One Step at a Time

You have all heard the story. You have seen the picture. A strong, lean man dressed in an ordinary tunic is carrying a sheep on his shoulders. The flock is still some distance away. There may be some suggestion of danger lurking in the background; but, overall, you feel glad that disaster has been avoided and reunion is imminent.

Have you ever wondered how one sheep could wander off from the other ninety-nine? There have been quite a few times when I have become separated from my family at the mall or a theme park. Just a few of them. Lots of other people moving between us. Unfamiliar territory. But how do you get separated from such a big crowd in open country?

If you have asked that question, you probably got this answer: “One bite at a time.” That is the way it happens with sheep. They are pretty focused on first one clump of grass and then the next. The shepherd may lead them to the pasture; but once they are there, each sheep becomes intent on satisfying his or her appetite. When you are guided by your appetite, it is not unusual to lose your way. 

Your Invitation

Banquets present so many options they can feel more like work than a party. At the same time, it is not that unusual to feel trapped in an uncomfortable situation when you accept an invitation. You are never sure who else will be there, what will be on the menu, how long you will be expected to stay, or whether you are going to be asked to do something that you really don’t want to do.

Then there is often the dilemma of figuring out where to sit. Do you sit near the front where you see what is happening on the stage? Do you sit near the buffet line so you can slip back for seconds if you’re still hungry? Do you sit near the door so you can slip out if things get boring? Do you sit with the folks you know (but don’t really like) or do you take a chance and sit with strangers hoping to make some profitable contacts?

Other times you may not have much choice about where you sit. Your host has assigned the seating before you arrived. Then you are faced with the task of finding your place. There may be a chart you can check; otherwise, you find yourself with the awkward chore of wandering through the tables until you locate your designated seat for the evening.

With so many potentially uncomfortable situations it is not that difficult to understand why receiving an invitation to a banquet is marked with ambivalence. Is this going to be a great party or another wasted evening? Am I going to remember this event fondly for years or regret it for a lifetime?

I can’t tell you how to respond to every invitation, but there is one you can be certain will bless you every time. That is the invitation to join the Lord at his table. You may not feel like you have been blessed every time; but when you come to the Lord’s table, when you eat the bread and drink the wine; Christ gives you himself, the Holy Spirit gives you power, God gives you purpose and a mission.

“Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him.”

Come! 

Growing in Grace

Some days it is a challenge to do something that helps me become more like Christ. To do the things he would do. To say the words he would say. To love the way he would love. Let me confess, most days I find it impossible—in my own strength—to do anything that helps me become more like Christ.

When Wesley called people to pursue perfection or holiness or entire sanctification, he knew that he was calling them to something they could not accomplish on their own. Nevertheless, his deep conviction of the love of God helped him see that God provides resources for those who have faith in Jesus. These resources Wesley called the “means of grace.”

The means of grace are those spiritual disciplines that are described in Scripture and which have been practiced by people of faith for thousands of years. Wesley summarized them as “works of mercy” and “works of piety.” The “works of mercy” are doing no harm, avoiding evil, and doing all the good one can. Today these “works of mercy” are sometimes referred to as the “General Rules,” and may be described as acts of compassion and acts of justice. The “works of piety” include private and family prayer, searching the Scriptures, The Lord's Supper, the public worship of God, Christian conference, and fasting or abstinence.

Wesley believed "first, the Christian life is most fundamentally lived as a response to God's love for us. To know God truly is to experience that love. Second, our love for God and our neighbor are core affections, emotions, or tempers which govern the Christian life." The means of grace are the means to living out this love. As they are faithfully practiced, the relationships of love for God and for neighbor are nurtured.

The means of grace draw us out of ourselves and into the world as channels of God's love. They form us, by grace, into the image and likeness of Christ. They draw us closer to one another in love. As we are drawn closer to one another, we are drawn closer to Christ and become more like him.

That's the way the world is transformed!

Made Whole

Holy. Most people know right away that when you use the word you are going to say something about God; and if not God, then something that has to do with God—the Holy Bible or the Holy Spirit. They have no reservations about singing hymns that proclaim God’s holiness. They will gladly repeat prayers that acknowledge God’s holiness. Some of these same people bristle when you remind them “the Scriptures say, ‘You must be holy because I am holy’”(1 Peter 1:16).

Some of the resistance people have to the call to “be holy” may be attributed to their experiences with people who claimed the concept, but whose actions fell far short of resembling or honoring God. There are few ways they would want someone else to describe them that would rank below “holier than thou.” Besides all that, it seems such an impossible, unreachable, challenging goal. “. . . and doesn’t God love me just the way I am?”

The origin of the word “holy” goes back to the Middle English word “whole.” How would it change your response to the call to be “holy” if you heard it as an invitation to be “whole”?

When something is “whole” it is free of wound or injury—unhurt. It is free of defect or impairment—intact. With so many reminders of your brokenness, you might feel excluded right away; but “whole” also means recovered from a wound or injury—restored.

“Whole” is used to describe someone who is physically sound and healthy—free of disease or deformity; as well as someone who is mentally or emotionally sound. For all those people who feel like something is missing in their lives, “whole” means having all its proper parts or components—complete.

Here’s the good news: “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes” (Ephesians 1:4). It is another sign of God’s grace. The One who saved us is working to restore us and make us whole.

Working behind the Scenes

It’s opening night. As you approach the front of the theater you can sense the excitement in the air. Everyone seems to be eager to get in the building and find their seats.

