Kind of like the National Debt

Did you know the NIV version of the Bible uses the word, "Inheritance" 220 times? The land, as an inheritance for Israel. A father's passing down to his sons. The inheritance, down generations, of God's promises.

I was reading a column yesterday, in which the author discussed her children's genetic inheritance from her and her husband. Her eyes. His math skills. Her tendency to faint upon even reading about blood.

It made me think about what my wife and I have passed to our children. My son has my eyes and dimples; his Mom's hair. In fact, all my kids got their mother's hair, except the unruliness of my daughter's, which comes from my side of the family. My daughters also got my wife's creativity and compassion; my son wound up with my analytical and sarcastic streaks. And, there are less pleasant aspects of our own personalities -- aspects trained away by maturity and prayer, and some with which we are still dealing, even now -- which are also cropping up in our kids. A sense of humor that can, occasionally, not know when enough is enough. A sudden flare of temper.

Scripture reminds us that sin is also in our DNA. An inheritance from the beginning of Man's journey on Earth.

To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. (Romans 5:13-14)

As children of the World, Death is our inheritance. However, as adopted Children of God, we have a new inheritance to which we can look forward. The promises of God, passed down from generations, are now ours as His Children.

In fact, in Romans 5, Paul continues his discussion of our original inheritance of sin and death, when he says that the sacrifice of Christ covers over that original condition:

... just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. (vs 18-19)

Death is in our blood. Passed from father to son like eye color. But the inheritance of Life is found in His blood, for those who will accept it.

That Whole Fruit Metaphor

Life is busy! Going to work, spending your eight hours, coming home, spending family time, getting back into the car for football practice or whatever, and don't forget Sunday morning Church, Sunday Night Church, Wednesday night church, Small Group, choir practice, leadership meetings... the list goes on. In fact, we can be so busy doing... stuff... that it's easy to suddenly realize we've forgotten time for God.

This can be especially true for people in ministry. Good works take time. But often, while we're busy trying to bear our own fruit, we forget to stay connected to the Vine.

Jesus said

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15:5-7)

We don't bear fruit in ourselves. Indeed, without our connection to Jesus Christ, we are useless. And the only way to stay connected to Jesus is to be connected. For a branch to bear fruit, it must be connected to the Vine. A branch has no roots. Only the Vine -- the Source -- has roots to feed water and nutrients to its branches. When we're disconnected from that vine, we get neither. 

I'm learning this lesson in my own life: that I need time with God. I need to spend time talking to Him -- and more importantly, opening myself up to be talked to by Him. We must allow ourselves to be fed by God, to grow in Him, and to produce His fruit. And that requires connection. 

And Connection requires time. 

"Sweet Merciful Heaven, It's Only Wednesday!" -- And Other First-World Problems

I didn't sleep well at all last night. Nothing in particular,  just for some reason, my body wanted its requisite seven hours, and my brain wouldn't get on board with the idea. I left my cell phone -- which doubles as my alarm clock -- at work last night, which meant I had to crawl my way out of bed to hit the snooze button on the actual alarm clock. Of course, the new cups for our single cup coffee maker haven't arrived in the mail just yet, so I had to wait until I got to work to brew and enjoy my first cup of coffee. Brushed my teeth before leaving and found a little "pink in the sink" as they say,  and thought, "Man, when I actually find a dentist, I'm gonna get yelled at about my flossing habits."

But, somewhere between tiptoeing through the room to avoid waking my wife and stumbling around to find where ever it was my kids put my shoes, I realized... I have it pretty darn good.

There are people on this planet who have never even experienced bad coffee -- let alone the sweet, smokey aroma of a well-crafted morning blend. There are people in this very country -- in my own neighborhood -- who would happily do anything for a job. I make a living doing what I love. I worry about gingivitis while there are people across the globe who have lost teeth and even lives because they simply don't have enough water for dental hygiene. I have a beautiful family that loves me, while some children will never know their fathers.

Yet how often, in my complaining, do I actually take stock of all the ways I've been blessed and tell God, "thank You?"

Remember Paul's final instructions in 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18: " Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

And remember, too, that those circumstances the early church faced were not nearly so cushy as those faced by you and I on a day to day basis.  

And maybe, in learning how to be grateful for the things we've been given, we can remember also that the point of blessings is often to bless others with them. There is a hurting world out there, and we, after all, have a pretty good life.

American Idol

Some time ago, I came face to face with my own idolatry, and was completely shocked. I've always known idols weren't necessarily made of gold. Sometimes, I knew, it could be a car, or a job, or even another person.

