Law Abiding Citizen

Living as a law abiding citizen is looked upon favorably by the culture we live in. As you pass through a green traffic light we expect that others who are stopped on the intersecting road will choose to obey the laws and stop at the red light. If the oncoming driver chooses to disobey the law and runs the light, the result could be devastating for everyone involved. By obeying the laws, customs and ordinances that are prescribed by the cultural or governmental authorities we show respect to the community as a whole and we agree to do our part to make life in a community as agreeable as possible. Most people would say that they obey the law because that is what we are “supposed” to do. An argument could be made that most people do not obey for the sake of obedience, but out of the fear of being caught and punished. Speed and get a ticket, steal and go to jail, murder and be put to death. Our lives are governed by the action and reaction reasoning that laws bring to a society. We obey so that we will be accepted.

We cannot apply our human reasoning to God. The basis of God’s law is completely different from the basis of man’s laws, because the natural character of men is completely different from that of God. The punitive act and react foundation of man’s law has no place in the law of God or in application to His Church. Christ has completely and perfectly fulfilled the law of God something that we as mere men were not able to do. From the beginning of creation man has been unable to fulfill the law of God. From Adam’s first sin in the garden to the present day we have been inept in keeping the law of God and for that we deserve death.

Truly, God’s character is love, however it is also justice. God’s love and justice are in perfect marriage. In mercy and grace the Father made a way through Christ’s death and resurrection for us to be made right in regard to the law and fulfill the justice of God. If we have trusted in Christ for salvation then our debt to the law has been paid in full. Where we once would have been found guilty in sin, we are now excused because our punishment has been suffered by another, by Jesus. As Jesus died on the cross punishment was done away with in regard to the Church. Jesus took all of our sin onto Himself and completely satisfied the wrath that justice required.

Now that punishment is done away with what is the motivation of Christ Followers to obey? If we view the Christian life from the action and reaction model of the world we have freedom to do anything we want. No matter our action God’s reaction will be the same, grace. There is nothing we can do that will separate us from His love; therefore we are free to do whatever we choose. Some may wish to use this liberty in Christ as a license to sin. If we do use our liberty in Christ as a license to sin we are not appreciating the gift of grace that Christ has provided to us. We were freely given the costly gift of grace. In His death Christ paid our sin debt that we could never hope to pay.

The heart that has accepted and understood the costly gift of grace obeys because it has experienced the undeserved, unearned, unconditional love of Christ. The heart of the redeemed person longs to be in fellowship with the Redeemer and to serve Him out of the love that has been freely given. Our obedience is the natural result of unconditional love.

When asked what was the greatest commandment was Christ said, “'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40) If loving God and loving others completes the law then we no longer live under the legal requirements that the Law of Moses required. The Prophet Isaiah said about our state of righteousness as humans, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away (Isaiah 64:6). What do we hope to gain by holding to our works under the law? No matter how pure, righteous, or Biblically correct, or well we try to live our lives the truth is we fail.

If we try to merit our salvation through works and living rather completely relying on faith we can make our attempt at Christian living an idol of our worship. We will begin to worship the practice of Godly living rather than worshiping the God who loves us as broken and contrite people who are constantly in disparate need of a savior. The Pharisees shown in the Gospels provide an example of worshiping the act of worship. They had the law memorized and the additions to the law that had been made over time. They were perfect in practice but lost the meaning behind the action of following the law. That is why they couldn’t see Christ for who He truly is, the Messiah.

If we adopt a Pharisaical posture to the practice worship we will lose sight of who Christ really is. If we cherish our own style and manner of religion over worship of Christ our religion is dead and useful to no one. The holding to practices that serve to elevate our rituals over that of another believer and brother in Christ can in reality distract other saints and those who are unsaved from hearing the true Gospel Message.

Sharing this true Gospel Message of salvation and obedience out of a heart of gratitude is why the Church was brought into existence by Christ. We are to take what we have been given and give it out to the people God puts around us. We must use our liberty as Christians to share the unconditional love of Christ with the world dying around us. We must never forget the wretched state that we were saved from and that it was Christ alone who saved us. We must be law abiding citizens of the kingdom and do as our master commanded. Love our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and love our neighbors as ourselves. In this we truly worship Christ and truly keep His command. God did not call the saved to be “good Christians” who keep our rules, He called His people to be like Him.

