificial giving is the love gift that changes how you live — because the love of Christ has changed you. God doesn’t want your leftovers. God wants your love overtures, your first-overs, because He is your first love.” -Ann Voskamp

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

There is also a fantastic blog written by Kristen Welch you can read here

No Excuses

“That trip to Wal-Mart with my kids was awesome!” – Said no one ever…

I used to believe that. I’m a glutton for punishment as I almost always go to the store with my kids. Once we enter the doors, my kid’s dreams of the glorious toy aisle, or the “I want this. I want that.” begins; usually ending with a few bruises, multiple trips to the filthiest bathrooms on the planet, and tears. 

Sometimes the kids cry too…

That quote was invalidated on my trip to Wal-Mart today. Sure there was the begging for a stroll down the toy aisle, trip to the bathroom where I’m pretty sure some bad Indian food had its revenge on the previous occupant, and a shopping cart full of crap that I would not purchase otherwise but I did so to buy myself 10 second intervals of intermittent peace from my boys.

But there was something different about this trip. God showed up!

As I arrived in the morning, all of the shopping carts were wet; it had rained the night before. Needless to say all of the “kids carts” were soaked too. I grabbed one because it’s the only way I can keep my boys within arms-reach of me, and made my way to the front door.  While walking to the entrance a man ran past me, then greeted me as I crossed through the veil of the automatic doors of Super Wal-Mart.  He wiped down the entire cart so my boys wouldn’t have to sit on the wet seats. Upon finishing, I thanked him and noticed tattered his hat, which said “Jesus Saves."

I made a quick comment “I like your hat” and he said “Thanks. (Paused) You know…” and then began to share the Gospel with me.  Not in some preachy, flakey manner either.  Sure he was a bit timid and nervous, but being real. He told me how his life changed once he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and how Jesus can do the same for me, bringing me a love like I’ve never experienced before.

I was blown away. While my instincts wanted to cut him off and tell him that we are already brothers in Christ, I was so drawn to hearing him share the Gospel with me.

So I let just him keep talking.

When he finished, I told him how blessed I was by his willingness to share the Gospel. I gave him a big high five and blessed him with a little something called a LoveBomb.

I’ve never been greeted at a Wal-Mart like that!

As I proceeded to shop I thought to myself “wow I must look crap for him to think I'm such a sinner that he had to share the Gospel with me.” I was then quickly rebuked by Holy Spirit because I was putting my prideful image before my own reality. 

I am sinner, no doubt! Put a tuxedo on me, business suit, or choir robe; doesn’t matter…  I’m still a sinner. So yes, I certainly look like one at Wal-Mart too!

Once I got past my own prideful self, I thought about how awesome it is that there are others who are willing to step out of their comfort zone and share the Gospel. I’ve shared with others but almost never am I on the other side of receiving the Gospel outside of the four walls of a church building.

As I was leaving, I ran into my new friend again. We chatted for a minute where he told me his name, Glen, and about the church he attends close by. He gave me a small tract he had in his pocket from his church and said it was so exciting for him to run into another brother in Christ while at work. He said “that almost never happens.”

I knew in that moment that God had put me there to also be an encourager to him. To help him build his confidence and prepare him for the next person God has specifically lined up for him to cross paths with. I gave him a word of encouragement and even snapped a pic with him.  What an encounter!

So now I am left thinking: what’s my excuse? 

How about all of the very random people I encounter every day?

Why am I not sharing the Gospel with them?

Why are other Christians not sharing the Gospel 

with others like my friend Glen did with me?

For me, it’s almost always a matter of inconvenience. It’s not that I don’t want to share the Gospel with someone, or that I’m afraid to.

It’s that I’m too busy to.

And I’m the first to admit that’s a lame excuse!

If you read the Book of Acts, not once did Paul pass by someone and not share the Gospel because they were in a hurry to needed to get to Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Corinth, or wherever.

Nope. He knew the importance of what he was doing.

One such encounter occurred in Philippi with a woman named Lydia.  They (Paul, Silas, and Timothy) were headed to Thessalonica but along their journey:

“One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.” Acts 16:14-15

It wasn’t always about the destination. The journey was just as important. Shortly after their encounter with Lydia, Paul and Silas were arrested (read about it in Acts 16:16-40).  After they were freed from prison following the miraculous earthquake, they sought refuge at none other than Lydia’s home.

When our lives become too busy to share the Gospel, it’s not the Gospel that should suffer, we need to unburden our lives.  The thought of standing before God one day and saying “I was too busy” is simply not something I want to ever do.

Thank God for His Grace…

Even still, my friend Glen didn’t need much time. He created a relationship with me by doing a selfless, unrequired act of kindness. That simple act grabbed my attention. From there, all he had to do was talk. I was listening.

Wow, that’s really simple.

Yes, and simple is good.

So next time opportunity presents itself to share the Gospel, I’m not going to make excuses that I’m too busy.  Regardless of whether it takes me 30 seconds, 30 minutes, or 3 hours, if it can change someone’s life to bring them a love like they’ve never experienced before, it’s worth it!

How about you? Are you too busy?

What is keeping you from sharing the Gospel?