Virtual Following

Bill Gates, yes the real Bill Gates, joined Twitter January 19.

Are you interested to know what Bill thinks or what Bill is doing throughout the day? If so you’re not alone. On the first day of Bill tweeting he was picking up 1,000 followers a minute!

Though the pace cooled off later to 100 new followers a minute it certainly can be called a watershed moment in microblogging.

After several imposters appearing in the blogosphere in recent years now the real @billgates can be followed.

All of this “following” makes me a bit nervous. Following is being redefined right before our eyes.

Virtual following is really a type of voyeurism. By that I’m meaning the definition of “an obsessive observer of sensational subjects.”

I’m on twitter and facebook and some other social networks and enjoy some of the interaction so I’m not trying to kill everyone’s fun.

The point is that when Jesus says to a potential disciple, “Follow Me”, He’s not inviting you to merely observe or watch. Jesus invites us to “do life” with Him.

You don’t watch Jesus go to dangerous places and engage in risky relationships. You go and do likewise, with Him.

You don’t watch Jesus care for the needy or oppressed. You give care also.

Following Jesus involves more than reading a few lines or tapping a few keystrokes. Following Jesus is a plunge of your whole life, not your screen life or username, into ventures that literally hurt and damage your life. Like Jesus, you become “poor” so that others know His “riches”.

Are you a follower of Jesus?

Sunday Night Musings

It’s Sunday night and as usual I’m reflecting on the events and conversations from the morning. After an inspiring baptism of a friend who is already having an exciting faith adventure with Christ, I had the opportunity to pray for a young family who exemplify faith regarding their newborn and multiple heart surgeries to come.

Then there was the sermon. For those who have never delivered a sermon, it is a remarkable experience. After 35 years of preaching I still marvel that God lets me do it. The process of praying and studying continues to change my life. And, the actual time of speaking is almost always a dynamic time of God stirring and editing in my mind and heart.

So, how did it go today? I never really know but I did come across a helpful list that gives a clue when the sermon is in trouble.

7. The worship band begins playing you off the stage
6. The congregation is filling in the blanks of your outline before you get there.
5. When you pause for dramatic effect several people giggle.
4. Your cell phone starts ringing and you answer it.
3. When the children are dismissed to junior church, most of the parents go too.
2. Desperate mothers are pinching their babies.
1. The ushers are handing out refunds.

Brit Hume: A lesson in Perseverance

Some of my readers predicted that more would be made of Brit Hume making a comment about the advisability of Tiger Woods following the Christian faith than would be made of the truthfulness of the comment. Right you were.

In the embedded video Bill O’Reilly interviews Brit Hume about the controversy that erupted in the 24 hours following his comments (if you’re viewing this through a reader you may want to click through to my site in order to see the video).

Though some of the backlash has been hot and personal Hume has not backed down from his assertion that the Christian faith has a lot to offer when it comes to forgiveness of sin and redemption. There is something to be learned from Hume’s example of perseverance.

Note that Hume did not get defensive in response to being attacked. Neither was Hume apologetic for making remarks based upon his convictions. He clarified that he was not denigrating Buddhism. Hume did not soften or withdraw his opinion but merely reiterated by way of his personal experience how powerful the Christian faith had worked in his own life.

In a free society that also values tolerance it seems to me that Brit Hume was a glowing example of how to give free expression of faith without being obnoxious, denigrating or disrespectful.

What do you think?

Brit Hume: A lesson in Authenticity

(If viewing this through a reader you may need to click through to my site to see video)
Imagine being on national television with millions watching. Imagine sitting on a panel with national journalists discussing various items of national interest and importance. I’m already intimidated, what about you?

Now imagine that the topic of conversation turns to Tiger Woods. How can Tiger ever recover from the disclosure of his sins? He’s lost his family. He’s lost his reputation. It remains to be seen if he can recover his golf game and compete at a high level again.

To this Brit Hume says, “Tiger’s recovery is dependent upon his faith. He claims to be a Buddhist which I don’t think offers him the forgiveness and redemption that the Christian faith offers. My advice would be that he turn to the Christian faith.”

