Nor Can It Do So

Nor Can It Do So

Simon Peter is a legend. He was among Jesus’ apostles, and even further he was part of Christ’s yet smaller A-team, called with James and John to be alone with Jesus on many occasions, including the transfiguration (Matthew 17). He alone is called out on the water to walk with Jesus, and has the faith to do it at least for a short while. When asked, the Spirit reveals to Peter alone that Jesus is the Messiah. That’s an impressive resume, and yet very soon after these things we see Peter declaring that he is chief among the disciples, cutting off a man’s ear, promising his fealty to Christ, and then denying him on the night of his death.

How Should a Christian Vote?

Recently I posted a blog about Christians and Donald Trump. Some suggested that it only appropriate that I post one about Christians and Joe Biden as well. While I see the logic, that really misses the point of why I wrote the original post. What I want is to be clear about some principles of Christians and voting, and the priority of the Kingdom of God over kingdoms of men.

To be clear, the issue is not that a christian should refuse to vote for Trump. There are many valid reasons for a Christian to vote for him. The issue is that many Christians have so aligned themselves to him and proclaim that it would be unChristian to vote any other way.

The pattern that disturbs me most is Christians who lambast and character-assasinate the candidates or Presidents that they dislike while pretending the deep character flaws and moral sins of the candidate or President they do like don’t exist or simply don’t matter.

So how should a Christian vote?

Biblically.

That is a bit of a lazy answer, so let me be clear. Here are some principles that matter to me:

Our commitment to King Jesus and His mission cannot be aligned to any candidate - ever.

There are many issues we are called to care about and no candidate aligns with them all. We are called to fight for the unborn, welcome the alien and the stranger, care for prisoners, fight for orphans, and love the unlovable. We are to speak for those without a voice and advocate for the disenfranchised.

It is a personal responsibility to discern some batting order of priorities through which to filter your decision of who to vote for. There is no list of universal priorities that guide every Christian to vote the same way.

There are an array of important issues and values that need to be addressed by our government. Each candidate has a personal view as to the best way to address each of these issues. I rarely find a candidate that aligns perfectly with my own views, so almost always a difficult choice has to be made. This is where each Christian voter has a duty to exercise personal responsibility in casting their ballot.

The highest priority is to never believe or communicate that the government, or the holder of any office, is the hope of mankind. The only hope for us all is Jesus and the good news of His Kingdom. The only way to truly change the world is to change the hearts of people, and only God can do that.

So how will I vote in this election?

I will prayerfully exercise my personal responsibility to steward this freedom of ours and vote in alignment with my conscience. I will not define others by the vote they cast, nor will I be defined by my own. I am defined by my allegiance to King Jesus and will exercise my American citizenship in the best way possible to serve His priorities.


Two Practical Tips in Challenging Times

The longer this pandemic continues, along with all of the political division and social unrest, the more fatigue and stress we are all experiencing. I meet people literally every day who are struggling to maintain their emotional, mental, and relational health.

The struggle is real!

I have become aware of two very powerful tips that are helping people to actually flourish during this season. They are powerfully helping me, for sure.

At first these may sound selfish or survival-oriented. In other words, you may at first think that God would consider these to be the opposite of His call for you to serve Him and His purposes on the earth. But the reality is that this is exactly what He would call us to all the time because they are fundamental to human flourishing and effective mission.

The two tips are:

  1. Make your world smaller.

  2. Feed your deepest relational connections

What I mean by making your world smaller is to tune out the noise of chaos, bad news, and public opinion. Stop gorging your exhausted soul on social media, news media, and all the screens in your life. Stop seeking the advice or rescue of others and draw yourself into the secret place of intimacy with God. Practice the life of altar and stewardship.

Making your world small is to seek interaction with God more than you ever have. Beg Him for clarity, peace, wisdom, and His Presence. This is the safe place; the empowering place; and the healing place. It is the place of Shalom - wholeness and completeness.

One day you’re going to stand all alone with Him anyway and that day you will receive a personal review and accounting of your life. Why not live there now?

I have found my experience of peace and Shalom is directly connected to the volume of my time and energy spend with Him.

The second tip is to feed your deepest relational connections. Marriage partner, kids, siblings, grandkids, and life-long friends are all powerful agents of life for disruptive times. Love, laugh, and serve these people with more focus and vigor than ever before. You need these people and they need you. Your soul will find joy, purpose, and meaning in the deepening of these relationships.

I recently read an article about how human beings were designed to only know about and engage the tragedies and chaos of their own “village” - their oikos and the community in which they live. But today, because of global technology and mediums we are hearing about pain, chaos, and tragedies all over the world and our soul just cannot process that much stress.

Oikos is the Greek word for “extended household” - it is the 8-15 people whom God has supernaturally and strategically placed with a front-row view of your life. They are your people and your mission field.

To thrive in trying times, shrink your world.

This glorifies God and positions you to be even more effective for Him anyway. This is how we “GO” in obedience to the Great Commission:

  • Intimacy with God

  • Investment in our Oikos.

God and Oikos - that is all you need, especially in times of dynamic change and disruptive chaos. And it is also how you will live your best life and make your lasting impact on the world.

Christians Demanding Our RIghts: NOT

The question many people keep asking is a good one: “Don’t we need to obey God rather than human beings?”

