Measuring Up

I have a lesbian friend. Let's call her Ellen. Ellen came out in recent years, but I knew her before she switched sides since we hung out in the same crowd. The same church crowd, I should say. Now one of our mutual church friends treats Ellen like she doesn't measure up. It would appear that Ellen's getting the cold shoulder due to her decision, but I don't think that's the case: I'm a pastor and I don't measure up to this particular "church friend".  I just think some people's special gift is the ability to find a reason that we don't measure up.

Funny thing is, I can think of a handful of religious people I'm not holy enough for.

Have you ever been around someone who made you feel like you didn't measure up? Maybe you didn't look cool enough, maybe you didn't have enough money, or maybe you also know a church friend who makes you feel like you aren't holy enough.

Funny thing is, there's a handful of religious people that Jesus wasn't holy enough for.

The Bible records an incident when Jesus was invited to dinner at a religious person's house. The town harlotte found out about Jesus' dinner plans and crashed the party, weeping at Jesus' feet and pouring perfume on Him. When the religious person who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, "If this man was the prophet I thought he was, he would have known what kind of woman this is who is falling all over him." This is just one of the many times when Jesus didn't see eye-to-eye with the religious crowd of His day. It's a good read in Luke 7.

There's nothing new under the sun: religious people are still acting like they've got the inside scoop, the secret code to get to the bonus level and save the princess while the rest of us poor schmucks can't seem to get out of level 1 without getting hit by Bowser's fire balls (Super Mario Bro.s is RAD!).

Why do we look at our lives through the eyes of the most critical person we know? Why, for some of us, do we think that person is Jesus?

My friends, this isn't the truth! No! Jesus ate dinner with prostitutes and hung out with corrupt businessmen. He wasn't too good for anyone! He loved those thrown out by society and saved the verbal spankings for those who thought they were all that and a bag of chips! Jesus knows what it's like to be rejected and looked over. He knows how it feels to be abandoned and betrayed. He's experienced the pain of being misunderstood.  Jesus isn't scrutinizing you Joan Rivers-style like you're on Fashion Police (yes, I've watched Fashion Police--judge not!). He accepts you completely! He doesn't do the I'd-accept-you-if-only-you'd-quit-eating-your-boogers kind of acceptance...He accepts you UNCONDITIONALLY! (But for health reasons and self-dignity, it should probably stop.)

So there's this social rule that says leave religion and politics out of dinner conversations. I'd disagree. I'd say leave religion out of EVERY conversation! It does more harm than good!

Don't let anyone make you feel like you don't measure up. You may not "measure up" to some self-appointed "experts" (experts at what? Making others feel inferior?) but you measure up to the God of the Universe! And you didn't even have to do a thing for His approval! He loves you because you're YOU! He gave you life because He wanted you on this planet! He made you unlike anyone else, and put you right where you're at right now so you can impact your world in a very YOU way! God displays HIMSELF through you in such a unique way that's never been done before and will never be done again! You are His work of art!

God is the standard, and if He said you measure up then only a fool would disagree.  Maybe you know some fools, but don't YOU be that fool! Accept yourself, faults and all! In Jesus' eyes, you measure up!

Ps 139:14-24

14 I thank you, High God — you're breathtaking!

Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

I worship in adoration — what a creation! 

15 You know me inside and out,

you know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,

how I was sculpted from nothing into something. 

16 Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;

all the stages of my life were spread out before you,

The days of my life all prepared

before I'd even lived one day. 

17 Your thoughts — how rare, how beautiful!

God, I'll never comprehend them! 

18 I couldn't even begin to count them — 

any more than I could count the sand of the sea.

Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you! 

19 And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!

And you murderers — out of here! —  

20 all the men and women who belittle you, God,

infatuated with cheap god-imitations. 

21 See how I hate those who hate you, God,

see how I loathe all this godless arrogance; 

22 I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.

Your enemies are my enemies! 

23 Investigate my life, O God,

find out everything about me;

Cross-examine and test me,

get a clear picture of what I'm about; 

24 See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong — 

then guide me on the road to eternal life. 

(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

Parenting Like A Jerk

I have a bad habit: I like to call my kids to me using my "angry voice" and watch them cautiously approach me with complete bewilderment on their faces since they're wondering "what did I do now?". As soon as I'm sure they're in complete suspense/agony, I happily tell them we're taking a drive to go get ice cream or some other spontaneous fun idea. For me, the surprise is even better because I get to watch their fear melt away as they realize I'm not mad, and even better, I'm giving them a gift!  As my kids have gotten older, they've become harder to trick since they're now up to speed with my sense of humor.

