BACKSLIDERS

Note: This devotional is cross-posted on my LIFE MATTERS blog.

Recently I had the wonderful privilege of baptizing eleven teenagers who had given their lives to Jesus Christ. These kids chose the very public venue of a pool party where their friends (some of whom tend to avoid churches) could be present to witness what they were doing and hear the faith stories. I was very proud of these kids. Admitting to caring about spiritual things at all sets them apart from many of their peers. Going public with their faith in Christ really put it on the line for people to now observe, analyze, and make a judgment upon. I pray that this step will be more than youthful enthusiasm, that it has grown from a profound desire to be the persons Christ created them to be. Time will tell, but I have a lot of hope for these kids. I believe they are the real deal.

Unfortunately there are a lot of "Christians" out there who are not the real deal. They may have one time been enthusiastic about Jesus Christ, but they have let that passion grow cold. They no longer seek to stand out as salt and light. They much prefer "fitting in" and then choosing times to admit to their faith when it is advantageous. For years churches and theologians have debated the concept of "backsliding" and whether or not someone can lose their salvation. I come from the stream of Christianity that says you can lose your salvation. Such backsliding is serious business.

But allowing your faith to go from the center of your life to its periphery is also a form of backsliding. It is not backsliding that robs you of your salvation. It robs you of your witness. When people who are generally seeking God encounter you, they are probably going to keep looking because they quickly learn you are not the real deal.

A newfound faith is a precious gift from God, a gift of His grace. But if we really understand the value of the gift, we will always hold it precious. It will always center us and ground us and empower us. When we truly treasure and cultivate the faith God has given us, backsliding will not be an option.

CABBIE OR ANGEL?

Reading:

Sunday morning we had a visitor to our 10.45 service. A young lady came in just before the service and sat down quietly in the back of the A section. Young, Hispanic, well-dressed. At first I thought it was one of the older kids from Burn or the Agape Center or a mother from the Good News Club, except she was alone. Worship began and she appeared to be participating. When it came to the point in the service where we share God Stories, she raised her hand. Irv handed her the microphone. "This is my first time here." She proceeded to share about a problem she was having with her boyfriend. As the problem had escalated she had decided to cal a cab,to get a little space to cool off and reflect.

The cabbie, after a time, said, "Sometimes the best thing to do is wait." Apparently she began talking to the cab driver. The conversation turned to getting connected with a church. "Do you know a good church," she asked. The cab driver directed her to the Church of God of Landisville. She came. She worshiped with us. She experienced the heart of the community. She told me she'd be back.

We have no cab drivers among our membership, nor do we know of any cab driver connected to our church's ministries.

God works in mysterious ways. But when we see where God is working, we always want to go and work with Him.

(c) 2010 by Stephen L. Dunn

GO AWAY JESUS!

"The entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged him to go away and leave them alone." - Matthew 8:34, New Living Translation

This text is from the story of Jesus casting out demons and sending them into a herd of pigs, who promptly jump off a cliff. You can read the whole story in Matthew 8.

Why would anyone send Jesus away?

If you are into "little Jesus meek and mild" or Jesus as a love-gushing guru--you wouldn't chase him off. If you are a maturing believer who has embraced his character and his mission for yourself, you would not send Jesus packing.

But sometimes an encounter with him can be a bit frightening. The work of God is sometimes threatening and unnerving. We have this convenient lie that we are always in charge and in control. Then Jesus comes along and does something that proves quite the opposite to be true. Then we would like Jesus to go away so we don't have to deal with the power and potential of his presence.

Because make no mistake. Jesus will not be tamed nor controlled.

(C) 2010 by Stephen L Dunn

GRANDERSON

Reading: Isaiah 40:8

Ruminations of a diehard Detroit Tiger fan ….

Once again he is patrolling the broad expanses of center field. Long legs, graceful moves, and sure hands. His very first time at bat this season, he hit a long, powerful home run.
Curtis Granderson is on the job as the one of the premier defensive outfielders in baseball today whose ability to hit the long ball makes him a game-changer in every game in which he plays. He was one of the heroes of the Detroit Tigers when they won the 2006 American League pennant.

But what’s this? The uniform. There’s something wrong. Pin stripes. The Tigers wear crisp white uniforms. No! Those are Yankee pinstripes! He’s gone over to the side of the antichrist. Curtis Granderson is playing for the New York Yankees! The next thing you’ll be telling me is that Placido Polanco has backslidden to the Phillies. He has|? Oh,no!

It’s the beginning of the 2010 baseball season—and more than one baseball fan suddenly finds that the players from his home team, for whom he has rooted many years, are now playing for someone else. Sometimes your bitterest rival.

But that’s the nature of baseball these days. Baseball is a business. Players go where they receive the best compensation. Team owners shed fan favorites, heroes of years gone by to control their payroll costs. There are two bottom lines – one is financial, the other the World Series, Unless you are consistently achieving the latter, the former will always be the true bottom line.

