In your Christian practice, do you find yourself drawn more toward law-based living or more to grace-based living?
Students in a class I teach deal with that discussion question. I always look forward to their answers. Nearly all of these students are pretty seasoned in their faith, so the overwhelmingly most popular answer is grace-based living. After all, that’s the “correct” one, right?
Nobody ever gets misty-eyed in church singing, “Amazing Law, how sweet the sound…
There are, of course, some brave souls who cop to law-based living. Some do it as an aw-shucks-pray-for-me kind of confession. Some try to reframe the question. “I prefer to think of it as obedience,” one student said recently. I like that.
Others crawfish a little more and ask questions like, “Now what do you mean by that?”
See, nobody wants to admit they’re a legalist. [click to continue…]
Alexander's Bridge over Chickamauga Creek
Imagine throwing a little backyard barbecue and inviting 12,000 of your closest friends. And even closer enemies.
It happened nearly 125 years ago, in 1889, at a place called Chickamauga, near Chattanooga, TN. And it took place where these friends and enemies had once gathered 26 years earlier to kill each other.
You don’t hear as much about the Battle of Chickamauga as you do Vicksburg or Gettysburg or Shiloh. But in two days, 66,000 Confederate and 58,000 Union troops staged two days of hell – desperate, often hand-to-hand combat. Somewhere around 18,480 Confederate and 16,240 Union soldiers were killed, wounded or missing when all was said and done.
One side won the battle. The other won the war.
Then as time passed, something remarkable happened. [click to continue…]
I once read that among those who run in marathon races, somewhere around the 18th mile to the 22nd mile of that 26-mile run, the runner hits “The Wall.”
(That’s about as close as I’ll ever get to a marathon, other than the three days I just hiked through the Disney jungle, but I digress…)
The Wall is a place so hard that the runner thinks he or she can’t possibly continue the race. It’s a little uncertain whether The Wall is physical or psychological, but it’s real. And the temptation to drop out of the race is greater at this point than at any time in the race. The runner feels he can’t make it. The lungs burn, the heart pounds, and the runner fights dizziness and nausea. A little voice begins to whisper (or scream), “Why torture yourself?”
You may not run 26-mile marathons, but if you are a follower of Christ, that fact alone means you are in an endurance race. And you can expect at times to encounter “The Wall.”
You will find The Wall when you have tried time after time to pray consistently, and have failed. [click to continue…]
Jason meant well. But his efforts to help the butterfly-to-be only ended in disaster. For days he had watched the cocoon and wondered what it would produce. Finally he noticed a tiny opening in the cocoon’s wall. On the other side, the new life form was struggling furiously – desperately – to be free of its self-designed prison. Feeling compassion for the little creature, the boy found a sharp knife and carefully cut the cocoon’s wall in order to relieve it from its struggle.
The butterfly soon died. Its wings were grossly deformed, and it was unable to fly. What appeared to be a struggle was actually the process by which the animal’s wings are formed. Jason had short-circuited the process, and the results, though unintentional, were tragic.
You and I are very much like the butterfly. We are often wrapped up in our own kinds of cocoons – alone, stifled, limited, longing to be free. Sometimes these are prisons of our own doing – addictions, bondage to sin, broken relationships, stupid decisions. At other times our cocoons are thrust upon us in the form of disappointments, losses of loved ones, extended illnesses, or the abuse of others. Either way, the results are the same. Why do we feel so alone? What in the world is God up to? Where will we ever find relief? When will we be “free to fly” again? How will we make it through another day? [click to continue…]
Had coffee with a sweet friend last week. She was describing the amazing things the Lord has worked in her life over the summer as she has gone through a wonderfully painful, gloriously gut-wrenching season. Each day the Lord has brought new strength, insights, healing, and refreshing as she prepares for a future that is far less certain… but far more peaceful.
Did you get that?
Far less certain, but far more peaceful.
Like many people, she had defined peace and satisfaction in terms of being able to predict what the future held (among other things). Now as she returns to school, she heads off into an unknown destiny, with lots of uncertainties. But she has a phenomenal peace that she is being held right in the center of God’s heart and hand.
