By The Riverside

7But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1: 7 NKJV

I ran across a headline on the front page of the mainstream New York Times which caught my attention.  There it was "Millions in India converge to wash away sins."  I can honestly say that I won't be among those buying a ticket to India for this life changing event.  But, there may be more than a few people out there who feel that their sins might just need washing.  My first question to that would be, why would you feel that way?  Granted, there have been times in my own christian life where I've felt that weight of my own sin burden.  However, I've always known who it was that gave Himself to cleanse me of them all.  Yes, the blood of Christ Jesus which He shed on that cross was enough to cleanse me of all unrighteousness {1 John 1:9}.  This is all part of the history of Jesus, born of a virgin, tortured and put to death on a Roman cross and on the third day rose aagain.  Knowing this, why would I take part in another cleansing ceremony?  But, again, there are those who would dutifully do so.  Even in the halls of our own institutional christian churches, we are all too often told that we need to be "more like" Jesus, that God cannot be in the presence of sin.  Now, I'm not saying that christianity perpetuates the teachings of whatever religion those in India practice, but I've been in more than a few churches where there is a similar message.  God is distant from us and as His children we need to tow that line to prevent Him from exercising His discipline.  Oh yes, they will all too often dust off their own bibles to dig up that old verse from proverbs about the father who disciplines his own son to somehow explain Gods discipline of His own children.  Tough love christian style.  I have seen more than a few christians actually live in fear of what God might bring down upon their lives next than in the comfort of His love and grace.  When we perpetuate this lie, we do more to drive people away from God than any misguided preacher could.

9Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
Colossions 3: 9 - 11 NKJV

I have a few dear friends who have often traveled to India for the purpose of speaking the gospel of Christ to the people there.  I've never been, but from what I have been told, it is a wonderful country.  To this day, my friends maintain a few of the friendships which they cultivated among the people of India.  I have to wonder if any of those people who gathered by that riverside in India have ever had the opportunity to hear the truth of Christ Jesus proclaimed.  The truth of Christ which tells us that Jesus Himself lives in all who have come to know Him {Galations 2:20}.  The truth of Jesus that tells us the He, and He alone, has washed away our iniquities {1 John 1:7}.  For had they heard this truth of Christ Jesus proclaimed to them, how willing would they be to make that trip to that riverside baptism?  Is it no wonder that some of the fastest growing christian churches in the world are in those countries where the gospel is seldom preached?  Contrast that with our own country where boredom with our own churches comes naturally.  Friends, the truth of Christ Jesus has never changed {Hebrews 13:8}.  No, what's changed is WE see Jesus.  We do well to see Christ not as a higher power seperated from sinful man.  Instead, we should see the man Jesus as He truly is, alive and well living through all who have come to know Him.  He made that journey to cleanse us of our sins so that we would not have to.  Thank goodness, I didn't want to go to India anyway.

~Scott~

The Question

14“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15“Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
Matthew 5: 14 - 16 NKJV

I recently related a story to a friend of mine of how a few christian aquaintences of mine were, shall we say, hard to deal with on a daily basis.  Yes, these men of God profess to be believers, but when that rubber hits the road, they are as rude and condesending as the next guy.  What with that?  I would feel better about them if they didn't profess to be believers at all.  At least then I'd know where they really stand.  Well, in the course of our discussion, it was brought up that I should approach these so called men of God and tell them where they had strayed off course.  I really did not feel that this was a good course of action for one good reason.  In my own christian life, there have been more than a few times when I have strayed from the path as well.  No, for the basis of this discussion, I had forgotten who it is that I was.  In the process of going through these times in my life, I have run across more than a few over zealous believers who thought it was their christian duty to drag me out of the mud of my sin and back on the trail of rightousness.  I can also remember the momentary desire to tell more than a few of these well meaning people just where they could put their over zealous crap.  For this very reason, I'm a sincere believer that it is not in my job description to hog tie someone in the name of the Lord that they might cease from their worldly ways and commit themselves once again to the Lord.  Listen, if someone is dead set on behaving a certain way, nothing I say will convince them otherwise.  Think of the people in your own life who have tried to talk you out of something you wanted to do.  How did that work out for them?  Sure, there is plenty of scriptures to back up the fact that we are to go and make disciples (believers) of all the nations.  I've heard the verses of how we're supposed to bring a witness with us to talk sense into a sinning brother.  This might work for some people, just not for me.  I have never been a fan of hardcore evangelism. 

