Tag: Jesus

Heaven Is For Real For The Broken

IMG_0751.JPG
In my years of ministry I’ve met and rubbed shoulders with some of our generation’s strongest influencers in evangelicalism.

I’ve shared a meaningful conversation with Joe Stowell, Moody’s president from 1987-2005, in a bathroom, just the two of us. I’ve bumped into Chuck Colson in a deserted foyer during a conference, away from the crowds. And I’ve also shared an empty hallway with D. James Kennedy.

Each of these encounters were unplanned, quick conversations, but intimate in their respective settings, and such brief episodes I’ll always hold dear.

For a season, a number of years ago, I had repeated ministry with Joni Tada, a personal hero and one whom I could call ‘friend’ in all the best ways. I led some of her family conferences for families with members having various disabilities, took phone calls from her, was a guest on her radio show, sang with her numerous times onstage and once even had the blessed privilege of feeding her lunch.

Over the course of years, my path led me to other ministry callings and, thus, out of touch with my friend, but I remain fully touched by her imprint on my life. Being in her presence was like sitting with one of the apostles, for me. Or what it might seem like to be in a room with Teresa of Avila or Madam Guyon. I’d never known such a devoted saint and heavenly-oriented soul.

Joni’s reflection on heaven is indicative of just how real it can be for the really broken. In Heaven: Your Real Home she writes:

I can scarcely believe it; I, with shrivelled, bent fingers, atrophied muscles, gnarled knees, and no feeling from the shoulders down, will one day have a new body, light, bright, and clothed in righteousness—powerful and dazzling.

Can you imagine the hope this gives someone spinal cord-injured like me? Or someone who is cerebral palsied, brain-injured, or who has multiple sclerosis? Imagine the hope this gives someone who is manic depressive.

No other religion, no other philosophy promises new bodies, hearts and minds. Only in the Gospel of Christ do hurting people find such incredible hope.
– Joni Earekson Tada, Heaven: Your Real Home

She tells of a Christian convention during which the speaker, at the close of the message, asked his audience to kneel for prayer. She looked on as each made the sacred gesture, but, of course she, being a quadriplegic, couldn’t do it herself. It was all too overwhelming and she couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.

Being brought up in a Reformed Episcopal Church, it was particularly hard as she’d been accustomed to kneeling for prayer.

Ah, but then her heart warmed as she remembered the promise of resurrection and restoration of all things, including bodies:

Sitting there, I was reminded that in heaven I will be free to jump, dance, kick and do aerobatics. And although I’m sure Jesus will be delighted to watch me rise on tiptoe, there’s something I plan to do that may please him more.

If possible, somewhere, sometime before the party gets going, sometime before the guests are called to the banquet table at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, the first thing I plan to do on resurrection legs is to drop on grateful, glorified knees. I will quietly kneel at the feet of Jesus.

To not move will be my chance to demonstrate heartfelt thanks to the Lord for the grace He dispensed year after year when my hands and legs were limp and motionless. To not move will be my last chance to present a sacrifice of praise – paralyzed praise!
– Ibid.

My innermost being, broken and touched by the healing hands of Jesus, cries amen. This, too, is my strongest desire, oh Lord. I want to lie still before your Majesty on that day, just as my sister, that the Lamb would receive the reward of His suffering.

Selah, beloved, and Maranatha!

Be Thou My Vision

St. Patrick is one of Christian history’s most remarkable figures. I’ve formerly written of only a few of the truly astounding stories of his gospel adventures and braveries in a post two years ago.

For this post I’ll add some background that provides this ancient hymn its inspiration from St. Patrick’s story.

When missionary Patrick braved the highly pagan and paganly dangerous Land of Eire, he understood their cultural and religious obsession with bonfires, so he joined in the festivities at an Eastertide ceremony by presiding himself over the lighting of a ‘paschal’ bonfire in honor of Christ.

No problem, right?

Wrong.

The country’s pagan king, Loigaire, had handed down the edict that NO fires be lit on Easter Eve before he himself lit the grand royal fire later that night to usher in the arrival of spring and celebrate it with major pagan overtones. And anyone who tried to trump the king at his own business would die. Painfully so.

St. Patrick said no pagan ritual would trump his King Jesus’ commemoration, so – on threat of gruesome death – he laid down lumber on the Hill of Shane and torched it to high heavens.

At first King Loigaire was furious, and intent on burning Patrick alive, but he couldn’t deny his bravery in the face of such penalty. There must be something of worth in the lad’s message!

When Patrick was brought in to face the king and explain his audacity, it is said the king was so taken by the young missionary’s passion and eloquence, he permitted the gospel to continue unhindered in his kingdom. Just amazing.

A couple hundred years later, give or take, an old monk penned some very old Gaelic lyrics in honor of Patrick’s heroic faith that have since been translated then metered out for inclusion in a Scottish hymn book long, long ago.

And what you’ll hear is the grand result. This preserved confession has encouraged the Church of the Lord Christ for generations.

Chelsea Moon’s rendition of “Be Thou My Vision” is so elegantly simple and full of heart. I’ve certainly become a fan of her music, grateful for her focus on memorable hymns.

Be sure to download her Hymns projects, Volumes 1 & 2 on iTunes.