Things change. Nothing is forever. Nothing lasts. Save one thing and Isaiah reminds of us what that is. The word of the Lord. "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." In a world where fortunes rise and fall, people switch sides, institutions thrive and then disappear, marriages are made and broken, we count on one thing to guide us through this all. The Word of the Lord.

(c) 2010 by Stephen L Dunn

HOW DEEP IS YOUR FAITH?

Someone has described modern day Christianity as "a mile wide and a few inches deep."

And indeed, in some sense there is a lot of shallowness to the faith of Christians who have lived most of their lives in the comfort of a culture that has let the church exist in slumbering peace. In fact, for too many Christians, their faith exists primarily on the surface, when it is on display in Sunday morning worship; but let a crisis hit or Monday morning arrive and that faith is set aside in panic or in accommodation. When the road gets tough, we start trying to wrest control of our lives back from God, lest He make things tougher. When the rest of the world comes along side, we want to go undercover lest we stand out and invite judgment and ridicule.

What do we do when we ask God, as did the apostle Paul, to take away the thorns in our flesh and he says, "No, my grace is sufficient for you." Is our faith deep enough to chose weakness when it is the way of God's working?

The world actually expects faith to be more surface than substance. It is comfortable with such shallowness because it can justify its own ignoring of the call of God upon its life.

Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsy were imprisoned by the Nazis for helping the Jews of Holland escape the genocide. Faith was wonderful, even thrilling when they were outwitting the Nazis. But when they fell into the hands of the Nazis, Corrie's faith floundered in a sea of doubt and discouragement. Yet her sister Betsy continue to live with a strength that brought hope to others in the evil confines of a consecration camp.

Betsy was dying in that camp. And as she reached her final moments, Corrie despaired of what would happen when Betsy was gone. Corrie felt she herself would simply give up and die. But Betsy responded, "You must live, Corrie, you must live. And you must tell them, there is no pit so deep where God is not deeper."

How deep is your faith?

EASTER SATURDAY NIGHT

It was a grim night. The second night they had endured since Jesus had died on Golgotha. Only one of them had been there to witness the death. John in his youthfulness seemed to have no fear that the older men in their practicality had embraced. They were behind closed, locked doors. The Jewish leaders had seemed uninterested in pursuing them on that Sabbath evening when Joseph of Aramathea had hastily buried Jesus’ body. But now another day had passed and many sensed that the triumphant Sanhedrin might now turn a maliced eye towards the remaining disciples of that dead troublemaker.

The night of Jesus’ arrest had been one of turmoil and confusion. Then came word that Judas had hung himself. An impulsive Peter had followed Jesus, but by the dawn of Friday had denied Jesus three times. Then he had come slinking back in shame to join them in their grim gathering.

This night, Saturday night, a weariness had replaced some of the grief and even now some were asking if they should just slip out of Jerusalem. They were not sure of the welcome they would find in Galilee, but it might be safer for a time.

Desperate men, now discouraged and depressed.

It was Easter Saturday night.

AND THEY CRUCIFIED HIM

Reading: Mark 15:24

"and they crucified him ..."
Four words that bring us to a stark Judean hilltop called Golgotha.
Four words that bear a finality to the events of a week we now call holy.
Four words that only begin to describe the pain and the agony that was his death.
Four words that stab at our hearts ripping away any delusion of our righteousness.
Four words that describe full measure of God's love for a rebellious people.
Four words that haunt us with conviction whenever we belittle his amazing grace.
Four words ...

"and they crucified him ..."
Four words that change world history and our personal destiny.
Four words that build a bridge of reconciliation for people separated from God.
Four words that defy death to do its worst.
Four words that destroy the penalty or reigning sin.
Four words that cleanse the deepest sin in the darkest soul.
Four words that set the captive free.
Four words ...

(C) 2010 by Stephen L Dunn

WASHING THE FEET OF JUDAS

Reading: John 13

John, chapter 13, records the feetwashing that took place at the Last Supper. When you put all of the accounts together from the four gospels something important emerges. Jesus washed the feet of disciples prior to the communion. Judas left during the communion but he was still present for the feetwashing. This means Jesus washed the feet of the one who was about to betray him.

This adds a whole new significance to this act of servanthood on Jesus' part. He wasn't just washing the feet of the men who he would make the first members of the Body of Christ, but also the one who would reject Jesus and never see that day of fruitfulness.

Servanthood is hard. We easily do it to those who love the Lord. We work a little harder at those who need help but may not be grateful. But washing the feet of one who would stab us in the back, who was an enemy? Perhaps that, too, is what John meant when he said that through this feetwashing Jesus was revealing the full measure of his love.

God's love loves and even serves God's enemies.