Integrity Where Imperfection Takes Up Residence

Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.” And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” But the LORD said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.” So Samuel did what the LORD said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice. So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before Him!” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” So Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.”Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.” Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen these.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?” Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here.” - I Samuel 16:1-11

Truly, if you and I, assuming you have had a similar life and church experience as I, had someone of note, thought to be a grand leader of the faith and a man of massive political and military importance such as David in our midst and, if we had known half of the things he had done, we not only would have written David out of the congregation of the elect, the saved, the righteous, the blood bought believers but we would have hid our children's eyes as we passed him on the street!

But God knew David. And, had we acted the way I just described, we would have proven that we did not.

God knew David had the quality of integrity. For as many ups and downs and hideously horrible and unspeakable evils that he did, David was a man the God of the universe could count on; both to hear His voice and obey His directives. God could count on it because David, as many times as he might fall, loved Loved LOVED God.

The church comes under massive attack from inside and out because we have bought into a system that says the appearance of right and good and just and holy is as good and maybe even better than the genuine article. After all, if you are just acting holy you can real put on a show! Actual holiness requires that whole humility thing and hey, if you can't be known for your righteous and pure life then why bother? How can you change the world if in fact the whole world doesn't know just how amazingly good you really are? Huh? Huh?

But you will never be a man or woman of God if hyperbole is your guiding principle. Never. You cannot fake it with the Almighty. And, in the final analysis, He is the only one that matters. He is not impressed with externals. Don't get me wrong. I am sure God would have preferred less adultery and killing in the life of David. But apparently actions aren't the whole story. Daddy Father God always focuses on the inward qualities, those eternal qualities that only time in His presence are created .

The love of God and time with God trained David for a leadership role with four disciplines. Now this is just a perspective. It is not the only one that exists on the life of David but I believe it holds relevance for you and I.

First, God trained David one-on-one, alone. David needed to learn life's major lessons with the great Mentor of the Universe, in a practice, before he could be trusted with responsibilities and rewards before the people. Solitude, just you and God, has nurturing qualities all its own. Anyone who must have superficial sounds to survive lacks depth. If you can't stand to be alone with yourself, you have deep, unresolved issues in your inner life. Solitude has a way of bringing those issues to the surface.

Second, David grew up in obscurity. That's another way God trains His best personnel - outside the limelight, the lights, the crowds and the context of the "big picture". Most nearly always those who love God and serve others are first unknown, unseen, unappreciated, and unapplauded. In the quiet context of obscurity, character is built. You learn to hear God's voice and therefore be led by something deeper and with more value to you than the shouts of the crowds, the pressures of friends and family. Strange as it may seem, those who first accept the silence of "no stage" are best qualified to handle the applause of popularity.

Which leads us to the third training ground, David's life was monotonous. That's being faithful in the menial, apparently insignificant, routine, unexciting, uneventful, daily drone of life. Life without the lavish and exciting . . . without the wine, the lobster, the caviar and roses. Just dull, plain, walk-it-out L-I-F-E. It is when life is consistent but more to the point it's constant, unchanging, tedious hours of the otherwise boring as you learn to be a man or woman of God and there is nobody else around to notice or care. Heck! What would they see? It's all just a big 'ol yawn. That's how we learn to make it real and do what needs to be done.

That brings us to the fourth discipline and that is David lived within reality. Up until now you might have the feeling that despite the solitude, obscurity, and monotony, David was just sitting out on some hilltop in a mystic haze, composing a great piece of music, or relaxing in the pastures of Judea and having a great time training those sheep to sit on their hind legs. That's not true. He simply lived what was normal and he fit into it. Yet, in all of his "fitting in" David found God in the quiet. He learned from Him. He honored Him. He did what He did so as to ensure that with God greatness is relative. "Whatever your hand finds to do...do it all to honor God." That would resonate with David. For David reality might be on earth but earth and all its workings are here to glorify God. David found it easy.

So the great struggle a King who craves but always returns to his roots; his integrity. He bows to the King of Kings. He loves on His relationship and fully expects God, as bad as he might have been, to speak into His life and in all of this he fulfilled the role of a man of integrity...ultimately.

Isn't that us? Aren't we "mostly" something but not perfectly and completely those qualities. David had great beginnings. They served him when he came to the end of his days and provided him a path back when he got lost in between. How about you and I? I'll leave it at that. It's worth a thought...

I remain...
InHISgrip,

~J~

Why Do I Have To Explain Myself to You?