15But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.
1 Peter 3: 15 NKJV

A good friend of mine once approached me during one of those periods in my life where wordly views seemed more satisfying than following the Lord.  What he said to me has stuck with me to this day.  Instead of berating me for my lack of faith, all has asked me was "Scott, is this who you really are?"  See, I already knew the answer to that question.  No, that wasn't the man that I was at all.  I was not a world following sinner, but a Christ living man of the Lord.  I had made that decision some time ago.  Far from straying off of the path of christianity, I had simply forgotten who it is that I was all along.  Despite that fact that the man who reminded me of this truth is a friend of mine, if he had tried some institutional church hardcore evangelism to bring me back in line I may have had a few words for him.  Not that I was angry with him, but I just do not respond too well to that type of christian tactics.  I've been in the halls of institutional churches for many years and have seen too many people hurt and leave the church over other well meaning christians trying to get them back to where they themselves felt that they should be.  How different a conversation would it have been if they had simply asked THE question.  "Brother, is this who you really are?"  The apostle Paul knew the man he was.  In his letter to the church in Galatia he also tells us the person who we ourselves are.  We are not sinners, backsliding christians nor reluctant believers.  For those who have trusted in Christ Jesus, we are He who lives in us {Galations 2:20}.  I would be more than glad to see the end of hardcore evangelism, but some believers continue to see it's value.  I would ask them one question...is this who you really are? 

5And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up aand saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. 7But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” 8Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” 9And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; 10“for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Luke 19: 5 - 10 NKJV

~Scott~

I Got This

9A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.
Proverbs 16:9 NKJV

I have a friend who is very fond of a particular saying.  Every now and then, he'll smile and say "Scotty, I got one ticket to ride in life and I'm gonna go first class!"  Now, I would see this as a foolish statement and here's why.  Which of us knows day by day what it is the Lord God has planned for us?  As Solomon tells us, we may plan our own way, but it is the Lord who ultimately directs our steps in life.  It is the Lord who directed the steps of those who have gone before us, and He will continue to do so.  That is the nature of the universe.  Sure, I may have a good plan, but that can all change in the blink of an eye.  Nevertheless, I am along for the ride no matter where it leads me.  Now for the million dollar question, how do we know if the plan we have is in line with His will?  Well, there might be a simple answer to this.  We're told in Galations that we no longer exist, that we have died {Galations 2:20}.  Taking the place of who it is we once were is Christ Jesus who is now in us.  So, if God is in us, do we not already know His desires for us?  I would think so.  Yet, there are more than a few christians out there who continue to seperate their lives from God.  Many believers sit through sermon after sermon, then as soon as it's over they proudly proclaim "I got this!"  Yeah, right. Next week will find that very same christian walking into church wondering where it is they went wrong.  Well, where we went wrong was in our belief that that we are somehow independent from He who created us.  How foolish.  I can't point too many fingers at others around me, I was there once myself.  That is, until it was revealed to me who the man Jesus really is.

9not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10 NKJV 

I would say that instead of me claiming "I got this," I should instead proclaim "What is it that you are doing in me Lord?"  In the end, it is not about me, but about Him.  I know that may be a tough pill to swallow for all those believers who are hell bent on paving their own road through life, but it is the truth of our Lord that He continually directs the steps of His children in the direction He desires for us.  Sure, there are those who take their own pathway through life, but is this God abandoning us or our own abandonment of God?  Remember, it is God who will never leave us nor forsake us, that's His promise.  We do well to pay little attenton to what we alone can accomplish and more on what God is accomplishing in us.  In reality, I don't have this, but God does.

~Scott~

The Blueprint

This is why I came out to meet you, to look for you; now I’ve found you. 16 I’ve spread quilts on my couch made of colored Egyptian linen. 17 I’ve perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. 18 Come on, let’s make love till morning; we’ll enjoy making love. 19 My husband isn’t at home, he’s gone on a long trip; 20 he took a bag of money with him and won’t be back till the moon is full.” 21 With all her sweet talk she convinces him, enticing him with her seductive words.
Proverbs (Mishlei) 7: 15 - 21 NKJV
The Complete Jewish Bible

