But they cried out, Away with him, away with him.
John 19:15a KJV

These heartless words are scattered across the landscape of a world full of religion, judgment, and bloodlust. And worst of all, the cruel apathy that pushes divine grace aside like a dead weed.

“Away with Him!” they shouted, as if this suffering Hero had the looks of last week’s garbage– vile and putrid under the haze of a bitter sun.

How often I have dismissed the precious Lamb of God from my life. I, like Pilate, have whisked Him off the throne at the slightest moment of inconvenience, seeking to please the masses by releasing the Lamb who knew no sin.

“Away with Him!” I’ve said, when life seemed unsure.

“Away with Him!” I’ve said in my exhaustion.

“Away with Him!” I’ve have said in times of pride and vainglory.

And we, the bride He so loved have said, “Away with Him!”

…from our culture,

…our schools,

…our homes,

…our values,

…our bank accounts,

…our futures.

We, like Pilate, have called out, faultless though Jesus is, “Away with Him!” We have washed our hands of this divine enigma.

Lord, Jesus Son of God, have mercy on us. We have condemned you with our actions in exchange for the false security of our personal idols and jewels. Lord, have mercy on our country for we too have condemned innocent blood.

There was no one standing beside You that day.

You stood alone without a defender. And in this moment, I draw strength from the thought that through You, I too may stand alone in my desperate hour of need. When I am treated unfairly, help me to reflect on that moment in History when, under the greatest anguish known to man, You suffered rejection as a balm of hope on my behalf. You stood under a cascade of shame and rejection so that I may draw strength and help in my darkest hours. 

Lord Jesus, Son of God, I thank Thee for the power to stand alone, defenseless.

Jesus walked to the cross in total surrender.

He explained it this way: “No one is taking it from me; I lay it down of my own free will. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again. This is what my Father has commanded me.”  John 10:18 (HCSB)

There has always been a controversy around who killed Jesus. But Jesus was clear. He gave up His life as an offering. As we remember the brutal account of Jesus’ death, He invites us to see the cross as an embraced undertaking. We are His prize and He snatched us away from the enemy through the brutality of an unthinkable surrender. He loved us enough to engage himself in a 33 year passage toward an unspeakable end.

In this act we see how real love works and He is inviting us to enter this story, to live, die and live again. When we live like Jesus, life is ever before us as an opportunity to surrender everything. What does that look like for you? Only Jesus knows and He will reveal it to you soon enough.

Catherine Doherty’s Little Mandate

Arise — go! Sell all you possess. Give it directly, personally to the poor. Take up My cross (their cross) and follow Me, going to the poor, being poor, being one with them, one with Me.

Little — be always little! Be simple, poor, childlike.

Preach the Gospel with your life — without compromise! Listen to the Spirit. He will lead you..

Do little things exceedingly well for love of Me.

Love… love… love, never counting the cost

Go into the marketplace and stay with Me. Pray, fast. Pray always, fast.

Be hidden. Be a light to your neighbor’s feet. Go without fear into the depth of men’s hearts. I shall be with you. Pray always.

I will be your rest.

The image of the cross is an image of absolute surrender.

When we enter into the story of Christ we see a point in time when we cannot use our hands to control anything. Our will, determination, ambition and skill are nailed to the holy cross of Christ. While the world’s system teaches us how to control others and change ourselves, the cross has no such purpose. On the cross, our hands are not busy. They are surrendered. The cross compels us to die to that old foe that the world calls “a self-made man.” Everything that feeds our own power, pride, ego and self-determination has to go. It simply must. God is not improved by our efforts. He is glorified by our surrender.

When absolute and complete surrender takes hold of you, you will experience the bliss of satisfaction in Him. Whatever you have or don’t have… it wholly means nothing when you have given it all to Him. You live. You breathe. You worship. You give.

This is enough.

Everyone has a Gethsemane. This is the time when everything in your natural mind wants to run away. You realize that the next few hours, months or years are out of your control and that the decisions you make today could change your life forever.

Every David has a Goliath.

Every Esther has a Haman.

Every Paul has a Jerusalem.

Every believer has a Gethsemane.

We fear the unknown. We fear abandonment. We fear surgeons, retirement, cancer, termination, divorce, long-term dysfunctional relationships and, for some, even intimacy.

