ACTION FIGURE

Nearly every Saturday morning I drive my two teenage boys up to a collectibles warehouse in Diamond Bar for the morning. It's one of the main things the three of us do together on a regular basis and I love spending that time with them as often as possible.

This last weekend we drove underneath an overpass and one of my sons pointed out a hand-drawn sign that someone had fastened to the outside of the rail. It read "Jesus Saves From Hell."

What followed was a fascinating discussion about Christianity in America today.

One of my sons compared that message to something like "Buddha Leads To Nirvana" because most of the people in his generation today aren't really sitting around thinking about things like Hell, or Being Saved.

We talked about how the Church today seems to be stuck on a script from the 1970's that almost no one in our modern society is actually reading from.

That sign brought responses from my boys like, "Why is it always about hell?", "Is getting saved from hell all we need Jesus for?", "Even if Jesus does save from hell, what does that sign want me to do about it?", etc.

From there our conversation went into another interesting direction. We started talking about the difference between promoting Christianity via a series of messages versus the idea of promoting Jesus' way of life by the way we actually loved people, cared for the poor, served others, and became living examples of the kind of life that Jesus can offer us.

One of my son's said, "If Christians were known for being people who took care of the poor, or who helped people in need, then even if non-christians disagreed with our faith they at least could respect the fact that we lived what we say we believe."

This is why it's so important that those of us who do understand this way of thinking go out of our way to demonstrate the love of Jesus to those around us. Because most Christians around us are not primarily focused on loving others. Most Christians in our society seem to be more concerned with being right and with proving that everyone else is wrong.

Of course, this sort of conversation is an easy thing to have in a moving vehicle on a Saturday morning on your way to shop for vintage video games and action figures and old comic books. But at least having these sorts of conversations means that there's the possiblity that these very practical ideas about loving and serving and sharing and giving can actually spill out into our every day lives.

I get it. No one really lives this out in any perfect way. But the fact that we cannot live it out perfectly should not prevent us from living it out at all.

The world around us is desperate to see the real evidence of a living Christ. We are ambassadors of His love. We are His hands and His feet. If we, those who are called by His Name, are not willing and able and empowered to love as He loved, and to give as He gave, and to serve as He served, then who is?

I am reminded of a little verse that says, "If anyone claims to be in Him, he must walk as Jesus did." (1 John 2:6)

Being a Christian is about so much more than slogans. It's about putting our faith into practice and stepping out daily to allow Jesus to live and breathe in us so that the world around us might experience the transformational love of God.

Breathe deep.

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Conversatio Morem!

As I’ve been reading on the early church, I’ve come across a great saying used by the church fathers and I’d like to make it my own.


The phrase, “Conversatio Morem” can be translated two different ways, depending on the context. The first way is, “Death To The Status Quo”. I must say, I love this. It embodies the counter-cultural aspect of Christian discipleship that I long to embody and to inspire in others. If I ever have a tattoo, it will be of this statement.

The second way to translate this is, “Constant Conversion”. Again, I resonate with this sentiment very much. After studying the writings of Peter, James and Paul I see that they’re idea of salvation was very much a process. They all speak of “being saved” and seem to understand that following Jesus involves a gradual, daily transformation into someone who is like our Lord, and closer to someone who is fit for Heaven.

Our modern understanding of salvation seems to be much more about a single day or event in our lives where we went forward, said a prayer and maybe even filled out a little card. After that we can, and often do, live out the rest of our lives any way we want. If we get into trouble, or need some advice or a miracle, maybe then we will pray and ask God’s help, but mainly our lives after this sort of “conversion” are our own.

Paul, Peter and James see salvation as a lifelong process. All through the book of 1 Peter we see the famous disciple speaking of salvation as something which is occurring to us, or that we are in the process of receiving every day. "For you ARE RECEIVING the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:9, etc.) Peter doesn't see salvation as something you take possession of until the day you’re actually at the Judgment Seat of Christ and it is then He saves you, in that day.

Paul especially sees salvation as being tied to our worship and our worship as being tied to our being living sacrifices (Romans 12). He also is pretty clear that “Your life is not your own; You were bought with a price.” (1 Cor 6:19-20)

We, of course, have the hope and the promise of salvation, but just like the Gospel, it’s about a daily, ongoing submission to Jesus.

