The Mother Load

CS LEWIS said “Think of me as the fellow patent, who having being admitted a little earlier, could offer some advice.”

So what advice would he offer? I think he would say, just like you, I have been through situations that people have burned me, hurt me and caused pain in my life. People have disappointed me and I have even had experiences where I thought it would consume my life. I have been at the end of my rope, biting people’s heads off. My blessings have turned to blisters of burdens and I want to go off the deep end. He and countless others might say that, geez if your human you’ll say something like this sometime.

Each day is filled with stress and pressure. We all carry loads in life, but there is a difference between being under a load and being at the point of structure failure. James tells us that we can live life well under pressure; actually he speaks of a joy that comes when under a load (James 1). So, it is possible to live with pressure, be healthy and gain Godliness. But usually our loads are from the wrong pressures and most of us are at the point of structural failure. We carry the wrong loads!

As a kid I remember seeing my mom do many things, help me with school, prepare my meals, give me money, work a professional career at the only bank in town and on top of all of that she became her own entrepreneur by starting and growing successfully the only flower shop in our small USA town (all others failed before her). That shop always amazed me and I know she carried many loads I did not notice. But one I did was her deep desire to see her kids serve Jesus.

As her grown up son, I am doing my best to follow the risen Lord that she still serves today. As a leader in my own right I know there has been many people that I have had unforgiveness towards and I am certain my mom had her fair share as well.

When it comes down to it we all have this choice to make. We are going to carry loads but which one will we carry? Will it be the load of responsibility, failure and success, progress and growth or the load of blaming, anger, frustration, envy and malice. The difference between the two is forgiveness. If you and I don’t forgive we risk loads of structural failure. Relationships that once were a blessing now become a burden. Unforgiveness causes us to clamp down on freedoms and we seek our selfish ambitions through efforts of control. And even your relationship with God will suffer under the control load of unforgiveness.

Oh an on top of all that it WILL affect your body! Don’t ask me how, (that’s for a doctor to explain) but I have seen too many sour faces, slumped over postures, and sickly people to rationalize it away. Maybe that is why this story links the two together, forgiveness and physical health:

(Matthew 9:1-8) “Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. ² Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” ³ At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” ⁴ Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? ⁵ Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ⁶ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” ⁷ Then the man got up and went home. ⁸ When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.

Authority for what? Authority to experience the freedom of forgiveness, the right to be broken free from the shackles of sin. As least think of this last thought, do not forgive people because they deserve it or to make them feel good, you forgive people so you can experience the beauty of forgiven freedom.

Pay at My Pump

Growing up in Strasburg Colorado I vividly remember going to the gas station and seeing these three labels on the pumps, “Regular” “Unleaded” and “Diesel”. That is because up to 1986 gasoline in America had lead in it. It was that year that we banned lead in gasoline. Immediately lead levels in the blood of Americans fell by 80%. But because lead is notorious for not leaving the body, those of us today 25 years later still have 625 times more lead in our blood than people did a century ago (now I know why I keep setting off the metal detectors).

Just like that lead that does not leave our body quickly, past actions can also cause present emotional harm, especially if we keep dousing memories with the gasoline of unforgiveness.

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:13-14

Often we don’t forgive because we don’t want to let them off the hook, we want them to feel the same pain we feel. Forgiving someone who has hurt us just doesn’t seem right to us. We desire to keep those levels of unforgiveness floating around in our blood, but in the end it only ends up hurting ourselves and those closest to us.

We need to ban unforgiveness, that natural reaction of hurting others because they hurt us, making them pay at the pump our escalated prices. Let me bring the price down a bit by telling you what forgiveness is not…

1^st it’s not minimizing what happened, what happened was important so important it caused pain and that pain will not go away by just trivializing it.

2^nd it’s not an instant restoration of trust, trust is an earned respect between two humans and is a valuable resource it cannot be just given once taken advantage of.

3^rd it’s not resuming the relationship without changes, there were reasons why the event occurred and those factors need to be addressed and resolved.

We cannot rely on ourselves to do the work of forgiveness. On our own we don’t possess the ability to truly forgive someone of the wrong they have done to us. But God can instill in us that ability to forgive. And for that to happen, we must give our hurt, and anger and resentment to him – we must defer the situation to God and trust that he will take care of it.

This week, let go of the white-knuckle hold on your hate and let God take it. Give the load of hurt, anger and resentment to him and allow his love to transform your heart.

Walk The Line

Where is the line? I spoke of it on Sunday; that line in you that you and I draw to simply say, “Jesus this is where you stop.” That line that says, “God you end here and this is where I begin!” You say; “What line?” Don’t be foolish, we all have it.

For some it is easy to spot in their loose living and indulgence of the worldly pleasures that offer them temporary satisfaction for the eternal desires that burn within their hearts. For others it’s a little harder to see. It’s covered up by good Christian living, by that weekly service at your local church. It’s hidden beneath the title “Believer” but nonetheless it still exists. I personally think it exists just because we are here and God is in heaven.

So, what is your line? Let me ask you a few questions to see. What if I told you that following Christ…:

--meant giving up your entire 401K, your personal savings and your children’s savings, would you follow?

--meant you switch jobs to a company that could not pay you, and in turn you would pay the company over $150,000 to work there, would you follow? (Additionally you would have to work a second job to keep the roof over your head.)

--meant your child would be born with a defect that could hamper the rest of their life and you had to care for that child without insurance, would you follow?

--meant you lost close relationships with family members and friends (people you like and love), would you follow?

--meant your spouse would be constantly stressed and concerned each day about where the next dollar for food or clothes would come from, would you follow?

--meant on your best day at work would be followed by your worst day when someone who was there to help you stabbed you in the back and blamed you for it, would you follow?

--meant you stopped watching your favorite TV show due to its content, would you follow? (or just stop for a few weeks?)

--meant people would genuinely hate you, would you follow?

--meant you would encounter the devil 3 times and on two occasions you would almost lose your life, would you follow?

--meant that those that work with you would try to kill you, lie about you, demean you, rarely say thank you and take your family time, what little money you have and then ask for more, would you follow?

--meant you just simply followed him and died with no glitz or glamour and nobody knew what you did, would you follow?

So would you do it? Would you quit your job, would you risk being arrested, jailed and living the rest or your life with a criminal background? Would you be willing to be forced out of your home, live in the streets? Would you be willing to suffer physical harm to your body, lose your kids or your husband or wife?

See I told you the line exists, if you’re honest and don’t just give the blanket response “YES” to the question “Follow me?”, you have found your line. That place where you are unwilling to go with Christ.

Now, don’t worry that you have found it; it’s actually a good thing. See in order to live life to the fullest with God you must first find this line and address it with honesty before God. Your human and many of the things I aforementioned take supernatural strength to overcome. But make no mistake, until you find and address the line you risk being a fan. Once you address it, you continue to follow. I love what one follower of Christ once said…To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us. Once more, all that self-denial can say is: "He leads the way, keep close to him."—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” – Luke 14:27