We come to the realization that closing our eyes, walking the plank and jumping off, may result in not only a change in location, but also being in the belly of a beast. What can you do when you are in the belly of a beast? Nothing but pray.

We all have a natural response to change, loss, and pain. We fear.

But Jesus displayed the courage that we need. I’m so glad for the Gethsemane narrative because it reminds me that every step toward the unknown, toward death, toward loss is not something me are experiencing in isolation. We have a Savior that whispers, “Me, too.”

Gethsemane courage isn’t fearless courage. It’s not a stony, lifeless courage. It is blood-sweat courage. It is self-talking courage that admits, “I’m scared out of my brain but I will step out, step forward, and step closer to God’s plan.”

Narrow is this way that leads to life.

Lord Jesus, Son of God, why am I so afraid of life in it’s unmasked glory? I long to move toward You and yet I am so afraid of the cost, the faith, the trappings of glory without evidence through sight. Teach me to rely on You. Show me the deep and abiding warmth of radical courage— the kind of courage that refuses to trust in only those things that I can see with my eyes and yet remain a saboteur of true and living trust in You.

Somehow, we have become comfortable with the cross. The cross is not a place of comfort. It is a place of courage in the midst of excruciating consequence.

I hate to sound bleak but this much is true. In our lifetime, we will experience a famine. It seems more and more possible that there will be a societal collapse, a financial reset, or a global crisis. At the very least, you will experience one personally. (So have a nice day! insert emoji here!)

If things are great today, awesome! Enjoy the halcyon days but get ready.

How will you respond to a natural disaster, a financial disaster or personal disaster? Know this, when you experience it, you’ll be you. The old saying is true- Wherever you go, there you are.  So you must work on yourself to prepare.

Travel writer, J. Maarten Troost observed, “Paradise was always over there, a day’s sail away. But it’s a funny thing, escapism. You can go far and wide and you can keep moving on and on through places and years, but you never escape your own life.”

We often think about adversity as something brought on by outside forces, but adversity and it’s outcome really begin inside the soul. Our character is formed along the road with God. There is no greater man to illustrate this than Abraham. We pick up the story before he was called Abraham. The name Abram means “exalted father.” Perhaps he thought it was a bit of a joke, that he was called Abram since at that time he had no children. His wife would later laughed at that joke. We see this somewhat misnamed journeyman on a road to who knows where. He traveled by faith… most of the time.

Let’s look at a small somewhat less heroic chapter in the life of this patriarch.   We pick up the story in Genesis 12 where this God-follower encounters famine.

•  Famine isn’t synonymous with “time-to-go”

There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine in the land was severe.
Genesis 12:10

Notice Abrams mentality: Famine equals going.

Here is the man who God had led to a promise land, a place to build a nation, a place to set up an altar and raise a family. Then famine hits and he calls the movers! Abram didn’t have the full counsel of scripture that we have or he may have understood that famine doesn’t mean flee.

In my experience, those who stick it out through the famine will ultimately be better off than those who dodge the famine and change jobs, houses, cars, or strategies. If you can bloom throughout a famine just think about what your life will be like during the days of harvest and prosperity.

• Famine is a test.

Perhaps you are in a famine. Your job stinks. The commission isn’t coming in like you thought it would. There are more sad days than happy ones. You are in the middle of a famine. If you’re like most, the first thing that comes to mind is change. Change locations, change jobs, change churches, or even more tragically–change spouses. How many horrible decisions have been made in the middle of a famine! Don’t make the move before you pray. Ask God to show you what you need to learn. God loves a good famine! It gets His child’s attention.

• Famine can lead to fear and deception.

When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me but let you live. Please say you’re my sister so it will go well for me because of you, and my life will be spared on your account.” Genesis 12:13-15

The plan really sounds pathetic doesn’t it? But let’s be honest. We all posture. We find half-truths and finesse language in such a way that we are protected. We all do that from time to time and do it habitually. It becomes a part of our language. “Tell the story so that you get what you want.” It’s all a lie. You can almost hear the wheels of rationalization turning in Abram’s mind. “We have some family connections so it’s kind of true. Right?” We must fight this fleshy bent in our character or it will destroy us. It will do whatever it takes to be the hero of the story and it always ends up being the villain.

Deception may work for a season but it always ends poorly.

Jesus doesn’t mince his words on the subject:

There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

Luke 12:2-5 (HCSB)

• What’s more powerful that Pharaoh’s and famines? God is!