I’m trying now to get my head around a daily, “constant conversion”. The Kingdom is about following Jesus, and Jesus said we can’t even begin to follow Him unless we daily take up our crosses and die to ourselves. (Luke 9:23)

Somehow, looking at my own walk with Jesus as an ongoing conversion helps me to maintain this counter-cultural mindset in my own life. Now, I understand now that "Death to the Status Quo" is really a personal cry for revolution in my own soul. It is my status quo that needs to be put to death.

Instead of seeing salvation as that day I came forward at the Lighthouse Freewill Baptist Church in Eagle Pass, Texas at the age of 9, now I see it as a daily surrender to Jesus. I walk the aisle every morning. I bend the knee every sunrise and give Him my heart, over, and over again.

Conversatio Morem!

**

NOTE: Originally sent to the subscribers of the subversive underground newsletter on Dec.21st, 2005.

SUBVERSIVE PODCAST: The Weakness of Jesus

Blasphemy? Heresy? Or little known biblical truth from the mouth of Jesus? You decide. Listen as Keith Giles explores the weakness of Jesus and the power of complete submission to Him for daily life and ministry.

EPIC FAIL

Over the weekend I came face to face with a very uncomfortable truth: I’m hardly willing to be inconvenienced for Jesus, much less to die for Him.

The scenario by which I came to realize this about myself is hardly relevant. Although, God’s process of revelation to me was quite elaborate and poetically executed. But the point was made and I cannot deny that this is true.

I want to die to myself. I believe that it’s essential to my walk with Christ. I understand that without my death to self, Jesus cannot live within me. Yet the sad thing is, I have not been practicing this in my daily life. I have placed my own personal comfort above the needs of others.

So, what now? I know that I am not the Christian I thought I was. I have seen my face in the mirror and I recognize my own hypocrisy, but what can I do about this?

It’s tempting to think that what I need to do is to become more spiritual. I should read my Bible more, or pray more often, or go and serve the poor more often, or maybe fast for a few meals. That should fix the problem, right?

Wrong. I know this because I’ve done all of that before. Yes, this has happened to me more than once. I’ve fallen short, missed an opportunity to be salt and light and flat-out blown it over and over again. In those cases I responded by doing more stuff for God, or trying to become more spiritual than I was before. All that it ever accomplished was to make me feel better about failing my Lord and helping me to re-apply the illusion to convince myself that everything was alright. But it wasn’t, and it isn’t.

Here is the truth: I am commanded to lay down my life and surrender everything to Jesus. I want to do that, but the process is difficult for me. I need to constantly surrender my life to Jesus every single day. Some days I accomplish this, other days I fail miserably.

This realization is God’s gift to me. He’s showing me the truth so that, together, He and I can nail yet another part of my flesh to the cross.

Jesus is trying to invade this space. I need to get out of his way and let him live and breathe in me. The process is ongoing. It involves a constant, daily surrender to Him.

Listen. Surrender. Repeat.

 

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YOUR CHURCH MUST DIE

I used to say that the Church in America needs to go out of business. But now I believe that the best thing that could possibly happen to the church in America is for it to just lay down and die.

Forget about business as usual. Forget about that new program or the next church growth seminar. Forget about hiring a new pastor or cranking up the volume on the worship team.

Seriously? Just die.

Jesus was pretty clear that no one could possibly follow Him unless they first took up their cross daily and died to themselves. That’s what the Church needs to do. She needs to die.

Without death, there can be no resurrection. Without death, the life of Christ cannot be released into the Church.

We all know you can have better worship bands and still not have Christ in your midst. You can also have a great preacher and still not have Jesus at the center.

In fact, you can have all the best programs, staff, doctrine, leaders, facilities and an unlimited budget and still not have the heartbeat of Jesus at the core of your Church.

So, that’s why we all need to die. So that Christ can live in us and resurrect us from within.

As a wise man once said, “unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers toil in vain.”

Another wise man said, “I am the vine and you are the branches. Without me you can do nothing.”

So, maybe it’s time for our churches to die. Neil Cole, in his book “Church Transfusion”, even goes as far as to suggest that every church hold an actual memorial service to celebrate all the good things that our old way of doing and being church used to stand for. Dig a hole in the ground and drop in everything that symbolizes that old way of church. Say a few words. Sing some favorite songs. Enjoy some pies after the service. Go home and mourn for church-as-we-once-knew-it.

Next week, host a Baby Shower. Talk about what this new life might look like. Pray together and ask the Lord to show you as a people what His will and His plans and His purpose for your church might be.