In fact, an idol is anything you put before God. For me, that idol was politics. I was what you might call a political junky. I blogged politics. I went to rallies and became an activist. And, if I may say so, I was pretty doggone good at it, too. And on its face, there wasn't anything wrong with that. It wasn't that I worshiped at the Altar of Washington DC. Nothing nearly so obvious. It was far more insidious. I realized I was putting politics ahead of people. I got to a point where I cared more about whether somebody was Liberal or a Conservative than I cared about whether they knew Jesus Christ.

And just like that,  my idol of politics had taken place in my heart where my grace, mercy, and love should have been.

I read a book yesterday which asked a particularly tough question: to take a look at the God I am serving, and to ask myself: am I following the God of the Bible, or have I crafted a god in my own image?

Like politics, or cars, or jobs, or any number of idols, we can create a false image of Christ, and worship that instead of the true Jesus of the Bible. Take a look at who Jesus is, in the words of those who walked with him on Earth. Read through the Gospels, and ask God to reveal His son to you... and then ask: is that the Jesus I am worshiping now?

This post is an extrapolation and oversimplification of a theme developed in Matt Mikalatos's My Imaginary Jesus. I cannot recommend this book enough. The above post is, like most of the posts here, stripped into bite-sized chunks for radio consumption.

Flowering Cadaver*

Bunga Bangkai. It is an Indonesian name for a particular plant. The first word is translated as "flower," and the second, as "corpse." The plant in question is large -- larger in many cases than a person -- and appears to be a kind of giant flower. In its own way, it is even beautiful, a red interior splashing color against the outer petal.

Unfortunately for anyone near enough to inspect it, however, it also smells a great deal similar to an animal carcass sitting out in the sun.

Similarly, somebody who is religious, but lacks the love of Christ, appears Holy,  but is in reality dead inside -- a truth all too evident for anyone who gets close enough to examine him.

"Woe to you, Teachers of the Law and Pharisees," said Jesus. "You Hypocrites!"

You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. (Matthew 23:27-28)

How do you smell? Do you appear religious on the outside, but have an inside full of death and uncleanliness? Have you forsaken the Love of Christ and replaced it with rigid religiosity? Or do you have the fragrance of Grace, a Spirit made clean by the blood of Jesus, and made generous by His love?

*The title and inspiration for this post came from the song of the same name, by Tourniquet, off their excellent recent album, "Antiseptic Bloodbath."

Frustrated?

Being a kid can be frustrating. No longer being seven, I sometimes forget that Second-graders have real problems, too. I was reminded of this yesterday when, in the course of correcting my son's behavior, I asked him if anything had been going on at school.

My son is a passionate boy. He's quick to love, but can also be quick to anger. So as he was telling me about some playground issues, my heart hurt, but I was also worried that he might let those passions get the better of him. Now that he's old enough to understand these things, I've been working on remembering my role as Dad is as much teacher as it is administrator. More so! So instead of admonishing him to watch his step, I asked him to pray when he was frustrated.

Remember, I told him, Jesus had -- and has -- more reason to be angry with us than we've ever had to be mad at somebody else. He was beaten up, and mocked, and finally killed. And He is God. He could have freed himself of those chains. He could have asked all the angels in Heaven to teach his antagonists a lesson. But He didn't. In fact, even as He hung on that cross and watched as soldiers divided His clothes among themselves, he lifted His eyes to God and said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

God knows we can get angry and frustrated. He understands. So who better to ask for help, when it all becomes too much to try and control our anger?

So, I told my son, pray. God gets it. He can help you. Just ask. "Oh," said my son, and almost moved me to tears. "I sort of do that sometimes now."

I am grateful he knows that God is there, and listening. And I pray he remembers as he goes through life that God understands his anger. And I pray that, as often as I need it, I remember, too.

Road Weary

The one constant in my married life has been travel. With families at least six hundred miles apart, visiting always meant travel. Whether we lived in Michigan and had to drive to New York, or whether it was the other way around, and now that we live in Wisconsin, the word "vacation" is pretty much synonymous with "Road Trip." And, though they are never short trips -- in general it would be 10 to 12 hours in the car, depending on how tired we were, how often the kids had to use the restroom, how many cups of coffee we needed -- we almost always drive straight through, with no overnight stops.

Needless to say, by the time we get to our destination, there is nothing more wonderful than the welcoming arms of my parents or in-laws and the words, "the bed is made. We'll watch the kids."

We grow weary in our travels on this Earth, too. Bone tired. Exhausted to our very souls. But how wonderful to know that, even as we travel straight through and full out, we can keep our eyes ahead and know that, at the end of the road are the welcoming arms of The Father, and a nice, clean room.

As Jesus said to His disciples,

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” (John 14: 1-4)

Even now, Jesus is putting out the good linen and setting a glorious table, preparing to welcome us home.