Making A Change

¹⁸Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

This verse was inspired by a couple of movies I watched this weekend: Shredderman Rules and Kids in America. The first is a Nickelodeon movie, the second - an independent film. Both are about students rising up against tyranny and oppression. Both are about making a change. In both movies the protagonists must make a change in themselves, a decision to act, before they can work to make a change in other peoples' lives. In both cases the protagonists are pushed too far before they are willing to put themselves out there.

Both movies have a good message, but my question for you today is, "What does it take for you to change?" When you read today's passage, are you ready to go out now? Or are you waiting for someone to push you into it? What's your tipping point before you're ready to share the good news? If you're still waiting, what are you waiting for?

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Saved by What?

²⁰You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? ²¹Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. ²⁴You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

James 2:20-24 (NIV)

Today's verse was inspired by a convergence of things. I read a conversation on Amazon about "Are Catholics saved?" It brought me to the verse James 2:24. Then I read a notes post by Pastor Kim Triplett about cheap grace and food that fills us up.

So what is James saying here? Is he conflicting with other passages like Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV).

⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast.

The answer is no, he's not in conflict. If you take that verse in context (and I encourage you to read the rest of the passage) then what James is telling us is that we should have an active faith. God's grace brings with it not only salvation, but an interest in sharing our faith with others. He encourages us to do good deeds so that through our actions we can show our faith to those around us.

So then are we justified through God's grace or not? In Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book, The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer writes,

The only man who has the right to say he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ. Such a man knows that the call to discipleship is a gift of grace, and that call is inseparable from the grace. But those who try to use this grace as a dispensation [(special permission from God)] from following Christ are simply deceiving themselves.

Cheap grace is defined by Bonhoeffer as saying, "I'm saved through God's grace and I don't have to do anything for it." Costly grace is defined as, "I am saved through God's grace and I can do nothing for it. But His gift is so great I will give everything I have in return."

So what's your flavor? Cheap grace is the grace that causes you to not change anything in your life. Costly grace challenges you to change everything in your life. What's your pricetag?

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There Is No Fear In Love

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

I John 4:18 (ESV)

This is one of my favorite verses. It was the theme verse when I was on the Winter Celebration planning group as a youth. This verse has always been a comfort to me since then. This is such a Godly way of saying, "There is nothing to fear but fear itself." There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out all fear.

No fear. Just love. Even in places of darkness there is light because of love. God made the ultimate sacrifice for us out of love. He bestowed his grace upon us and because of that we are free to love. God's grace takes away our fear and replaces it with love.


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Take Comfort in God

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come
to you.

John 14:18 (KJV)

Today's verse was inspired by Grace Day, who is dealing with a breakup. As I searched for words of comfort on these Internets, I found the above verse. The verse is about Jesus coming back after His death. It speaks to me of more however. Not just of His second coming, but of the fact that he is always with us. We can turn to Him and He will comfort us.

In those times when you're feeling lonely, rejected, sad, as if no one cared for you - remember that God does care for you. God will not leave you comfortless. He will come to you. These are words of hope when we are down and at our worse. God loves us. He died on the cross for our sins. Nothing and no one is beneath His notice. When you are sad He is there with you. He has nowhere else more important to be.

Today's picture is entitled "Rain on a Rose". I chose it because it depicts to me sadness and hope in the same picture. The rain drops are like tears on the petals. The black and white colors make this a stark and lonely picture. And yet at the same time the rose is white, full of light and hopeful. The rain does not take anything away from the rose. In fact it enhances its beauty. Soon it will dry in the rays of the sun and the rain drops will be but a memory...

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Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of
you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8 (NRSV)

This verse was a verse that my pastor, Bob Humphrey, preached on for a number of weeks earlier this year during Lent. It popped up in my random Bible verse app today, and I thought it was a good one for today.

Why does God require these things of us? What struck me when I read this today is that when we do these things we are less likely to sin. Especially that last part - walk humbly with your God. When you are walking with God, aware of His presence, you are less likely to do the things you know you shouldn't. Sin likes darkness, and when we are walking in the light, it pushes back the sinful desires we have.

