Guilty.... The Judas Doctrine

　

     For 2000 years now the world has sought to place the blame of Christ's death upon individual people or groups of people. Some in the Christian community place the blame upon the Jewish people, after all it was the Jewish leadership that attempted and succeeded in setting him up. Others want to blame the Romans, and convict the whole Gentile group of peoples. Then we have some that just break it down to individual persons that led Christ to the slaughter. We have Judas, the trusted disciple, that sold him out for money; Pilot that had the power and authority to let an obviously innocent man go free; or even just Caiphus, who's jealousy sought to destroy a threat to his way of life. But who was really to blame?
     One of the clear revelations that I had to face in my walk through the fire was that the person that sent Jesus Christ to the cross, and caused him to be tortured and murdered was me. It was the man in the mirror. He was beaten, humiliated, and butchered because of the decisions that I have made in my life. Despite my constant rejection, and my constant denial of him, he walked that hill with that cross on his back because he loved me. What kind of love is that? I put the crown of thorns on his head. I mocked and humilated him. I drove the nails in his hands and feet. I stuck the spear in his side. But still he had the love for me that outweighs human comprehension.
     As we set in our thrones of judgement everyday, we need to keep one thing in mind, we killed the Son of God. It was our actions that did it. We may want to set back and look at others and think, well, at least Im not as bad as them. I haven't sunk as low as those guys or done the evil things they have done. Going through the things that I have been through has brought me to a new level of humilty and understanding. We are all guilty.
     This is a lesson that was drilled into my head by conviction when I heard the story of a mother who's son was murdered by a drug dealer. She has been mocked and called crazy. Why? Because she has the audacity to want to hand her sons murderer a Bible, and tell the man that Christ loves him just as much as he loved her son. Know why? Because she gets it! We have all sinned and fallen short. You may think your sin isn't as bad as that guy in jail, or the one selling the dope, or yes, even the murderer, but guess again. In the eyes of the one that created you, all of our sin is equal. More than that, we are all his children and he loves us all.
     So when you break out your judgemental gavel, be aware that judgement you are passing on someone else is judgement that should be passed onto you. You are guilty of murder!!! I am guilty of murder!! Your sin, my sin drove the nails into that man 2000 years ago in the greatest display of love this world has ever seen. Tonight when you look into the eyes of your child and think there is no way you could love anything more, realize that person you judged today is being looked at by his or her father the same way. No greater love.... That is the name of that lady's ministry. We all should live by that creed.. We ALL killed Christ.. But he took it because there was, No Greater Love... Share that love today... Share it with someone the world says you shouldn't but he gave his life for..

