Counterfeit Grace

And now that the provocative title has you here, let me explain- Gods grace: is beautiful and perfect. Our grace: is a cheap knock off of the original. And until we take on and ingest the true article, we cant know the all consuming, life changing, beautiful design of God's perfect gift.... So, how do we find this grace when so many counterfeit graces exist?

Well let's start where we all must.. Realizing our darkness.

Until we realize how dark our shadows really are, until we realize how broken and disgustingly-destructive our rebellion and sin really is, we can never know to the full extent the beauty of the a saving and loving grace that Jesus offers us so freely.

So often instead of staring our darkness in the face and calling it what it is- we justify, explain, and excuse ours and others sin. Saying "there's room for this or that" "it's not that bad" "it's just what culture does, it's okay". Then when we are confronted with our sin, we say "grace is all I need" wipe our hands and carry on business as usual... But in doing this, we are not actually living in the grace we claim we are. Instead in doing this, we abuse, contaminate, and make light of the gift if grace that was given to us-not to excuse our bad behavior but instead empower us to change!

Jesus came and died to bring a new Kingdom to earth, a kingdom that is here to redeem, remake. But also a kingdom that is here to destroy the painful, destructive power of sin and the brokenness we've allowed it to have over us. I think in our minds that Jesus simply came to say -

"never mind, don't worry about sin anymore, you're all good, so do whatever you want and 'grace' will totally cover like whatever"

But if you look at what he really said in his words and life was (paraphrased)

"I have come to give you a new way, a perfect way. Leave your old self behind and find who you were made to be in me, and yes I know that your not perfect and will fail, that's why I died for you, so that anytime you cannot do it, it's on me... But you still have to try and work everyday at forsaking your flesh and the destructive things that you have allowed you rule you, and move towards me and the beautiful, living Kingdom I have come to establish"

When we "get" and grasp this, and hear what Jesus was truly saying, is when we actually realize the depth of his love and the meaning if his sacrifice. When our darkness in confronted by his light. We can no longer live in the shadows cheeping his beautiful creation of grace he gave us out of love.

When Jesus kneeled down to a woman he had just saved from stoning for being caught in the act of adultery, first he told her that he had forgiven her sins and no one could accuse her... BUT then he tells her something else "go and sin NO more."

Isn't that how Jesus deals with us though? He kneels down with love and gentleness next to us as we lay in the ruin of our mistakes, then he forgives us extending his beautiful and amazing "grace"... So often we think this is where the story ends, this is all that needs to happen, Jesus forgives us and that's it... But wait that's not where the story ends. Jesus then helped the woman up and said "Go... And sin NO more". What!? Did you see that? Jesus doesn't just leave us there on the ground, with forgiveness only. Instead, through His strength, He lifts us to our feet and gives us a command- First to "Go", to do something, to make an action and begin to change. Then to "Sin no more", to leave the old behind and to STOP the things that brought us to the ground in the first place. Jesus doesn't just forgive us, He does one better, He sets us on a new path and invites us to leave behind our dark and begin walking into his light... So we see that grace isn't the allowance of our sin and acceptance of staying on the ground, but instead it is the empowerment to even through our mistakes continue walking on towards the Kingdom Jesus has invited us into.

God says "I am Love" Jesus says "if you love me obey me" and "I am the way the truth and the life". Let these remind you that grace is not an acceptance of your darkness but an empowerment I walk towards light.

Out Of This World Love

It's astonashing the tangable things we will give up for the imeterial object of love. If there is such a powerful desire for something not of this world, what should we conclude then about the thing our hearts so fervently desire.

Hallelujah (I'll Still Sing) - Lyric Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBZu8Y3NwD4

This is a song I wrote in a time of doubts and questions and comes out of a very personal place. I hope my words can connect with you wherever you are and encourage you to say "I'll Still Sing"

You Long For Another World Whether You Know It Or Not

In the wake of the tragic events of a fellow actor and beloved artist (in what appears to be) taking his own life, at the behest of a lethal addiction- I watch the reaction of the world around me; I read in the status's of peers, expressing sadness and remorse for the loss of such a bright life. But in doing so, I also see something else- Many of those commenting on the tragic events seem to think the reason for this loss of life was because of the individuals fame, career and a life of being known by many and the pressures that came with that. At first glance, I mentally okay the logic and scroll on, but then I feel a catch in my mind.

