Myself
Enough about you, let me tell you a bit about myself! I like attention. I like to be in charge. I like people to praise me for my skills and accomplishments. I dont like to take crap from anyone! And I dont need anyone, other than to compliment me! I am extremely smart, smarter than most of the human population. I am handsome and any woman would be blessed to have me! I understand God better than most theologians.
I can see it now, some of you are thinking,”Thats not Buck, he’s not that way at all!”. Others are saying, “You nailed it! Thats him to a tee!”. Still others are saying, “I think some of those things are true and others are not!”
The truth is, that list is me! Those are some of the things I struggle with and have struggled with much of my life. They are some of the things that hinder my relationship with people and with God.
But on the flip side I also don’t like the spotlight. I like to remain annonymous and go unnoticed. I am very happy just following and serving. I like to praise people for their talent and accomplishments and often feel embarrassed when I get noticed and complimented. I need people. My life is vacant and lonely without human interaction and touch! I strugle with comprehension and often feel very lacking in my knowledge of life, the world and its wonderful Creator. I am not a very attractive man, and I would be blessed for the attention of woman. Understanding of the ways of God often elude me and require much thought and processing to lay hold of the simplist of truths.
You see that description is me as well. I often feel like I am struggling with two “Bucks”. That can be a real challenge for me, and for anyone who is connected to me. I think at times I am crazy, but then I find that I am not alone. In Romans 7:21-24 Paul says ” . . . Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am!”
Now I know many of you, and the truth is, we all struggle. And that can be a hard thing when we live in relationships. Not only in couple relationships, but even in friendships and acquaintences. We all desire to do good, but often don’t! For me personally one of the things that helps me is to keep in mind what Paul said in the book of Phillipians 2:5-11
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Now let that soak in just a moment . . .In our relationships we are to become the servant! Now I want to deviate just a second here. There are some that teach that this means dying to yourself. And to a point I would agree. But that death only happened once. You see when we came to the knowledge of Christ and acceptance of Him and began the life persuit, the Bible says “Old things are passed away and all things become new” Thats it right there. We died! That very moment we were reborn! Just as Christ died once for all, our death was a one time event! Baptism signifies that!
Funeral’s are sad depressing events! Most of us walk around like that in our lives. Like we are at a daily funeral. Mourning the loss of ourselves. That can be a big hindrance in our relationships. You see it becomes hard to balance the concept of “life and life abundantly” with death and dieing. They are polor opposites. Yet we often live in death durges and wonder why our spiritual lives are so sickly and wretched.
So today, if you are a follower of Christ, you died that day. For me it was September 14th, 28 years ago. I died that day. But I was born that day as well! Celebrate your life, not your death. Live! Live in your relationships. Serve each other with joy and gladness.
Paul wraps up Romans 7 and into chapter 8 with this: ” Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ”
FREEDOM – embrace it and live it and share it together!
Had to share
Sitting at the airport, looking through the blog of a fellow seeker and just had to share this:>
Christmas Journey
As we head into celebrating Christmas, the day celebrated by Christian’s as the birth of Christ, I thought I would post a few thoughts about Him.
Jesus never spoke of salvation as a recitation of a prayer. Thats right I said it! Now if you are like me and grew up in the Bible belt of the south, you heard it every week and probably still do! You need to pray the sinners prayer. No dont misunderstand me. I prayed that prayer at 14 and my life was forever changed. And many of you who prayed that prayer also can attribute a changing point in your life to that time. But it wasnt the prayer! It was the decision. The decision to believe! Believe that God is real! The decision to follow God! No matter where that might take you in life, to follow. The decision to allow Jesus to be Lord of your life. Yes, not just believe and follow, but to follow whole heartedly giving it all to Him. You see it was not just an event, but it was an event and a process.
A process! Belief and action! A journey in pursuit of God, as experienced through the mercy and grace of Jesus! And just like visiting your relatives on the holidays, we have to remember that any journey is riddled with great wonders and deep conflict and occaisional tragedy. Yes, you know what I mean. Those uncomfortable moments where uncle so and so said something and everyones eyes got as big as silver dollars or that grandpa pissed off your mom!