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. - James 1:22-25

I was reading an old devotional that was making the point that once upon a time life was simple and uncomplicated. Oh sure, there were struggles and problems, but they weren't all that complex. Good and evil did battle with each other and, for most of us, these battles were in the sunshine of "the obvious". Our own willpower and our lack of focus were right in there; they stood in stark opposition to one another. In the rugged west we were comfortable with the notion that right fought against wrong in life's main event and not too many folks remained neutral; you were a good guy or a bad guy! There was a clear, unmistakable line between winning and losing . . . victory and defeat . . . accomplishment and failure ... actual war between opposing forces and peace, real peace - not smoldering, game-playing peace which seems in our world to be the norm.

Sometimes we loathed self. When we did and we admitted our guilt and genuinely were ashamed for our words and actions. Thinking of it another way, there would also be times when, regardless of whether it was easy or suited our purposes we sucked it up and moved forward, did the right thing. In America, pride was a function of our focus on doing right and this was something we desired to pass on to our children. And children? Well, they looked up to dad and mom. I recall my uncles telling me grandpa was their hero.

What else was in this mold? How about this, a marriage was fa once in a lifetime deal. A job was for work. A crime was for punishment. Irresponsibility was met with a visual lack of trust, a broken promise put you on the outside with a man and his whole clan, adultery was an unspeakable, hardship was expected and thought to build character, extra effort was admired, applauded and maybe, just maybe the only reason for special reward.

Then, ever so slowly, the fog rolled in.

All the evils of the world, once black as tar, turned strange shades of gray. Instead of our seeing them clearly as wrong or someone's responsibility, they became part of a new social fuzzy logic ... and ultimately "explainable"; rationalized by social and psychological inference, implication, that had much more "significant" and far reaching implications. At the end of the day, society searched for and discovered justification for anything. And the outworking of all this is a remarkable twist, a subtle switching of expectations and definitions.

Our society now protects the guilty (you'll excuse the expression) and it almost always appears, at some level the victim is put on trial. We have seen a turn about in reason years with the advent of the most caustic of all atrocities in the actions of terrorists. Still the guy who uses words like discipline and diligence and integrity and blame and shame who is the weirdo, freaky oddball.

I knew a man who shared his story of walking away from the Body of Christ (His local church) and God when he was confronted by leadership because he did not immediately embrace the drunk who killed his wife. "If a drunk driver kills my wife or cripples my kids, how dare I hate him? We all know alcoholism is a disease and nobody gets a disease on purpose. But if I do hate him and if I'm caught up with such rage that I kill the driver, you can't be angry with me. After all, wasn't I suffering from temporary insanity? (That's a brief disease ... like the flu.)" - and all of that would make sense.

Explanations abound, everything from poor toilet training, battered families and unfair parents to oppressive work conditions and governmental rip-offs. Sometimes in my more maddening moments I entertain crazy "what if" ideas. What if we were suddenly stripped of our twenty-first century maladies and "scientific" explanations? What if there was a resurgence of such dated phrases as:

"I have decided to . . ."
"I will . . ."
"I will no longer . . ."
"I am wrong . . ."
"Starting today, I won't . . ."
That would mean saying farewell to foggy terms like:
"I am thinking about it . . ."
"I'm working on it . . ." and,
"Someday I plan to . . ."

which psychologists, pastors, and counselors worth their salt realize mean little more than, "I'm working out some great excuse for not doing it."
How do I know? I've learned those phrases, too! And occasionally, when I get cornered by a hard set of facts, I dip into my bag just like you do---especially if I'm not ready to come to terms with my own responsibility. Out come those handy little guilt-relieving "explanations."
Little by little I'm learning just how enamored I was of all those catch phrases that made me forget I was on a sinking ship.

Let me level with you. And I say this for one reason only - to encourage you to replace explanations with decisions and actions. If I had continued giving in to those lame excuses, my marriage would not have held together, any ministry I have would have become mediocre or more likely non-existent, I would never have finished even this paragraph, I would not have a close friend, I would have jumped from job to job because of the pressure, and who knows what else!

Jesus was right. After telling His disciples how to live fulfilled lives, He put the clincher on it by adding, If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them - John 13:17, emphasis added.

So, today, you and me, let's get the right combination of learning, embracing mentally/spiritually and doing. Let's allows the cleansing power of Jesus Christ to wash over us. It's part of the redemption package. Don't dive under a pile of guilt! Bask in the warmth of a God who is loving and changing you and I.

I remain...

