I think I need to clarify some more. I need to build on what was in yesterday’s discussion. The discussion was in regard to not judging–finding no condemnation. What does that look like?

The church should be a place of refuge. It should be a place filled with people who are filled with the love of Christ, the One who did not judge others nor find condemnation in their past. Jesus looked at those with the dark past, the skeleton in the closet, and found–get this–compassion.

He looked at them and saw what they could be, not where they were. He saw them as people, not a statistic, not as a project, not as a charity, and not as a ministry!

Is it that way today? Don’t we have a tendency to label more than we love? We have to change. We have to look beyond what is face value. We have to look beyond the person’s past and see THE PERSON!

What would it take to see beyond the man’s adultery? To see the woman and not the pregnancy or the abortion? Even as you read those three words, your mind and emotions reacted. Something came to your mind. The question though, is what is your answer? When faced with that moment, what would you say? Could you show love the way that we are called to love? Could you look at him and offer him the friendship he needs? Could you look at her and see the pain she carries through your own opinions? Her hurt goes so much deeper than any pity you may have. Jesus knew that.

In Romans 8, we have a great example.

Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
 4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

 6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

 9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

 11 “No, Lord,” she said.

   And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

It’s obvious, but it’s also not that easy, is it? It is time to go a little deeper.

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There’s a problem. There’s something that keeps rearing its ugly head, and we have to do something about it. Now that the political fires are starting to burn brightly, we have to do something with more urgency. Once the news and talking heads begin to spout out their opinions, it may be too late.

Judgment. Condemnation. It will all come out, disguised in a political opinion, cloaked in media spin, and hidden in concern. Either way, it will come across as just opinion, but it is what it is. Judgment. Condemnation. That’s the furthest thing from what we are called to be as Christians.

In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul first addressed the fact that we are, at our best, still floundering, still fighting to live better. We still struggle with sin, and doing things that we know we shouldn’t.

I decided to use The Message version for these verses, because I wanted to make sure I was speaking plainly in this. So, at the end of Romans, in chapter 7: 17-23, Paul says

“But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.
21-23It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.”

It’s not that we look at people and purposefully try to see all their failures, but in fact, we probably look to see if they have the same failures we have. Society in general has a tendency to lift people onto pedestals only to try to knock them off of it. We slay the very heroes we create.

In Romans 8, Paul continues with the explanation of how we have escaped that guilt of failure.

1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.

When we becomes Christians, we are freed from the condemnation that comes with the failure in our lives. More importantly, it frees us from seeking the condemnation in others’ failures, slip ups, indiscretions, and moments of weakness and heartbreak. It means that we, as Christians, are supposed to be like Christ, thus the name. If we are who we are called to be, then we are not judgmental or critical, because Jesus wasn’t.

Jesus chose imperfection. When He chose those who would be closest to Him, those who would live life with Him, He chose those who were, get this, normal! He chose imperfection.

When Jesus addressed those that would be the easiest targets of criticism and judgment, He never did. In fact, He did the opposite. He showed compassion. He showed His love.

Where do you stand? Do you struggle with judgmental thoughts? It’s easy to do so. But, you have help. You have opportunity to make a difference. You have all that you need to make the change. And with the upcoming political season, we’ll need all the help we can get.

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It has been a while since my last blog. But, new ones are coming soon I promise! We moved, and our Internet provider has been a bit slow in connecting our service!

Until then, I leave you with a thought from this morning’s reading:
1 Peter 4:8-9

“8 Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.”

There is a stirring around the world right now, and we are under the microscope lenses of the world. Let them see also our great love for each other, even as we celebrate the death of one who killed so many. We will be tested. We, as Christians, will be judged, ridiculed, and mocked. But, Peter tells us that’s not really a problem.

Verse 14 says it this way:

“14 So be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you.”

If that’s what happens, then I can take the insults.

Be prepared my friends. This is a pivotal time.

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It’s been a year. Is that even possible? A year ago today, my wife lost her daddy, my kids lost their PaPa, my family lost a love, and I lost a man that I truly loved to sit and talk to, laugh with, and hear the stories he told. Rick, we miss you.

A year has passed, but the air still seems strange. It still doesn’t make sense that we can’t call him, tell him a joke, or go see him. It won’t seem right for a long, long time. Sure, we know that ultimately, his life is so much better than ours right now. He’s with the King, doing all those things that he wished he could do here. My sister-in-law Amy put it this way:

“Dad’s been hanging out with Grandma and Jesus for one year today. I picture him on a huge lake, on a pontoon boat, fishing and drinking ice tea. He has no more back pain and no more heart trouble. He is young, healthy and happier than he has ever been.”

I love that scene. I think he is out there, fishing, talking to Jesus who is fishing from the same boat. It’s an awesome thought.