Somehow we have allowed the concept of being a Christian to morf into something entirely un-Christian. We have moments where we sense a deep presence of God and exclaim “God showed up today!” and other moments where we find ourselves in so dark a hole that we cry “Why have You forsaken me!”. Yet strangely, I recall that my Sunday School teacher said God is everywhere, all the time. Hmmmm. if that is so, how can He just show up, or how can He abandon me? No, perhaps it is more that at times ,I welcome and recognize Him who is always there and at times I totally ignore Him, even though He is sitting right across from me here at Starbucks today.
We love the sermons that teach prosperity, peace, love and joy, but Jesus didnt describe it that way. He said the journey is hard and full of sacrifice, their is a cost to following. In Luke 9:57-62 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
The one about the plough really gets me. I grew up in rural East Texas and for several years lived with my grandparents. And I remember Jack, my grandfather’s mule. Yes, grandpa plowed up 1/2 acre every year for a garden. He had an old mule named Jack. I would sit and watch as he hooked Jack up to his plow and all day he would drive jack back and forth across the garden, breaking up the soil, hitting rocks and large hard lumps of dirt. I was always amazed at how grandpa kept Jack on task. That crazy mule would try to veer left or right and would have, but it was important that grandpa keeps looking forward, because jack really didnt seem to have a good sense of what was straight. If grandpa let him alone he would stray all over, no grandpa had to hold the plow and reighs and work straight on. Thats kinda what I think of when I see that scripture.
No it is not an easy journey. Jesus described it as being born again. I remember as each of my children was born, that process was not easy. I remember watching as Sandy gave birth, the pain, agony, and joy and wonder all at the same time. That is what I think Jesus had in mind. It is not easy. It is not all smiles and hey brother! No their are moments when the path is clear and paved and times when it is overgrown, thorney and flat out full of ravines.
So as you head into this holiday season, consider this: did you simply pray and prayer, or did you embark on a journey? A journey that will consume the entirity of your life. O, sure sometimes you might stumble off the path, or get run over, but thats part of journey. If you are well on the path, WAY TO GO! But if you are strugling and feel lost. Stop. Look deeply, He is right there! Perhaps you need to refocus, line back up! Or perhaps you prayed a prayer, but never embarked on the journey. If so I pray that the holidays are a time you do that!
God bless you on your journey.
It takes two!
Purpose! Think about that for just a moment, what is your purpose? Why did God create you and put you on this planet? I thinnk the book of Genesis starts the answer to that question . . .
Gen 1:26 – 29 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
We were created to rule over His creation, in His image! Have you ever just thought about that? A few years back their was a great popularity in the WWJD bracelets, bumper sticker and such, What Would Jesus Do? I think the concept of God’s image should help direct our actions. How would God do it? Our first purpose in creation was to rule over all that God created, we were in all points and purposes created to be the ruler, or king, if you like of his creation.
Funny, we in america, and most of the world today really fail to truly comprehend the duties of a king or ruler. We like the concepts of the power and priveledges, but often fail short in the role of protector and defender of the relm! You see that is part of ruling is protection, protecting all of His creation!
But wait there is more . . .
Gen 15 – 25 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Wow! So their he is, Adam! Sitting in God’s garden, filling the role of ruler. But God sees something that is just not quite right. Adam is alone! God says, man should not be alone so. . .
God brings in every creature He created and I can just imagine the smile on His face as Adam looks at what God has so wonderfully crafted and then Adam says, “I’ll call that a Giraffe!”. The thought of that day makes me smile. And as God and Adam go through the long line of creature, none of them appear suitable to help in the task of ruling over the creation. So God puts man asleep, and then borrows from His creation a rib, part of man and then delicately crafts woman, the crowning jewel and final act of His creation. And then God brings her before Adam and he sees her.
Imagine how he must have felt. After seeing all that God had created then to lays his eyes upon her, Eve! Adam, says I will call her woman, for she was taken from part of me! When the two of us are together we are complete, we are one! I love what the scriptures say next, their they stood and they felt no shame! What a wonderful place that must be! It has been a long time since I felt that way (but that is fodder for another post someday!)
So there it is. God’s created man, to rule over His creation. He created woman, by taking part from man, to be a helper to man as they rule creation together. The two being one! Now they can, as it says in verse 28, be fruitful and multiply.
Our purpose . . Rule His creation, with a proper view of ruling and be fruitful and multiply and do all of it with the helper, or co-laborer He has given us . . . wonderful, beautiful, woman!