Calling Time Out

As I sit down after a long but great Sunday and sip my tea I have a yearning for a time-out. That phrase can make most children stop in their tracks. The thought of getting time out is one of the worst things that can happen to a six year old, being forced to sit out while those around us are busy having fun. I have grown older and somewhat wiser over my past 28 years I have come to appreciate the discipline that time out brings. The dictionary defines time-out as a brief suspension of activity; intermission or break or a short interruption in a regular period of play during which a referee or other official stops the clock so that the players may rest, deliberate, make substitutions, etc.

Recently, my appreciation taking time outs has been abstract rather than practical. I know that I need to suspend my activity so that I may rest and deliberate, but it seems for the past several weeks I have allowed my days to rule me rather than me ruling my days. I spend my time constantly running from one thing to the next, never fully involved in what I am doing. Constant activity brings the exhaustion that comes from lack of rest, neglecting the time out.

Yesterday, I spent several hours stacking firewood. The great thing about physical labor is it gives the mind time to rest. During that time I allowed my mind to wonder at will and I was able to deliberate on the happenings of the past few weeks. It seems that these weeks have been filled with very profound events that I have not given sufficient consideration. It seems easier to go along without a time out to think than to face the notion of contemplation of difficult topics. Not only have I neglected my pondering, I have also not given into the release of putting pen to paper, fingers to keyboard. There are some things that are just pure relief: reading the Scripture, Prayer, reading, writing, photography, meditation and conversation. It seems that I have not allowed myself much time to invest in any of these endeavors. My creative self is like a muscle that has atrophied with lack of activity.

Through good and bad I have been able to maintain my duties, those things that must be done usually for others. I go to work, pay bills, go to church, small group, Bible study and theology studies. I do what is asked of me without argument or complaint, at least vocalized complaint.
Now my heart has had enough and is not letting me go any further. As I sip my tea and deliberate my situations I am reminded that the maintenance of my mind, heart and soul is my primary task. By running from task to task without a time out I am actually cheating myself and those around by not fully participating in life. One of my most intense fears is that I will not live my life to the fullest. The worst use of my time is letting it slip by never to get it back again. I have a keen awareness that life is short and the and its specific length is unknown to all but God.

As I sit feeling the warmth of the fire and listening to the quiet of the empty house I am taking a time out, enjoying the act of expression and resting my heart before stepping out into the week ahead.

Lack of Concentration and Peanut Butter Toast...

This blog needs a better title. I am sitting here on a perfect lazy Sunday, with tons to do but not wanting to do any of it. The sun is shining and I am not able to concentrate on anything, my mind is elsewhere. I have a million things to do: Chop wood, write a really meaningful blog, read one of the hundred books I have but not yet read. If I was really ambitious I would paint the bathroom and finish the tile that I have been putting off for months and months. None of it feels right. I don't want to be doing any of it but I don't know what it is I want to do. I want to be doing something else with someone else. This is not something I can put into words. I hate it when I don't have the right words.

My house is cold. My feet are cold and the tip of my nose is cold. So now I have a fire in the wood stove. This should at least help the cold nose.

Maybe it's that I have nothing "important" to do. No blind dates to go on or funerals to attend to. Nothing important. I am restless.

I love peanut butter toast. It is warm and good. It is comforting. I am now full of peanut butter toast and milk, and still I am restless. Not everything needs to be important I guess. Not everyday needs to be groundbreaking.

The sun is now going down over the island and it will be dark soon and I am still restless. After church I went to the park. It was beautiful and cold. I enjoyed an egg nog latte and sat with coworkers who happened to be there. They left and I began to read, and then my restlessness started. Since I wasn't getting anything done so I went home. To do nothing... and be restless.

I want something to come along... It has taken 2 hours to write 350 words.

The bay looks nice with the light shining on the water. It is peaceful.