A friend of mine sent me a link the other day on yet another institutional church remedy to the ages old issue of lust and/or pornogrophy.  Now, as I have told him, if there is one thing I know it's how men get caught up in the darkness of pornogrophy.  How do I know this?  Because at one time that was the man that I was.  The way that I see it, pornography is the cowards way out of any real relationship a man might have with a woman.  Against Gods desires of a mutual relationship based on love, kindness and respect we create a one sided relationship whose only beneficiary is ourselves.  Where God desires a partnership, we have created a dictatorship where the only person that matters is...me.  Sure, we come up with all sorts of excuses to somehow justify our forays into the darkness of our own lusts, but it's still choosing our own will over Gods desire for us.  I have been around more than a few men who have fallen victim to this line of thinking.  Most recently with a coworker of mine.  It's the man thing to do, right?  If we somehow feel slighted in our home relationships, we use this to justify our relationship with the woman next door.  We'll get ours no matter what the cost.  All too often that cost is more than we bargained for.  I know a man who justified a affair on his wife and ended up losing his family, nearly half of his paychecks AND half of his retirement pension.  Tell me, was it worth it?  Far beyond the financial loss he has acumulated is the torn relationship he now has with his children.  Tell me, is this the life God desires for we men of faith?  Well, according to a 2008 study, some might just see things that way.  According to this study, the divorce rate among christians stood at 33%.  However, in the same study, the percentage of christian men who viewed pornography was a staggering 50%!  Does anyone but me see the this as a problem?  I've given up talking about this issue as a problem with most men simply because most men don't see it as an issue.  Instead, they see it more as a mans right of passage.  What addiction program out there could  we use to tackle such long held beliefs?

15Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
1 John 2: 15 - 16 NKJV

As I told my friend, when it comes to the issue of pornography and divorce, I know what I'm talking about.  I've not only been in those trenches, but endured the effects of a damaged relationship with my own father who followed his own lusts while he was married.  To me, this is personal.  It's a shot across the bow of every God fearing christian man.  It will consume our thinking and rip apart the fabric of one of the most meaningful relationships God has ever concieved.  I am not a man because I have been into pornography.  I'm not a man becuase I somehow viewed women as only there for my own satisfaction.  This is not what made me a man.  What made me a man was realizing who it was that God intended for me to be.  The man God intended for me to be was never based on a world view, but on the reality of Christ Jesus in me {Galations 2:20}.  Would any sane christian call Jesus a wimp, a sellout or a anything less than a man?  Most likely not.  Yet, I've known more than a few christian men who have disputed my own manhood because I don't uphold the worlds view of what a man is.  If Jesus Himself is the prime example of what a real man is, then this is who I am.  I am not speaking some kind of herecy, only what has been revealed in my own heart over time.  The truth of Christ is that He lives in all who come to know Him.  If Jesus was a man, then so it is for us as well. 
Not so long ago I commented to a friend of mine that I no longer had the same desire to frequent strip clubs that I used to.  I didn't come to this realization through a life recovery, twelve step addiction or some other institutional program.  No, what eventually led me to realize that I no longer needed these things to make me feel like a man was the realization of who it is that I truly am.  I'm not someone who needs to prove to others the kind of man that I am.  I am Scott...and Christ Jesus has already shown me that blueprint. 

19Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body gand in your spirit, which are God’s.
1 Corinthians 6: 19 - 20 NKJV

~Scott~

Knowing He's Here

1Now faith is the asubstance of things hoped for, the bevidence of things not seen.   2For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. 3By faith we understand that the cworlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
Hebrews 11: 1 - 3 NKJV

If someone approached you with the claim that the morning sky was red what would your reaction be?  By the same token, if you were told that gravity had ceased to exist how would you react?  Well, if you were like most rational people, you would disregard these claims as bunk.  See, we KNOW that the sky is blue.  We KNOW that those laws of gravity still exist each and every day.  It's just a truth we've come to accept.  I thought about this this week as I thought about our own realization of just how close Christ Jesus is to us.  In my last post I claimed that traditional christian teachings have failed us, and I stand by that claim.  I've come to the conclusion that if you're told something often enough, it eventually becomes accepted as true.  So, what are we told about Jesus?  Well, we're told that Jesus was born of a virgin in a little manger in Bethlehem.  We're told that Jesus spent His life teaching the gospel.  We're told that He was tortured, bled, died and on the third day He rose again.  However, here is where the waters get muddied a bit in what we've been taught about the man Jesus.  After His reseurection, apparetnly Jesus high tailed it back to heaven, away from Gods children, in order to reside in righteousness.  I get it.  I mean, Jesus couldn't possibly reside here on earth in the midst of such sinful men...could he?  Accepting this as truth, most christians live day to day in a struggle to live more like Christ.  I was there also.  Jesus was in heaven, looking down upon me from His lofty perch.  I had no connection with Him nor with the Lord I served.  In fact, there was a disconnect.  Was this really how God wanted me to live my life?  This was the truth of Jesus I had come to accept.