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my Battle-shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

5 Things Jesus Never Said

Have you ever wondered if the Lord leans over to the Father and laments, “I wish My Church would stop putting words in My mouth”?

“Few people have been misquoted as often as Jesus,” says Michael Hidalgo. It’s easy to say stuff and attribute it to people when they’re not around. Such a ploy helps lends credibility to the speaker, or enables them to manipulate the listener or even, at times, pass the buck.

“I didn’t say it, they did.”

No wonder the followers of Jesus love this strategy. It’s been shaping and honing the Church for generations.

At the end of this post I’d love it if you’d contribute to my list by adding one – or a few – of your own.

Here’s mine:

  1. God will never give you more than you can bear

    2. Why, of course He will. And He’ll do it for the very good reason that He’s after your trust. He wants you to fall under the weight of life so you’ll turn your eyes upward and cry, “Lord, I can’t but You can!”

    Lord, I believe (you are able)! Help my unbelief ( because this is so hard)!

    He thrives on being your Savior. Rescuing you never tires Him out. He loves being a Good Father to you and your responding to Him in faith. He gets a kick out of it.

  2. Pray this prayer and you’ll go to heaven

    3. Sorry. Not in there. The essence of saving faith is – as we just saw – ongoing faith and certain hope in Christ’s saving Love. When the New Testament addresses “faith” or “belief” (πιστεύω) in the context of being saved, it doesn’t quantify it as a thing but as a repetitive condition of the heart.

    Sometimes such faith looks like: “Lord, I’ve done it again. I’m such a screw up! Help me out of this…I turn to You!” Sometimes it’s little more than, “I’m sorry.” At times, “I can’t do this without You!” resonates as mustard-seed faith to Him.

    Yes, I know. Faith is in a Person, not an idea or spiritual mirage. The gravitational pull of Saving Faith is in Jesus the Christ, in His finished work and in His ongoing ministry of sustaining grace, sanctification and the perfecting of our weak faith.

    And yes, my own faith story began with a crisis of belief where I cried out for Him to save me – I may have even prayed the classic “sinner’s prayer”* – but my salvation from bondage to sin and self-godship to Christ and His Life is due to a participial love affair. His Love toward me is exceedingly more perfect than mine to Him, but He knows My heart. And He’s merciful and intimately close to screw-ups who turn to Him.

  3. God helps those who help themselves

    4. I think this ones on everybody’s list. You can find its origins in Aesop’s Fables, a variant in the Quran (13:11) and in a Benjamin Franklin attribution, but it’s not in scripture. So…moving on.

    Actually, God would say…

    Yikes, be careful here, Scotty-boy…

    God (might) say:

    I help those who come to the end of themselves.

    Boom.

  4. You need more faith to be healed

    5. Oh boy, have I – a paraplegic – heard this, almost as much as Romans 8:28 (which is true, but still) from various well-meaning saints in 33 years of disability.

    When the disciples were feeling convicted about a certain teaching, they responded with “We need more faith for this, Lord!” He didn’t say, “You’re right fellas.” Instead He told them, in essence, to act on what they knew and believed and they’d grow into this too. When it comes to healing, sometimes He healed based on the afflicted person’s (weak) faith, sometimes when He saw (hopeful) faith in others, and sometimes just ‘cuz.

    Who decides how much faith is enough? Not you, not me. So stop that nonsense and putting obligations on people when Jesus died and rose again to free us from all that!

    He heals…when He’s ready. And when He’s ready, I’ll be ready.

    Then, lastly,

    And I’ll probably lose some followers here, but it’s worth taking a shot.

    Okay, here goes.

    Jesus also never said – or implied:

  5. The Republican Party will solve all your nation’s ills

    6. Well, obviously He didn’t reference a political party that wouldn’t come into being for another eighteen or nineteen hundred years yet, but still.

    The hope of America is not a republican super-majority in Congress with a sitting president from the party of the elephant. I mean, I’d like those things because I’m a ‘steadfast conservative’ according to the recent Pew Research poll, but still.

    The hope of our nation is…are you ready to hear it? The hope for this country is for the Church inside her to be a true City on a Hill.

    What does that mean, you ask?

    The phrase is taken directly from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:14. At first blush it’s important to know the “you” is plural and suggests that a “city” of unified (not uniform) followers of Christ will be noticed in its cultural setting by living by the law of love and spiritual liberty – with each other, and those outside their faith as well.

    When the Church in America practices righteous justice (for the poor, defenseless and innocent) and self-giving love to all, the nation will be blessed.

    Okay, off my soap box.

I saw where Scot McKnight made his own list over at Patheos and ended with, “Jesus didn’t say, ‘You are my friends if you do what I didn’t say…'”

Nice.

Don’t forget: use the comment box below to add to this list of Things Jesus DIDN’T Say. Comment now, comment often…and you might end up with a free book at the end of the month! (See sidebar at bottom)

______________________________

*Classic sinner’s prayer:

Dear Jesus, I know I’m a sinner and am deserving of hell because of my sins. But I know you died and rose again to save me, so I’m asking You to forgive my sins, come into my heart and save me, and take me to heaven when I die.

The main point I make with this is that saving faith is a relationship built on ongoing trust and belief, not in a prayer uttered once upon a time, but in a Person you believe is your Hope and Stay.