Actually, It is not what I am doing it is that I am alone. I don't think that I want to be alone, but I have spent all day alone and I didn't want to be alone. It is not that I wanted to be with just anyone. I spend each day with people... but not the people I choose. They are not bad people, in fact some of them are people I care about, but not just who I wanted to spend the day with.

The one who I wanted to spend the day with was not around. I don't know why I to be around her. I don't really even know her. I wonder if I have her attention? I wonder if she wants to be around me too?

Sitting here is no fun... Waiting is no fun... Wanting to make a move and not getting the chance is no fun.. I want her to like me or to tell me that she doesn't so I can get over it and move on....

I hate being ignored. And not having contact is making me feel ignored and that makes me feel restless. So now I found my restlessness. We'll see what happens... I feel better, it must be the toast.

Buying Flowers

Something I recently discovered about myself is that I like buying flowers. There is something about buying flowers for a girl that makes my pulse race and the adrenaline run. In part, there is the thrill of putting yourself out there. It is the risk of taking a risk. This is especially true in the beginning stages of the relationship. The flowers could make her day and for a few minutes you get to be a hero. Or the well intentioned gesture could trigger her to shut you down as you attempt to cross that ominous “just friends line” from which there is no return. The interesting thing about flowers is that no matter what the response they will get a response. It is just uncommon today to get or give flowers. It is in the rarity of the gesture that the value is communicated.

In our culture giving or getting flowers tends to bring (and is probably designed to bring) an emotional response. Think about when we buy flowers for people: Weddings, birthdays, funerals and the big one when we are trying to get a girl to notice us as someone more than that guy I know from that one place. It is when we are trying to make an emotional connection to someone that the flowers come into play.

So, today as I stood in the overly crowded Haggen Floral Shop trying to determine which flower would communicate the right thoughts (of I like you and I want you to like me but I don’t want to freak you out. This is a puzzle that can only be solved with help) the thought that motivated me was: “I think you are special and I want you to know it.” I want to know that the action of buying flowers will result in the reaction of her feeling appreciated and noticed. Not to mention I want her to notice me too and to get the above mentioned response. From a logical standpoint there is no real use to cut flowers. They cost a lot and die within a week. If we wanted to be logical a packet of seeds from a food bearing plant and a pot of dirt would be more useful. Buying flowers is not about useful, it is about extravagant. I think that flowers show her that she is costly, that in perusing her we are willing to pay the price.

Part of the battle of manhood (see my blog: to the rescue) is to save the princess and win her heart. Now that we have moved beyond the cave man days of bashing a girl on the head with a club and dragging her off into the sunset. We must peruse her... be creative and risky in the approach and let her know that she is beautiful, special and lovely. Pay the price to be noticed by her and to win her affection. To let her know that she is safe and protected and that she means something to us. Then we will have the chance to ride off into to the sunset with the bride and not a conquest. Flowers are just one way to say it. Nothing makes a guy feel more like a man then buying flowers for the girl he perusing... Something tells me the chase never ends.

Happiness

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--" - Thomas Jefferson.


For most Americans this statement brings some feelings of pride and liberty or a foggy recollection from high school government class. It is amazing to me on how carefully the founding fathers chose the words that they used to form the United States. This statement of our founding document sets the attitude that the founders wanted us as Americans to live with.

The right to life... All Americans have a right to live. That seems pretty obvious and maybe it is something that I will get into in another blog. The right liberty... To be a free person. To make a life of our own choosing. Again, another topic for another day.

The strange part of this statement from Jefferson is the pursuit of happiness. To say that as a people we have the right to peruse or chase happiness. In today's American we have changed the right to peruse happiness into the right to be happy.

When did it become okay to think that just because we are American we are guaranteed to be happy? We look to celebrities, family, relationships and the government to make us happy. The sad reality is that we are completely mistaken. No one can make us happy. How can flawed messed up people make other messed up people happy. So what do we do when we are not happy we consume. We buy and eat and spend. We are the biggest consuming nation on the planet. We have become worshipers of consumption. The fact is we are not happy. We worship what we think will make us happy. Our false gods that we built have let us down. When we don't get what we want or have to be inconvenienced to get it we cry "no fair" and stop off to the court to sue someone for our lack of happiness. After all it can't be my fault that I am miserable.