Here’s how she expressed it to me. I was so touched, I wanted to share it with you (my paraphrase): [click to continue…]
Years ago Ken Medema told the story of an experience he had at a youth function in Atlanta. He had been invited to play for a youth party after church one night, and he entertained the kids with some of his old 50s love songs. After his part was over, somebody fired up the record player (yes, record player) and started playing some other music, and these church kids started to dance.
Ken remained off to the side; he had been raised in a home that forbade dancing.
Soon, however, what he called “this wallflower of a girl” approached him shyly and asked, “Would you like to dance?”
I should mention at this point that Ken is completely blind. He was horrified at the thought of being laughed out of the room for trying something so completely risky and foreign to him, and he tried to beg off.
But Miss Wallflower wasn’t taking no for an answer. [click to continue…]
Imagine a giant stadium, and you’re in it.
As in, on the field.
You’re engaged in a contest that will test every fiber of your strength, will, endurance, and confidence. Sometimes you’re on defense, and the task is to stand your ground against an opponent that has considerable resources. Sometimes you’re on offense, and the task is to recapture lost ground or gain new ground as you outwit, outmaneuver, or overpower your enemy.
Let’s just go ahead and dispense with the obvious. I like you and everything. But left to your own game plan or abilities, you’re cosmic road kill. Dead meat with all the trimmings.
You. Can’t. Win. This.
Heck, you won’t even make the uniforms look pretty.
Oh, and did I mention… this is no game. This is your life. The visible and the invisible. The temporal and the eternal. The private and the very public. The “spiritual” and the “secular” (as if there is any distinction).
Fortunately, you do have some weapons at your disposal that are mighty through God. And there is a pathway – a strategy that leads to prevailing strength and power. [click to continue…]
The other day I found a smoking gun. And it’s still smoking.
It’s the greatest test of your character, hands down. Other than pride, it’s the most deceptive phenomenon we humans encounter because it takes so many hidden forms.
It’s the deceptive driver behind many of the ways we think, act, or speak. It’s often the reason we give up in the face of pressure, avoid caring for certain people, or keep a long memory of others’ offenses. It drives us to compare ourselves with others, point out others’ faults and weaknesses, or brag about ourselves to impress people. It leads us to lie to protect ourselves, assume the worst about the future, or treat people with suspicion or jealousy or just plain rudeness.
Yes, I’m talking about fear. And it can lead to some galactically stupid choices. I’ve had mine. You’ve probably had yours. Let’s pick on somebody else. [click to continue…]
I think I may have found the key to happiness, success, power, and the life you’ve always wanted. I’m not sure how I lived so long without recognizing it; from the looks of things, quite a few people have already figured it out. In fact, you may already be ahead of me on this.
The secret? Be completely in control of every aspect of your life and world.
There you have it. The results will speak for themselves.
No longer do you have to put up with displeasing people – you now will control them. No longer will you-know-who resist your wise ideas, visionary leadership, or impressive communication. You’re in charge. Say good-bye to disappointment, discouragement, rejection, financial pressure, TSA agents, time-wasting meetings, and even those unsightly blemishes.
In fact, research conducted through a grant from the Lifevesting Institute of Advanced Relationship Studies (LIARS for short) suggests that there are at least 12 strategies through which people ascend to such an advanced state of life ownership. Any one of these can take you to new heights. But when you combine these paths, the outcomes are staggering.
Well, somebody’s staggering, anyway.
Here are twelve pathways – twelve roles you can assume to take you to a state of Ultimate Grip Hold (UGH) on life – the last stage before the designation of Master of the Universe. If one doesn’t work for you, feel free to substitute for another. Or mix and match, if you like. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on August 1, 2011
in Ability, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Love, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Pleasers, Principle of Freedom, Tense Truths, Waiting
I.
It all started with a dream last week,
About a friend I hadn’t seen in more than a decade,
And hadn’t talked to in six years.
Even though it had been so long
And so much life had passed us by,
I realized how important he still is to me.
My love for him and his family is as strong as ever.
And that dream made me take a look at the tapestry of my relationships
And realize somebody was missing.
[click to continue…]
In your Christian practice, do you find yourself drawn more toward law-based living or more to grace-based living?
