Christianity – PJ's Monday Musings

When what you are looking for feels like a never-ending game of “hide & seek”

Presence and Power.

For me, those two words are the simplest and strongest daily reminder of my need for God…for His everyday presence and power in my life.

Over and over again in 2020 (and now 2021), I have witnessed God’s presence and power both in big, headline-grabbing ways and in small, more subtle (and personal) ways.

Over and over again, I have experienced His presence and power in the form of things that we all need, but can’t seem to find in anything (or anyone) else.

Here’s just the beginning of a list of things that we all need and are looking for right now…

We all need hope…and He is the God of hope. (Romans 15:13)

We all need peace…and He is the God of peace. (Philippians 4:6-7)

We all need comfort…and He is the God of all comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

We all need grace…and He is the God of grace. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

We all need wisdom…and He is the God of wisdom. (James 1:5-8)

We all need love…and He is the God of love. (1 John 4:7-8)

We all need strength…and He is the God of strength. (2 Corinthians 12:8-10)

I could go on, but the point I’m trying to make is this…

God’s everyday presence and power is real and we all need it.

Just stop for a second and think of all the ways we’ve been looking for these things outside of God just in the last twelve months…

We’ve looked for hope in our government.

We’ve looked for peace in our coping mechanisms.

We’ve looked for comfort in our personal idols.

We’ve looked for grace in our relationships with those who disagree with us.

We’ve looked for wisdom in our memes and social media feeds.

We’ve looked for love in our love of self.

We’ve looked for strength in our individualism and independence.

The bottom line in all of this is that when we look for these things outside of the everyday power and presence of God, we will never find what we are looking for.

And, our lives end up being like a never-ending game of “hide & seek.”

God’s everyday presence and power is real…

It’s real in the form of hope, peace, comfort, grace, wisdom, love, strength, and so much more.

What do you need today…what do we all need today?

You need God’s presence and power…and He’s not hard to find.

You just have to look in the right places.

“Seek the LORD while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near.” (Isaiah 55:6)

“¹²In those days when you pray, I will listen. ¹³If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. ¹⁴I will be found by you,” says the Lord. (Jeremiah 29:12-14a)

Monday Musings: where are your questions leading you?

Ah Monday morning…

So much is swirling around in my head right now as I try to focus on one thing to write about…to muse on.

I give up.

There’s just too many questions to focus on just one…

What is truth…or true when I turn on the news or scroll through my social media feeds or talk to my neighbor down the street?

What is normal…is it really just going back to the “good ol'” days of 2019?

What is freedom…is the freedom we really want tied to politics, religion, or personal preference (or is it all of the above)?

When will this pandemic go away?

When will people learn to disagree without making the people they disagree with their enemy?

When will I be able to work in a coffee shop again? (okay, maybe that’s not as big of a question as the rest, but I’m still asking it)

What will the people living in 2070 say about the people living in 2020?

When is Jesus coming back?

What are we as Christians supposed to be learning from the coronavirus, the recent elections, and anything and everything else that’s creating division in our country?

What is God thinking right now?

Does He have a plan or an end game for all of this?

Are we living in an intense (and in some ways, unprecedented) season of suffering as Christians in America or is it discipline…or both?

Is God pulling out the weeds right now…or is Satan sifting us like wheat?

You see, I’ve got lots of questions with no easy or clear answers…and I’m guessing that you do to.

And we both have to choose where those questions will ultimately lead us.

This morning, these questions led me to Romans 11, where Paul says…

³³Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!

³⁴For who can know the Lord’s thoughts?
Who knows enough to give him advice?
³⁵And who has given him so much
that he needs to pay it back?

³⁶For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.

The truth is, I may never understand the answers to all my questions…

But, I know a God who does.

And that is good enough for me on a Monday morning.

Attitude Check: what our attitudes are really telling people right now

Attitude.

Been thinking a little bit about that word lately.

So last week, I decided to type in “attitude quotes” into my Google search bar to learn a little bit about people’s perceptions of “attitude” and how it impacts our lives.

“Attitude is everything,” is one of the more common viewpoints out there. And, even though it’s kind of an oversimplification of how our attitudes impact our lives, there’s a lot of truth in that statement.

Our attitudes really do impact not just our lives, but the lives of those around us. Two historical figures have summed it up this way…

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” – Winston Churchill
“Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.” – Albert Einstein

Turns out that our attitudes matter…a lot.

Especially as Christians.

It was Paul who wrote in Philippians 2:5…

“You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.”