We have become a nation of misery because we have forgotten how to find happiness or even what happiness means. Happiness is not something that happens to us it is something we choose for ourselves. The choice to be happy extends far beyond our situational circumstance to the core of who we are. It is how we choose to face life. No matter what we are involved in or what situation I find myself I can choose to be happy.

In my life I can choose to be happy because I know that I have a savior who loves me. He has promised me that He is working my life out for my good and that my darkest days are just light and momentary troubles. Someday when I go to be with Him in perfection I will see true happiness in all he meant it to be. Until then I choose to be happy and rest in Him. I know the Lord has my best in heart and I just have to trust Him and my happiness becomes Joy.

I want to live each day with joy…

To the rescue

After much thought I have come to a very important conclusion about myself. I am... a rescuer. I am not talking about small animals from trees or little birds that learned that the nest is a long way up. However, if I did come upon small animal stuck in a large and ominous looking Douglas Fir or Maple I am sure I would help out. I am talking bigger than trees. I am figuring out that I am wired to rescue. The idea of coming to the aid of those who are in need makes my heart feel full. I think that is why I like my job so much. Oh, and in ministry to see a lives be turned around, that's the money. And girls.... Well, don't get me started - yet.

As every girl wants to have the knight ride up on a white horse and rush her off to happily ever after, I think all (or most) guys sometime in the lives long to be the guy on the horse. When I think about getting all dressed up in a big metal get-up with big sword and shield and a horse named.... well, I will worry about the name later. Okay back to the story. So being all dressed up with my Knightly stuff ready to ride off and get my girl. Well, not exactly. I first have to go into some kind of battle to free the kingdom from some kind of menace: a dragon, or evil wizard or a huge army of invaders. Or the other metal clad jerk who is trying to get his grubby gauntlets on my girl. I digress.

Going to battle is scary! Battle is where people get hurt. I can still hear my Grandmother's faithful words. "Don't play with sticks because someone is going to get hurt." Well trade in those sticks for swords and there you go. Certain injury - someone is going to lose something. Our nice air-conditioned super-connected, multi function and disinfected world the idea of going to battle is not embraced. Why fight when we can have everything we possibly want at our finger tips? Fighting is so hard and dirty and bloody and dismembering. So the other choice is to not go to battle and play it safe at home. And that is where I tend to find myself.

Oh good... Yippee playing it safe at home. That's fun. Playing it safe is not going to make by heart leap. It is going to leave me bitter and empty. There is only so much home improvement TV one can watch before he wants to kill something. (I.e. do battle) just from sheer boredom.

And in that boredom I get stuck. Mired down in the waiting, thinking, planning and strategizing for that day that never seems to come. One of my favorite movies is "Glory" with Matthew Broderick. It is about the first black regiment of troops for the civil war. The idea of stepping up and being part of the battle for their freedom is woven through the whole movie. For these men sitting on the sidelines while someone else goes to battle for them was no longer an option. They had to fight to prove to the world and to themselves that they were men. At one point in the story the men get used to perform manual labor rather than fight. When this happened the spark and drive sustained them was gone, they no longer had a purpose worth fighting for. Doing manual labor? Who would want do dig ditches while what they wanted most was hanging on the line? It was not until they actually got to fix their bayonets and go to war with the enemy did they feel like they were winning their freedom and being men. Each man had something worth fighting for. He was on his horse and doing what he was designed to do; fight for something bigger and more important than himself. Something he could give his life to.

What you ask does this have to do with life in good old Washington? Well on the surface nothing. I am not going to go around town with a sword or rife and bayonet to do battle. That's just crazy. Deeper down it has everything to do with how God has wired my heart and how I must live. To give all I have to do battle. To kill the menace and free the kingdom or village and to sweep the princess up and to ride off into the happily ever after. That is what my heart needs that is what I was made for.

In order to go into battle for my King (Jesus) or my lady (to be determined) I must be ready to risk. To put it on the line so my heart can be set free to rescue, to fight, to save and to love. Without that all I have is existance. I don't want to simply exist I want to live.

Wish me luck! Here I go, off to battle for the first time. Better late then never. Someday to ride off into the sunset.