As a Christ follower I am in complete agreement with Hume but the thing that struck me is how authentic Hume was in offering the opinion and advice. In a day when most are very careful in what they say and how they say it Hume clearly articulated what he saw to be Tiger’s best hope for recovery.

This week we may not be in settings that feature national commentators and large audiences but we will be with those that just as desperately need the forgiveness and redemption that Tiger needs. Will we be able to say so and be authentic?

Urban Meyer: a lesson in prioritization

The sports world has been abuzz in recent days over the announcement by Florida Gator coach Urban Meyer that he would be resigning from leading one of the most successful college football programs in America. After the SEC championship game against Alabama Meyer had chest pains, lost consciousness and ended up in the hospital. Now Meyer, age 45, has decided that he is going to step down from the high profile program where he won two national championships.

Almost all of the media coverage reported Meyer’s comments about his heart and his decision to step down for medical reasons. Pete Thamel of the New York Times also pointed out that Meyer’s decision may have been based upon his “spiritual heart” condition as much as his physical heart.

Meyer commented that the hospital trip prompted days of soul searching that ended on Christmas night. When he told his family that he was going to step down from coaching Florida, Meyer’s 18 year old daughter, Nicki, hugged him and said, “I get my daddy back.”

Meyer said of his daughter’s reaction, “I saw it as a sign from God that this was the right thing to do.”

Meyer was known for being relentless in his work, both on and off the field. He said he found himself emailing recruits during church and that his 16 year old daughter told him that she had not felt as if she had talked to him in the past 2 years. In the 10-day period around the game with Alabama Meyer revealed that he lost 20 pounds.

Meyer said, “I have a strong faith that there is a reason for everything, and God has a plan for us. I just don’t know what it is.” Meyer continued, “I felt like God was telling me that I have to slow down and stop it.”

I agree that there is a reason for everything and that God has a plan for Meyer. I believe that to be true for you and me.

God used chest pains to get Meyer’s attention about the true “heart” of life. Does God have your attention? Meyer is making radical changes and prioritizing life as he senses that God is directing. Are you making changes and prioritizing as God directs?

Meyer’s story being so public has served all of us to remind us of the need for prioritization of the one and only life God has given us. I’m personally reflecting on what God is stirring in me that needs change.

Checklist for the New Year

Donald Whitney has posted a helpful checklist for the New Year. May I suggest that you copy and paste this list, print on a page and devotionally and prayerfully make your way through the questions and ask God to speak into your heart about the matter. Take a moment to write down your impressions.

Make commitments to God (not resolutions) regarding your written items. Place the list in your Bible or prayer journal and regularly pull it out and pray. Ask God for power and grace to fulfil the commitments.

1. What's one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

2. What's the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

3. What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?

4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year and what will you do about?

5. What is the single-biggest time waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?

7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

8. What's the most important way you will, by God's grace, try to make this year different from last year?

9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?

10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

I pray God's blessings upon you as you work through this list with God.

Tiger Woods: A lesson on the 10 Commandments

Perhaps you’ve heard more about Tiger Woods’ recent “transgressions” (Tiger’s word) than you care to know. The way the media is pursuing the story the assumption seems to be that the world wants to know more.

A strange car accident in his own driveway at a ridiculous hour (2:30 a.m.) in which Tiger drops in and out of consciousness so that he is transported to the hospital. Add to that the sudden revelations of multiple adulterous experiences with multiple women and thus commentary, opinion and poor humor about marriage, infidelity and reputation have exploded upon the American conversation.

Transgression is an accurate word for Tiger. To transgress is to step over a boundary. Tiger commented that he stepped over the boundary of his personal and family commitments and values. Did his boundary come from his private assessment of right and wrong in life? Did his boundary come from the teachings of his parents? Was the boundary established by Elin his wife?

As a follower of Christ my life boundaries are established by God and articulated in His writings in the Bible. Those familiar with the 10 Commandments would identify #7 as the boundary that Tiger transgressed, “You shall not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14)

True, but also incomplete. When one reflects on all of the commandments you see that every commandment actually flows out of the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)

Every time we transgress we not only step over a boundary that God has established but we have also placed another “god” before the Lord God, namely ourselves. We’ve chosen what we want rather than what God commands and have thereby placed ourselves above God.

