This morning, I woke to the sound of thunder and it brought me back to one of my very first childhood memories.

It was nighttime and I was laying on a futon in my parent’s guest bedroom, watching lightening light up the sky during a torrential downpour. I remember being awed by the raw power of the storm, the blinding flashes of lightening followed by the deafening rumble of thunder. In a world that often felt safe and sanitized, it was uncontrollable, uncontainable power.

My mom was watching the storm with me and at some point, our conversation turned to God. She pointed to the lightening and told me, “God’s like that. He’s more powerful than you could ever imagine. You can’t control Him. Can’t contain Him. But you don’t need to be afraid of Him, because He loves you more than you could ever imagine.”

As I lay there watching the rain fall, my small understanding of God began to expand. He was far more than some genie in a bottle that I could call upon to make my wishes come true. He was the author of Creation, the one who spoke the world into existence and who holds it together by the power of His will. You can’t control someone like that. You can’t dictate what He does. And yet, as powerful as God is, He not only knows me but He loves me. That night, in the middle of a thunderstorm, I made the decision to call the God of the universe the LORD of my life. And that decision has shaped every day since.

Now, almost four decades later, I know a lot more than I did that night. I know about the natural dynamics that cause thunderstorms, and yet I’m still very much awed by the raw power on display. Similarly, I’ve learned a lot about the one who created me. And yet, the more I learn the more I’m awed that the one who spoke the world into existence would call me by name. And that no matter how much I misunderstand and misrepresent Him, He still loves me.

He feels the same way about you. You may never fully understand God and you certainly can’t dictate what He does. But He loves you more than you could ever comprehend.

 

GIVE GOD WHAT IS GOD’S

There’s this wonderful interaction between Jesus and some spies recorded in Luke 20. These spies have been sent by the religious power brokers to catch him saying something that could discredit him, either in the eyes of the people or the eyes of the law. So they ask him a question about a divisive issue of that day:

“Is it right to pay taxes to our Roman occupiers?”

The trap is pretty obvious. If He says yes, the Jewish people would be upset. If he says no, the Roman authorities would be upset. So which way will Jesus lean?

As he so often does, Jesus avoids the trap altogether and answers their question with a question of his own. Referring to a Roman coin he asks, “whose image is on it?”

“Caesar’s,” they reply.

“Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” (Luke‬ ‭20:25‬) ‭

Boom! The spies are astonished at his response and they realize they can’t trap him in anything he’s said. Jesus wins!

That’s usually as deep as my thinking goes, but Jesus’s response raises another question: if we are to give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s, then what is God’s? Whatever bears his image. Just as the coin bore Caesar’s image, we are to give back to God whatever bears His image. But what bears God’s image?

You do.

In the very first chapter of the Bible, we are told “God created mankind in his own image” (Genesis‬ ‭1:27‬). You and I bear the indelible fingerprints of the Creator. We were made by Him and for Him. This means that when it comes to giving God what is rightfully His, all He wants is us - every part of us, not just a small piece.

He’s not satisfied only being acknowledged for an hour on Sunday. He is with us in every moment of every day. He’s not content being invited into certain portions of our lives, the parts we deem spiritual. He wants access to every part of our lives, including how we invest our time and money, and how we work and play and rest.

You are an image bearer of God, a uniquely beautiful representation of His heart in this world. So give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.

Who's in Your Chariot?

When a Roman general won a great military victory, he was rewarded with a celebratory parade through the streets of Rome. This parade, called a Triumph, would start with the captives and spoils of war, followed by the general riding in a gold-encrusted chariot, then his troops following behind. It was a glorious celebration and the citizens of Rome would line the streets to witness the spectacle and shout the general’s name. But one unexpected detail of the Roman Triumph is that someone would always ride in the chariot with the general throughout the entire parade. This person would hold a victor’s crown above the general's head and whisper in his ear, “Remember, you are still mortal.”There is something profoundly beautiful about this picture. A person who stands beside another in their moment of triumph in order to both honor and humble them. We all need people like this in our lives. We desperately need people who can celebrate our victories while still being willing to speak the hard truths. People who care for us enough to build us up, even if that means calling us out when our ego is getting in the way. King Solomon, one of the wisest leaders to ever live, wrote, “wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses” (Proverbs 27:6). In other words, be wary of people who will affirm you to your face and mock you behind your back, but cherish those true friends who love you enough to say the hard truths to your face. To clarify, he’s not talking about people who just want to throw stones. The world is sadly full of critics who revel in tearing others down. Avoid them. But surround yourself with people who care for you enough to call you out when you’re being a jerk. Because while their words might sting, they are a testament to their love for you.So who is in your chariot? 

