Except you become...

"And He said unto them, 'Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.'" Matthew 18:3

Finding Neverland is an absolutely brilliant movie and one that I would recommend whole-heartedly. The story is about J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan and the inspiration that he receives from his real life interactions with a widow and her four sons.

I was struck by the Christian truths found in this production and just had to share a few. As the Matthew 18 passage states, except ye become as little children..." so this movie explores the coming into "adulthood" and losing the aspect of being a child. The results manifest themselves as stodgy, overbearing, and a grumpiness that infects all that takes place during the day. It affects the reviewers of theater so much as to cause the character played by Dustin Hoffman to exclaim that the critics have destroyed the magic, the art of the stage. The "adult" attitude causes the mother of the widow to shut out the very thing that is giving her extended family a breath of fresh air and an insight into what an imagination can do to improve one's outlook on circumstances.
The movie's main theme is that of "Finding Neverland" and the process that an adult goes through in order to awaken the life that they felt as a child. The results of the awakening translate that into an adult existence that has the joy and the innocence of their youth, but with a demeanor and poise that denotes maturity. It is a balance of childlike love and innocence, tempered with an adult maturity, completed and made whole with love.

A paraphrase in the movie goes something like this: "But children began to become serious and wanted to grow up and no longer believe in the magic and excitement that they felt as a child." This "grownup" sentiment was certainly felt by the critics of the theater that were more concerned about they themselves being impressed by some great intellectual work, then allowing themselves to be caught up in the emotion and power of the story. It took the innocent joy and excitement of children to get them past their preconceived ideas of how life is and how it should be viewed.
I could not help but search my own heart as I was watching this movie and identify with the emotions that were presented. So often I've taken for granted, and have become calloused to the work that Christ did for me on Calvary as well as for the relationship that He desires to have with me on a moment-by-moment basis. A relationship that is not founded on my "grownup" ideas of what I view life to be, but rather on a child's look at the love and the grace of an Almighty Savior that came to this world to save us from the self that governs each of our lives. Our depraved man, our Adam, would tell us that Christ's work on the cross was nothing more than a one-time event, one that we can look back on and remember with gratitude and with sadness. Our self tells us that we must accept this forgiveness, but then, that we must turn that grace and love that Christ showed us on the cross and use it as a tool of our own to bring people unto our own way of thinking. Gone is the magic, the excitement of a relationship with a Person. Instead, we find ourselves bound to a system of rules and regulations where we attempt to live out Christ's life and power on our own strength and desire. We look like the stuffy critics in the theater; wrapped up in our own understanding and viewpoint, and unwilling to adopt the mind of a child and see Christ as the Person that He is. He is not something that we can wrap our minds around, or someone who we can manipulate into getting what our selves want. He is so much more than anything that we can think, but we settle on making Him a figure in our minds eye, rather than a live person that longs to commune with us. Gone is the laughter that characterizes Him in Psalm 45:15 and Psalm 105:43. Replacing it is the disciple’s admonition for him to rebuke the little children, the callous shoving away of a heart that is on fire for Christ, a heart that yearns to be near Christ. Instead of rebuking the children, Christ says in Luke 18:16 "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God."

Oh Lord, let our hearts not grow faint toward You. Father, may your love keep us tender and excited in your presence, always yearning for more of Who You are, and not more of what our self tell us. Father, open our hearts unto Your spirit, and our eyes to see life as You would see it. Eyes that continually are looking for the power of Your love, and the healing of Your grace. Let us always be on the lookout for ways to share that childlike love, that childlike faith and mercy to those around us. Father, we pray that we would not become caught up in the religious practice of You, that we would not just go to church and call ourselves Christians because it salves our consciences, but let us be children in your eyes, coming before You daily, broken and contrite, humbled to be in Your household, loved by You. Jesus, we love you and ask for Your Spirit to come upon us every day. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
May the Lord bless you all as you seek Him as a little child.

Righteous Judges?

