Deep-End Discipleship

“But you aren’t self-centered. Instead you are in the Spirit, if in fact God’s Spirit lives in you. If anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, they don’t belong to him. If Christ is in you, the Spirit is your life because of God’s righteousness, but the body is dead because of sin. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your human bodies also, through his Spirit that lives in you.” Romans 8:9-11 If we live in the Spirit and the Spirit lives in us, our bodies will receive life. Christ, who lived in flesh restored it. Christ came to bring salvation and salvation is life giving! Therefore our flesh, originally made good, has been restored by the one who embodied flesh perfectly. Jesus truly was 100% divine and 100% human, and Paul does indeed affirm this. Jesus was absolutely of total humanity, but without sin. We know that we were not created sinful, and so sin is not necessary to gen...

  “ Listen, I’m telling you a secret: All of us won’t die, but we will all be changed.” - 1 Corinthians 15:51 CEB - Secrets are so great and so awful! We love to be the one with knowledge to share with someone else. But we hate to be left out of the loop. Often we are afraid that secrets shared without us are designed to hurt us or are about us or we simply do not want to be left out of the loop. Yet we can’t help but draw in close for someone whispering into our ear. Yet some secrets are so important that they need to be shared with everyone. Instead of being told in quiet corners and subtle conversations, they need to be shouted for all from the rooftops. Of all secrets the message of Jesus is needed to be told to all! Jesus lived, served, died and rose again to bring us new life. Just as Christ died, so we die to who we think we need to be and instead are allowed to be transformed into who God created us to be. Both now and forever more! The best part is t...

"For now we see in a mirror, dimly,   but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known." 1 Corinthians 13:12 I've had this song stuck in my head for a few weeks now. It's been on repeat in my mind and it goes like this; "We walk by faith and not by sight. No gracious words have we to hear from him who spoke as no 'ere spoke, but we believe him near. We may not touch his hands and side, nor follow where his feet have trod, but in his promise we rejoice and cry my Lord and my God. Help then Lord our unbelief and let now our faith abound. Let us call on thee when thou art near, and to seek where thou art found. That when our life of faith is done in realms of clearer, glorious light, we may behold you as thou art, in full and endless sight. I need no other argument, I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me." For the first 16 days of this new y...

 “ Jesus matured in wisdom and years, and in favor with God and with people." - Luke 2:52 CEB - Christmas is done and we focus so much time on little baby Jesus! We quickly skip from the baby to the adult Savior that walks on water, feeds multitudes and asks tough questions. For this reason, I love this reminder in the gospel of Luke. Jesus matured! Jesus did not just come out of the manager ready to go. The early church had a hard time canonizing stories of Jesus as an elementary aged kid or even a middle-schooler.  Any of the surviving stories pair the growing mistakes of children with the power and mystic of a God in human form. Some have Jesus using cosmic powers to prank his friends, other has Jesus creating doves out of dust. Overall they just come out feeling weird. No wonder the early church did not find them useful to put in the Bible! I like to think that this verse from Luke really connects how Jesus lived into the divine/human balance. As Jesus ...

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,     though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me     one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old,     from ancient times.” – Micah 5:2 NIV – Have you ever misjudged something or someone? There’s an expression “don’t judge a book by its cover.” It means not to assume a book is good or bad based on whether or not you like the cover. A book certainly is more than its cover. A book is full of words coming from the heart and/or mind of the author. To assume a book is good or bad based on the cover alone would be to miss out on all the book has to offer. We can do the same thing with people, places, or situations where we assume something based on what's on the "cover" but don't take the time to flip through the pages of the situation. We know Bethlehem is the city in which Jesus was born. As the prophet Micah states, Bethlehem was a sma...

“ The Lord your God is in your midst—a warrior bringing victory. He will create calm with his love; he will rejoice over you with singing.” - Zephaniah 3:17 CEB - I love getting packages! Something about even the expected order from Amazon that is sitting on your doorstep is great! I think I am joined by many, many others for whom just the sheer joy of opening a package is fun. Even if you think you know what you are getting, opening it in person is filled with just a moment of the unknown. Will it be what I think I am getting? Is it what I imagined it would look like? Do I even know or remember what this package might be? The physicality of seeing the package revealed paired with the actual moment of claiming what is yours is wonderful. Obviously this raw giving nature of Christmas taps into just this with wrapped gifts and surprises. What I think is so tricky about Christmas for us at times is that we have had to open the same package from God over and over again. “O...