20“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Galations 2:20 NKJV

I don't recall the date, but at some point a good friend of mine approached me with the outrageous claim that the morning sky was red.  Well, not exactly, but he approached me with something just as unbelievable in my eyes.  This mans herecy asked me to accept as truth that Jesus was not as far from me as I had been led to believe.  Not only that, he backed up his claims with scriptures and more teaching!  It seems that Christ Jesus, far from being seperated from me in heaven, was alive and well in me.  You can imagine my skepticism at this new idea.  However, the more I came to listen, the more that the truth of Jesus was revealed to me.  Where everyday christian life had been a struggle for me, I was told that it did not need to be.  Instead of living a life looking for Christ, I could live a life IN Christ Jesus.  This was something no pulpit pounder had ever introduced me to.  The funny thing was, as I embraced the truth of Christ in me, I found that freedom which Jesus had spoke of in scripture.  Could this be the life which God had intended for me?  For us?  Like I said, this new teaching flew in the face of all which I had been taught about Jesus.  However, just because something goes against what the crowd is saying does not mean it's the wrong thing...right?  These days I see the very same reaction in others which I must have had upon my first realization of Christ in me.  Whether it's faith or trust, we eventually gently led into the revelation of the truth of the man Jesus.  Knowing in our own hearts that He is here with us.

~Scott~

The Hope I've Found

Don't you know that day dawns after night, showers displace drought, and Spring and summer follow winter?  Then, have hope!  Hope forever, for God will not fail you!
~Charles Spurgeon~

I sent out a random email this week to a few friends of mine.  It wasn't intended to be a revelation or some kind of a eye opener, just a reminder of the hope which I have realized as Christ Jesus in me.  Well, immediately one of my friends responded with a cheerful note thanking me for the reminder of this truth.  Now, this friend of mine knows the truth of Christ in us, for he has been among us in our discussions.  However, like myself, I realized that sometimes we all need that reminder of who we really are.  For me it came after a few weeks of being among some pretty negative coworkers.  Now, usually I'm able to keep myself centered on who I am in Christ, but there are times when the drumbeat of negativity can overwhelm us.  There was a time when I would all too often worry myself sick when such times would come.  Eventually I got tired of running on that hamster wheel of worry and fret and looked for a better way.  I mean, this wasn't how God had intended for us to live was it?  Yet more than a few christians continue to worry and toil for the cause thinking that God is somehow seperated from them, putting them through their trials.  I was there among them, I get it.  However, if we are assured that Christ Jesus is within us, what reason do we have to worry?  The apostle Paul, in Galations, tells us that we can rest assured that Christ lives on through us {Galations 2:20}.  This is the hope which I have found.  Hope in Jesus, hope in a life lived with Him and not seperated from Him.  For whatever it is that is worrying or troubling me today, I walk through that valley with Christ by my side.  This is the hope I have found.  What is it that will trouble me if I live my life as Christ?  Would Jesus Himself fret over job stress?  Would Christ run that wheel of anxiety, or would He rest assured that He was walking in the Father?  Afer all, wasn't it the prayer of Jesus before His crucifiction that we would be one with the Father as He was? {John 17:22}  This has never been a life lived apart from Jesus, but with Him. 

 “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will trust in me because of their word, 21 that they may all be one. Just as you, Father, are united with me and I with you, I pray that they may be united with us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. 22 The glory which you have given to me, I have given to them; so that they may be one, just as we are one—23 I united with them and you with me, so that they may be completely one, and the world thus realize that you sent me, and that you have loved them just as you have loved me. 24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am; so that they may see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 Righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these people have known that you sent me. 26 I made your name known to them, and I will continue to make it known; so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I myself may be united with them.”
John (Yochanan) 17: 20 - 26
The Complete Jewish Bible

The traditional christian teaching has failed us.  Traditionally we have been taught to believe that as Gods children we were seperated from Him, continually striving to uphold a unreachable standard so that we might be at rest in His presence.  Again, this leads to running that wheel of anxiety in many cases.  For those who have yet to grasp the revelation of Christ Jesus in us, everyday life can be a struggle of running to catch up with Jesus.  When in reality, He has always been there with us from the begining.  Our Lords intent was never to leave us alone, but in union with Him.  This was the purpose of Christs journey to the cross all along.  As He has assured us, "I will not leave you as orphans" {John 14:18}.  The journey of Christ was never intended to leave us seperated from Him.  Were this to be true, then our union with the Father would simply be a dream and never a reality.  Our union in Christ will never leave us on the outside looking in as Jesus simply looks down upon us from heaven ready to cast judgement on our bad behaviors.  That is the hamster wheel of false teaching.  Who among us is righteous enough to enjoy a union with the Father without the finished work of Jesus?  I could never raise my hand to that question.  Yet, through Christ Jesus I am able to shout from the rooftops that I am one with the Father!  When I look in the mirror, I see the face of Christ smiling back at me.  When I walk through the dark valley, it is Christ Jesus who walks with me.  All that I do, I do as Him.  All that I experience, I experience as Jesus.  This is the Hope which I have found. 

~Scott~