Life Dessert

“A religion that is pure and stainless in the sight of God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering, and to keep
oneself unstained by the world.” James 1:27

We spent the Christmas holiday on a seven day cruise to the Mexican Riviera. It was nice but I probably wouldn’t do it again, I can think of other places I would rather visit. There were twenty family members all together who joined in on the venture; siblings, grandma, grandpa, nieces and nephews. We arrived in LA three days early for the cruise in order to take in Disney Land (fifty years old and had never been there)
It worked out well, there were relatives to stay with who lived a short ten to fifteen minutes walk from the front entrance. Cool.
The Magic Kingdom was decorated “over the top” with holiday ornaments, not to mention it was washed and swept spotless at all times (I have to say Disney does everything top notch). And needless to say Disney was packed with a sea of people all looking for their chance to escape into a world of make believe.
My wife would tell you that I don’t do vacations well, it’s always been hard for me to actually enjoy myself, there’s this underlying unsettledness during the whole thing and it’s taken me a long time to figure out why. It’s about the money, not in the sense of being cheap, but for me the whole premise behind vacations collides with the foundational truth of Whom I profess to believe in and choose to follow.
Vacation is the opportunity to spend a ton of money on ME, kind of a “self reward” for enduring the strain of having to work in the daily grind of the world. Let’s call it “life dessert”. “I deserve this.”
Now don’t get me wrong, taking a little break from wear and tear isn’t bad, I just get a little troubled by the amount of money set aside for something that really doesn’t refresh and restore the soul all that much. We usually return more worn and weary in the long run.

With things like this I tend to crunch numbers and I just couldn’t help but calculate the number of people on our ship times the cost per person, (excluding the additional money spent on shore excursions, drinks, gifts, bling, gambling, photos, tips, etc), and ended up with a safe number in the neighborhood of 4.5 million dollars. Just this one ship. Let’s not forget to take into consideration the sea of people in a single day wandering around Anaheim with Mickey and Goofy ears perched on their heads, wearing forty dollar Pirates of The Caribbean tee shirts.
I kid you not, I walked through Disney thinking these exact thoughts, except while on a roller coaster crashing along at breakneck speed, (that helps to divert your attention for a moment or two). I tend to think of what “could be” if money dedicated to such temporal indulgences were spent on some of the need I’ve been witness to in the world, even though I too am waiting in line to jump aboard “Thunder Mountain” for the third time. (night time’s the best)
There’s also the “Christian” cruises, or the countless number of pilgrimages to the holy land every day of the year by masses of the faithful. In some respects it’s much like Disneyland, floating in the Dead Sea vs Splash Mountain. Mt. Sinai vs Space Mountain. Really, after having been to Israel is a person really moved all that much closer to a more fruitful relationship with God, or do they merely end up with some really neat vacation stories to share with their friends and families?
Now I have to say, Mexico is beautiful; clear blue water, warm weather, sand, palm trees, jungle mountains, water falls, where the daily attire is sandals, shorts, tee shirt and sunglasses (yeah), but there’s still this nagging sense of wrongness in the midst of it all that keeps total enjoyment elusive.
In scripture there’s a widow who brings an offering “plink” to the temple right on the heels of a rich man who just dumped in his “very noticeable” offering, (each duly noted by Jesus). Considering the fact this probably wasn’t the first time the rich man had placed his contribution into the care of the religious leaders, it’s interesting to note that the widow was STILL POOR. Why? the religious leaders had spent the money entrusted to their care on themselves or other things and had failed to “see” what Jesus saw. In spite of the available resources at their disposal the religious leaders had not met the needs of this woman per God’s desire. I guess this is what bothers me. I have a hard time justifying “life dessert for me” when doing so requires me to pass right by so many people in rural villages who are desperate just for the basics of life.
I saw this yet again riding on the tail end of a very stiff four wheel drive truck bouncing my way up windy mountain roads to enjoy a “jungle adventure”.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t enjoy certain things or have fun, I just have a hard time justifying it. There’s a real tension in it all for me.
I may never settle the issue in my life time, who knows. In the mean time I have some really cool pictures and stories to share for anybody who’s willing to spend the time! (I’ll try to sound enthusiastic).