It remains to be seen how or if Tiger will be able to clear up his transgressions with Elin. I wonder if it is on Tiger’s radar that transgressions have also been committed against God and repairing (or establishing) that relationship is of supreme importance.

I have no condemnation for Tiger. I’m a sinner also. I am reflecting on Tiger’s transgressions as a means to guard my own heart and to maintain my relationship with the Lord.

Giving Thanks

I am blessed…
I get to know God, hear His voice, feel His touch, exercise His power, and extend His grace

I've been given a counseling gift and regularly get to walk with others and Jesus through the valley of the shadow of death

I've been given a teaching gift and get to investigate the truth of God with the best hours of any week and then share God's eternal word with others

I've been given a leadership gift and have been blessed with capacities to see vision and hear divine promptings and invest in others to move forward in the cause of Christ and His Kingdom

I've been given a community of men and women who love me and embrace me and give me freedom to be who I am and not some platform personality

I've been given two sons who love me and embrace me and who have soft hearts toward God

I've been given a wife who embraces me, forgives me, believes in me and blesses me to pursue God's directives for my life

I'm blessed to live in an area of great need so that God regularly engages my life as part of His provision for others

I'm blessed to live in a time of history where exponential and rapid change constantly explodes around me and God has given me grace to grow, become, learn and adapt

Thank You Jesus, the Giver of all good gifts.

Are You Able to be Embraced by God?

For years I’ve benefited from the writings of Henri Nouwen. The Return of the Prodigal Son had a significant impact upon me years ago. It is a reflection Nouwen wrote from his viewing of Rembrandt’s painting of The Prodigal which of course is based upon Jesus’ story in Luke 15.

Recently my wife bought for me a print of Rembrandt’s masterpiece which hangs in my office. As I stare and reflect upon a father embracing his wayward but repentant and returning son I’m struck by the strong but tender grace of the father.

I recently re-read Nouwen’s reflections and was gripped by this thought—

Surrounding the father and prodigal son are four somewhat shadowy figures. They are close to the father. They can hear the father's words to his son. They can see the father’s embrace and acceptance of his son. But they are not themselves touched and embraced by the father.

This is so often my story. I’m close to God, speak with God, hear from God, see the activities of God, but often long to be held and embraced by God. Yet I find that I often choose to stay at some distance. I sense that God wants to embrace my life but there remains some broken “thing” in me that hinders what I truly long for and need.

Are you able to be embraced by God? Let us receive His grace to draw near and be with Him intimately.

Tim Tebow: Creative, Consistent and Prepared

Tim Tebow is the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback of the Florida Gators. He is the son of missionaries and he’s an outspoken advocate of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Having led Florida to two national championships in three years and having won most of the awards that college football can bestow, Tebow considers all the success but a platform that God has given him so that he can tell others about the good news regarding Jesus.

In last year’s championship game Tebow inscribed the most known Bible verse, John 3:16, on the black under-eye marking that most quarterbacks wear, in order to draw attention to God’s saving work in Christ. Remarkably Google registered over 94 million hits on that verse following the game. Guess it wasn’t that well known but it illustrates the creativity of Tebow to get his message out.

Recently Sports Illustrated featured Tebow and reported about the work that he has done in ministry not only in other countries but especially in the prisons across Florida. These stories are not exceptional for Tebow but rather the consistent carrying out of his life mission across the years.

The Orlando Sentinel covered a recent press conference where Tebow was asked if he was saving himself for marriage. Apparently Tebow knew that question would be asked some day so without hesitation he answered yes. The reporter was so stunned by the quick and decisive response that he began stuttering in attempting his follow up question. Tebow laughed that he was prepared for the question but apparently the media was not prepared for his answer.

Tim Tebow is young, talented, winsome and especially clear about who he is and where he is going. Football is not his life. Fame is not his essence. Jesus Christ is Tebow’s Lord and therefore Tebow rightly orders his life around the call of God.

I enjoy watching Tebow play football and I marvel at how well he handles being a celebrity. I pray for God’s continued favor and might upon Tebow’s life and that many would find and follow Christ because of Tim’s witness.