Don’t use this as an opportunity to manipulate people into doing things your way. That’s the old church formula that you buried the week before. Instead, listen to Jesus. Really. Pray and ask Him to speak to you as a Body and wait for His direction. Not just to the senior pastor (like you used to do) but to the entire Body. As Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd, and my sheep hear my voice”.

Scripture tells us that, “if anyone lacks wisdom let him ask” so go to Jesus and ask Him. Then, do whatever He says.

If our churches in America would honestly lay down everything they have been clinging to and die to their old ways, then the power of Christ which is made perfect in weakness would be released within us. The resurrection of the Church would begin. And this nation, and the people of God, would be empowered to live surrendered lives of service to one another and the world.

Let’s all lay down and die. The Church needs a resurrection. The World needs a resurrected Church. We all need Jesus to live and breathe in us today.

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Are You Dead Yet?

When Jesus wanted to defeat the Enemy and rescue the planet from the power of death, how did He accomplish this? He died.

“And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:8)

How are we able to follow Jesus? We die.

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

How did Paul minister? He died.

“I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (1 Cor. 15:31)

How did Paul receive the power of Christ? He embraced his own weakness.

“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12:9-10)

What does all this mean? Let me ask you something – Can you defeat an opponent who gains power when they die?

The genius of God’s way of fighting and winning (duh) is to lay down and die so that the love and power of Christ might be revealed through our weakness.

The lower we get, the greater Jesus becomes.

The more we die, the more Christ lives in us.

The more we get out of His way, the more God can accomplish through our submission.

Jackie Pullinger once said “The Gospel is always life for the one who receives it, but death for the one who brings it.” If we are not in the act of dying daily, then Christ is not alive in us.

What’s your mission? To be like Christ. What did He do? He died. The Apostles died. You and I are also called to die so that Christ may live through us.

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:24-25)

Conversatio Morem! Death to my status quo.

As John the Baptist declared, “He must increase. I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

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What About Now?

If we’re not careful, we can come to think of the Christian life as a religion, or as a set of beliefs we agree on, or about what we’re against and oppose. Christianity is best expressed as the imitation of Christ or as Jesus put it, “Following” Him into a life of complete submission to God lived for the benefit of others.

Following Jesus is always about right now. It’s not about what you did a few years ago. It’s not about what you’re planning on doing some day. It’s about whether or not you are following Jesus right now, in this very moment.

As the scriptures remind us:

“God again set a certain day, calling it ‘Today’” (Hebrews 4:7)

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion” (Hebrews 3:15)

“…then chose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:14-16)

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

Like Paul wrote to us, we must “forget the past” (Philippians 3:13) and press onward to our calling to follow Jesus daily.

It’s why Jesus asks us to pray for “daily bread” (Matt 6:11) and to receive God’s rich Mercies that are “new every morning.” (Lamentations 3:23)

We need to think of our walk with Jesus as a moment-by-moment engagement with Jesus where we are trusting Him with every heartbeat and in time with every breath we breathe.

Are you trusting Jesus as your Lord and Savior at this very moment? Is His Kingdom brand new in your heart? Have you devoted yourself to His service 24/7?

My prayer is that I could always experience this sort of constant conversion where my commitment to Jesus is as new as my latest thought and as immediate as this very moment.

Conversatio morem!

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COME AND DIE

Last night I woke up with this thought in my head: “To know more of Jesus you must be willing to share in his sufferings.”

I realized that this is part of what has held me back the last few months in my spiritual journey. I’ve known this was true and I was unwilling to pay that price.

Jesus made it very clear that anyone who would follow Him and become His disciple must take up his cross and daily die to self. Notice that Jesus doesn’t say that one must be willing to die daily, but that daily death is par for the course.

So far, I think I’ve only been willing to die, just as long as no one actually asks me to lay down and die upon the cross of humiliation, or shame, or embarrassment, or suffering. I’ve stopped short and stood on the door mat labeled “Willing” but not taken the actual step inside the threshold marked “Death”.

Instead of moving forward, I have padded my cross with comfort. I have done what I can to avoid discomfort and pain. I have pretended that it’s possible to follow Jesus without the cross. I have meandered along the narrow path without truly looking to Jesus as my guide.