So I encourage you today to walk humbly with your God.

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Tablet of Your Heart

³ Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.

Proverbs 3:3

I asked my friend Mike tonight what verse I should use, and he gave me this verse. He said it was his life verse, the verse he would use to sum up the way he lives his life. I let him pick the picture too, and he started looking for stone crosses. I showed him the pictures I'd taken of the stone cross at Eagle Eyrie and you see the result. :)

This verse is so simple and so profound. It is a simple thing to say, and yet sometimes so hard to do. I think this verse speaks for itself though. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

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Arguing with Fools

⁴ Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you will be like him yourself.

⁵ Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.

Proverbs 26:4-5

I came across this passage the other day when trying to respond to a very frustrating email. I then spent even more time trying to figure out what this passage means. It's very confusing. What I came up with was that we should be careful what we say. Pick your words carefully.

I don't think this verse is saying, "Don't say anything because something bad will happen." Instead it talks about how to deal with people who are foolish. We might also call them idiots. How do you respond to comments that are so stupid, you don't know what to say? How do you respond to something so illogical that there is no right answer?

Address the issue at hand, but don't act the same way as the person you are arguing with. (Because let's face it, this passage is about how to argue with people.) Another way of saying this is, try to understand where your opponent is coming from. You don't have to agree - but it may help you make an argument that is better formulated and more effective than something that amounts to a personal attack.

God is Love. We try to follow that example. In all you do, put love first.

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Hidden Miracles

¹⁹When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified. ²⁰But he said to them, "It is I; don't be afraid." ²¹Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

John 6:19-21 (NIV)

You may recognize this as our gospel lesson from yesterday morning. As I was listening to it, I noticed the last part of it, where the boat is suddenly at the shore. So I looked it up in my study Bible, and it says that some scholars interpret this as the boat reached the shore as a miracle. After the story of the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus walking on the water, this miraculous teleportation goes pretty much unnoticed. It's a hidden miracle.

I started thinking about how there are many hidden miracles in our lives, from the creation around us to the little bits of serendipity that make our life better. Jesus' life was full of miracles, and if we take the time to look around, we will often see that ours are too.

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Watch Yourselves

¹Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. ²It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. ³So watch yourselves.

"If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. ⁴If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."

Luke 17:1-4 (NIV)

Today's passage was inspired by a conversation I had with Taylor Swanger yesterday. It was about forgiving our fellow Christians. There are a number of other verses I could have chosen, some of which you have probably heard.

However this verse says a lot to me about how we are always supposed to interact with our brothers and sisters in Christ. When a brother sins against you, and you rebuke him, you must do so in a loving way. If you rebuke him in a way that is confrontational, you will escalate the argument, possibly causing him to sin more as he responds in anger.

When people hurt us, or those we love, it is difficult to forgive them. We want to hurt them back - sometimes even more so when it is a loved one that is wronged. We want to defend them. This verse speaks to that need, telling us that it is ok to call someone out when they do something wrong. But it tells us that we are to do so in a way that builds him up. This verse also talks about how we should forgive every time someone asks for forgiveness. It's a difficult thing to do, especially if our trust has been betrayed time and again.

It's easy to give into our anger when we are wronged. It's much harder to act in a loving manner, but that is what we are called to do.

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Love Never Fails

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

1 Corinthians 13:8

This was one of two verses we picked for this year's Crossroads event. This passage is at the end of the famous love passage that is read at every wedding. We actually used just the beginning of the verse: Love never fails. Think about that. True love - actual love - never fails. It is always there.

It is easy to say we have, "fallen out of love", or "I never really loved them". What we are talking about is our own human failings. It's not love's fault. Love hasn't gotten less potent. Love is constant. The same is true of God's presence. We can feel him at youth events, but when we get home we feel that he is gone. He isn't. God is there. God' grace is there. God's love is there.

Love never fails.