Here’s one other thing I have figured out in the year since. I never got to meet Grandma, but knowing what kind of impact she had on my wife, and the impact Rick had on them, it makes me truly wish I had known them earlier. I love to hear the stories about both of them. I can only say that these two were not just relatives, these were two people who had the hearts of others in mind. Their love and legacy still lives on.

Rick was the only one I knew to call for car problems. As many as we’ve had in the last few months, I’ve really needed some advice. Rick was the expert in all things Papillion (pap-ee-on). If you needed to know where a great place was for ice tea, he could get you there. If you wanted to talk about most anything, he could talk, ask questions, and be in the conversation with you.

If you needed the shirt off his back, he would gladly give it.

Why do I remember these things? It’s the time. The time he took to make sure that we knew these things. He was never too busy for any of it; to talk, to talk cars, to drink tea, to raise dogs, to care, or to give.

Here’s what’s even more remarkable. He managed to bring that out in those around him. My wife is Rick. She has so much of that same person in her. She is caring, will stop and talk, will get you where you need to go; and though she can’t work on cars, she will give you the shirt…from the little time that I got to spend with him; she is her dad.

Rick, we still miss you. That won’t change. We do rejoice in your new life, new body, and new abilities. We know you do not suffer, you do not hurt, and for that we are grateful.

 Phillipians 2:3-4 describes Rick perfectly.
 “3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.”

That’s him. We miss you, Rick.

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  Sacrifice is defined as the giving up of something valuable for something we believe to be of higher value or importance. In other words, we will give up something, even if we love it, if we believe that we are giving it up for something better, or for something we consider to be worth it. I think the key here is that we give up something of value to us. A sacrifice doesn’t involve giving up something that we wouldn’t miss, or would at least have an impact of some kind by surrendering it.

There are things that we sacrifice that should not be sacrificed, though. We give to things that have less value than that which we are giving. What does that look like? It’s the extra time at work instead of home with those we love. It’s the time in the TV instead of with our kids. It is a beautiful Saturday spent doing the things we should have done during the week instead of investing in our wife or husband. Where we choose to make our sacrifices say a lot about us, and about what we believe to have more value. The question is, what message are we sending?

What about our money? “Uh oh, time to stop reading I guess.” No, stay with me. What kind of sacrifices do we make with our money? Don’t get me wrong, I know that the last few years have been pretty rough. Believe me, if anyone understands, I do. But, I have also had the chance to see God do amazing things in the last year that have strengthened my faith. I’ve seen Him provide where there was no other provision. Part of that was because of a decision my wife and I made regarding tithing. Now, she has always been a giver, and has always had the heart for tithing. I was a harder sell. With the times the way they were, and with our income cut so drastically, I didn’t think we could afford to tithe. What I hadn’t realized was that we couldn’t afford not to.

Time after time, we saw God give back. I saw His provision when there was no provision elsewhere to be found. It was honestly a time of complete dependence. If we received money, it was clearly from Him, and so, we returned it. When we did, He blessed us. We gave more when we had less. It was the opposite of what we could call natural thinking. There was a time when we made significantly more money, and gave basically nothing back to Him. And then, the Lord “taketh away.” He taught us that He could do more with what we sacrificed, or what we gave sacrificially than what we could do on our own.

It led me to think of Isaiah 55:8, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” This has been proven so true! Only God can take less and do more. Only God can do what we see as impossible. Only He can take a few fish a couple loaves of bread and feed thousands of people. His ways are so, so much higher than mine!

So, back to the original point. What is our sacrifice now? In Luke 21, we read about a woman who made a sacrifice that to others probably seemed small. Jesus, however, knew her heart, her situation, and what type of sacrifice it was for her. 

1 While Jesus was in the temple, He watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. 2 Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. 3 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor woman has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny portion of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.” 

 Please notice, this is not an indictment against those who are “rich” or financially blessed. What Jesus was taking note of was the sacrifice involved in what was being given. He addressed the sacrifice (or lack of) that they made. To them that could have given more, they didn’t. To the woman who could not have given more, she gave it all. Jesus made it a point to address this.

When God looks at what I give, when He looks at what you give, does He see sacrifice? Or, does He see the wrong sacrifice in the wrong areas of your life? Do you sacrifice time with the family? Do you sacrifice things that are far more worthy than what you are dedicating yourself to? Is the sacrifice you are giving an actual sacrifice? You have to truly look at it for what it’s worth.

  Prayer

“Heavenly Father, Lord, Jesus, Abba, help me to search my heart. Help me to see the areas in which I am not sacrificing the way You have called me to sacrifice. Show me where I am sacrificing the wrong things, and where I am, show me how to change it then give me the strength and willpower to change it. Help me to have a giving heart. If a sacrifice is something that is of worth, then I want to give my best to you. Show me what that looks like. Show me what You want from me. I want only what You want. In Your holy, precious name, Jesus, Amen.”

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