It doesn’t do any good to look back down the path and ask for credit based on past sacrifices. What was done to get me to this place in the road is meaningless. It’s like trying to move closer to the sun by hopping on one foot. Sure, I’m technically closer to the sun when I’m at the apex of my jump, but the distance isn’t worth measuring. 


I am still stuck where I am on the path. Standing at the crossroads with my cross at my feet. I wonder if I have the strength to lift it again. I doubt that I could even carry it another foot without dropping it again. I just don’t think I have the strength within me to carry on.

As I pondered this truth, I was challenged to fall on my knees and pray. I confessed my weakness to God. I admitted my apathy and my weariness. I asked Him to fill me with courage and strength to embrace the cross in spite of the pain. As I prayed I was reminded of the words spoken by Jackie Pullinger – “The Gospel is always death for the one who brings it, and life for the one who receives it.”

I need this death to self. Without it I cannot experience the resurrection life of Jesus. It is a process, a mechanism, whereby my sinful flesh is consumed and the life of Christ is revealed within me all at once. But it is painful. It is not easy. It is not comfortable. There is a cost and it is not cheap.

Jesus compared the Kingdom of God to a man who found a great treasure in a field. When he found it he covered it up again and ran with joy to sell all that he had in order to buy that field and gain that matchless treasure.

I think I am needing to be reminded of how much greater His Kingdom is worth compared to whatever He might ask me to give up, or to let go of, or to abandon, in order to gain more of Him and His Kingdom. Right now I am mainly concerned with the pain and the discomfort. This is what is real. This is what is right in front of me at this very moment. The experience of death to self.

There is no glory in this. If I step forward, if I embrace this cross, there will be no cheering crowds to spur me onward. If I take up this cross, there will be no immediate reward for my obedience. There is no anesthetic to dull the pain. It is nothing but nails, and blood and dying flesh. This is what it will cost me – everything.

But, what else can I do? Really, how could I possibly turn back now? As hard as it seems, the act of laying down and giving up is more repulsive to me than the prospect of enduring the inevitable humiliation and shame. This life is but a vapor. I know it. My Lord Jesus is waiting for me to choose Him over my own temporary comfort. I need that cross. I need to find it again, and to lift its weight on my shoulders, and to carry it the rest of the way.

Here’s what I know; writing about it is not the same as doing it. Blogging the process isn’t actually participating in the daily process of death to self. I either embrace the cross and endure the pain, or not. Writing about it doesn’t accomplish anything.

So, today, I take up my cross. I hold it close. I await the painful piercing of those nails upon my flesh. I anticipate the death of Keith Giles, the fake, the pretender, the expert, the semi-internet-famous-blogger, author and radio host. He will die. He must die so that Christ may live in me and transform me from within.

As Keith expires, Jesus will breathe. As Keith fades away, Jesus will rise up. As Keith decreases, Jesus will gloriously increase.

“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11)

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CONSTANTLY CRUCIFIED

My recent epiphany has come as the result of reading the book, Viral Jesus, by Ross Rohde. It made me realize how weak my faith had become lately. It brought me both a vision for what could be and condemnation for what I have been lacking in my walk with Jesus.

In response, God spoke to me through one of the letters of Fenelon in the book, Let Go, (which seems to have been written specifically for me). Here’s what I read the other day:

“Do not be like a person I just met a short time ago, who, after reading the life of one of the saints, was so angry about his own life in comparison that he completely gave up the idea of living a devoted Christian life. I know this will not be true of you.” (pg. 26)

So, in one book Jesus revealed to me how far I had fallen, but in another book he encouraged me not to give up hope.

What I’ve also realized in this process is that the areas of my life where I have failed to live out my calling as a follower of Christ are all due to the same failure to die to myself. I can vividly recall moments where I have allowed my fear of man to keep me from speaking the truth. I can remember the conversations where I held back the name of Jesus in order to protect my own reputation. I can replay the scene in my mind – over and over again – when I let an opportunity to share my faith in Christ slip away because I was not ready to suffer persecution for my faith.

In each of those moments, scenes and conversations what I lacked was a willingness to die, even a little bit, so that Christ could live in me. My cross was somewhere under my desk at work, or in the backseat of my car in the parking lot.

Suddenly I am aware that death to self is more practical and tangible than I imagined. Being thought of as “the Christian nut” by my coworkers is the fruit of embracing my own cross. Having people mock me for being “Joe Christian” is what it costs to follow my Jesus with everything I have. Suffering the contempt of my unsaved friends is necessary to the process of dying to myself. It’s also what makes it possible for the Gospel to impact the world I live in – and to impact my life as well.