I'm a bit of a jerk...just for a minute until I reveal my true agenda ;)

Sometimes God gets the same bad rap: He's a bit of a jerk.  Sure, you get to go to Heaven...but here on Earth, you're in trouble! We can feel like God has a big paddle to smack us with as soon as we break some obscure Christian rule that only the church lady who plays the organ knows about.  Sometimes it seems that God is only happy with people who's lifestyle is a living monument to the 1900s: no fancy electronics, no stylish clothing, and no frivolous time-wasting entertainment!

As Americans, we may not recall everything in the Bible but we're crystal clear about all the DON'TS in there! Those don'ts are legendary; most of us are saddled with the vague internal fear that we're in deep do do for some don't we accidentally did. Take for instance the Garden of Eden--we probably all know how the serpent told Eve that God said DON'T eat the fruit. The serpent was familiar with the don'ts! But when we look in Genesis at what God actually said, we see that God told Adam to eat! Eat the fruit from any tree in the entire garden! But for your own safety, don't eat from this one tree. God roped off one tree in an entire garden full of fruit trees! God wasn't holding out, He was keeping Adam and Eve safe just like a parent would do: Kids, you can take a bubble bath but don't take the pills in the medicine cabinet...or Kids, you can eat anything in this pantry but don't eat the entire bag of dried apricots... Somehow we missed how God's always talking about what we CAN do with just a few warnings to keep us safe! There's a lot more that we CAN do than stuff that we CAN'T do! We feel the glare of the 10 commandments when God actually set us free from burdening rules and promised us exceedingly abundantly all that we could ask for or imagine, and loves us unconditionally! 

The serpent's the one who keeps reminding us of the fine-print. He's full of restrictions-may-apply and side-affects-may-cause-exploding-bowels kinda stuff. He's up on all the DON'TS! 

Sometimes I think we Christians sound more like the serpent: we're usually telling each other the DON'Ts!

But Jesus died a horrible,selfless, tortured death just to give us LIFE! Abundant life! Life to the fullest! A life we enjoy without the aide of Xanax! Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." John 10:10  Abundant life? That sounds like a party to me! That sounds like sleeping through the night and waking up energized for my day so I can work and play and rest and thank God for the abundant life He provided for me! Abundant life sounds like no good thing withheld from me, a life I'm proud of, a life without regrets. And that's what Jesus gave us!

There's a lot of don'ts out there, but they're not part of the abundant life God designed for us! God's not a jerk! He gave you a permission slip to forget all the religious rules that inflict guilt and shame. He's the rule-breaker! Go live the abundant life that Jesus paid such a high price for you to have! (and go get yourself some ice cream--you've been a good kid!)

My Life: The Perfect Forest Fire

What if you knew you were right in the midst of God's perfect plan? Would that shock you? "How can this be", you ask, "my (heart, bank account, ambition, or car) is broke! So how am I in the midst of God's perfect plan?!"

We think of God's perfect plan as a wonderful path lined with gumdrops, puppies and sunshine...we think of smooth sailing without a cloud in sight...we think of a freshly paved road without any bumps or potholes and ALL our friends and family are smiling and cheering us on because it's evident that THIS is God's perfect plan!

But God does perfect different than that: God's perfect plan can have numerous twists and turns...but it always ends perfect.

So how do we know that God works this way? Besides the numerous life stories recorded in the Bible that worked out this way, God also shows us His nature IN NATURE!  

Take a look at forest fires. God is the One who devised forest fires to keep forests healthy! But when we hear about a forest fire, it's a breaking news bulletin! It's a catastrophe! We need to put it out before this devastating fire robs us of a national treasure! But God uses these fires to clear out crowded forests so each and every tree gets enough water, sunlight, and space. The forest can now grow stronger and healthier than the pre-fire forest could have ever dreamed of being. Sorry, Smokey! Sometimes we can’t prevent forest fires!

Our lives can look like that forest fire. It's painful! It's harsh! Maybe it's personally devastating and will take years to fully recover from. We don't understand why God would do such a terrible thing!

Then the news crews show up: suddenly people are watching. They're observing right along with us. And this "haphazard" following is all part of God's plan: God gave us a platform in the midst of our tragedy and we have an underdog story to tell! We're the new poster child of the long shot, the dark horse, the chance in hell. And everybody watches as God helps us rebuild. But this time we rebuild with perspective and purpose. We now know the difference between the meaningful and the frivolous. We recognize substance, we no longer confuse it for hollow fillers. And we are FULLY AWAKE to the fact that we couldn't have made it one step away from that forest fire without Jesus, who lit a new fire within us. 

"Light yourself on fire and the world will come to watch you burn." God's perfect plan will not only bring us from point A to point B, but He'll also use our journey to impact everyone who came to watch. God's perfect plan will be a blessing to more than just ourselves. He'll use our journey as inspiration for a song, a story, a business idea, a book, or even compassion for our fellow man that we wouldn't have had without our trek.

In the end, the forest fire did what God designed it to do: it brought the forest/our lives past simply surviving to thriving!  Now isn't that perfect?!