God Is On the Move

Those of us that live in the US often forget that we’re not the epicenter of God’s activity in the world. In fact according to recent research I found at Challies.com it is now the case that Christianity is no longer primarily found in the global north and west but rather in the global south and east.

In the newly released book, “The New Shape of World Christianity” by Mark Noll, he points out that as our nation collectively turns its back on God, God begins fresh work in other parts of the world. Consider the following from Noll’s research—

1. This past Sunday it is possible that more Christian believers attended church in China than in all of so-called "Christian Europe." Yet in 1970 there were no legally functioning churches in all of China; only in 1971 did the communist regime allow for one Protestant and one Roman Catholic Church to hold public worship services, and this was mostly a concession to visiting Europeans and African students from Tanzania and Zambia.

2. This past Sunday more Anglicans attended church in each of Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda than did Anglicans in Britain and Canada and Episcopalians in the United States combined--and the number of Anglicans in church in Nigeria was several times the number in those other African countries.

3. This past Sunday more Presbyterians were at church in Ghana than in Scotland, and more were in congregations of the Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa than in the United States.

4. The past Sunday more people attended the Yoido Full Gospel Church pastored by Yongi Cho is Seoul, Korea, than attended all the churches in significant American denominations like the Christian Reformed Church, the Evangelical Covenant Church or the Presbyterian Church in America.

5. This past Sunday the churches with the largest attendance in England and France had mostly black congregations. About half of the churchgoers in London were African or African-Caribbean. Today, the largest Christian congregation in Europe is in Kiev, and it is pastored by a Nigerian of Pentecostal background.

6. This past week in Great Britain, at least fifteen thousand Christian foreign missionaries were hard at work evangelizing the locals. Most of these missionaries are from Africa and Asia.

7. For several years the world's largest chapter of the Jesuit order has been found in India, not in the United States, as it had been for much of the late twentieth century.

These observations are cause for celebration as God draws the nations to Himself and cause for concern as the US continues to drift from our moorings.

Writing My "Last Letter"

A few days ago I was asked to write my “last letter”. Last letter is a movement that is calling for a revolutionary lifestyle inspired by individuals willing to offer every breath to fulfill the passionate call of Christ.

The movement has the gall to ask, “What are you willing to die for?”

Historically it is an ancient tradition of soldiers and missionaries who as they board a ship, write their family and friends a letter that they think might be their final communication! The resurrection of this ancient tradition is to inspire a new generation to think and pray through the reason for their life—and possibly the sacrifice of their life for a cause greater than themselves.

A few of us that have given our life to Christ in ministry and mission were asked to write our “last letter” with the idea that it might stir or inspire others. I have no idea if my letter will ever mean anything to anyone but I know it meant a lot to me.

The moment I sat at my keyboard and began thinking about what to say, all that was in me was stirred. It was powerful to be reminded about the millions of choices I have made over the past 35 years in order to continue to give my life away. And, it was deeply satisfying to know with all my heart that if I had it to do over again I would without hesitation.

If you had 5 minutes in which to write a final word to those you love, what would you say about how you chose to live your life?

The Church, Concentration and Relevance

The past month I’ve been teaching on Sundays the Doctrine of the Church. (Click here for audio links). In my reading and reflections I’ve come across a great deal of commentary from those disgruntled with the church and have chosen to leave the church.

There are a lot of reasons for church leaving but one of the common themes has something to do with “church is boring and irrelevant”.

Ted Kluck responds to that cry in his book, “Why We Love the Church”. Ted points out…

“Relevance isn’t a posture you affect that has more to do with lights, music, candles, mystery, or space than with the gospel. Church, to us, should be as relevant as the gym is to the boxer…We wouldn’t go into a fight without training.

A few summers ago I trained as a boxer, mostly so that I could experience what the fighters experienced who I interviewed for my first book, Facing Tyson. I had never concentrated harder in my life than when I was in the ring, alone, with another guy who wanted nothing more than to knock me unconscious…

Church is boring because we neuter it of its importance.” (p. 104)

When church is a place of training my life for fighting evil, the evil one and the sin within me I also find it takes concentration and whole-hearted engagement. If it is not that important to my daily battles then it does become boring.

I suggest the question is not, “Is my church relevant?” but rather, “Is my life fighting the good fight?” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)