But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai. So Pharaoh sent for Abram and said, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and go!” Then Pharaoh gave his men orders about him, and they sent him away with his wife and all he had.
Genesis 12:17-20

We often realize that our poor decisions in the heat of the moment, helps no one. Our manipulation leads people to ask “WHY?”

Why didn’t you just come clean at first?

Why didn’t you tell me the whole story?

You could have saved us a lot of trouble.

Our lack of authenticity often causes pain, not only to ourselves but those around us. We represent Christ poorly before those who don’t have a clue about God.

Abram’s decision showed that He didn’t quite believe God. God was there long before the drought. He was there before a silly man-made plan. God was there all the time and yet Abram genuinely feared that God wasn’t enough. We do this all the time. We say to “God, I’ll figure it out on my own.” And God knowingly smiles at the proposition. He knows the foolish import of our puny plans. But still he protects. Abram learned a humiliating lesson that day but it prepared him for the tests to come.

Yes, a famine is coming, but it doesn’t have to affect your soul. Famine days can often be days of joy, contentment and peace, IF YOU PREPARE.

Life really does come at you fast. Sometimes our greatest decisions are made in a split second. Sure, there are decisions that take time. There are decisions that we mull over. But often on ordinary days I have decisions that show up at my doorstep without a moments notice. These are the decisions that test our character and require us to APPLY our faith and purpose at the drop of a hat. Every now and then God comes to us and whispers in our ear. “Put your text book under the desk and grab a pencil and a loose leaf sheet of paper.” Yes, I am suggesting that from time-to-time God gives us a pop quiz.

This was certainly the case as we look at the life of Joseph, the son of Jacob. He’s of the few characters in the Old Testament without a huge downfall. Sure his dad spoiled him but God sanded out the rough edges of his character. The virtue instilled in him paid big dividends when he had to make snap-decisions. His time as a slave in the palace of a desperate housewife provides a stunning example of applied purpose.

1. Snap-decisions are daily decisions.

We’ve seen lots of guys ruin decades of relationships and reputation in a moment of sexual weakness. Joseph certainly had to make some good snap-decisions when he encountered Potiphar’swife. It was a decision he had to make over and over and over.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome. After some time his master’s wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.” But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority. No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?” Although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her.

Genesis 39:6-10

Notice that this proposition occurred “day-after-day.” There are many temptations that you are going to face daily. Although these temptations don’t own us they certainly would love to rent us out on a regular basis. For some, rage is the daily challenge, of that drive by the liquor store, or that associate that wants to connect with you in an inappropriate way, or that business account that is seemingly an easy source of misappropriation. These temptations occur day after day after day.

  2.  Snap-decisions are dangerous decisions. 

Now one day he went into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants were there. She grabbed him by his garment and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his garment in her hand, he escaped and ran outside. When she saw that he had left his garment with her and had run outside, she called the household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “my husband brought a Hebrew man to make fools of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, and I screamed as loud as I could. When he heard me screaming for help, he left his garment with me and ran outside.” She put Joseph’s garment beside her until his master came home. Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave you brought to us came to make a fool of me, but when I screamed for help, he left his garment with me and ran outside. When his master heard the story his wife told him—“These are the things your slave did to me”—he was furious and had him thrown into prison, where the king’s prisoners were confined. So Joseph was there in prison.

Wouldn’t it be great if every time we make the right snap-decision we were immediately rewarded for our virtue? Alas, this is not the case. In fact, every Christian who is radically Biblical will face adversity, and hardship because the radical believer naturally messes with the mainstream.

You only get splinters when you enter through the narrow gate.

The Christian faith would be more appealing to the mainstream if it was formulaic and of course many personalities try to make it more palatable. But to follow God is to place yourself in the dangerous fray of consequence. Joseph did good and his immediate reward was hard time in a dungeon. He must have thought even God had forsaken him. Where is God when you are isolated? John the Baptist, Paul, and Joseph would be the ones to answer that one. They traded their temporal comfort for a far greater prize.

 3.  Snap-decisions are made in advance. 

Daniel and Joseph, separated by centuries shared a common virtue. They made a decision that their character was far more important than their safety.

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

A follower of God must purpose in his heart in advance that she will not sin against God. It’s a hard decision. It requires the believer to step out of grade school Christianity and into the Grad school of adversity.