If you go back and read verses 1-4 of that chapter, you’ll find examples of what having a Jesus’ attitude looks like. Paul says things like…

Stop being selfish (v3)

Stop trying to impress people (v3)

Be humble (v3)

Start thinking of others as better than yourself (v3)

Stop being proud (basically all of verse 3)

Stop doing only what’s best for you (v4)

Start paying more attention to the interests of others (v4)

Okay, so here’s the deal.

Our attitudes as Christians matter…A LOT.

The people around us (think your family, neighbors, coworkers, friends, etc.) are learning from us. Among other things, they are learning how we react and respond to the things going on around us (good and bad)…in our communities, in our nation, and in our world.

And, our attitudes (and the reactions that go with them) are giving people either a good and positive view of who Jesus is or one that makes Jesus look petty, selfish, arrogant, and condescending.

Clearly, these are difficult, divided days that we are all living in.

Right now, the division and disagreements we have are centered primarily on politics, race, COVID-19, and the economy.

But, even if/when these issues fade away or get resolved, there will be other things for us to divide and fight over. And the people around you will always be looking to you to see how you react and respond to them.

So, ask yourself, what is your attitude telling people right now?

Is your attitude helping people see what having a Jesus’ attitude looks like?

Are you pointing people to Jesus these days or are you just pointing fingers?

Attitude may not be everything, but our attitudes as Christians say a lot.

May we be a people who have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had and consistently point people to Him.

Even when…especially when…it’s hard.

We are all image-bearers…and why that matters in a divided country.

Divided.

In last week’s Monday Musings’ post, I suggested that that will be the one word that best describes the year 2021…

But, it doesn’t have to be that way.

We now enter a week that started yesterday with churches all across the country pausing to recognize “Sanctity of Life” Sunday.

Today, as I write, many people in our country are pausing to remember the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

And, just two days from now, our country will inaugurate a new president and vice president to lead us for the next four years.

Depending on things like your race, politics, religion, socio-economic status, and even family background, each of these days probably mean something different to you.

And, because of this, these days (and this week) may end up only highlighting the division that you already sense and feel in your heart toward those who think or look or act differently than you.

But, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Because, regardless of all that divides us, we all have one thing in common.

We are all image-bearers.

All of us have been created in the image of God.

From the moment of conception, we are His image-bearers.

Whatever the color of our skin, we are His image-bearers.

Whatever our political or socio-economic status, we are His image-bearers.

Whatever our religious beliefs (or even lack of them), we are His image-bearers.

Whatever our family background and history, we are His image-bearers.

We could go on, but the point is this…

We are all born image-bearers of our Creator God.

But, we are also all born broken image-bearers in need of a Savior.

The good news is that God knows that and sent His Son into the world to save us…to redeem us in our brokenness and to give us life to the full. (John 3:16-17 & John 10:10)

The bad news is that the devil knows that too and is doing all that he can to steal and kill and destroy the lives of God’s image-bearers. (John 10:10)

Behind all that divides us in 2021 is a battle far greater than the one’s we wage over race, religion, politics, or anything else.

As Paul says in Ephesians 6:12, this battle is not “against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

We live in a culture right now that has convinced us that those who don’t agree with us are our enemies.

(The polarization and division we see/feel in our country is a product of that).

But this week, I am reminded again that the real enemy of all of us isn’t walking around in human skin.

The real enemy of all of us is the one who has convinced us that it is okay to steal and kill and destroy the life of the unborn image-bearer.

The real enemy of all of us is the one who has convinced us that it is okay to steal and kill and destroy the dignity of another image-bearer simply based on the color of their skin.

And, the real enemy of all of us is the one who has convinced us that it is okay to hate other image-bearers just because they think or act or look differently than we do.

The truth is, we are a divided, image-bearing people.

And, if there was ever a time (and a week) where we need to put into practice the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:44, this is it.

May we be image-bearers who don’t just love the image-bearers that love us back.

And, may we also be image-bearers that are always pointing other image-bearers to Jesus.

⁴³“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. ⁴⁴But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! ⁴⁵In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. ⁴⁶If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. ⁴⁷If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. ⁴⁸But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Jesus in Matthew 5:43-48)

Monday Musings: An Inauguration Day Perspective from Jeremiah 17

Inauguration Day is coming soon here in America.

And that’s good news for some and bad news for others (depending on your point of view).

If the one word that best described 2020 was “angst,” it seems like the one word to best describe 2021 will be “divided.”