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Never Been Unloved

¹⁰This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 4:10-12 (NIV)

This passage was inspired by Kara Brooks' blog on the Book of Faith website. If you don't know about the Book of Faith initiative, it's something that was started last year by the ELCA and Augsburg fortress to help Christians spend time in the Word every day. If you like reading my daily verses, but are more do-it-yourself, check out what they have to offer. Note that I do not use the same verses that they do every day.

Today's passage is a multimedia experience. You can find Michael W. Smith's song, Never Been Unloved, on YouTube. He sings about the fact that for all that for all our failures, God's love never fails.

Today's verse is very powerful for me, for I do not think there is any power on earth greater than love. God's love is so great that he covers us with His grace. His son died for our sins. That's a lot of love. Our passage goes on to encourage us to love each other the same way. This kind of love, this self-sacrificing love, is referred to as agape in the Bible. How can we be that self-sacrificing? It's hard. We are selfish creatures. We aren't God. We aren't perfect. We can love one another though - and every little bit counts.

So what do we do? We try. Start with the little things. Be aware of people around you and the things that you can do for them. Hold a door for someone. Help someone carry something when it looks like they need help. Say a kind word or just smile to someone when you pass them in the hall. These little things are good habits and they can mean a lot to others. And as you get in the habit of doing little things, it will become easier to do big things. And through these things God's love will be made complete in you, and even though no one has ever seen God, people will see Christ in your life and in your deeds. And the people you meet will know that they have never been unloved.

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No Sin Is Too Big

"Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses."

Acts 13:38-39 (NIV)

I was talking to my best friend Nate the other night and he asked, "What's the worst thing you've ever done? Whatever it is, it is forgiven." It brought me back to forgiveness and Grace. God's grace cleanses us from all sins - there are no exceptions. There is no sin too big that God will not forgive it. Grace is a wonderful thing.

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And this is my prayer:

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,

Philippians 1:9-10

Today's passage comes from Morgan Firing's Facebook status. I read it this morning and it touched me, so I decided to use this today instead of the passage I had planned. The first verse is about growing in love. It talks about how as our knowledge and insight grow, our love will also. This is something we definitely experience at youth events, but it doesn't have to stop there. It's just that often we use those events as crutches, and only bother growing in knowledge and insight when we're at them. The rest of the time it's easier to pine for the next event. I know, I've done that plenty of times. It's a trap that's easy to fall into - even when you're an adult. Nothing can compare to the [insert youth event here] experience, so why bother trying?

But the second verse talks about how we are to apply that increase in our lives. We are supposed to use that knowledge and insight to "discern what is best". We know what's right and wrong. We know what we should be doing. This verse is straightforward. It says go out and do it! Stop making excuses! You don't have to turn your life upside down, but apply what you have learned in little steps.

The reward? To be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. This isn't talking about being good so we have no sins. You and I are sinners. We are also saints - but not vecause we try to do good things. No, we are saints because God's grace covers our sins. So what's being pure and blameless? You know that guilty feeling in the pit of your stomach when you're afraid you're goign to get caught for somethign you did? Yhe regret and the remorse? To be pure and blameless is that contended feeling - the absence of guilt. The absence of remorse. It's that happy tummy feeling. The feeling that you did the right thing. It's not for God that we do the right thing. It's not even for our own salvation. It's because it's the right thing to do. And when we do that - we know it.

I pray for those away at New Orleans, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.

I pray this same prayer for all of you at home like me, and I encourage you to pray for those in service this week. Pray that their works will make them to shine like stars in the heaven and make them witnesses for Christ.

Amen

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A Prayer for the ELCA National Youth Gathering

For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Ephesians 2:10

I am praying tonight for all those who go to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's National Youth Gathering. 32,000+ youth and adults descending on the city of New Orleans for a week of fellowship, worship and service. I am sad that I cannot be with all my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, but I am there with them in spirit. I pray that they will enjoy their time there and the opportunities the trip provides; and that they will serve joyously in the tasks they are given, so that the people of New Orleans will see Christ shining in them.