It suddenly occurs to me... How many overdoses are there every year we will never hear about because the individuals involved are not famous, well known, or in blockbuster movies- But each having just as much or more "pressure" in there family, personal, or professional life as any celebrity we know?

After coming upon this realization, I am forced to maybe think that maybe the tragic events of us humans losing the fight to addictions, or even taking our own lives; fall upon something so much more serious than a job description.

While I don't pretend to know all the factors that played a part in these tragic events that happened over this past weekend. What I can speak to are the relationships around me and the tragedies I have witnessed first hand in lives of those whom I love and loved. I think it so often comes down to simply this. We live in a broken world, and no matter what this world tries to promise us this world does not fill the void we forever long for. No matter the amount of money, fame, respect (all the things we think would satisfy us) we were made for something else, that until we realize, we cannot find peace.

Someone once said

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

Another wise person noted "There is a God shaped hole in all our hearts." The poor and the rich... The famous and the unknown.

We will never know what we were created for until we know who we were created by. We can never fill the void we feel in the depths of our souls until we invite the one who created them, in.

Created You Were

Remember today that you were designed- Intentionally and beautifully.

You were not carelessly just thrown here, you are not the result of a random molecular happening, or a thoughtless mass of cells.

Instead realize this

You were made, designed and created with passion and love, you were given a purpose and will, your life has meaning, and you have the ability to live fully the story you were MADE to tell.

Let this effect you today, let this inspire you to know your creator more and find the purpose encoded on your heart.

YOU

photo taken by my extremely talented roommate Ben Moen

Remember this today.

You are not an accident, you are not some random collection of cells wandering life aimlessly. NO, you are "fearfully and wonderfully made" designed by the master artist with purpose and intent. You are LOVED SO much, that no matter what your past holds or your present feels like or your future threatens you are NEVER to late to find redemption and live a beautiful story that was made JUST for you. Know that today, TODAY you have a creator (think on that for a second, you were CREATED) that has given his life just so you could have a personal connection -a RELATIONSHIP- with the one who powerfully holds the galaxies, masterfully engineered the atom, beautifully spins (at a perfect balance) all of nature and with passion and love created..... You.

I Believe in Life

I believe in life.

I believe in tasting good food, hearing beautiful sounds of music and watching inspiring movies. I believe in feeling the first snow of winter on your arms and watching the first bloom of spring with your eyes. I believe in exploring this vast and wonderful world, climbing mountains and splashing in the ocean. I believe in laughing until you cry when a joke is told and crying until you laugh when someone you love is holding you. I believe in chasing dreams, meeting a beautiful girl, and I believe in falling in love.

Weather you are made up of a few cells or a trillion, I believe that life is a precious gift that that has been given to ALL of us, no matter how small or large. It is a gift to be lived, and loved to the fullest - And that every day we must protect and value EVERYONE's right to experience this beautiful thing we call life.

I believe in life.

What do you believe in?

Prodigal You?

The Prodigal Son: A story that undoubtedly strikes fear into the hearts of mothers and fathers everywhere, and lights memories in the minds of sons and daughters who remember it's tale.

 It’s the story of a wayward son who demands his inheritance early, and ends up leaving his home and squandering his money on everything from sex to gambling.

The prodigal son eventually finds himself broke and in the dirt with memories of home running through his mind, which is when he decides to return home and beg for forgiveness and maybe just a job as a servant in his fathers household.

But, upon his arrival, instead of bowed heads of disappointment, he finds the loving embrace of his parent.

 I think this story is one we can all relate to, whether we are the prodigal or know someone who is. 

It is a story that has, or will become, a common theme as we observe life.

 Different people focus on different aspects of the story: 

 -As parents, I’m sure the immediate inclination is to ensure that it never becomes a reality for their children.

 -As pastors and teachers, I’m sure there is a need to show the detriment of selfish desires and sinful living.

 -But as a son, who has been a prodigal once or twice in his life, my interest lays in what pulls the Prodigal home.

 What is the voice inside when the Prodigal is the most down and out calls him home, and why did he listen to it?