Nowhere has that been seen more clearly recently than in politics, but the reality is, we are a divided people in many ways…politics yes.

And…also things like religion, race, gender, and economics (just to name a few).

Not to mention all of the things we argue and debate and divide over on social media…but that list would be too long to include here.

(And probably too divisive…)

In all of these things, it’s easy to justify our own opinions and belittle or even condemn the opinions of others.

It’s easy to “throw hands” on our social media feeds as we debate and argue and unfriend each other over whatever argument we believe is worth fighting for (and losing friends over).

It’s even easy to sit back and say/do nothing…to choose to not engage with the debates on any level.

But we don’t always do that with the purest motives either.

In times like these, we all need wisdom from the LORD.

So, whatever your opinion is of our country right now…

Whether you are looking at Inauguration Day as a fresh start or the beginning of the end…

As the product of an ongoing conspiracy or the voice of the people…

Regardless of your stance on anything political, hear these words from Jeremiah 17…

This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
    who rely on human strength
    and turn their hearts away from the Lord.
⁶They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,
    with no hope for the future.
They will live in the barren wilderness,
    in an uninhabited salty land.

⁷“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
    and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
⁸They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
    with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
    or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
    and they never stop producing fruit.

⁹“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
    and desperately wicked.
    Who really knows how bad it is?
¹⁰But I, the Lord, search all hearts
    and examine secret motives.
I give all people their due rewards,
    according to what their actions deserve.”

In a country that is clearly divided right now on so many levels, we need to remember that our trust cannot be in mere humans (v5).

But rather, our trust must always be in the LORD…our hope and our confidence must come from Him (v7).

Why?

Because when we choose to put our trust in men, our hope is misplaced at best and will ultimately ruin us (v6).

Because it is the LORD who searches all hearts and examines secret motives…

He is the only One with the power and authority to give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve (v10).

And, this is true for everyone.

For the media.

For the politicians.

For the protestors and anti-protestors.

For me and you.

May we all be a people who trust in the LORD in 2021.

May our hope and our confidence come from Him and Him alone on this upcoming Inauguration Day.

And, may we never stop producing the kind of fruit that will last far beyond the kingdoms and political powers in place in 2021 and beyond.

Monday Musings: when personal comfort and safety become idols

Comfort and safety.

Let’s all admit that we’re creatures of both.

We live in a culture where a person’s comfort and safety is seen as an inalienable right…something worth fighting for even.

At the core of every person’s views on life, religion, politics, money, relationships and everything else is a deep-down desire for their own personal comfort and safety.

And, unfortunately, this desire has seeped its way into the Church.

We idolize comfort and safety just like everyone else.

We make choices everyday based on how comfortable or safe that choice will make us feel.

At the core of religious consumerism and the “Christian ghettos” we choose to inhabit is our deep-down desire for our own personal comfort and safety.

And, the problem with that is this…

We’re actually surprised when we have to face hard things.

We’re surprised that we might actually have to take risks or to suffer as Christians…either because of our faith or simply because of the fact that we live in a world that is horribly broken by sin.

And, so we end up living risk-averse, low-impact spiritual lives in a world that desperately needs us to “turn from our selfish ways, take up our cross daily, and follow Jesus.” (Luke 9:23)

When pursuing our own comfort and safety become the driving force behind the everyday decisions that we make, we eventually become spiritually impotent people who spend more time whining and complaining about the evils of our culture instead of looking for ways to transform it.

It’s almost as if we’re surprised by the fact that it might be hard, unfair, risky, or uncomfortable to live as Christians in a God-less society.

But, the reality is we shouldn’t be surprised at all.

Suffering is part of the deal of following Jesus…our own personal comfort and safety is not.

We know this is true because Jesus said it is, and His life on earth backed it up…He really was a “suffering servant.”

It was Jesus who said, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But, take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

We know this is true because Jesus’ first followers said it too, and they also went out and backed up their words with actions.

It was Peter who said…

“Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world. So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.” (1 Peter 4:12-13 & 19)

As we continue to face trials and suffering in this world, may we be a people who suffer well…in a manner that pleases God.

May we be a people who keep on doing what is right even when it requires us to get out of our comfort zones, take risks, and do hard things.

And, may we do these things trusting our lives to the God who created us, always remembering that He will never fail us or abandon us.

Monday Musings: what God says to you in your angst

Angst.

If I had to choose one word to describe the general feeling of 2020, that’d probably be it. Everyone’s feeling a bit angsty these days.

