reconnect

Have you ever seen those shirts that have cool catch phrases on them? A friend of mine has a really cool that says "it's against my relationship, to have a religion". I always thought that was the best ever! I mean, that breaks it down to what it's all about, doesn't it? This whole thing, this whole life is about ONE goal, getting as close to God as possible. I mean Paul the apostle said 

      "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider it all garbage that I may gain Christ."

David broke down the goal of his life this way: 

"The one thing I ask of the LORD the ONE thing I seek most is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord's perfections and meditating in his Temple." (psalm27:4)

   

   It does seem like Religion has lost this goal, doesn't it. Today, it seems to be more intent on keeping God off your back, until you need Him to do something for you, like some lucky charm, than about growing to know and love God more and more. Even during Christ's time, the religious leaders seemed so intent on keeping up with their "religious service" to God that they paid God Himself no attention at all…..even when He was standing right in front of them! But this wasn't always the meaning behind "religion". Was it?

  

    In fact, originally translated from its Latin roots, religion has a much different and clearer point.

the "-ligion" in the word comes from the Latin root "ligare" which means "to connect, or to attach" this is also where we get the word "ligament" , which refers to the tissue that connects the bones in your body, and holds you together. And everyone knows what the prefix "re-" means, right? "again, back, anew" as in reborn, reopen, remake,etc.

    So the word "religion" literally means "to reconnect, or to attach again" but reconnect what?

      Back around 8,000 years ago, a very important connection was lost, a very close connected relationship with the Creator and His beloved creation; between God and man. So the whole point of true religion is to reconnect creation to its creator, to rebuild a relationship that was lost.

    In essence, you could say that "Religion" was accomplished and fulfilled the day Christ came to earth in human form. After all, He said Himself that He came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. It is almost as though every tradition and ceremony of religious service was all linked to, and fulfilled by what He was here to do. It's amazing to think that everything God did from talking to Abraham in Genesis, to building the temple, to sending His Son to die, even as far as literally bringing heaven to earth in Revelation is all about ONE thing… connecting himself with us again.....I guess when you think about it the Bible is just one big love story, telling of a loving Father's plan to rebuild His relationship with His long lost children!

     

So when you consider the real meaning behind religion. It makes it more difficult to use that word to describe the fake empty ceremonies you see performed in some churches today. 

let's make the whole point of our religion to attach us to Christ in order to have a relationship with him.

It's been awhile

so... it's been forever but I'm back on. so what happened since the last time I was on here. I married the girl of my dreams. helped get crossroads church rolling. now I play there every week. it's been so busy that I haven't had time or made time for this or my friends or my Savior to be honest. sometimes life gets so noisy my head starts to spin and I forget whets important. why do we humans forget things so easily???  on minute your thanking God for taking care of you, next minute your in over your head trying to make your life the kind of life you want. it like getting tunnel vision. I mean it's not really MY life anyway right? so why do I worry? fret? lose focus? the obvious answer is it's in my blood...

   in the first book of the Bible there is a story about the first murder committed. Cain (a farmer) kills his brother, and because of the shame and punishment he is kicked out of his home. on his own he waunders "east of Eden" and makes his house there.     interesting.     left to ourselves we always end up "east of Eden" don't we.

 just shy of perfection.

 of where we were meant to be. 

we even make it our home.

as long as we trust in God's direction and try to listen to even in the loud 21century world. instead of our built-navigation we can strive to go where God wants us.

    another observation about Cain. God wanted him to keep moving to waunder and not stop... be he didn't. 

he settled.

 settling is in his nature. 

perhaps it's in ours...

Not for the Faint of heart

I rewatched the video "bullhorn" by Rob Bell the other day, and I began to think about the things that those people who preach the "hell-fire and brimstone" way of Christianity, have against the way the rest of us try to portray Christ. you know? as a God full of love and compassion, who takes us as we are, broken and defeated, and picks us up. the One who died just so He could be intimate with His creation again! they say things like "well, if it were really that way, then you could just do whatever you want and still go to heaven!"....one prob I see with that arguement is..........well.........they're right! there is absolutely nothing we can do to lose the gift God has given us short of seeing exactly what it is and saying "thanks, but no thanks, I'd rather go to hell". Like any one of us could lose our parent's love by disobeying them.