InHISgrip,

~J~

My Internal GPS

Thus says the LORD: “ Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD. - Jeremiah 9:23,24

There is a kind of thinking that goes like this..."If I am sensitive I will know that God has provided instruction, but then it's up to me." Does that sound about right? Or, maybe you are of a different school of thought regarding you and God's will. Maybe yours is as simple as, 'If I just knew the Bible better I could better understand God's will." Or, maybe yours is more mystical or more practical than either of the above. Nonetheless, there is a part about knowing and a part about doing.

My experience is this, those who are most in love with Jesus; those who crave Him most deeply and glorify Him most easily do not seem to have much of a problem with the whole issue of God's leading in their life. It just sort of flows.

Period.

The focus of our attention should be on the relationship that Jesus Christ came to earth to re-establish with us and that is, to get us back to a place where we realize and fully embrace God's love, acceptance and forgiveness and desire to provide direction for our lives so we can snuggle into a relationship with Him. The rest seems to just fall into place.

But, regardless, we must accept His instruction and apply it to our lives in order to see that He is in fact working in us and through us for His good pleasure and our fulfillment. It is then, and only then, that we can expect to cash in on the benefits of His leadership in our lives. My friend Chuck Swindoll would say, "application is the link between (God's) instruction and change (in our lives)."

I'm not sure that is what God is concerned about. Therein lies the rub. God doesn't lead us just so we do stuff. The end game for our lives isn't but it does include it.

Let's look at a realistic metaphor for this scenario and our most common way of interpreting what God requires of us.

Imagine that you work for a company whose president must travel out of the country and spend an extended period of time abroad. So he says to you and the other team members, "Look, I'm going to be gone to Outer Mongolia. While I'm gone, I want you to pay close attention to the business. You manage things while I'm away. I will be in communication with you regularly. It most likely will be snail mail since I'm not sure that I'll always have Internet or that my cell phone will work there. But, when I do communicate, I will instruct you as best I can given your situation and give you what you should do from now until I return from this trip. The direction that I want you to take the company will be outlined in writing." Everyone agrees. He leaves and stays gone for a couple of years. During that time he writes often, calls when he can, and tries to find enough Internet signal to E-Mail if possible...the point is though he is communicating his desires and concerns and most of the time, as he had indicated it was by written communiqué primarily. The more personal messages seemed to be fewer and farther in between.

Finally he returns.

He walks up to the front door of the company to find everything is in disarray - weeds flourishing in the flower beds, windows busted out across the front of the building, the receptionist is dozing, loud music roaring from several offices, two or three people engaged in horseplay in the back room. Instead of making a profit, the business has suffered massive losses. Without hesitation he calls everyone together and with beet red face and a frown asks, "What the *#@^! happened here? Didn't you get my instruction?" You say, "Oh, yeah, sure chief. We got all your letters. We've even bound them in a book. And some of us have memorized them. In fact, we have 'letter study' every Sunday. You know, those were really great letters." I think the president would then ask, "But what did you do about my instructions?" And, no doubt, the employees would respond, "Do? Well, maybe not everything we should. The studies were helping us to determine what the correct interpretations should be. We didn't want to assume you meant what you said. But we read every one...a lot!"

In the very same way, God has sent us His instructions. But how do we use it? Did it provide you with an ability to understand general instruction (love, don't lie, cheat, steal, assist, care, show mercy, forgive, redemption story, how end times will occur, etc.)? Did you see the pattern of how you should be responding in life based on what you read? Was the written signals God has given you enough of a link for you to more deeply understand personally how you should act or, more importantly, when He is speaking to your spirit (heart, soul, mind, etc.) is the general messages and examples enough of a framework that you can discern His intimate communication to you?

God has preserved every word of much of His hearts desires and even provided great examples of how to live them out in a Book, the Bible. It's all there, just as He communicated it to us. When He returns for His own, He is not going to ask us how much we memorized or how often we met for study. No, He will want to know, "What did you do about my instructions; more succinctly, the ones I gave to you personally? Did any of your time in study of the Bible, did it link in to our specific times of discussion, meditation, and personal communication? Did you even listen during our one-on-one Skype calls? Were you even there? Did you even have any with me? Didn't you get that from the big black bound book; that I desire to speak directly into the lives of my children?"

One leads to the other. The Bible gives us hope. Not just the hope of salvation but the hope that God turns his attention and in earth time that attention is aimed directly to people who are very much like you and I. Just folks. Oh sure, a few Kings and prophets along the way got messages from Him. But our father spoke to white collar and blue collar working stiffs too. He spoke to children and to women and to people of ethnicity's very unique from one another. It is a message to you: I want to have your attention and time and I want to be your greatest lover and fan. Most important of all, He spoke personally to them.