Apparently, it’s not just a teenage thing.

Angst is nothing new…

Remember the story of the people of Israel escaping Egypt? It started with Moses versus Pharoah’s magicians in an epic battle of plagues…and ended with the people’s ultimate escape through the Red Sea.

What you might not remember is that God’s people got a little angsty before they crossed that sea.

You can read about their angst in Exodus 14:10-12, but all you really need to know right now is this:

When the people of Israel saw Pharoah and his army chasing after them, they went into full panic mode.

They freaked out.

And, they went on a little tantrum where they whined and complained to Moses about how terrible they knew life in the wilderness was going to be.

(So yeah…angst is nothing new.)

Now, Moses could have reacted in lots of different angsty ways himself.

But, he didn’t.

In fact, this is what he said…

“Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the LORD rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The LORD himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” (Exodus 14:13-14)

Now, let’s fast-forward to 2020.

If there was ever a year that we all needed to hear a word like that from God, it’s this one.

We might have different reasons for our angst…our personal health, the economy, online everything, government restrictions, the election, politics in general, fear, family dysfunction, work stress, the “new normal,” and whatever else is causing you angst these days.

And, in the midst of all that angst, God is saying you…

Don’t be afraid.

Be still.

I will rescue you.

I will fight for you.

Just stay calm.

The question is…do you believe Him? Are you trusting Him?

At the heart of a trusting relationship with God is the confidence that He can overcome all of your deepest panics, anxieties, worries, and fears.

So, this week you have a choice to make.

Will you let your angst get the best of you…or will you trust the LORD to help you overcome it?

May these words from Psalm 46 encourage you to “be still, and know” the God who is just as present and powerful in your angst today as He was back in the wilderness with the people of Israel…

Come, see the glorious works of the Lord:
See how he brings destruction upon the world.
He causes wars to end throughout the earth.
He breaks the bow and snaps the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.

“Be still, and know that I am God!
I will be honored by every nation.
I will be honored throughout the world.”

The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us;
the God of Israel is our fortress.

Monday Musings: an election week perspective

I voted…

And I hope you did too.

The right to vote is something that we should never take for granted here in America…especially when you consider the millions of people who live in countries where those rights either don’t exist or are unfairly undermined.

Much has already been written and posted about this election, and the last thing I want to do is add to the noise.

But, I do want to say this…

As Christians, we need to be careful where we put our ultimate hope and allegiance on this earth.

The psalmist perhaps said it best in Psalm 118:8-9, when he wrote… “It is better to take refuge in the LORD, than to trust in people. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.“

There is much at stake in this election…we all know that. But, we all need to be careful that we don’t put our ultimate hope in man to remedy the ills of our nation.

God is the One who “controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings.” (Daniel 2:21)

God is the One who gives authority to man to govern and places them in positions of authority to serve. (Romans 13:1 & 4)

And, God is the One who is giving us a Kingdom that is unshakeable. He is the One who will shake all of creation so that only unshakeable things will remain. (Hebrews 12:27-28)

Sadly, the magnitude of this election has made patriotic fervor and nationalism idols for many Christians.

We are putting too much of our hope in shakeable things.

And, we all need to be careful.

I am thankful to live in a country where I can vote…where my voice can be heard and counted.

But, I am even more thankful that this country is not my forever home. I am thankful along with many others who have gone before us that we are all “foreigners and nomads here on earth.” (Hebrews 11:13)

So, by all means, vote. I hope you did.

But, I also hope that you did so with these words from Psalm 146 in mind…

Psalm 146

¹Praise the Lord!

Let all that I am praise the Lord.
² I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.

³Don’t put your confidence in powerful people;
    there is no help for you there.
⁴When they breathe their last, they return to the earth,
    and all their plans die with them.
⁵But joyful are those who have the God of Israel^[a] as their helper,
    whose hope is in the Lord their God.
⁶He made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and everything in them.
    He keeps every promise forever.
⁷He gives justice to the oppressed
    and food to the hungry.
The Lord frees the prisoners.
⁸    The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.
    The Lord loves the godly.
⁹The Lord protects the foreigners among us.
    He cares for the orphans and widows,
    but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.

¹⁰The Lord will reign forever.
He will be your God, O Jerusalem,^[b] throughout the generations.

Praise the Lord!

Monday Musings: the urgency we need in 2020

Urgency.

I think we get what it means to live with a sense of urgency right now…at least with some things. Like…

We have a sense of urgency for schools to open back up again IN PERSON.