Dying to Live

Transition can be pretty painful. The weekly cadence of your life no longer fits and you’re left struggling to learn a new rhythm. In the solitude, your mind can wander down some dreary paths.    

Human beings are naturally resistant to change because it’s so uncomfortable. It requires us to step out of a place that is comfortably familiar and willingly walk into the unknown, a place which is often lonely and confusing. It also requires the death of one way of living so that we might learn to live another way. And while this process is both natural and necessary, it’s also incredibly scary. That place can feel awfully dark. 

And yet, if God has led you to this place, then you can be certain that there’s a reason. He isn’t in the habit of abandoning his flock. And He has this remarkable ability to work all things together for good. So if you find yourself in a dark and lonely place, don’t despair. Though this place may feel like the grave, it’s really the place of your rebirth. You haven’t been buried. You’ve been planted. 

“Listen carefully:  Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.” - JESUS
(John‬ ‭12‬:‭24‬-‭25‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

Finding Rest

 

Lately, my shepherd has been asking me to lie down and rest so that He can do some deep soul restoration. And yet, I’ve struggled to do this. I find myself resisting slowing down, resisting letting a day pass where I don’t do something productive. I like to chalk this up to my personality, but I suspect it’s something deeper.

No matter how green the pasture, a sheep won’t feel comfortable resting if it feels insecure or unsafe. Even if the sheep is laying down, fear and anxiety can keep it from experiencing true rest. It may have a full belly, but if the sheep is worried about where it’s next meal will come from, it won’t be able to relax. And the shepherd may say it’s safe, but if the sheep doesn’t trust the shepherd to protect it, it will still be fearful of what lurks in the shadows.

True rest requires deep trust in our shepherd. As long as we think we are the ones who protect and provide for ourselves, we will never be able to truly rest. We will always have to sleep with one eye open. But when we recognize that we’re under the care of a really good shepherd who loves us deeply and is perfectly capable of caring for our needs, we can finally go off duty and rest.

The fact is we have the best of Shepherds. We may not know where our next meal will come from, but He does. We may not know what lurks in the shadows, but He’s fully capable of protecting us. And we may not know where He’s leading us, but He does. He knows what lies ahead and what we need far better than we know it ourselves.

So I pray that you would exchange your fear for faith in the one who calls you His own. I pray your anxious worrying would give way to a restorative rest as you learn to trust your Shepherd and follow His lead, even when He tells you to lie down. And I pray the same for myself.

Ambassadors

 

With the World Cup in full swing, one of the more compelling stories off the field has been the actions of the Japanese fans. Typically, when fans come into the conversation, it’s for their disrespectful or destructive antics. But following their team’s upset victory over Germany, the Japanese fans didn’t go trash the city. Instead, they took up trash bags and began cleaning up after themselves. And this isn’t an activity they do just when they win. They did the same thing back in 2018 right after their team lost to Belgium and was ejected from the World Cup tournament. 

What’s remarkable is that these fans have become just as important ambassadors for their home country as the team they came to cheer on, and by their actions they’re winning respect around the world. 

It makes me think about our role as citizens of the Kingdom of God. While we often look to the big named players on the biggest stages to be our ambassadors, the truth is every single person that calls Jesus Lord is an ambassador of our king. And how we choose to live, how we choose to react in both success and failure, shapes the way other people perceive the one we represent. Far too often we’ve been known for our bad behavior, for our pettiness, arrogance and self-centeredness. Sadly, our actions have often misrepresented the heart of the one we represent and have caused others to run from him rather than to him. 

We can all learn from the example set by these Japanese soccer fans. You are never too insignificant to make a difference and the world is always watching. But the way we will truly represent the heart of the one we call Lord isn’t by declaring our superiority, but by taking the posture of a servant. After all, Jesus did say that the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven would be the servant of all.

What Are You Reflecting?

You were created for a purpose - to reflect your Creator’s heart into the world.

But reflecting God’s heart doesn’t happen automatically. You will end up reflecting whatever you focus on. If you focus on money, you will become greedy. If you focus on sensuality, you will become lustful. If you focus on success, you will become prideful. This is why Jesus warns us that we can only serve one master, and whatever we choose to serve will end up shaping us in its image. So give careful thought to what you fix your heart upon, because that’s what you’re going to end up reflecting to the world around you.