Unless I die to my flesh, I cannot fully experience the resurrection life of Christ within me.

The real truth. The very shameful and painful and embarrassing part of it, is that I have loved myself, my status, my reputation, more than I have loved my friends and my coworkers. That is my own sin. That is what drives the nails deeper into my heart. I am horrible and selfish. I am the monster that needs to die. Let me crucify that worthless creature of arrogance and pride. I want those nails to pierce this flesh. I need to let this dark person taste the metallic flavor of death on his tongue.

Only Jesus can drive those nails. As much as I long to dance on the grave of this selfish bastard, I love myself too much to do the deed myself. So, please, Lord Jesus, make me to lie down on this rugged cross. Bind my wrists to this cruel beam. Press the tip of that iron nail into my hand. Lift that hammer, Lord Jesus. Drive it deep. Deep enough that it won’t come loose again tomorrow.

I need your life, Lord Jesus. I need to know the power of your resurrection by sharing in your sufferings. I need this constant, daily, crucifixion if I am ever to reach the end of this road and look up into your wonderful face. Only then may I lay down this cross of death. Only then may I lay it aside and rest in your comforting arms.

Until then, I pray, let me be constantly crucified and surrendered to your perfect will.

Let your Kingdom come, Lord Jesus.

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Hindsight Epiphanies

“Is there something you want to ask her?” the interpreter said to me. I paused for a moment and then shook my head. “No,” I said. “I don’t have anything to ask her.”

We were standing in the hot afternoon sun in Ensenada, Mexico, on the doorstep of a housing tract for migrant farm workers. The woman in question, probably around thirty years of age, was sweeping her front porch with a red broom. The floor was hard clay, but she swept it none the less. Her two boys, wearing t-shirts emblazoned with faded American slogans, circled around us. They looked to be elementary-age, but walked with the swagger and bravado of world-wise teens. The oldest one asked something in Spanish and our interpreter turned to the photographer next to me and said, “He wants to know if you would like to give him your sunglasses.” The young man next to me cocked his head and said, “I don’t think so” as we slowly began to turn away from the woman sweeping her porch.

The poverty was severe. Whole families were living in a single space not much bigger than my office cubicle back in the States. I stepped inside one of the corner units and saw that, unlike the room where the sweeping woman and her family lived, most were empty; the floor covered in empty beer bottles, old newspapers, candy and condom wrappers. Some had puddles of water in the center of the mud floor. There were flies. I could imagine the workers returning from the fields in a few hours, searching for an empty patch of ground to sit down or to rest their bones after a day’s work. I stepped back out of the cool darkness and into the warm sunlight to join my friends who were snapping pictures, murmuring quietly to one another in reverent tones.

Why was I here? It was a question whispered half to myself and half as a silent prayer.

I was here because my friend at the YWAM base here in Ensenada had asked me to come and speak to a group of students who were down to build houses for the poor in Mexico. I was here, in this migrant farmer housing area, because my friend had wanted to show me how people here lived. But, why was God putting me here? Why did He put me on this woman’s clay porch? Why did the interpreter ask me if I wanted to ask her any questions?

Eventually our little group mounted back into our air-conditioned SUV and rolled back out on to the dirt road to get something to eat. I watched the dogs chase us briefly in the rearview mirror until they became swallowed up in the silver gray dust of our tires.

Later that night, lying on my bed at the YWAM base, I replayed that scene over in my mind. “Do you want to ask her anything?” What would I ask her? What could I possibly need to know from her? It came to me quietly between slow breaths. “You could’ve asked her how you could pray for her.”

In my mind I saw us forming a circle around this woman, joining hands, praying through the interpreter for this woman’s family, for her sons, for her husband, for their daily bread, for God’s favor on their lives. Yes, I thought, the image in my mind of the prayer we did not offer fading softly. That’s what I could’ve asked her.

Lately I’ve grown weary of such hindsight epiphanies. This being only one of several I’ve had in the last few weeks. Why is it I do not think of these things at the moment, when they would actually do some good? Why is it I only think of what I should’ve said, or what I should’ve done, hours or days later? The dishes I should’ve washed without being asked. The floor I should’ve cleaned as an act of loving service for my friend. The prayer of blessing I should’ve offered the woman in Mexico. Why didn’t I consider these actions in the moment?