   4. Correct snap-decisions come with a far greater reward.  

But the Lord was with Joseph.
Genesis 39:21a

Joseph traded a life of prostitution for a life of purpose. It could have prostituted himself for a more comfortable life but in the end he would have missed the presence of God. He wanted less of this world and more of God. He willingly separated himself for comfort, but the Lord was with Joseph.

King David also had this sole focus on applied purpose.

I have asked one thing from the LORD; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the LORD and seeking Him in His temple.

Psalm 27:4

Whether it’s an angry tweet, a sudden act of kindness, or a reckless u-turn, snap-decisions can make or break you. You’ll probably have a snap decision some time today. Here’s to wisdom, courage and the heart of Joseph…

God, help him to hear your voice louder than his most outspoken critic. Help him to laugh inside when people make veiled threats and impertinent demands upon him. Encourage him to be so bold in his message that people will want to cover their ears and chant “lalalala” to drown out the ugly truth he proclaims. Give him a strong wife and intimacy. Being a preacher is not exactly the most romantic vocation so he needs all the help he can get to keep the fire burning. May he have a strong stomach for the task because he will see lots of spiritual afterbirth. Show him what to keep and what to throw away. May he have at least three nights away from church activities. May he feel secure when shadow missions and finances make him feel like he is walking on a tight rope without a net. May he laugh between funerals and may his three suits and four ties look new when he wears them on those special occasions. May he not sound like any other preacher. Show him his voice and give him the grace to feel comfortable in it. May his 15 year old car remind him of Abraham, the one who traveled by faith. Hold him together when the pieces fall apart. May he take his family to the beach even when a conference is not held there. Heal the loneliness that every pastor feels from time to time. Remind him that few understood Jesus and so he shouldn’t assume that everyone will understand him either. I pray that he will not obsess about compliments, numbers, gossip or the pastor down the street whose church is booming. May his baptistry waders not leak and may his wireless microphone be free from ambient noise. May there be more movements in the hearts of people than there are in the nursery. May his Bible look like it’s been through a hurricane because that’s the forecast of our spiritual state in the world. 

Uncertainty is certain but one thing remains: our desire for wonder. Wonder is imbedded in the core of our soul. Very few seek a boring life, with so-so relationships, a mediocre romance and a take-it-or-leave-it career. We yearn for wonder. But how do we get wonder?  Is wonder something we can capture like a trout at the end of a fly reel? Is wonder a formula? Is it a myth like the legends of Middle Earth, Sasquatch, or honest politics?

Time and time again in the Bible we get a view of wonder- how to lose it and how to seize it today. We see heroes who struggle- just like us. We see ordinary people who doubt- just like we do. And we see God compelling them to be all they never thought they could be. It all begins with preparation.

Chances are, this season of your life is all about preparing you for the next season of life. If you are anything like me and my church, you have big dreams and little budgets. Like a slingshot, you are being stretched to the limit in order to propel you into all the other phases of your life. This stretching time can determine your career, your lifelong friends, your financial future and ultimately, your spiritual direction.  (No pressure.) While so many celebrate with a series of mind-numbing parties and shallow, surface-thin relationships based on all the wrong things, God wants to lead you through the threshold of wonder, bliss and amazement that will last for eternity.

Here are Six Ways to Choose Wonder

1.     Seek out private worship.  Having a daily time of worship and Bible reading places you in the zone of the supernatural.  Shoot for seven days a week but hit at least five.  See what God begins to show you.
2.     Connect with one other person who is in agreement with you to follow God and seek Him daily. Meet once a week with that friend.
3.     Make a difference in one person’s life.  Pastor Andy Stanley says it like this:  Do for one person what you wish you could do for everybody.
4.     Set boundaries on frivolous spending and activities that disrupt your spiritual journey.
5.     Give up trying to control people.  Simply love them and work on yourself.  It’s amazing what happens when we allow people to experience the consequences of their actions. Instead of trying to fix people, just love them and let them see you live with integrity.

Look for God’s hand and you’ll be amazed!  There are miracles and unexplained mysteries all around us. Once you find them, you’ll bolster your faith to ask God for big things.

When the mighty winds of change shake the foundation of life, He is there.

When the storms of life flood our souls, He is there.

When the grey slush days seem to never end, He is there.

When death steals a friend, loved one, or brother, He is there.

