Category: Christian life

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The Lord’s Prayer: Lead Us Not Into Temptation…

The final petition in the Lord’s Prayer is the request that our Father not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. As we have prayed for our Father’s name to be glorified, for God’s kingdom to come to earth and be lived out in his provision for us and in our forgiving and being forgiven, we then pray to be kept from temptation and evil.

Another way to translate this could be, “Don’t let us give in to temptation.” We are told elsewhere in Scripture that God does not tempt any of us to sin, although he does bring things into our lives to try, or prove our faith. This is the idea of the refiner’s fire that burns out impurities, thus proving the metal. God does try, or test us in order to refine us and develop the character of Christ in us. There is a danger that we will be tempted during the trial, tempted to trust our self instead of the Father. We are drawn into temptation by our own desires, and those desires can easily lead us to sin by not letting God work in us through the trial.

We pray for the strength to resist temptation and for the Spirit to help us avoid areas in which we would be tempted. We also pray for Christ to fill us so that our sinful desires are pushed out. As we become more like Jesus, and as he lives in us more and more, we find that our desires start to line up with the desires of our Father. More and more, we are able to say with Jesus, “I do what I see my Father doing.” As that happens, we are better able resist temptation when it’s comes, and we are even tempted less and less in many areas. Until we see Jesus face to face, our prayer will continue to be that we are delivered from temptation and the evil one who tempts us.

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Blast From the Past: Just Wondering

This was first posted on July 31, 2008.

I was thinking this afternoon (that’s dangerous, I know) about Jesus statement to his disciples that they could expect to be hated and persecuted because he was. When I was growing up I was always taught that this meant if I didn’t dress like the world, didn’t listen to the same music as the world, and didn’t hang around with worldly people, then those folks would hate me, make fun of me, call me names, etc. It would be okay though, because Jesus had been hated, been made fun of, and been called names. That message is still being preached in some churches around the country.

There is no question that Jesus was hated and persecuted by some of the people in his day. Heck, they even put him to death! But, I started to think about the folks who did the persecuting and the reasons why. Amazingly enough, it was not the “sinners” that hated Jesus, made fun of him and called him names. Those were the very people who followed Jesus. They were the ones who hung on his every word and who believed that he was the Messiah.

It was the religious leaders who hounded Jesus wherever he went, always looking for a way to trip him up and get him in trouble. They were the ones who said Jesus had a demon and implied that he was an illegitimate child. And, they called Jesus names like drunkard and glutton because he hung out with the “sinners”. Wait a minute. I thought the sinners, the ones who drink and party, are the very people I’m supposed to stay away from so my “testimony” isn’t damaged. I mean, heaven forbid someone should see me go into a bar or attend a party where “lost” people are gathered. They might start calling me a drunk or something like that, or at least might think that I’m not a very good Christian.

After all, I’m supposed to be a follower of Jesus and he would never put himself in a position where others would see him hanging out with the riff-raff and think badly of him. Would he?

Wait, you mean…?

Hmmmm.

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The Lord’s Prayer: Forgive Our Debts…

As we pray through the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, we pray for the Father’s name to be praised, for his kingdom to come on this earth, and for our Father to give us what we need. In the midst of this we must remember that, since we live in a broken world, there will be debts that we will incur in our relationship to the Father, and debts that others will incur as they relate to us. Because the term “debt” brings to mind financial stuff, and because we have a tendency to downplay the wrong that we do, I prefer to use the word “sin.”

In the gospels, we see Jesus forgiving sins and telling others to forgive. Jesus’ ministry was one of forgiveness and reconciliation, and he calls his followers to be people of forgiveness and reconciliation. Luke tells us of the time Jesus was at the home of Simon the Pharisee, where his feet were washed by a “sinful” woman. Jesus stated that those who have been forgiven much are those who love much. None of us can say that we haven’t been forgiven much. Well, I guess you could say it. But you’d be wrong. Just sayin’. We have been forgiven our sin against a holy God. That makes what God has done for us pretty huge. In our lives, I seriously doubt that any wrong done to us comes close to the wrong we have done God.