This answer came to me as I was on my knees in prayer recently. The reason I did not think of these things at the moment was because in that moment I was more concerned with my own agenda. I was in a hurry to go somewhere else. I was on my way to do something that I wanted to do. My agenda wasn’t submitted to Christ. This is why I couldn’t hear that still small voice; because my voice was too loud in my own ears.

Strangely enough, I am starting to think that this idea of dying to myself, taking up my cross daily to follow Jesus, is not as difficult as we make it out to be. Perhaps this is the most terrifying truth of all. It’s not impossible for me to wake up every day and say, “God, what’s your agenda? Make your agenda my agenda.” I can do that. It’s not that hard, really. But doing it means that I will have to give up something that I would prefer, or to share something that I really want to keep for myself, or to lay aside my preferences in favor of whatever God might call me to in that moment.

I’ve never been able to shake the story of two Christian martyrs from the second century who stood before the magistrate and professed Christ. The first man was asked, “Are you a Christian?” and when the man proclaimed his faith in Jesus he was taken a few feet away to have his skin ripped from his body. Then he was tied to a stake and as they made ready to burn him alive the magistrate turned to the second man and asked him, “And are you also a Christian?”

I put myself in the sandals of that second man and I wonder if I could answer, “Yes, I am a Christian” as he did. Perhaps if the penalty was having my head cut off or being quickly put to death, I could more easily affirm my faith in Christ. But to face such brutal torture, I’m not sure if I could do it. I’m not sure I have that kind of faith.

The other day as I was contemplating this very question I heard this sentence in my head saying, "the only way I will ever enter the Kingdom of God is if my flesh is stripped from me”. I know that this is true. One layer at a time, one day at a time, my flesh needs to die. Without this daily death I cannot follow Jesus. Without my cross there can be no crown.

Conversatio Morem!


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LOVE IS OUR (NEW) NATURE

"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." - 1 Peter 3:12

If you believe in Jesus, you believe in the power of love to redeem. If you believe in Jesus, you are a living example of how love can change the human heart.

How then can we, as followers of Jesus, fail to respond to those who are bound by evil with love, compassion and mercy? Are we surprised that they are sinful? Does it seem strange that those who have not tasted of God’s love should lack evidence of it in their lives? Hardly. Yet, when we respond to hate with more hate, we ourselves are the ones who are acting out of character. The unbeliever who curses us or insults us is behaving exactly as he should. He is being true to his nature.

As it says in Romans 8:7-8, "The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."

However, you and I are no longer alive to the flesh or to sin. We are transformed into the image of Christ by the indwelling Spirit of God.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" – 2 Corinthians 5:17

In fact, if we are truly redeemed by Christ – if His Holy Spirit is living in us daily – then we shouldn’t even have to think about how to love our enemies, or even if we should or not. It should be our reasonable response to love those who hate us and to bless those who curse us.

"For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 5:20

When Jesus uttered these words there was no doubt a collective sigh of defeat from the crowd. How could anyone hope to be more righteous than the Pharisees? They were without equal in Jewish society as the defenders of the faith and keepers of the Law of Moses. No one outside of that group would ever have dared to proclaim that they were more righteous than any Pharisee. It would seem then that any hope of entering the Kingdom of God was extinguished from the beginning. “Who then, can be saved?”

What Jesus is pointing out here is that, even the righteousness of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law is not enough. If the standard of righteousness required exceeds that of those professional law-keepers, then even they will be left outside of the Kingdom. Maybe what Jesus is suggesting is that keeping the law isn’t the right way to enter the Kingdom. Perhaps that door is locked? Or maybe that door was never a door at all.

I think that Jesus is trying to suggest that, unlike the Pharisees whose righteousness was only an outward display of false humility and oppressive legalism, our real hope for entering the Kingdom of God is found through transformation. Later on in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says,

"Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit." – Matthew 7:17-18

Translation: It’s not about doing stuff. It’s about transformation.

The Pharisees had it backwards. They were attempting to produce good fruit in their lives by doing good things. Jesus uses the metaphor of fruit trees to point out that the kind of tree you are (your nature) determines the kind of fruit you produce (your actions).

One way to express this new perspective is to say, “To produce good fruit, first become a good tree. Good trees produce good fruit naturally.” The point Jesus is trying to make is that we are all “bad trees” and unless we are transformed from within, we will never become “good trees” capable of producing good fruit.