Amen

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Social Bullying: Turning the Other Cheek

39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on
the right cheek, turn to him the other also

Matthew 5:39 (NIV)

I think what inspired today's verse was the new Harry Potter movie. Whenever Malfoy does somethign to Harry, Harry always gets him back, and around the cycle goes. In the sixth movie, Harry spies on Malfoy. Then Malfoy bloodies Harry's nose. Then Harry uses the spell Sectum Sepra to hurt Malfoy.

Today's lesson is part of the Beatitudes, also known as the Sermon on the Mount. It's easy to say, "Turn the other cheek", but as soon as we start thinking about it we think, "I can't do that." So I started thinking, is it really that literal?

Harry Potter reminded me of a term I heard, called social bullying. Social bullying is beating people up emotionally. It's a lot more common these days than physical bullying. So if we turn the other cheek in a verbal engagement, what does it look like? Sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. It's a useful comeback in elementary school, but as we get older it seems to lose it's power.

Verbal abuse hurts, and it stays with us. What does turning the other cheek have to do with this? Jesus goes on in the following verses to tell us to go beyond, and to offer them more than they're asking for. I don't think he means that if someone makes fun of us we should tell them our deepest, darkest secrets so they can hurt us more. But he is telling us to not retaliate. He asks us to be the better person by not fighting back? To be kind to people who are mean to us.
Does this mean we don't have a right to be hurt and angry? That we should just be able to let it all wash away? I don't think so. We shouldn't keep things bottled up inside. Jesus is always willing to listen. We should also talk them out - preferably with the people who hurt us. If we can't so that, we can confide in someone we can trust.

If you think about it, talking about things like this allows us to get them off our chest. It keeps our feelings from being bottled up, and it keeps us from exploding when the next person comes along and hurts our feelings. So turning the other cheek means a lot more than just dealing in the moment. It has to do with how we deal afterwards - and how we prepare for the next time.

If you would like to read more on this subject, I found a three-part article on turning the other cheek when we are "emotionally slapped". It's a pretty short read, and I strongly encourage girls in particular to read it. You can find it here: http://www.gospel.com/blog/index.php/2007/09/14/turning-the-other-cheek-when-youve-been-emotionally-slapped/

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And be thankful.

¹⁵And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. ^{16 16}Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.

Colossians 3:15-16

Today I was thinking about being thankful. I was reading the warm-fuzzies I got at Kairos, and I was thinking how thankful I am for the encouragement I get from youth and adults in my ministry. You'd be surprised how often you have no idea if anything you're doing is making a difference! I picked this passage because it relates to what I've been talking about this week - teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. I also though it was appropriate for Sunday, as it talked about singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to God with grattitude in your heart.

I really love the artfulness of these verses as well. They paint a vivid picture with words. "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." I imagine peace ruling me like a sovereign. A kind monarch that has my best interests at heart and is always serene, wise and free with his guidance.

"to which indeed you were called in the one body." Like a siren call, peace calls to us to become one in Christ. Like a body at rest in physics, we rotate around Christ until we come to rest peacfully in Him as one body.

"And be thankful." This to me is the centerpiece around which these verses rotate. Be thankful. For everything around you - the air, the sky, the grass, the birds, your house, your fellow Christians, the list goes on and on... Be thankful.

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." Don't just let the word dwell in you, but let it do so richly. Like the deliciousness of rich chocolate, let it make your whole self better. And those around you will taste that richness through your words and deeds.

"teach and admonish one another in all wisdom;" In both teaching and correcting our fellow Christians, we should do so with wisdom. We should think before we speak and seek to build each other up always.

"with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God." Don't just sing songs in church, or where ever, but sing them with gusto! Sing them at the top of your lungs! Revel in the sounds of otehrs singing around you. Enjoy not only your own singing, but the chorus of those around you, and do it with a joyous, grateful heart.

For those of you preparing to leave for National Youth Gathering, I pray that you will have thankful hearts for the experience you are about to have, and that you will sing praise to God with gratefulness, and that you will be lights shining in the world for all those you serve this week.