In Your Face.. The Footsteps Of A Warrior

     Having a conversation the other day with someone, I made the statement that I'm glad I wasn't opinionated. The room busted out laughing. Guess maybe I have become "that guy." But I consider that a badge of honor. It wasn't long ago that I was just the nice guy that didn't want to "rock The boat." Recently I was given a book to read called"The Barbarian Way." If you have read any of the other posts, you have become aware of the major influence in my life known as the "psychotic counselor." But as you are starting to see that guy was anything but that. He knew how to get into my head and heart when I wouldn't let anyone else anywhere close. Well he gave me that book to read. That book was just another stepping stone on the path to finding my purpose in life.
     There is a pastor / rapper that I met years ago that exemplified being, "In Your Face", taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the places that the church wouldn"t go. He lived, "The Barbarian Way." As I have said before, society has developed Christ into this limp wristed wimp, that just wanted peace and everyone to be happy. They act like the man never strolled into the temple and kicked over tables, or like he never called the Religous leaders a bunch of vipers. Just my opinion, and since I have the guts to have an opinion, not much has changed. Now, don't get me wrong, there are alot of mighty men of God that I have met that lead growing congregations in the pursuit of reaching the lost for Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, they are the exception, not the rule. That is why I fell in love with this ballsy, in your face, pastor / rapper from the streets of Birmingham. Wearing t-shirts like, "God Last Name Ain't Damn", or "Satan Sucks", he is definately not afraid to step on someones toes in that single pursuit we all should be chasing with all we have, and thats reaching a lost, hurting and dying world. Giving those that have no hope, a glimpse into what Christ has done in our lives. But, once we are rescued, we chose to go into our safe and warm homes. Oh, I know there are men, women and children sleeping under a bridge tonight, but someone else will reach out to them. Or, and this is what really pisses me off, " Well, they made the decisions that got them there." Who do you think you are? But for the grace of God, there go I.
     Now, you may say, Oh Lord here he goes again with these unorthadox examples, but get over it. I was watching a special on Johnny Cash, when he performed at Folsom Prison. As screwed up as he was at points in his life, that man showed the love of Christ through his actions more than most of the people sitting in church on Sunday morning. He knew, but for the grace of God, that he could or should be one of those men in that prison and his heart ached for them. Thats the heart we should have.
     We live a blessed life. I know that I have been given so much more grace than I could ever deserve or repay, but try to repay it I will. My steps are not in the path of some weak man that just, "wanted us all to get along." No, my steps are following a mighty warrior. A true barbarian. He was rejected by us but never let up. He was mocked, beaten and ultimately killed and knew all along that is where his path was leading. But yet, he persevered. His tenacity and the heart of a mighty warrior pushed his to his utimate goal. He knew the cost of failure and refused to give up. In the end, he sacrificed all, and he did it for love. That kind of love takes a real man to live. That kind of love takes the heart of a warrior to pursue and never lose focus.
     So tonight when you drive by those homeless people under that bridge, or that bum in that alley. Tonight when you see that man, drunk or high, because the pain is so great in his life and thats the only way he knows how to deal with it, just remember, they are at that point in their lives because we are not sharing what was given to us. They are there because we refuse to follow in the steps of the ultimate Warrior. No, we are the limp wristed ones. We are the weak. We are the reason, because we have the answer the world is seeking, but are too big of cowards to step out of our comfort zone.     
     Want to change the world you live in? Want to introduce someone hurting to your savior? You have to take him to them!!! Step up!

Baking The Cake.......

       Hurry up and wait… Seems to always be Gods timing, or at least in my life. Not sure if you can relate. We are taught to just wait on the Lord. Well the Lord and I do not see eye to eye on his time schedule. But then again that might have something to do with my stupid decisions. He says how can he trust us with a lot when we don’t even take care of the small gifts he gives us. Yep, that’s me. Ungrateful and take things for grant it. Well I use to anyway and probably still do to a point but at least I’d like to think I’m becoming more aware of my ungratefulness….

            So what’s this got to do with baking a cake? It’s a metaphor for what we all do and want. We want what we want and we want it yesterday!!! We do not want to have to work for it or God forbid, wait for it. Most of the time we are not ready or prepared for what we think we want. God sees it but we don’t or won’t. It’s like mixing the baking mix for a cake, throwing it in the oven for five minutes and wanting it now!!!! We try to take it out and throw some icing on it and then wonder why we get sick. All we have is a big pile of goo. The first bite is sweet and oh so good. But quickly that wears off and it starts to make us sick. Eventually we start to get the picture. Takes some of us longer than others. I’m the poster child for that. Got the picture up on the side of the interstate on a billboard.        

            So if you can’t or won’t get the picture and you keep eating that nasty goo and can’t figure out why you keep getting sick, then I mean hey, what else would a father do. After enough time of letting me make myself sick as a dog, he finally started getting my attention. I think that day we pulled up in the ghetto, was dropped off, and watched my family drive away was the beginning of my wake up. Talk about a lesson in humility and patience. You want me to stay how long in this hell hole? Seriously? ( Yes another of Steve/God seriously moments. We have those quite often.) But he was just getting started in my Marine Corp break me down / build me back up adventure. I was about to learn about baking cakes. Yes baking cakes.

            As I have progressed through this life changing time the lessons have developed in my hard head. Looking back time seemed to just disappear. You couldn’t have told me that at the time though. Yes I was learning patience, endurance and how to be tenacious about what’s really important. Maybe I was learning to see the big picture, the end game. As Paul said to finish strong. We are great rabbits but suck at being turtles. We start off great but give up way too easy. But what I’ve learned is that anything worth having is worth waiting for, and worth fighting for.