Jesus and his followers came into Jericho. As Jesus was leaving Jericho, together with his disciples and a sizable crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, Timaeus’ son, was sitting beside the road. When he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was there, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, show me mercy!” Many scolded him, telling him to be quiet, but he shouted even louder, “Son of David, show me mercy!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him forward.” – Mark 10:46-49 CEB – It’s so easy to overlook the pain of others. I am in Dallas several times a week for seminary and will inevitably see the homeless individuals panhandling on the road seeking help and resources. People will debate what is the best way to help these individuals, but the majority of people will do nothing. There may be different reasons a person has to keep driving and do nothing, but it doesn’t change that these people on the fringes of society are often overlooked. When we can keep driving past someone’s pain ...

“Also, let’s hold on to the confession since we have a great high priest who passed through the heavens, who is Jesus, God’s Son; because we don’t have a high priest who can’t sympathize with our weaknesses but instead one who was tempted in every way that we are, except without sin.” Hebrews 4:14-15 It’s really easy to feel alone. When life gets stressful, when friends do hurtful things, when getting a “good” grade seems like an impossible task, it may feel like no one is there. You may think that no one could possibly understand what it’s like to be you right now. Even more so, you may wonder how in the world Jesus, the Savior of the World, the Son of God, could possibly understand how hard life is for you right now. But the coolest thing is that Jesus total understands. Jesus was 100% human, which means he experienced life in full, just as you do. Jesus knows what it’s like to have friends turn their backs on him. He absolutely understands what it’s lik...

“I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from this world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.   This is because I gave them the words that you gave me, and they received them. They truly understood that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I’m praying for them. I’m not praying for the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours.   Everything that is mine is yours and everything that is yours is mine; I have been glorified in them.” - John 17:6-10 CEB You know those phrases that are natural responses in conversations? Things like, “okay, love you, bye” or, “talk to you later”  are things that we say without even thinking about it. It’s these phrases that we have become so comfortable with so they just roll off the tongue. I also think that the phrase, “I’ll be praying for you” is something that we say without really thinking a...

  “ You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you could go and produce fruit and so that your fruit could last. As a result, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.” - John 15:16 CEB -  If you could ask God just one questions, what would it be? People have pondered such a question for ages. Do we dare ask God anything at all? What should we ask God for? Or maybe it’s the complete opposite. Instead of being timid to ask, there is something burning in us that must come out. What in the deepest parts of us must we ask God for? What question echoes in us that we feel only God is qualified to answer? Often we hear the back part of this verse – whatever you ask God, God will give you. And how many times this feels the opposite of our experience. We all know what is like to shout what seems meaninglessly to God.   What we think we know about God differs from what we are experiencing. What we try to ask God for in fact doe...

The Lord said to Moses, "Make a poisonous snake and place it on a pole. Whoever is bitten can look at it and live." - Numbers 21:8 (CEB) -  When my neighbor was fifteen years old, she decided that she needed a pet snake. At first I was skeptical of my friend’s new pet, but to my surprise I learned that there is such a thing as a sweet snake. This snake, named Draco, loved people, sunshine, and tasty mice. Draco taught me that not all snakes are scary! However, it would be foolish of me to think that all snakes are nice. For instance, the snakes seen in this story in Numbers are not nice snakes. These are quite terrifying. The Israelites are in the middle of their forty years of wandering in the wilderness because of their sin and lack of faith in God. In the midst of their wandering, the Israelites sin again. The Lord sent poisonous snakes into the camp of the Israelites. The poisonous snakes did their job: the people realized they had sinned. They turned to...

After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galille announcing God's good news, saying, "Now is the time! Here comes God's kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!" - Mark 1:14-15 (CEB) - I love stories fantasy fiction stories. I love the adventure, the lessons learned, and the incredible creatures. My favorite mythical creature is the Phoenix. The Phoenix is a huge magnificent bird of red, orange, and yellow colors. At the end of their life, they burst into flames and disintegrate into ash. Soon after, the Phoenix is reborn from the ash and begins life again. Even though the Phoenix is mythical, I think it is a symbol that represents a great degree of truth in life. In Mark 1:14-15, we see the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and the end of John the Baptist’s. John prepared the way for Jesus and called people to repent and be baptized. John’s ministry ended by being arrested by Herod and later put to death. Even from this tragic end, t...