When it’s so dark we can’t see any way out, He is there.

When we are betrayed by our closest friends, He understands and He is there.

When we grow angry and shake our fist in the air, even in times of our rebellion, He is there.

When lying lips continue to destroy without care, we remember that He does. He is there.

When we deny Him in a lost world and fail to share His love, still, relentlessly, He is there.

In every cruel circumstance, He is there.

In every wasted moment, He is there.

In every crisis, every joy, every silent midnight, every new morning, every day, every hour, every moment, every breath, He is there.

This is what God says to His family, His children, His creation, His sculpted masterpiece: I paid the price for you so stop being consumed with fear and constant worrying about the future. I’m completely aware of your unique identity. I’m not a “broad stroke” kind of God. This God truly is in the details. I know everything about you. I am aware of every tiny nook of your life- every cell, every weakness, every moment of your past, present and future. And when you are up to your ears in the whitewater rapids of tough times, I’ll be right there. The rivers will not swallow you. That’s a promise. And what about fire? I’m way ahead of you on that one. Your eternal life in Me is untouchable. The flames may come but rest in the assurance that you are completely covered by my fireproof grace. I will be there!

Isaiah 43: 1-2 (Wordspring Scriptural Rendering)

It was a moment of utter shock. It was unexpected

The Oscar for Best Picture of 2017 envelope was opened. Millions of viewers experienced the shock, embarrassment and confusion of the presenter as the wrong winner was called out. The social media world exploded. It sent the accountants, actors, winners and losers scurrying.

In short, it was a circus complete with the high drama on the tightrope of fame, ego and ambiguity. And everybody knew. All because of what was inside the envelope.

So I have a question for you. What’s in your envelope?

Everything we do is an indication of our trust in God and our holy discontent with a dying world. How we serve the people we love and even the people who don’t love us, as Jesus commanded all Christians to do is an indication of our devotion to Jesus. The questions we must ask ourselves are so important.

• How do we connect and serve others?
• How do we share our faith?
• How do we minister to the least of these?

The answers are all in the envelope.

And there’s an envelope inside the envelope.

It’s really a test of our faith.

It’s a trust that says, God I believe that you are going to take care of me. And this act of giving is my message to you that I am all in. That’s what we do when we tithe. We are placing our faith in the envelope. We are announcing to the world, that Jesus is our greatest, indeed, our only true eternal hope…

One day there’ll be another awards ceremony, far more important than the Oscars, the Emmys, the Nobel Prize or the Miss America Pageant.

This ceremony will be a time for us to celebrate our journey of faith. The envelopes will be opened.

All of them.

Jesus promised the Church: “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.” (Revelation 22:12)

Paul challenges us to avoid the dispassionate, passive, selfish life and to be eager to do good.

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:11-14)

Our eagerness to do good should flood every day of our lives because we are reminded of the day when the envelopes will all be opened and the truth, our generosity, our faithfulness to provide for the poor, our willingness to share Christ– all of it will be revealed.

Wouldn’t it be a let down if our gifts to God never really reflected the majesty of His gifts to us?

So what’s in your envelope?

Dearly Beloved,

We are here to say good-bye to an old friend: a friend we have loved for years. We did not come to praise her; we came to bury her. What can you say about a church that weathered the riches of the 90s, the emergent movement of the 2000s, and the schisms of the 10s? In 2009 we knew she was sick, so we hooked her up to committees and brought in consultants.

Yes, we tried new-member transfusions, and we cloned new additions to her. We felt certain that a new recreation center, a change in music style, more variety of worship times would breathe new life into her veins.  We even blended our worship, but it caused more controversy among those hoping to save her.

What disease slowly squeezed the life out of her? Was it her inability to accept others because of their appearance, race, or social status? Or was it her constant obsession with the churches nearlby? She was always so busy, so conflicted. Yes, she had issues: the color of the carpet, the bitter taste in her mouth, her frequent bouts with fatigue, narcolepsy, and acute preoccupation. Yes, indeed, she was self-absorbed. But, no one can deny that she loved to have a good time. But, even good times and the good medicine of a merry heart couldn’t revive her.

We bury her today, but, alas, she died quite a long time ago. She just didn’t have the good grace to lie down until now. In truth, I believe it would be fair to say that her death can beattributed to her tragic flaws: an inability to love, to weep, to speak, to serve…

These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.
Revelation 3:1-2