            God gave me so many chances and blessings early on in my life and I blew it. So now he has hit the reset button. Defibrillated my dead life. Mistakes? Most would say so. I had rather look at them as hard lessons. Lessons it took me going through a lot of heart ache to learn. The lessons keep coming and I still want my cake now sometimes, but I have to sit back and realize that it’s going to worth the wait and effort. Even my overall life is still baking. I just need to make sure the right ingredients are in it.

            Hurry up and wait? It sucks but that’s life. Be patient, tenacious and persevere! And yes, wait on the Lord, he just might be waiting on you to do that…..

Do Not Fear

     Are you more afraid of your past or of your future? Seems simple but is it really? Most, no all of us have been and done things that we are not proud of. At some point we were someone we never thought we could or would be. In my case Gods love tried to steer me from the path that I was on. But as with the case of any parent that loves their chidren, his discipline becomes more severe and direct the farther we run from him. It's not his goal for us to live in the consequences of the bad choices that we make, but rather live in the calling that he placed on our lives. So, as he says, he disciplines the ones he loves in order to wake us up; to get us to that place of peace that we can only find in him.
     If you are like me then you learn to find comfort in places you were never meant to be. But eventually that comfort turns into misery. That misery is a cage that we place ourselves in. We become accustomed to the cage. Institutionalized in a prison of our own making. What we don't realize is that the door to the cage is not locked. At any point we can walk out of that prison. But here comes the fear.....
     So again, what scares you more, going back into that prison that you have grown accustomed to, or stepping out of that cage into the unknown? Drilled into my head by that psycho counselor is an image of a lion placed into that cage. He wasn't meant to be there. He was created to walk this Earth with pride, honor and dignity. But placed into that cage the lion becomes accustomed to it. Eventually he gets to the point to where you can leave the door opened and he will still remain. He remains in a prison because of the fear of what is outside. He has lost his pride, honor, and dignity. That is where most of us have been at one point in our lives. That is where I lived for a portion of my life. Finally God got my attention. In the darkness of the woods one night, where I might add that psychotic counselor left me without a light to find my way home, is where my eyes were opened. I had the key all the time. All I had to do was use it. In that darkness I was taught a valuable lesson by that man... I had lived my life in darkness trying to find my way home. But actually I had a light with me the whole time.... It was in my hands, on my nightstand.. God gave me the light... The Bible.. In it was my way out.. The light shining the way...
     So my fear? My fear of the future is immense... It scares the hell out of me.. But my fear of going back into that cage is far more terrifying.. So, its time I step out of my comfort zone into the life that he created me to have.. His promise is to restore seven fold what the enemy has taken away... I hold onto that promise and can see his work in my life already... Am I afraid? Yes.. But I cant wait!!!!

Isaiah 41:10 - 13

So do not fear, for I am with you;
   do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
   I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
“All who rage against you
   will surely be ashamed and disgraced;
those who oppose you
   will be as nothing and perish.
Though you search for your enemies,
   you will not find them.
Those who wage war against you
   will be as nothing at all.
For I am the LORD your God
   who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;

From Genesis To A Picnic Table

Our Struggle To Be An Ephesians 5 Man

            Seven thousand years ago God created man. Not to put words in his mouth but Im pretty much sure it went something like this:  "Lord,(Speaking in third person because, well, he's God) look at that fool wondering around like a lost puppy. I need something to fire his butt up." He needed a motivator that would make that man charge through walls. Well, being God, he did it, probably too well. In comes Eve and we would never be the same. God designed something in our DNA that when looking at a woman we love makes us lose our freaking mind. That motivating factor God was looking for can, just like alot of things, be both good and bad. You only have to read on a little forward to figure out what Im saying is true. I mean Adam talked and walked with God, yes THE GOD, but still that woman had that boy so wrapped he totally forgot all about God to please her. I mean you are in paradise, with the most beautiful woman in the world, well the only one but still, and you still screw it up. I think that may have been the problem. Just my opinion, but what man do you know that hasn't lost all sense when his lady is naked. Just sayin.... Another DNA quirk that he stuck us with. God and nature label us at the top of the food chain, but we have one kryptonite, women.