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Carry Each Other's Burdens

¹Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. ²Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ

Galatians 6:1-2

Yesterday our verse talked about what to do when we fail. I thought it appropriate today to look at a verse that talks about when others fail. It's very popular to say, "Let people do what they want as long as they're not hurting anyone else." What people also mean though is, "You have no right to determine right and wrong for anyone else." Do we?

Today's verse says that we should help others when we see them sinning. It doesn't say we should accuse them of wrongdoing or that we should avoid them because they're filthy sinners. What it says is that we should gently point out the problem and help that person to make a change.

If you see someone doing something they shouldn't - take on their burden. Consider it your problem too and figure out how you can help them to stop doing whatever it is that they're doing. Offer your help. Don't be afraid of rejection. Most likely despite any shame they might feel, they will welcome someone else's loving help. And even if your help is rejected - you will know that you have done the wrong thing and that you tried to help out of love and not judgment.

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Sinners, Saints & Fellowship

⁵This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. ⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

1 John 1: 5-10

This verse follows yesterday's verse. You will probably recognize the second part from church. We say it every Sunday as part of our corporate confession. Part of having fellowship with others is recognizing that we sin - that we are all sinners. As Martin Luther put it, "We are both sinners and saints." We must recognize that in ourselves, and in other people. No person is perfect except Jesus. He rocks like that.

The first part of this passage talks about how we must strive to walk in the light instead of darkness. We should try to avoid temptation and sin by replacing bad habits with good ones. We should distract ourselves with things that will build ourselves and others up.

The second part of the passage talks about what to do when we fail. Note that I said when - not if. We are sinners by nature and saints through God's grace. God gives us His grace freely. There's always enough to cover our sins. So then why strive to keep from sinning? Simply because we want to do and be good.

Once we recognize that our fellow Christians are sinners and saints, our fellowship deepens. Think back to Kairos and small group. It was a place and time where you had fellowship - where people could share freely about the stuff they normally might not share. Why is that? Because of the fellowship you had with your small group. As we take that back into our home churches, we can create an environment of fellowship that provides us the same opportunities that small group at Kairos does.

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Fellowship

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:3 (NIV)

When I talk to people about why they don't go to church, they often tell me something like, "Church is just a place. I don't need other people to believe in God." Usually this comes from people who were disillusioned by people in their church. somehow they were hurt, and they feel that their experience proves why churches are a bad thing. And they feel that they don't need anyone else, and so avoid churches altogether.

Our verse today talks about fellowship. We go to church for fellowship among other things. It's there that we can worship with others every week. It's there that we can be encouraged. It's there that we can have fellowship with God. That fellowship is worth a lot. In these days of online relationships - and I don't just mean dating - it is easy to feel there are other ways to get the needs of fellowship and companionship met without going to church.

The fact is that's not true. If you find a place in your local church you will find that you look forward to being there with the people and the fellowship. It isn't the same intensity as a youth event, but it is spiritually fulfilling in its own way. God gives us others to lean on and to support, like the lap sit game where everyone gets in a circle and sits on the lap of the person behind them. You are supported and support.

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Encourage One Another

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Encouragement, like growth in faith is a two-way street. When we give, we get. When we encourage others, we are encouraged by them. When we help others in their faith walk, we too can be helped. Being faithful is setting an example - not only for those that don't believe, but for those who do. You can help your fellow Christians by setting a good example, for being there for them, and for telling them you appreciate them. Even when someone teaches you something and you feel you have nothing to add, telling someone thank you can mean a lot. You always have something to offer, and something as simple as thanks can be the encouragement someone else needed to keep doing what they're doing.

Encouragement can be difficult sometimes though. You have to break down barriers. You have to take chances. You have to risk rejection. You also have to take that risk, not because of the possible reward, but because it's the right thing to do. Praying for someone is hard, but if you ask them if you can pray with them - it can be a powerful experience. It can also get you a weird look. So why bother? Even if it doesn't seem worth it at the time, it usually is, and regardless of the results we see, it's what God calls us to do.

Try being out there with your faith. Start with other Christians. Support them. See what happens.

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