Matthew tells us of Peter’s question of how many times we should forgive someone who sins against us. Peter though he was being generous with a number of seven. Jesus once again ups the ante. He states that we are to forgive seven times seven, or seventy times seven, depending on which translation you use. Jesus is not saying that we are to keep track of the wrongs done to us, and drop the hammer on the fiftieth or four hundred ninety first time. Many times, the number seven in Scripture speaks off completion. Maybe what Jesus is saying here is that we should forgive others completely and utterly no matter how many times they sin against us. I believe that Jesus’ words imply reconciliation. Someone is not generally going to have the opportunity to wrong us multiple times unless we are in relationship with that person. We are called to be vulnerable with our brothers and sisters, being willing to be hurt by them and forgive.

In the same passage in Matthew, Jesus tells the story of the servant who owed his master a huge chunk of change. The master graciously forgave the entire debt, only to find out that this servant then went and imprisoned a fellow servant who owed him just a few bucks. I believe that the thrust of this story is that we have been forgiven an unpayable debt, so we are to forgive those who are indebted to us in what is essentially a minuscule amount. If we do not forgive, we are telling the world that we haven’t been forgiven. Again, when we consider our huge debt that God has forgiven, how can we not forgive the tiny debt that anyone owes us. The Father has forgiven our great sin, and no wrong that is done to us can ever match that.

We are to live as forgiven, and forgiving, people. Anything less is contrary to what our Father wants.

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Blast From the Past: The Bible

This was first posted on August 28, 2008.

In Eat This Book, Eugene Peterson describes how the King James Bible is still a best seller almost four hundred years after its initial publication, even though the English in the King James is a far cry from the English used in twenty first century America. I wonder why.

I’ve heard all the talk about the KJV being a best seller because it is the only translation that is God’s inspired and preserved word. I don’t think that’s the reason at all.

I believe that the fact that the KJV is still a best seller has more to do with the way most people see the Bible these days than in anything special about the language that is used. The Bible is seen by many Christians as a depository of “timeless truths” that can be pulled out and used whenever they are needed. Some see it as a rule book for life or a sort of owner’s manual that they can go to and find rules and procedures for the things they do. Others search out promises and use them as something akin to magic words to try to get God to do what they want. Still others read Scripture out of a sense of duty, because someone told them that to be a good Christian they have to read the Bible every day.

What all these reasons have in common is a lack of desire to really let God’s revelation of himself and the story of his people get inside them. I know from personal experience that it is easy to read the Bible on a regular basis and not be changed. I’ve studied Scripture (in Bible college I got A’s on both my theology written and oral exams). I learned the inductive, deductive, and any other ductive methods of Bible study. Those things really didn’t have much of an impact on my spiritual growth. I knew a lot of information, but it really didn’t mean that much.

Peterson tells a story of an adult class at his church that was studying the book of Galatians. His purpose was to remind the people of their freedom in Christ. Peterson noticed that the class was more interested in their coffee and conversation than they were with the Scripture. This frustrated him until he got the idea of taking the Greek words of the original and putting them in modern American English. He writes that very quickly the coffee was forgotten in the excitement of seeing the revelation of God in words that they were familiar with and could understand, words that they used every day. Peterson notes that the New Testament was written in the common Greek of the day – street language.

I think the reason many people buy and read the King James is that it is in a style of English that they don’t use in their day-to-day lives, and can therefore be kept separate. It’s part of the division between “sacred” and “secular” that many have to keep God from messing with their routine. It’s also useful as a sort of “code” that only the “sanctified” can understand. (I’ve noticed that a large part of some sermons is reading the King James and then translating it into modern English so the congregation can understand).

I believe that the Bible is not a book to be studied the way one would study a textbook or manual. It is not a collection of facts about God or a book of regulations and procedures. It is God’s story of himself and his dealings in this world, of how he is building a Kingdom and restoring all things, and of how he will finally bring about that restoration completely. It is a story that invites us to enter in, to join our story with God’s story. As we enter into this story we learn, in real ways, how to become like the Savior and King the story points to.

To do this, to enter into God’s story and open ourselves to being transformed by it, we must have this story in a language we can understand and relate to. For most people the KJV doesn’t fill the bill.

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God Be Merciful

In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells a story about a Pharisee and a tax collector who both came to the Temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed in an arrogant, condescending manner, thanking God that he wasn’t like all of the “sinners” around him. In contrast, the tax collector didn’t even look up toward heaven, but beat his chest and begged for God to have mercy on him because he was a sinner. As I read this the other day, I was convicted of my own tendency to think that I’m better than others.

