Who among us is a big stinkin' failure?

I’ve been a little unfocused lately… a little out of my game… Come to think of it, every time that I turn around, I seem to find myself coming up short, failing at something or other on a daily basis. You might say it’s become a bit of a routine. Why can’t I be consistent in my Scripture study? Why do I find it so incredibly hard to get alone, be still and just be in conversation with God? Why do I find it so difficult to be sacrificial with my time? Will I never be able to put my wife’s needs and desires before my own without her having to tell me? WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?! Probably the same thing that was wrong with Simon Peter. I’m a miserable failure.

Peter was as impulsive and enthusiastic as a follower of Jesus could get. But when Jesus informed the Twelve that each one of them would abandon Him, Peter’s reaction was, “Jesus, I don’t care what you say, there is NO WAY that I will abandon you! I’ll go wherever you go even if I have to die!” Jesus turned to Peter and said, “I tell you the truth Peter, that tonight, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!” Sure enough, soon after Jesus was arrested and put on trial, Peter denied even knowing Jesus not once, not twice, but thrice. Despite his best intentions, Peter failed Jesus. Kind of reminds me of myself.

I could stop right there, but the incredible thing is… That’s not the end of the story! Three days later, after a long night fishing, the disciples spotted Jesus walking along the shore. Peter jumps out of the boat into the water and swims to the shore to be welcomed by the God whom he had failed so miserably! That’s the hope that we have today. We have the unchangeable promise of an unchangeable God of grace who knows every disgusting thing about us and yet holds us in the midst of our failures. He already knows us and yet he’s calling us deeper in to service and relationship with Himself. We may be failures, but we are victorious failures!

“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.” –Ephesians 1:18-20

Fiction family

I was watching an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond last night (a show I never really appreciated until I was married). The episode, as usual, revolved around Ray, his wife Debra, his brother Robert and their meddling parents Frank and Marie. After Ray’s 11-year old daughter Ally asked her father, “If everybody goes to heaven, why does God put us on earth?,” hilarity ensues as the five “adults” ponder over the meaning of life. Of course, God tells us in the Bible that the only road to salvation for any of us is through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Sitting on the sofa, watching this fictional conversation take place on our television, I became sad at how hopeless and ultimately meaningless a life outside of Jesus is. This was by no means a new revelation to me, but in that moment, I found God reminding me that I was created to know Him, to love Him, to experience His love.

It is only through actively seeking Jesus that we come to experience life in the fullest (“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”—John 10:10). Are you knowing Jesus? Not just knowing about Him, but intimately KNOWING Him?

Ought three

A new year begins. Who notices? Besides the brief excitement during the few minutes following the stroke of midnight at the end of December 31st, what difference does it make? Sure we’ll make plenty of New Year’s “resolutions”… Promise ourselves to do or not do a lot of things that we’ll do plenty of regardless. It’s a chance to put a past behind us that will catch up with us anyhow. It means that we’ve got three hundred and sixty-some-odd days to start planning next year’s Christmas festivities. What difference does a new year make really except that it adds another year to our lives?

The difference is that we are loved by a Creator who incredibly unchanging. He remains the same this year as he did the year before and the years ahead of us. He doesn’t need a new year to start something new in our lives. He calls us NOW! Jesus approached Peter, Andrew, James and John, four men whose very livelihood existed in the fact that they were fishermen. Jesus approached them saying “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men” (Mark 1:16-20). He didn’t say, “Go get yourselves clean, get right with God and then, a year from now, maybe you’ll be ready for what I’ve got for you.” No sir! Jesus approached them and said, “Right here! Right now! When the only thing you know is being fishermen, I want you to drop your nets and follow me! I’ve got something bigger and better for you. I’m gonna change your life and build my Kingdom through you!” We don’t need a new year to get our lives clean brothers and sisters! We are LOVED by the Lord of the universe who approaches us in all of our filth and wretchedness and says, “Follow me. I’ve got somethin’ better for you.”

Shalom.