The Cons and Pros of Claiming (or proclaiming cons)

There’s one thing that’s true about God, His word is good. What he says he’s going to do, he’ll do. His yes is yes. What he vows either by promise or by oath (Hebrews) is fulfilled. His word does not return void. It’s this foundational unchanging character of God which allows us to place our faith in Him. “I am the Lord God, I changeth not”. If this were not true the christian walk and witness would be a little tenuous not to mention embarrassing, with little chance of producing growth nor lasting fruit.
The apostles of Jesus were not the kind of guys to do much freelancing or take poetic license with the word of God. They preached all that Christ taught, proclaimed, and professed, they also bore witness to all that happened to him both before, during and after his death, burial and resurrection. They were the bearers, witnesses, stewards, ambassadors and slaves to “this Word”. They didn’t define the word or testimony of God it defined them and because of their careful attentiveness in this area demonstrations of power followed them as they preached it, as a result many came to believe and were even fearful of the authority and power the disciples possessed in their words. In a nut shell the disciples said, “This IS the word of God, this IS what HE has said, this IS what HE HAS done, IS doing and WILL do. Their words weren’t a collection of flippant, half baked, shoot-from-the-hip spiritual add-ons conjured up in the midst of a two hour environment of spiritual hype, it was the word of God and they were its Bose 5.1 digitally “mastered” surround sound system. Again, I emphasize, what “God says” will happen.

I am staggered by how many proclamations have been tossed out from behind pulpits declaring what God is “going to do” either in a specific geographical area, a specific fellowship or in relation to an event. I’m even more staggered by the amount of people who continue to buy into leadership who toss out these proclamations from God only to find themselves “back peddling” later when it becomes apparent the proclamations didn’t produce. Anything!

“God is going to do this in us”
Clang!
“God has given us this building so we can have a ministry in the downtown area therefore we need to pour our time, energy and money into it for this next year….. THEN, we will see God move!”
Clang!
“God has shown us that when we finish this building waves of people are going to be drawn here so we need to be ready for them”
Clang!
“We believe God wants us to join with and be a part of this larger ministry movement, so we’re going to pursue expanding our borders, praying for a larger territory in order to accomplish this”
Clang!

Is God scatter brained? Has he not yet decided what exactly it is he’s doing? Does he not know the plans he has for us? Does he not see the beginning from the end?
Tweaking, fiddling, adjusting, bending, painting, polishing, white out, disclaimer, shim, balance, redefine, were not how any of the apostles dealt with those entrusted to their care.

Revelation 3:14 says this about Christ

“To the messenger of the church in Laodicea, write:
‘The Amen, the witness who is faithful and true, the beginning of God’s creation, says this:”

Not only is Christ the Amen, the “so be it”, he’s also the beginning (the cause, the through Whom) of God’s creation. He’s The; “I’m going to”, “I will”, and “I did”.

So where do these random, non-validated, empty declarations of God belong? How do they affect His “thus sayeth”stuff? Do they throw off his sovereign batting average? Does this mean God’s only right seventy-five percent of the time? When you (leadership) tell me “God has called us to this part of town to fulfill a ministry He has specifically called us to do, from this exact building”, and we believe you to pursue it, yet one year later we lose the building and have to move into a school in a different part of town, why should we want to believe God when he speaks next time (through you)?

Or maybe, ….. just maybe, …….. it really wasn’t ………hmm

The power of the gospel is to be a witness to the truth of what God DID in and through his Son. This pivotal point in history defined and fulfilled everything that happened prior to it and also fulfilled and substantiated everything that was yet to happen after it. So the effectiveness is in the proclamation of this good news, founded upon a spiritual indwellment the result of believing in His word by faith. This alone has the power to be preached into the world and save; the unfailing word of God.
When you do this the focus is on God, on Christ ….. to His glory and praise.
It’s ALWAYS to His glory and praise.

When it’s about us, the proclamation changes, it moves from, “what the Lord HAS done”, to, “I believe the Lord is GOING TO…”
I’m not saying God doesn’t speak to the church through servants and then have these proclamations come to pass but I have yet to really see or hear of one outside of the biblical prophets.
It’s very, very subtle but in the “God is going to” scenario, it almost always exalts US. It does! It may sound spiritual but it’s really about us. Problem is, this proclamation has NO power to save, NO witness of the cross, NO real witness of Christ or the desperate need of the lost to be saved. Also it’s unable to go beyond the four walls of the gathering in which it’s spoken, it can’t be “taken”. The more serious problem is, when it doesn’t produce, more has to be added, the next revelation or “piece” of the spiritual puzzle as it were, explaining why it’s okay that nothing ever came of the last one. This leads us into a revelatory “process” which is dependent upon the ability of a select “few” to deliver us the next installment. This is much like the religious leaders in Jesus’ time stacking law upon law upon law, which is why he came and declared, “I AM, …. The WORD, ….. the TRUTH. Stuff like that. And let’s not forget the all important, “I WILL”, or “Surely I say unto you” and “Believe me when I say …” Statements you can stake your life on, words which “are” the events themselves, one substantiating and validating the other in an eternal affirmation.

ALL things are fulfilled in Him, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.