I grew up in a church culture that taught that we were better off than others because we had made the choice to accept Jesus as personal Savior, and didn’t commit some of the sins that characterized those “of the world.” While we claimed to be humble because we were simply “sinners saved by grace,” our attitudes indicated otherwise. There was a definite divide between “us” and “them.” As a Bible college student, and later as a graduate involved in “full time” Christian ministry, the temptation was to think of myself as on another level because I “knew” Scripture and was teaching others.

After a few years, I became one of the Reformed. I was fairly young, though not restless, but I was enthralled with the intellectual side of faith. Again, the temptation, which I unfortunately succumbed to at times, was to think that my study and reasoning put me ahead of those who just didn’t know what Scripture “really meant.” In the ensuing years I have wandered through the post-evangelical wilderness, through non-denominational church, emerging Christianity, and “simple organic” church. I have actually landed in a community that is in the Reformed tradition, although I am certainly not young and am quite content.

 I could very easily think that I have arrived. The problem is that it’s still far to easy to fall into that old trap of thinking that I’m somehow better than any number of people. I can think, “I’m glad I’m not one of those_____________________ any more.” We all want to think that we have it together and are better than other folks, and I am no exception. I thank the Father that it’s not as bad as it used to be, but there are still times when that spiritual pride rears its ugly head. I don’t want to give in to that temptation because I have learned that if God needs to humble me, the experience tends to not be a whole lot of fun.

I want my attitude to be that of the tax collector, who saw his condition without God’s mercy. I know that it’s only by the Father’s grace that there is anything good in me, but sometimes I try to take a little bit of credit myself. I am relieved and grateful that God is my Father, and that he is working in me and will bring that work to its conclusion. He is merciful.

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The Lord’s Prayer: Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

I could also title this post “The Real Prosperity Gospel.”

In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray for our Father’s name to be glorified, and for his kingdom to come on this earth as it is in heaven. The next thing we pray for is for our daily provisions. This prayer is counter to the way those in the kingdom of this world operate, and unfortunately contrary to the way many Christians live their lives as well.

I believe that the teaching that God wants everyone to be wealthy and healthy and have success in everything they do doesn’t go far enough. I know that sounds strange. Hear me out. Those who teach what is known as the prosperity gospel put their followers eyes on the things of this earth, on things that will not last. A new car? It will rust and quit running. A big house? It will crumble. (Especially with the way they’re building houses these days) Lots of money in the bank? All gone someday. Success in business, etc.? Eventually your business will close. Fame? Most of us will be forgotten eventually.

Why do we spend so much energy playing in the mud in the ghetto when we have the offer of a trip to the beach? We have a Father who owns everything. His kingdom is forever, and is full of unimaginable riches. We are told in Scripture that we are fellow heirs of all things with Jesus. We have the righteousness of Christ. We have his Spirit in us. We have the expectation of glory, in fact, Romans 8 tells us that we are already glorified. It just doesn’t show completely yet. Our Father gives us good gifts.

Praying for our daily needs means we realize our dependence on God. We put ourselves in his hands and humbly ask rather than demand. A child who loves his father doesn’t go to him and demand things, unless that child is spoiled. A child who loves and is loved by her father knows that all she has to do is ask and her father can be trusted to provide for her. She also knows that her father will do what is best and not give her anything that is not good for her. In the same way, we trust that our Father will not give us a stone when we ask for bread, but knows exactly what is best for us, and will give us exactly what we need. Many times, God goes far beyond just what we need. We can simply trust Abba to do exactly what is best for us.

One of the things God has taught me through the years is that it is far better for me to simply put my needs and desires in his loving hands. It doesn’t depend on how well I’ve been praying or on how much faith I have. It simply depends on what my Papa, who loves me with a perfect love, knows is the best thing for me. As his love fills me more and more, Jesus’ words become more real. To paraphrase, seek first and foremost the kingdom of God and you will get that. The rest is just gravy.

Rest in who you are in Christ and that will bring the contentment that is able to humbly ask the Father for each day’s needs, knowing that it’s all taken care of. The Psalmist tells us that the Lord is our shepherd, and that we will never lack. While we may not have everything we want, we will have everything we need. Along with that we have Jesus, and with him all the blessings of the new heaven and new earth which will last far longer than anything we can hope to have on this earth.