Our calling is to allow Jesus to transform us into His image so that we can model a righteousness that is a natural expression of our new nature.

My version of this idea is expressed in the phrase: “Swimming won’t make you a fish. But if you are a fish, you will swim.”

When we attempt to become righteous by doing good works, we miss the point. But, when we let go of our own effort and surrender ourselves to His indwelling Spirit, we allow Jesus to live in us and through us. When this happens, he empowers us to love the unlovable and serve others in His strength.

Of course, we must daily do battle with our own flesh – our own sinful nature – in order to allow the life of Christ to increase in us. This is what Jesus means when he says that those who desire to follow Him must take up their cross (the instrument of their own death) each and every day. Therefore, the beautiful thing about being humiliated by people who hate us is that it fuels our death to self. Insults are like the hammer pounding down on the nails in our hands. Spiteful actions are like a crown of thorns being pressed into our prideful brow. Persecution is like a spear being thrust into our soft, selfish flesh.

If we were dead to sin, these actions wouldn’t hurt us so much. If our pride wasn’t so sensitive, being disrespected wouldn’t wound us so deeply. The fact that we are insulted when someone treats us like a servant betrays the fact that we are not already humble enough to actually serve them.

So, laying down our lives for others is what we are called to do. Those who seek to find their lives lose them. Those who lose their lives for the sake of Christ, discover what true life is really all about.

If you believe in Jesus, you cannot put your faith in hate. You cannot put your trust in anger. You cannot. Your only hope is Christ. Your only salvation is through love. His love has changed your heart, and it can change the hearts of others too. When you are persecuted, insulted, and humiliated you are presented with an opportunity to share with Christ in His sufferings. You have been given a gift from God when this happens. It’s a gift-wrapped hammer and a set of nails. If you allow Him to, He will fill you with His love for those who mistreat you. He will help you to put to death your pride and your love of self. He will teach you how to serve others, even when they are doing their best to hate you.

This is what it means to follow Christ.

Conversatio Morem! Death to the Status Quo of Me!

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IT'S YOUR FUNERAL

There's something amazing that happens to me whenever I attend a funeral. As friends and family members step up to the microphone and share their fondest memories of the departed, I can't help but wonder who will stand up at my funeral, and what will they say about me when I'm gone?

I know what I'd like them to say. I'd hope that my best friends would tell stories of how I've encouraged them or about a time when I helped them in a time of need. I'd hope that my wife would share about how thoughtful a husband I was. I'd love to think my sons would stand and share about how something I taught them about life, or about character, or about integrity had stuck with them through the years and allowed them to grow as individuals. I'd love to think that the crowd would be full of people who were inspired by my writing or my books, or who were touched or blessed in some way by my acts of service or compassion.

I'd love to think that, on the day they put me into the dirt, there will be a church somewhere filled with people who were blessed and touched and inspired by my life.

But the question, of course, is will there really be anyone eager to say these things about me?

I recently watched a little-known film called "The Lookout" which I really enjoyed. In the film, the main character is a young man who made a mistake on his graduation night that took the lives of his best friends and left him with a severe brain disorder. In the film he struggles to remember simple instructions due to his brain damage. He has trouble with completing things in sequence.

There's a scene in the film where one of his friends gives him some advice on how to accomplish a simple task. He says, "Start at the end and work backwards from there." When he tries it he discovers that it works, and this becomes a great metaphor in the film for how all of us can cope with our struggles.

I think of that statement now as I ponder what my funeral will look like. I have a picture in my head of what I'd hope that day to look like and how I'd love for things to play out as friends and family gather to remember my life.

The best way for me to insure that my vision of that day comes to fruition is to start at the end and work backwards from there. It means I need to live my life today in a consistent and intentional way. If I want my wife to speak glowingly of my thoughtfulness at my funeral, it means I need to be sure to be thoughtful to her today. If I want my sons to tell stories about how I inspired them to be better men of God at my memorial service, it means I have to inspire them today to be better men of God.

What do you hope your friends and family will say of you on that day? Maybe we need to consider this as we live out our daily lives. Maybe we should start at the end and work backwards from there?

It's your funeral.

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**
Originally published on the [Subversive Underground] in 2008.

FINDERS WEEPERS, LOSERS KEEPERS

In the Kingdom of God, things are upside down from the world we were born into. Those who lay down their lives discover new life. The first are last. Those who humble themselves are exalted. The greatest is the servant of all. Those who die to themselves daily discover life eternal.