Remember, it to rebuild the bridge and loving, personal communication and relationship... that is what Jesus came to do...to put you and Abba Father back together again. So, when you read the Bible what are you hearing in your heart? How is it changing, affecting and guiding your actions...your life?

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~

Mmmm...Melty Christians We Must Be!

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. - Matthew 5:13-16

Chuck Swindoll, in his gorgeous work, "Come Before Winter" shares this story: During the reign of Oliver Cromwell, the British government began to run low on silver for coins. Lord Cromwell sent his men on an investigation of the local cathedral to see if they could find any precious metal there. After investigating, they reported:

The only silver we could find is the statues of the saints standing in the corners. To which the radical soldier and statesman of England replied:
Good! We'll melt down the saints and put them into circulation!

Not bad theology for a proper, strait-laced Lord Protector of the British Isles! In just a few words, Cromwell's command succinctly stated what, though obvious, was not at all expected ... the kernel ... the practical need, and God's full expectation of His expectation of authentic Christianity. God does not look for rows of silver saints, polished to a lustrous glow and that are frequently dusted and crammed into the corners of elegant cathedrals.

God has no use for plaster people cloaked in thin layers of untarnished silver and topped with a metallic halo. The essence of the move of the body of Christ through history has been a marching army. These saints circulating through the mainstream of humanity have had hard brassy hearts melted down. What we do or should or must and can is to bring value down where life happens, and, wherever it happens for mankind. The group Petra once sang, a lyric that must never be spoken of you and I, we must neither be nor cower behind, rose-colored stained glass windows. Our theology must live and breath and do and move and touch and care as the one for whom we owe our love and allegiance; as was His.

It's easy to kid ourselves. So easy. The Christian must guard against self-deception. We can begin to consider ourselves martyrs because we are in gatherings (never call it church) twice on Sunday - really sacrificing by investing a few hours on the "day of rest." Frankly kids, unlike my duped and doped "wilderness brethren", being among the saints is no sacrifice . . . it's a brief, choice privilege. And, yes, I know, but even the phony ones will, from time to time be caught up in the spirit and from them will emanate God's glory and wisdom.

No, the draining liabilities side of the Christian walk occurs on Monday through Friday ... and during the rest of the week where we are off and away from the safety and cocoon of the warmth of fellowship. That's when, as Cromwell said, we're "melted down and put into circulation." That's when the enemies of our peace and composure go for the jugular. And it is remarkable how that monotonous workweek test discolors many a silver saint. As Swindoll said, "Sunday religion" may seem sufficient, but that's far from the truth.

It's the acid grind that takes the toll. Maybe that explains why words of the venerable prophet touch a nerve:

“ If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you,
Then how can you contend with horses?
And if in the land of peace,
In which you trusted, they wearied you,
Then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan? - Jeremiah 12:5 NKJV

I know a part of what I do is rest in the finished work of Christ. That is positional for me. What I mean is, I confidently rest, in faith that everything that needed to be done for my eternal redemption was done. It's forever sealed. God's grace covered me, Jesus' love provided for me. The Spirit's continued keeping and His sealing of "John W, in Christ" is forever settled in the hallowed halls of heaven, God's Kingdom and eternity. But there are yet earthly battles to fight. There is an enemy who would attack. Doing battle in the steaming jungle of the daily grind calls for shock troops in super shape. No rhinestone cowboys can cut it among the swamps and insects of the gross world system. Sunday-Go-To-Meeting silver saints in shining armor are simply out of circulation if that's the limit to their faith. Waging wilderness warfare (sorry all you FBN'er s- there was a wilderness so wild way before you tried to call lack of fellowship on a regular basis your "wilderness" home) calls for sweat ... energy ... keen strategy (God's wisdom) ... determination (Confidence in Christ) ... a good supply of ammunition (Praise, Prayer, A lively Word) ... willingness to fight (Stand in faith and hope!) ... refusal to surrender, even with the crazies stomping on your lifeline.

And that is why we must be melted! It's all part of being "in circulation." Those who successfully wage war with silent heroism under relentless outside pressure (or phony religious internal pressure) - ah, they are the saints who know what it means to be melted by their King!

You can opt for an easier path. You can even dance through the pansies and pretend that "Jesus paid it all" means nothing else must ever occur. Or, Like Pastor Swindoll says, "Sure. You can keep your own record and come out smelling like a rose. A silver saint. Polished to a high-gloss sheen. Icily regular, cool and casual, consistently present ... and safely out of circulation. Another touch-me-not figurine ...Until the Lord calls for an investigation of the local cathedral, or backwoods meadows. Trust all who have had any effect at all on the world, He is more like Cromwell than you might think.

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~