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The Lord’s Prayer: Thy Kingdom Come…

After we ask that our Father’s name be lifted up and glorified, we are taught to ask that God’s kingdom come and his will be done on the earth as it is in heaven. All Christians believe that God has a kingdom. The arguments are over what that means. Some believe the kingdom is something off in the future, and will be a literal rebuilding of the  Davidic kingdom, lasting one thousand years. Others believe that the kingdom is happening now and will be fully established when Christ comes again.

I come down on the side of those who believe that Jesus came to bring the kingdom and it was established at his death and resurrection. This kingdom is here and now, and it will be finally realized when Christ comes again to restore all things. Jesus’ teachings about the kingdom of God are about a kingdom that his hearers could enter into, a kingdom that was available to them right then. I don’t believe that the Sermon on the Mount was about characteristics of citizens of a future one thousand year kingdom, or that it was an offer that was withdrawn when the gospel went to the Gentiles but will be given back to Israel sometime in the future. The teachings of the apostles also are about being part of a present kingdom, one that began when the King allowed the ruler of this world to do his worst and conquered death and hell, a kingdom based on sacrificial love rather than power and force. The early church didn’t get in trouble because they were telling folks how to accept Jesus as their personal Savior and go to heaven. They suffered persecution because they were proclaiming their allegiance to a King other than the emperor in Rome.

As we pray for God’s kingdom to come and his will be done, we are praying for love to reign, for grace, mercy, and justice to come more and more in this world. We are not saying that our own efforts can bring in this kingdom, but we are praying for God to do his work in and through us. Whenever we show love to our neighbor, extend grace to someone who doesn’t deserve it, forgive those who have wronged us, or work for justice for the least of these, the kingdom is coming to earth. God is doing the work of redeeming and restoring his creation, and we are called to join him in that work. That is what we pray for.

May God’s kingdom come and his will be done in and through us as we follow the  King.

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Blast From the Past: Those Who Love Little

This was first posted on April 21, 2009.

In chapter 7 of his gospel, Luke tells the story of Jesus at a dinner party at the home of Simon the Pharisee. During the dinner, an immoral woman comes into the room and washes Jesus’ feet with her tears, dries them with her hair, and then anoints them with very expensive perfume. Of course Simon is appalled that this wicked women would dare to interrupt his event, and wonders why Jesus is allowing her to do this to him. Jesus then tells a parable of two men who were forgiven debts, and makes the point that the one who has been forgiven much will love much.


There are a couple of things that strike me about this account. The first is the attitude many who call themselves Christians show toward Jesus. In that time period, it was a common courtesy for a host to provide water to wash the feet of his guest, removing the dust of the journey. It also was customary to give a kiss of greeting and anoint the head of the guest with oil. By doing these things the host showed that he valued his guest and was glad for the visit. Simon did none of those things for Jesus, displaying an attitude of indifference, at best. Simon seems to think that Jesus is very fortunate to have been invited to a dinner at the home of an esteemed religious leader.


It seems that many, by their actions and attitudes, give the impression that Jesus is lucky to have them on his side. The statement by Jesus that we can do nothing without him is forgotten completely, or is explained away. I have heard folks talk about how great it would be if certain talented and famous individuals would become Christians and how much all their fame and talent could do for God. How many have given in to the idea that because I am doing all these things for God, he owes me? We wonder how God can let trouble into our lives when we have worked so hard and been so faithful.


This attitude also comes out in the way we treat others. We withhold forgiveness.We denigrate those who don’t see eye to eye with us. We judge others who don’t appear as spiritual as we try to. We place a premium on looking good in front of people, and spend a great deal of energy creating masks to hide our brokenness. So much of what we do is designed to put everyone, including Jesus at arms’ length from who we really are. At some point we forget just how much we have been forgiven.

By contrast, the immoral women was not interested in hiding who she was. She knew she was a sinner. She knew that Jesus was the only one who could help her, and she was desperate to get to him, no matter what anyone thought. If she had any masks, she left them at home. She not only did for Jesus what Simon should have done, she lavished her attention on him. Many would probably say that she went a bit overboard with her worship. She not only sacrificed an expensive possession, but she also sacrificed any shred of dignity she may have had left. All because she realized how much she had been forgiven.