            That being said, that original motivating factor God was seeking has displayed itself time after time throughout history. A bad woman can be a mans destruction but a good one will be his glory. Many mighty and powerful men thoughout history would have never reached the levels they did if it wasn't for a mighty force pushing him, encouraging him, standing beside him and believing in him when no one else did. Theres a country song that talks about dad being a strong and tough man, not to be messed with, but you should see him come running when momma calls his name. Thats what happens when a woman wins a mans heart. He will charge hell with a water pistol for her. No one can tell him anything. As Percy Sledge said, he will turn his back on his best friend if he puts he down. The problem comes when we win that love. What do we do with it, how do we act, and how do we keep from getting complacent. The moment that happens we start to lose grip on the greatest gift, behind his son, that he ever gave us.

            True, there are negative female influences in the world. It's the nature of evil and the world we occupy. Same thing with men, it doesn't matter what we say or do or how good of a woman he has, he's just not going to get it. He will lose her and wonder why. But God gave us the blueprints for the road to a successful relationship and marraige. He did it for both men and women. God gave us the most wonderful thing when he created woman. He also gave us a direction to build her up, make her strong and respectful of her man. Just as he gave women the blueprint to keep and maintain the love, honor and respect of her husband. But its not easy.

            I frequently say to have a Proverbs 31 wife you need to be an Ephesians 5 man. You can read those scriptures and it seems simple but truthfully it requires more dedication, perseverance, and loyalty than we are equipped for by ourselves. Read those passages, really read word for word and comprehend what its saying. Ok, let me say it this way. Who is the author of love, true and pure love? God! What is the greatest show of love in all of mankinds history? The gift God gave when he sent his son to take on our sins, everything we had done wrong and will do wrong. The ultimate sacrifice. The ultimate love. Now realize that he was mocked, beaten, persecuted by the very people he was here to save. But yet when time came, he stepped in front of those that beat and mocked him and took the bullet for them. For you and me. We daily reject him and break his heart and he knew we would but he still took our punishment. Why? Love!!! So keeping that in mind, read Ephesians 5: 25 again. That love he had for us, that sacrificial love is the level of love we are to love our wives.  

            I was sitting at a picnic table talking with, little did I know, someone that was about to impact my life forever when I looked around. There was a sweet old couple walking near us. Had to be in their late 70s to 80s and could barely walk. You know just that slow shuffle. But he held her hand like a teenage boy at the movies with his first love. They looked like that teenage couple in love for the first time. I had been struggling with failed relationships, hurt and pain. I had read Ephesians 5 hundreds of times but I never got it. God in his slick way of just putting us in the position for it to click, placed me there at that table, in that conversation, and where I could see them. Over a pan of strawberry cupcakes, a smiling face, and an old couple holding hands I got it. Spent half of my life searching for the answers and it was right there in front of me. The kind of love that Christ shared and Paul talks about in his letter to Ephesia is a rare and wonderful thing. But its not just an emotion. Its dedication. Its a covenant not a contract. In a contract you look out for your own interests and not the other party's. It provides a way out. A covenant is a bond forged for life. The others person and interests are your priorities. You dont bail from it, you stick it out no matter what. Hurt? Tough. Hard? Tough. You fight because your priority is not you, its them. The ultimte love and symbol of that love is sacrifice.

            So sitting at a picnic table eating the most delicious strawberry cupcakes I've ever tasted, and haven't had since, (hint hint) I found what God had intended for us from the beginning. The beauty and love of a woman depends on how we build her up, place her on a pedestal. treasure her as the gift she was given to be. If you truely want that lady talked about in Proverbs 31, then look at the lady God placed beside you and build her up, love her unconditionaly and never ever give up. Your faith, love and loyalty will earn you the love and honor of your Proverbs 31 lady. Try it. I dare you!