But what is actually "upside down" is this world, not the Kingdom of God. God's reality is the rightside up one. Ours is the one that needs to be corrected, not God's.

Having been born into this upside down reality on Planet Earth, I am constantly struggling to see things from the perspective of God's Kingdom. It's not an easy thing to do.

For years I have wrestled with my own prideful heart. Perhaps I never had a fair chance at this since I was an only child and my entire life I've been the center of my own universe. At any rate, the fact remains that, no matter how many times I die to myself, this heart of pride just will not stay dead.

I lay back on the cross. I drive the nails. I roll the stone over the door. But my sinful, selfish heart continually rises from the dead.

I die daily. But my heart of flesh daily lives and breathes.

After all these years I turn around to see how far I've come on this journey of faith and instead I see that I have barely left the gate. In fact, I wonder if I have moved forward at all because I seem to be in the exact same place I have always been.

My heart is deceitfully wicked. I cannot trust my own inner man. Even when I believe I am serving others and living for Jesus my flesh has the power to reach out and subtly turn the spotlight back on my own ego.

Like the Pharisee, I confess that I have done my works of righteousness before men to be seen by them and celebrated. Of course, most of this is done subconsciously, but when I take the time to examine my motives closely I have to admit, there is still a part of me that does things so that people will see it and take note.

Last week, the Lord Jesus, in His mercy, held up the mirror to my soul again. He allowed me the briefest glimpse at my own selfish heart and it crushed me.

To my own eyes it appears as a dark, cancerous ooze in my soul. I cannot look directly at it very long without feeling sick. Yet, as much as I hate to admit it, this is me. This is who I am without Jesus.

For a long time now, I have mistakenly considered this prideful, selfish behavior as being like a Pharisee. Yet, now I realize that this is actually just part of being a human being.

It's my humanity that makes me selfish, and sinful, and hopelessly pathetic, not my "Pharisee-ness" (whatever that might be).

So, today I am trying my best to take everything one step at a time. I realize, once again, what it really means to have a "constant conversion" and to put to death my own status quo (Conversatio Morem!).

One great thing about all of this is that it reminds me to depend upon Jesus for everything. To the degree that I am in touch with my humanity, my weakness, my failure, I can appreciate the wonder and the majesty of God's amazing love and grace.

He is the vine. I am one of the tiny branches. Without Him, I can do nothing. Nothing at all.

"And now I know the secret that only losers keep, and I wallow in the hopeful tears that every finder weeps."
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[Subversive Underground] - RIP

Well, it's done. After 3 years, and 180 articles on discipleship, the Gospel of the Kingdom, compassion for the poor and the New Testament Church, the free, weekly e-newsletter [Subversive Underground] is laid to rest.

I started the weekly newsletter as a way to send weekly ideas and articles to about 30 of my friends. Originally the intent was to create a motivation for me to write something of substance each and every week. Over time I began to focus on the concepts that were most important to me.

Over the years the newsletter grew to 272 subscribers. Most of them found me via my articles over at theOoze.com, Ginkworld.net, SeedStories.com, Next-Wave Magazine and other online sources. Many of them I didn't know and will never meet this side of eternity, but several of them took the time to contact me directly and encourage me or ask for advice. Some took the time to leave angry comments, attack my character and insult me. Others left comments that inspired me and directed the conversation into more productive directions. I'm very grateful to all of these people for their insight, their passion and their honesty.

When I first heard God's whisper about starting this newsletter I was working on a little sci-fi and comics project called Plastic Animal Studios and I felt that God wanted me to lay that aside in order to focus on more Kingdom-centric things.

Now, three years later, I am hearing God whisper to me again. This time He is asking me to lay down the [Subversive Underground] so that He can lead me somewhere new.

I have to let go of this thing in order to receive the next thing He wants to place into my open hands.

It's a little bit scary. A little bit sad. But it's also exciting to find out what God has next for me.

I'm sure I'll blog about it here when the time comes. For now, I'm looking forward to taking a few weeks off and listen to His voice.

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." - Jesus (John 12:24)

For many years now I have been inspired by the phrase "Conversatio Morem!" which the early christians meant as "Constant Conversion!" or "Death to the Status Quo!" Now I think I understand this phrase even better than before. My status quo must die. I must be in constant conversion in order to allow the Holy Spirit to change me and for God to have His way with me.

Here we go...

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