but, there is another side to the whole "mushy, no balls required, doctrine of love", that I think everyone who is cynical towards it is missing.........John 14:15 for starters. this is without a doubt the most haunting verse in the Bible for me. It comes to mind everytime I screw up, and it hurts! In this Chapter, Jesus is giving just the message that religeous people call "warm and fuzzy" today. He is talking about never abandoning His children, being there always....but.....right in the middle of it in v15 He makes this statement that drives the whole thing for me about our side of the relationship. He says out of seemingly nowhere "and if you love ME you will keep my commandments"..............(ouch!)...........then He goes right back to saying stuff like "and I will never leave you...etc" think about it for a sec. who on earth in there right mind would consceously hurt someone who loved them the way Jesus loved us. yet when we sin that is exactly what we do! or think about it this way. Let's say you meet this girl. and you find her amazing in every way! your completely in love. and you know that she loves you and there is nothing you could possibly do to make her stop loving you. (any girl reading this just flip it around). in this sitch, what guy would even give a thought to cheating on her, for even the remote fear of hurting her in any way. even though you know she would(in tears, and probably after a few days balling her eyes out!) forgive you..... of course not!!! God showed that He loves us so much more than any person ever could! so why is that we break God's heart with our sin!? like I said earlier who would do such a thing?!

if you ask me, not only does the doctrine of love just as difficult to live up to. it's harder! yeah, the bullhorn guy on the street corner i yelling "sin, and go to hell!" but what about breaking the heart of the Only one who ever loved you completely, selflessly, and enough to die to bring you two together.

so, ironically, the idea that God is full of Grace, full of Mercy, and full of Heart isn't for the the faint of heart.

(checkthisout- read John chapter 14, noticing v15, then read chap 15, notice v14, it's saying the came thing, it's pretty awesome!)

What's the deal with pain?

this is a thought from back in April of last year why I'm posting it here, now. well I guess I thought someone might get something out of it, Cheerio! :)



Lately, I've been thinking about those times when we get hurt............I mean really hurt.............the kind that is so dark that you can't see anything at all. no hope. no light. and all you feel is betrayed by God, fate, and life itself.My question why do we hold on so hard to the pain that is killing us!? Like, if I let go of this, I will be left with nothing, no emotion will be left. I will just be left to myself, alone, dry, and emotionless.
I don't realise that if I can kill this beast that is holding onto to me. Then I am freeing God to do something great inside of me. I forget that He will never let me fall into that hopeless state of nothingness that I'm so afraid of. If you let go God WILL catch you, every time.
Another reason I think it is so hard to let go is I'm afraid that if I " just let go" I won't be giving justice to the magnitude of the what I was dealing with. Like I'd be saying "well, it wasn't that big a deal to begin with" when was.......big time!!......but what I've discovered that what was the point of all that hurt if I don't move on, and come out on the other side stronger than I was before. It's almost like I owe it to the magnitude of the pain to get something out of it all and move on so that I can use what I've learned when the next hurricane hits.

Psalm 94:17- If the Lord had not been my help, My soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence. If I should say "my foot has slipped," Your lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up. When my anxious thoughts multiply inside my head, Your consolations delight my soul.

1 Samuel 12:22- the Lord will not abandon His people, because of his great name, because the Lord is pleased to make you His people.

John 14:18- ( Jesus talking) I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

this is why.

because I love people, and what's more I love to share the truth with people I know well, or know barely, or not know at all. it's my sincere hope that I can keep up with this and that it helps anyone looking for answers.

this is my Resolve and my prayer:
"More than anything else in heaven or on earth, I pray for the power to love my fellow person.to break through the damning bigotry, the crippling prejudice, the stifling self-centerdness that smothers God's spirit within me.and to channel and communicate that love to lonely,loveless people about me.And I pray as well for the ability to translate the message of God's eternal love into words that will pierce the benumbed minds of busy men, and move their hearts to faith and obedience."-Leslie Brandt

Why?

I have no idea to be honest. I just got off work. I'm insanely tired but I decided to visit this website I had been meaning to look at (crossroadsenterprise.org) and there were blogs and I thought. "hey I have Facebook and myspace but why not a blog site too." I mean as if I'm not busy enough already.