‘Ain’t nobody perfect,’ ‘Everyone makes mistakes,’ ‘We’re only human.’ Heard those before? I know I’ve said them or thought the same from time to time. They can be used as an excuse for self-pity or if you are really facing the truth about self or with a tone of forgiveness if a friend needs support. But disciples of Jesus are on the road of transformation. Transformation then means moving from sin to faith, from trying to be in control to letting the Spirit control us, from excuse to taking…

In the last segment we used The Christmas Carol as an example of the work of the Holy Spirit getting Ebenezer Scrooge to face his past, his present and his possible future. That literary masterpiece is a picture of transformation, the spiritual mind-quake, heart-quake and spirit-quake shifting the internal to the external, from aloneness to openness with others and a sense of meaning and purpose. Transformation, as we said, is salvation on a treadmill. It is the progressive development of…

Now what I laid out in the previous posting were some “…ponderings (there are many more) about the dynamics of human nature without God but yet a built-in plea to face what we have been given and that is being an image of God. Thinking, believing, trusting, faith, perception, individuality, emotionality, personness, searching both externally and internally, being moral; all these are built into us from birth. The question is---what do we do with the equipment we’ve been…

The following thoughts are written to get us as disciples of Jesus to empathize with someone who doesn’t believe. We want to let them know we feel what they feel, have thought what they thought and questioned what they’ve questioned. The last thing people want is religion. They are looking for something much deeper, a relationship and relationships with someone and some others they can trust, share personal depth and simply be friends rather than just acquaintances. It takes time and a…

Transformation is more than just a word. It’s what happens after you are spiritually born. It is the experience of actually moving across from a world conditioned mindset, emotional stronghold and self-chosen behavior to all three being redeemed and unified in and for Jesus. When Paul said he was a ‘slave of Christ’---doulos Christou Yeisou (Rom.1:1)---he was saying that he gave his whole mind, heart and spirit to be reshaped by Jesus. Each had shifted across (trans) from the world into…

Let’s review for a moment. Paul gives us three maxims that can cure our ‘secularitis’ (my word for the infection from sin and its worldly standards), a spiritual disease that leads to a slow and lonely death.

First, don’t be conformed to the world. Conformity is slavery unto death.

Second, be transformed by the renewal of your mind. A mindquake leads to a heartquake where Christ is freedom unto life.

Now the third of Paul’s maxims---It leads to a ‘spiritquake’---“Test and…

Last time we dealt with conformity. Conformity to the world is slavery. Conformity to Jesus Christ is freedom. That’s the first of Paul’s maxims to cure the human heart in its quest for truth.

The second maxim is a direct challenge to where we, before Christ, trusted the world with the way to live, ---“Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” The switch, from being a slave to the world to being a disciple of Jesus, requires a drastic mind shift. It’s like the geological tectonic…

When I moved to New York City from North Carolina as a young teenager I lived on the 6th floor of a tenement walkup on the edge of East Harlem. Even though I had been born in Brooklyn to an immigrant Norwegian family, we had moved to North Carolina when I was very young with very little memory of my earliest years. So that northern move was a real culture shock for me. From a rural red clay, grits accent and Dixie feeling it didn’t take long for me to literally be beaten into submission in…

Two verses stand in unavoidable contrast as Paul appeals to the Colossian believers, 2:20 and 3:1. Both start with ‘since.’ One has to do with death and the other has to do with life. The first reads like this, “Since you died to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules?” The second: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” The contrast is…

Is your insurance paid up? Is your will up to date? Are your affairs in order? These are questions that every older person is asked or asks themselves. Of course there are always those who take the Scarlett O’Hara approach, “I’ll think about that tomorrow.” I maintain that as believers we need to start from childhood with our families and say what we are really about and that is life. We are not waiting until we get old motivated by the idea we are preparing for death. Rather our task is to…

I was just reading about the largest structure in the universe. It is called an LQG, large quasar group also known as a black hole. Why I’m not sure. But it’s what the article continued to say that had the impact. These black holes are enormous beyond imagination. Scientists have measured one they say is 4 million light years across. Yes, that’s right, LIGHT YEARS. Not miles but light years across and one light year is what it takes for light to travel 365 days x24 hours x60 minutes x60…

If ever we need direction for the mind, the heart and the spirit it is now.  As the culture changes more radically in its shape it is outpacing the ability of the individual to adjust.  The human mind is not as flexible, the human heart is not as elastic and the human spirit is not as absorbent as the demands our chameleon culture places upon them.  The culture is like a merry-go-round spinning out of control.  For those of us who are believers the frustrating sights around us, the social…

I Love Epiphanies

The mystery of the Gospel---“Christ in you, the hope of glory (Eph.1:27).”

It was one fine sermon at church yesterday. The theme was ‘Epiphany’ fittingly explained on what in many churches is celebrated as a special day in their church year. The word is of Greek origin and means to appear. Used in its church context it recognizes that when Jesus appeared He came not just to be the Jewish Messiah but the Savior of all mankind. In our day the word has a broader…

When Jesus teaches He cuts to the chase. He’s direct and tells it like it is. I’ve picked four insights He taught me. The first is about being an image of God. The second concerns our heart. The third deals with religion. The fourth has to do with every next moment.

First, the Lord taught me I was an image of Him which meant life is not a lonely quest for personal happiness. I was created for an eternal relationship with Him and others. To live only for myself is to find one’s…

For our Heavenly Father it was the ultimate sacrifice to allow the most precious relationship He had to live in human flesh, to localize Himself in the heart, mind and body of limiting human experience. Jesus began His human life in the valley. He had to live among people who wouldn’t recognize Him, who would rebuke Him, mistreat Him and finally kill Him. It was a life to be lived in the midst of everyday pride, fear, sickness, hate, cruelty and violence. It was a life to be lived alone yet…

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision (Joel 3:14).”

You’re Not Alone in the Valley

In a conversation with a friend---who had a very hard year---he said he learned more in this last year than he did in all his schooling. It was like a light had come on that opened his heart to see what he had never seen before. His schooling fell into place and was now governed by something deeper. A specific project, still…