May we all be reminded of the great love God has shown us in Jesus and the great forgiveness he has given us. May we love greatly.
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The Lord’s Prayer: Hallowed Be Thy Name

Jesus tells us that we can call the God of the universe, Father. He is our loving, gracious Father. Jesus then directs us to ask for God’s name to be hallowed, or lifted up. I think this is an important part of the prayer that we sometimes forget in the course of our day-to-day. Our aim is to live our lives out in light of this prayer, rather than just repeating it from time to time.

If we pray for God’s name to be hallowed, we are praying for that name to be made much of, to be lifted up and glorified. As the Westminster Catechism states, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. The Psalmist tells us that creation itself declares the glory of the Creator. Everything and everyone is made to bring glory to God.

Sometimes we ask for God to be glorified, but we are not sure that we really want that. Sometimes God is glorified in things that we would consider tragedies. It is hard to look at the loss of a job, the death of a loved one, or anything else we would see as negative and see any way God can get glory through it. We can easily see glory for the Father when things go our way, but when it all hits the fan we act as if God’s name is irrevocably damaged. I can think of many times when I questioned how in the world God could get any glory from things that happened.

It has been a hard lesson to learn, but it is true that the Father can be glorified through any and every thing. He is God, after all. Romans 8 tells us that God works in everything, even the messes in our lives, for the good of those who love him. This good could be directly for the person who is going through the stuff, or it could be for the body of Christ as a whole. Either way, God is glorified, whether it’s through an individual becoming more like Christ or a group of Christians being strengthened by what the individual has gone through.

We are taught to pray that our Father be glorified. We need to understand that that glory may come through trouble in our lives. At the same time, we can be encouraged that the one who loves us with a perfect, inexhaustible love can and does redeem everything.

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Failing? Maybe. Failure? No!

I’m beginning to notice a sort of mini epidemic. Lately, I’ve heard a fair amount of folks state that they feel like a failure, that they feel as if nothing they do means anything. To quote author Steve Brown, that is ” from the pit of hell and smells like smoke.” When we begin to feel that we are failures who can’t do anything right, we are listening to the wrong voices. We are listening to lies direct from the father of lies.

I know what is is like to feel like you can’t do anything right. I know what it’s like to feel like a failure and wonder if the people in your life would be better off without you. I know what it is like to give up because, “it doesn’t matter anyway.” I have listened to those lies. Even now, some of those feelings rear their ugly heads from time to time. It’s not a good thing, and can harm us and those around us.

One of the things God has taught me over the years is the lesson that those of us who are followers of Jesus are beloved children of the Creator of the universe. We are not only children, but we also have the inheritance of a son. Everything Jesus has, we have in him. We are the dwelling place of God, his temple. Our Father has began a work in us, and he will finish that work in us. God works in everything in our lives for the good of those who love him, and he will conform us to Christ. Because of what Christ has done, we cannot be failures. God is working in us and that work will not fail. We have the word of the King on that!

Will we fail at things? Yes. Will we royally screw up sometimes? Of course! We must remember that making a mistake or failing at something is not necessarily sin. Sometimes it’s a lack of knowledge or  skill. Other factors may be involved. One thing it is not is a reflection of our character, of who we really are as a son or daughter of God. It does not change how the Father sees us, or how much he loves us.

When we do sin, it still doesn’t change who we are in Christ.  We shouldn’t beat ourselves over the head. We confess ( agree with God that it was wrong), turn away and continue to follow our Savior. As Martin Luther said, we are to sin boldly and trust God more boldly. We are to live our lives fearlessly free, not always looking around to see where we might stumble. Many of us were taught to always be worried about sinning, being careful to stay as far away from the cliff as possible. That leads to a performance based religion which caused us to try and get our identity from what we did and how well we did it. Thankfully, our Father doesn’t treat us that way. Our identity comes from God, who calls us his beloved. We don’t have to perform to please our Abba. As Scripture say, the righteous fall seven time and get up each time. I read that as saying we fall and keep on getting up, no matter how many times.

Take courage. Live life as one who is free, free to make mistakes, free to fail. In Christ there is no such thing as a failure. Who you really are is not based on how well or how badly you perform. Take risks! Be bold! Your Father’s got this.