Ran across a great article by Mike Bickle and wanted to pass it along for all of you to read. Let me know if you agree, disagree, and how you think truly catching ahold of the concept of God loving us will truly change the way that we live our lives in every facet, especially in the area of loving others.

John 5:30- I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Is it possible for Christians to adopt this same mindset when interacting with other Christians? Not just in the way we respond outwardly, but the way we view them in our internal thought processes. Our Sunday School class was talking about "The Restrictions of Christian Liberty" (yeah, funny title, I know) and a man made a statement on how he would respond to someone that did not hold the same interpretations of scripture as he did, his response was to the effect of "I'd pray that God would bring conviction and truth into that persons life and that they would see the light." Wow, how many times do we pray that for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. How many times have I set myself up as a judge of that person's beliefs and convictions, whether they're laxer than mine, or stricter than mine? The simple truth of the matter is found in John 7:18,24 "He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him...Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."

What does this mean, righteous judgement? The greek word for righeous is Dikailos and means "that which is just, which is expected by the One who sets the rules and regulations whereby man must live." As we saw in John 5, Christ judged according to His Father, and not according to seeking his own glory. Do you realize how much fame Christ could have received if He had torn down the Pharisiacal system and the levels of control that they held over the community? How much Christ would have gained if he had overthrown the Roman government and the eartly power that they exuded. Instead, in all that Christ taught, he pointed people to His Father, not Himself. If the Son of God exhibited that in his own life, how much more should we, as children of God, saved and redeemed by the power of His blood do the same.

As we look at the standards, convictions and codes that we live by, let us consider Colossians 2:16-23:

16Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

17Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

18Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

19And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

20Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,

21(Touch not; taste not; handle not;

22Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?

23Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.

Verses 20-23 are especially poingant. How many of our walls of division are merely a result of commandments of men and products of our Christian culture. Christ was ridiculed by the Pharisees in Luke 7:23-35 because he did not "fit" in with their religionized view of God. How often do we ridicule those that don't fit into our religion/doctrine/creed/denomination/group? Do we look at Christ as "coming to destroy the law and the prophets" or that He "fulfilled" them through His sacrifice? Are the responses that we demonstrate on a daily bases evidences of Christ ruling on the thrones of our heart, or evidences of the fruits of the flesh as king of our life? I ask these questions, not as someone who's attained, but as one who is seeking and searching. For all of those that are searching along with me, I offer up ese verses from James 4

6But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

9Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

My prayer for each one of you, and myself, is "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1) (thanks lindz)

Quote of our life

"The whole preliminary work of God is to disqualify us before we can be qualified."
Arthur Katz
Apostolic Foundations

Tradition of Death

Just read an excellent article by X-ATI Guy. Whether you like his parodies or not, I believe that his more "serious" stuff is right on.

Anyway, his newest post raises some excellent points that I wanted to blog about from my perspective. Here's the first thought, more to come later.

C.S. Lewis writes in his book, "Screwtape Letters" that jargon is the best weapon to use against Christians. It gives us a modicum of understanding, and that we comprehend the spiritual truths. We are raised to play the game, to do the monkey dance, win Oscars, Emmy's, whatever accolade there is because of our performances. Christ says in Mark 7:6-9 regarding the Pharisees: "Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me'. Howbeit in vain do they worhsip me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition."

The statement "Full well ye reject the commandment of God..." sticks out to me like a beacon of light. The commandment of God, what is that? What does that commandment do to change us from who we are into what Christ has for us. "That ye may keep your own tradition." Why do we settle for what other's tell us about God, what others mandate for our lives, what other's prophesy over us? Why do we listen to lies, to deceit, to the enemy of God that "walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." The only thing that I can bring as an answer is that which I've experienced in my life, and am trying to push through right now. I speak of not knowing really who God is. Christ asked Peter, who do men say I am. Peter gives all these illustrious and well deserved responses to that question. After Peter finishes, Christ says, "Who do you say I am?" Peter responds with the most profound and life changing words of "You are the Christ, the Son of God." Christ blesses him saying, "Blessed are you, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Spirit."