Peter and the apostles uttered those important words in Acts 5:29. “We must obey God rather than human beings.” But they are in response to a government mandate, issued in the previous verse. “We gave you strict orders not to teach in Jesus name.” To my knowledge, no American governor has ever said that to any American pastor. At least not yet.

But there is another set of cries that trouble me, coming from the lips, pens, and keyboards of Christians and Pastors. Things like, “We need Pastors with backbone!” Or “Churches must lead the way in demanding our FIrst Amendment rights!”, “This is war!”, and so many more.

The big idea is that Pastors and churches must demand their rights to assemble or else they are compromising their devotion to Jesus and selling out to the immoral acts of human governance. It is time to stand, demand to be heard, and fight, they say.

The problem is that I can’t find any of this attitude in Jesus or His disciples. I can’t see any rallying cry in the New Testament for demanding our rights and insisting on our rightful share of political power.

In fact, what we find is quite the opposite. Consider a few examples:

“If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.”

‭‭“And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.”

‭‭“But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

‭‭And the crown jewel of our guidance as Christians: “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!”

And, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

It turns out that the cross is not only the place where Jesus redeemed the world and overcame evil through suffering. It is also the place where God revealed His very nature - the One who suffers on behalf of His enemies.

God is the great enemy-lover!

Not only did he suffer for His enemies, but He also continues to suffer for His enemies, in His body on the earth right now - the Church. We continue to carry on the suffering servant hood of Jesus by being His Body on the earth in real time.

This could not be more opposite of demanding our rights and declaring war on political leaders and parties.

We are called to be His Body - to continue the suffering of Good Friday, through the power of Easter’s resurrection. This is how God and good overcome evil. This is how the gospel becomes powerfully clear in our culture.

As an American, I am appalled that our three branches of government are being ignored at the State level. I am determined to vote for leaders who defend our constitutional rights and insist on constitutional processes to suspend those rights.

But as a Jesus follower, I am determined to overcome evil with good and make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His Body.

I hope you will, too.



There are Still Only Two Trees

God placed Adam and Eve in paradise and told them to knock themselves out. Enjoy creation, one another, and intimacy with God. Exercise dominion and express their creativity and passions. There was only one exception to this freedom to self-actualization: Don’t eat from one of the two central trees in the Garden.

God placed the Tree of Life next to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the center of the Garden and instructed them to feast on the Life Tree and abstain from the other Tree.

These two options continue to be our daily delima: choose to operate from the Tree of Life or choose to operate from the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Feasting on the tree of life is positive, redemptive, forgiving, gracious and empowering. When we face conflict, disappointment in others or ourselves, pain, etc, we can feast on the tree of life and find balm, calm, and hope.

Feasting on the tree of knowledge is to question and analyze intentions, fallen natures and motives. It is to place blame and judgement, even accurately, and major on negativity, correction, and penalty.

God pushed them from the Garden and placed an angel with a flaming sword so they could not eat from the Tree of Life and live forever. Instead, he placed us in the reality that we chose - knowing good and evil - and gave us our freely chosen destiny. But then, He entered into that destiny and purchased life for us with His own blood. This way we can now know good and evil, but overcome it with the life of Jesus flowing in hearts.

We live like monkeys, jumping from one tree to the other, based on how we are feeling at the time or how much of our depravity drives us in any given moment. But, choosing to live in that tree of life is the choice that gives life abundantly to us and those around us.

Feast today - not on knowing good and evil, but on having life in Jesus and on giving that gracious life away to others, empowering yourself and them to truly live!


Don’t Do Life Without This Ever Again!

On our podcast recently (Episode 64) we discussed millennial manhood with a couple of studs named Michael and Jordan. Man, what an episode! Frankly, I wasn’t on the episode and heard it on the Monday it dropped, like everyone else. I had been battling some deep discouragement and this episode totally turned me around!!

If you’re struggling, go listen to it here right now!

There were so many great tidbits in the episode, but the overwhelming takeaways for me were two:

The Lord has got this! Your life, our crazy country, the challenges we face, all of it! He is worthy of trust and the best is yet to come!

Mentors and reverse mentors are an absolute necessity in life.

That’s what I want you to see right now.

You need other men, if you’re a dude, or women, if you’re a gal, to have access to your heart, mind and soul. You need to be giving your best self to others and you need to be gaining from others, both older and younger than you, RIGHT NOW!

Never again do life without real partnerships. Never again!

Never again view mentorship as olde-to-younger only. We need reverse mentoring because the perspectives are so vastly different and powerful.

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Don’t ever do life without this - ever again. And if it’s missing from you life, start the prayerful pursuit now.

Here are a few tips to get started:

Ask God to help you find the right persons to receive from and to give to.

Watch other men (or women) more closely and notice the ones that either inspire you with their strengths or with their transparency - and hopefully both. Choose authenticity over talents every time, by the way.

Date them. You will find the best of these relationships the way we found our spouses - date a few. You may have to kiss a few frogs, but everyone has something to offer and you’ll be better for the experience.

Don’t ask for a lifelong commitment. Just ask for a season of conversations and an agreement to decide from there where it will go next. (Maybe a series of 5 coffee times and then a decision?)

Give more than you take.

You can do this and you need this!

Thanks, Jordan and Michael!!!!