We have a sense of urgency for the outcome of the upcoming elections.

We have a sense of urgency for more local businesses to stay open.

We have a sense of urgency for all kinds of major cultural issues of our day…everything from abortion to racial discrimination to political and social divisiveness.

Not to mention that we live every day with the urgent feeling that our lives would just go back to normal.

You’re feeling that right now, right?

I think we all are.

We all get the concept of living these days with urgency.

But I’m not so sure that we get it where it matters the most.

Because, while all of the things that I just listed are important and are getting a lot of the attention and angst in our culture and communities these days, none of them address our most basic problem.

The problem of our everyday sins…

Both the obvious ones that are clearly seen and the hidden ones that we do our best to hide.

Both the sins that we commit intentionally and the ones we commit unintentionally.

On our best days, we confess our everyday sins to God and sense the urgency of killing them.

We become what we are…a new creation in Christ.

But, on our worst days, we tolerate or excuse or even ignore our everyday sins and have no real urgency to do anything about them.

And, the danger is that we end up slowly becoming cultural Christians who live our everyday lives more and more like the culture around us and less and less like the God who lives in us.

Instead of becoming what we are, we act like who we were without any real sense of urgency to change.

We get lazy in our everyday faith, while we play the waiting game for things to go back to “normal” or for Jesus to come back and get us out of here.

We forget that the ultimate goal of being a Christian is not just to spend eternity in heaven with God in the future, it’s to become more and more like Him in the everyday now.

And, in order for that to happen, we need to live with the right kind of urgency.

We need to live with the urgency for constant renewal and refreshing.

We need to live with the urgency to pursue God every day, growing in our knowledge of Him.

We need to live with the urgency and understanding that our everyday sin is not something to be excused or tolerated or ignored.

We need to listen to Paul’s words in Romans 8:12-14, when he says…

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.

The bottom line is…if you are not pursuing God every day, you are pursuing death.

Think about it this way…

When you get up in the morning, and you open up your computer…maybe you’re like me, and you’ve left a bunch of tabs open.

So, you go to your Facebook tab or your daily news tab…and you find yourself staring at yesterday’s news.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

You hit the refresh button…and that is exactly what we need to do as Christians every day if we want to become what we are.

We need to be renewed and refreshed every day so that we become increasingly like Christ and decreasingly like who we were the day before.

Every day is an opportunity for us to say the old me is gone, and the new me is here.

Every day is an opportunity for us to live with the kind of urgency that seeks to kill the sin inside of us and become who we are in Christ.

And, that’s the kind of urgency we all need to live with now in 2020…and beyond.

Monday Musings from Colossians 3: We are what we wear

Remember the TLC show What Not to Wear?

The basic premise of the show is that people would nominate their friends to go through a clothing makeover with two fashionistas in a one hour episode for all the world to see.

To be fair, in order to be nominated, you had to have a pretty poor taste in clothing. But, you also had to be willing to listen and take the advice of show’s two “clothing experts” who would literally start by going through your closets and getting rid of most (if not all) of your wardrobe.

Watching the whole process unfold on TV was interesting. People clearly had their favorite sweaters and outfits (for example), and were reluctant to get rid of them. Sometimes, it was clearly painful for them to let them go.

But, they needed to.

They needed to let go of their old wardrobe if they wanted a new one.

And that got me thinking…

What if there was an episode of What Not to Wear based on Colossians 3 and we were all in it?

What if God went through our closets, looking for things that we needed to let go of?

What would He find lurking in our spiritual closets?

In Colossians 3:5-9, Paul gives us a partial list of things God might find…

Sexual immorality.

Lust.

Greed.

Anger.

Slander.

Dirty language.

Lying…

Just to name a few.

The bottom line is that these things don’t look good on us when we wear them. They are all part of our “old nature,” which Paul says we have “stripped off.” (Colossians 3:9)

The truth is, we all need a spiritual clothing makeover.

Because, to the people around us, we are what we wear.

So, we need to go through our spiritual closets and allow God to get rid of anything in them that doesn’t look like Him.

And, we also need to “put on our new nature, and be renewed as we learn to know our Creator and become like him.” (v.10)

We need to “clothe ourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience…and love.” (v.12 & 14)

Honestly, this can be a painful process, and it doesn’t happen in a neat and tidy one hour episode of our lives.

But, it needs to happen…because people are watching.

May God give you the strength and humility to go through your spiritual closets with Him today.

And, may what we wear point others to Him.