Searching for Meaning and Purpose...

Back to my personal issues: cleaning out the youth center apartment. With 7 people crammed in such a small space, a lot of dust/small parts/junk accrues under furniture! Not only that, but all the dings, etc. have to be repaired, cleaned, and painted. As I look at all the things we need to do, it amazes me that we only lived in there three years! With all the cleaning, repair, and painting I need to do it looks more like 30... But, I realized we are often the same way: we allow a lot to accumulate over the years in our spiritual lives so that instead of being free to follow Jesus, we're stuck in all the dirt, grime, dings, dents, and other speedbumps that are in the path. The worst part is, most of them are little things that we thought wouldn't add up! The lie you told someone once, the swimsuit issue you only look at once a year, the extra food we eat because we're "hungry," the way you treated that random driver who cut you off, the way you ignored that ...

Do you ever feel like you're stuck in an odd B-movie remake of the body snatchers? It happens to me occasionally, as I'll see myself do something stupid and not stop myself from doing it winding up looking at myself like, "What the heck was that all about?" Better yet, I find myself acting the part when I should really just be me. A pastor used to say it was "Shifting into 'Rev'" and was just part of the job for us as ministers because we couldn't always be the man for the job and sometimes needed to be that man when we couldn't otherwise. However, Casting Crowns hits the nail on the head in their song about churches: we're all too often just perfect plastic people with our perfect plastic steeples when people are hurting and dying without Jesus outside the doors. How can we justify our hypocrisy when we try to hide our brokenness? Why can't we be who Jesus called us to be? Can we effectively minister without our broken, sinful...

After my harsh rhetoric yesterday, I'm left thinking about what matters most. I am no better than the worst and the worst is no better than the best. Sound odd? It should, because it goes so counter to what we know, feel, think, and desire. We naturally group people and things into categories and classify. It is human nature to compare people and classify where we stand in relation to them. I look at Hitler and say he's so horrible because of what he did, while I look at Mother Teresa and say she was so great that I can't compare. Yet, the essence of Christianity is the dichotomy/paradox of grace. Grace says that we are forgiven and made something else. Instead of being an Adolf Hitler, I am told that I am a Mother Teresa. How can that be? Simply trusting and believing in the fact that someone perfect took my place... That belief is what defines Christianity! If there is no substitutionary atonement (meaning that someone took my place!) there is no hope for me. ...