You hand your ticket to the person at the door. You were more than slightly surprised that your friend wanted you to be here tonight. It feels like months since he’s had time for you—almost like he dropped off the face of the earth.

You take back the stub. Someone hands you a program. One of the ushers points you in the right direction. You find your row and then edge your way past the people already in their seats until you find yours.

You flip through the program nervously, looking up every once in a while to see if there is anyone else there who you know. They are mostly strangers. It really is a quite diverse group.

The program has a message from the director. You try to read it, but you are too distracted by everything else going on to really understand what you are reading. A few pages over you find a picture of your friend and a little bit of information about him that you find much easier to comprehend.

Before you can read much more, the lights begin to dim, the curtain rises, and the show has begun. The action captures your attention from the beginning. People moving back and forth, on and off the stage, with such purpose and action. It seems so natural and, at the same time, so carefully choreographed.

Your friend comes on stage. You recognize him immediately; but as the character he portrays moves about the stage and interacts with the other actors, you begin to wonder if it is really him. Indeed, you realize that the drama unfolding onstage has become its own reality. You have been transported to a different time and place—all without leaving seat L-31.

Suddenly a question springs to mind: How much time and effort went into making this evening possible? Weeks, months, years? So many elements brought together to make this possible—a show that will only be performed a few nights.

That leads to an even deeper question: What about my life? Who is working behind the scenes to make my life what it is—preventing me from tragedy and preparing me for blessing?

In that moment you realize it is impossible to step outside God’s gracious reach. Indeed, God is always actively engaged in leading you, blessing you, loving you, flooding your life with his grace.

Learning along the Way

When he was 10, Jimi Ray's dad brought home two things that would change his life: a very cheap acoustic guitar and a recording of John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High.” He would listen to that record and play his guitar until he eventually realized he could sing. He started playing and singing in public, but mostly at church.

In 1987, fresh out of college, Jimi decided to make his love of music his profession and livelihood. Along with a friend he formed an acoustic-rock band that would later be named Age of Faith. They spent many nights in church basements playing for small youth groups.

That was where I met Jimi—in a church fellowship hall when he was playing for our youth group. The band had just signed with the Benson Music Group. Jimi told me about the conversation he had with the Benson executive who had signed them. The question that had sealed the deal was, “How many times have you performed in public?” When Jimi answered, “Well, last year we did over 100 concerts,” the executive could hardly keep from falling over himself.

Most of the bands who sent this executive demo tapes had never performed in front of a live audience. They might sound great in the garage, but the big question was always how they would handle themselves when something went wrong during an actual performance. Guitar strings break. Microphones, speakers, and amplifiers fail. Sometimes you just don’t feel like singing. Would they have the ability make sure “the show goes on?” This executive knew that if Jimi and his friend had done over 100 concerts—and had dozens more already scheduled—they had the experience they needed to succeed.

Through the next 13 years AOF would go through several member changes, but would remain constant as a touring, recording and working band. The band recorded 5 nationally released projects garnering positive revues from critics. They shared the stage with some of the biggest names at the time in Christian music, like Geoff Moore, Newsboys, DC Talk, and Third Day. AOF played nearly 150 concerts a year, in nearly all 50 states and parts of Canada until the band parted ways in late 2000.

That’s when his life derailed dramatically. He has written about his struggles over the next six years in a book due to be released early next year. “There were many days when I wondered if God had turned his back, when in reality I was the one turning. God was there all the time. The amazing love, mercy, and redemption shown to me was unbelievable. I pray others who now walk in the shoes I walked in will realize the same thing.”

What you learn along the way can make all the difference in whether you succeed or fail. May you learn those things that bring life. 

The Standard Text

Since the first edition came off of Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press nearly seven billion Bibles have been printed. “The Bible is the best-selling book of the year, every year,” according to The New Yorker Magazine with estimated annual sales of around 25 million copies.

According to Guinness the whole Bible had been translated into 349 languages; 2123 languages have at least one book of the Bible in that language, which means that at least some of the Bible is available in the languages spoken by over 90 percent of the human family.

If you travel in the United States, you are likely to find a copy of the Bible in your hotel room—placed there by Gideons International; but, as their name suggests, they are working around the world. Since 1908 “Gideons have placed or distributed more than 1.7 billion complete Bibles and New Testaments in more than 190 countries around the world . . . so far.”

Not so long ago it was common to find a copy of the family Bible on the coffee table in the living room of many homes. While it may not be displayed as prominently these days, there are not many homes in the U.S. that don’t have at least one copy—even if it’s just one of those they took from the hotel on their last vacation.

Many people carry a copy of the Bible with them every day. Others make sure they have their copy with them when they head to church on Sunday. If they happen to forget their personal copy, they can usually find a stack of Bibles somewhere in their classroom and nearly always count on finding one next to the hymnal in the pew racks.

With all these copies of the Bible available, you might be surprised to learn that more than 60 percent of Americans can't name either half of the Ten Commandments or the four Gospels of the New Testament. When the Barna Group conducted a survey to explore biblical literacy a few years ago, they found “none of the four generations were particularly likely to say they aspired to read the Bible more as a means of improving their spiritual lives.”

John Wesley would be very sad to learn this. He proclaimed the centrality of scripture for doctrine and for holy living. It was the basic authority for the Christian life. Where its truths are clear there was no alternative but obedience if one desired to be a faithful Christian. The way to learn its truths is to read it—not just own it.