Wow, I want to catch ahold of that thought "You are the Christ, the Son of God." I don't want it to be the type of person that has to go to church every Sunday and be reminded of that, I want it to be a new everyday realization that Christ is the reason why we live, the reason why He has placed us on this earth. Not just so we can come up with good doctrine and have all the terminology figured out so we can be good at the "spiritual game." Cool Hand Luke writes: "If I'm supporting actor, then the Oscar goes to You." So often I want to be that person in the limelight, receiving the accolades when Christ, who has placed me in a position and ultimately gave me life sits in the back, covered up because we're too ashamed of admitting that He was truly the reason why we are where we are.

Oh Lord, let it be the cry of our heart to know you in a deeper way, a way that is described in I Peter 3:7. Reveal to us the deepest emotions of your heart as we draw near to you and empty ourselves of the traditions that we've set up in our life. Thank you Jesus, we love You!

The Transformed Life

Here's an intersting article. Read it if you have about ten minutes, it's definitely worth it. Basically, it's about the Christian subculture and how the world views it.


Just a few thoughts that I had on it:

1) I don't think that I truly have a grasp of what it meanst to live a life for Christ. If I did, I know that it would manifest itself in extreme and radical ways in my life.

2) Conformity to the world's standards gives us a Christianity that is legalistic, or totally loose and without consequence.

3) There is nothing new under the sun. How does that translate into Christians making an impact on this world? I believe that Ecclesiastes 12:13, I believe contains the answer: "Let s hear the conlcusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commmandmetns: for this is the whole duty of man." What are his commandments you ask? Peope asked Christ the same thing, and in Matthew 22:36-40 we see the question, and the response: "Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38This is the first and great commandment.

39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. "

Oh that we could truly understand and live these simple, life changing words of our Savior who thought it not robbery to come down and dwell in the likeness of man, as to give us His life. Not just eternal life, but His very life.

Father, our cry to you is for more who you are. That we would lay our flesh down on the altar of your goodness and wholly trust Who you are, and not what we think you are. Lord, you've brought us out of Egypt, bring us into the Promised land as we fully surrender to you. Amen.

Growing Pains

Andrew Murray writes in Abiding in Christ:

"Let us try to understand this. The suggestive expression, "Planted into the likeness of His death," will teach us what the abiding in the Crucified One means. When a graft is united with the stock on which it is to grow, we know that it must be kept fixed, it must abide in the place where the stock has been cut, been wounded, to make an opening to receive the graft. No graft without wounding the laying bare and opening up of the inner life of the tree to receive the stranger branch. It is only through such wounding that access can be obtained to the fellowship of the sap and the growth and the life of the stronger stem."

As some of you know, I've gone through a time in my life that I never thought that I'd go through. The pain from this experience has had several effects on my life, but none more important than that which is described in the above passage. The motivation behind pain to conform that pain to that which Christ suffered on the cross is perhaps the most important thing that we as Christians can do in identifying with Christ's suffereings. It is only as we are engrafted into His vine, as we have everything that we knew to be cut away and severed completely and then allow ourselves to be enjoined with Christ, do we know the true essence of what it means to Abide in Him.

"No good thing will He withhold from you."

Shifting

Allrighty, just a bit of an update. I'm moving my everyday posting (not that I posted on here everyday) to my xanga site. I'm going to be discussing law, rugby, and everyday life on that one. Here, I will address those things that are the deepest groanings of my heart.

So, in other words. This is the not fun blog the xanga one is fun.

Hmm, that sounds bad.

God's Emotions Toward Us

Here's a great article on how a proper view of God is really the key to a Christians life, an even more so, toward maintaining the abiding lifestyle.

I love it that God loves us! That makes me want to love Him more and show that love to others. It's a great trade-off in my mind.