Why is the wayward son suddenly willing to humble himself to the lowest position just for a chance to be back in his parents care?

 I can remember times in my life when I found myself surrounded by the consequences of my poor choices and willful rebellion. 

And the thing that ended up pulling me home, the driving force to my return to the straight and narrow, wasn’t the facts or opinions on rebellious living I had heard a thousand times in church. 

It wasn’t the countless warnings of sin (now too late to be applied, anyway).

Instead, it was something so much more personal, real and tangible.

It was the song of my home that would play in my ears, as I would sit head in my hands, trying to find the light in a dark situation. 

It was remembering the warm embrace of a loving family and an inviting home. 

It was the grace I knew my mistakes would always be met with. 

It was the warm meals, good conversation and the personal connection I missed with the ones I loved. 

Essentially, my reason for choosing to leave my prodigal tendencies in the past and return home to my loved ones was having loved ones and a home worth returning to.

 There is a Biblical picture for this that God paints masterfully throughout the bible. After all humanity (you and I) decided to live its own way and rebel against the way life was meant to be lived (as Prodigals). God first decides that instead of just getting rid of us, He wants us to have a chance at redemption by forgiving us.

Pretty amazing! 

But he doesn’t stop there. The way God redeems us and shows us forgiveness is giving us a chance at a personal relationship with God! 

But THEN He goes on and creates place for us to come home to, a beautiful perfect place where there will be “No more tears”.

God looks down on you and me, after our display of rebellious independence, and calls us home with to a loving embrace of a parent and a perfect vision of home...Heaven.

Hands On My Life

We can talk all day about the existence of God, or the proof of a creator. That is a conversation I would love to have with you!

But everyday I see his hands so clearly leading and taking care of me that I can't do anything BUT believe in a loving, active God.

If I could I would do anything so you could experience the joy and freedom that our creator has made available to any who answer his gentle call.

-Nathan

Not Enough To Hate

If you turn on a TV, or check one of your three aps delivering you the most up to date news and events from around the world on a minutely basis, you will suddenly be surrounded with information of all the things in the world that are going wrong.

 Flip over to your favorite entertainment channel and or talk-show and you will begin to hear the second part to “bad things happening”-you will hear in unison the reaction to these terrible things, reaction of sadness, disapproval, blame and anger.

 As the light from our TV screen daily lights our eyes, and the sound bites inform us of the terrible and saddening things happening, we feel something rise in each of us.

We feel a voice, a cry for justice and change... 

We find ourselves entering in the discussion, trying to find solutions and make the changes necessary to make this world a better place.

We talk about banning the things we don’t like and and taking a stand against the people who have the wrong ideas, we speak-out with emboldened voices against those who represent what we appall, and we learn to hate what we know is wrong. 

 But, is that enough? Is that enough change the world?

 No......

 I believe with all my heart it is not.

 We as people have learned what we should hate, detest, and stand up against. 

And maybe, just maybe, that is half of it, maybe that is a the place we begin. 

But it must not be where we stop.

 Have we forgotten the other half of the story? 

Have we forgotten the only reason why we even take stands? 

Have we become so entangled with our own rage for what is dark, that we have forgotten to love the light?

 God tells us.

 “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”

 It would seem we have the “Hate what is evil” down. 

But we just might have forgotten about the ‘sincere love’ and ‘clinging to what is good’.

We have become a people who love nothing, but have learned to get angry at all the right things.

But is this really the way to change?

God says

 “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”

 It seems that anger is something God has called us to use VERY sparingly. But if that’s the case.

Are we to simply lay back and allow immorality, injustice and perversion? NEVER!          We must stand up against it.

 BUT, we must stand up against it, with the only thing that has or ever will change the world.

 Love... 

• It is now no longer enough to HATE violence, we must now LOVE peace and pursue it while turning the other cheek.

• It is no longer enough to HATE unborn children being killed because of bad situations, we must now show our LOVE for life and the very real possibility of redemption even in the midst of catastrophe.

• It is no longer enough HATE the idea of people starving or living in poverty, we must now LOVE giving what we have to anyone who needs it.

• It is no longer enough to hate the devastating messages sexuality our culture portrays, we must now LOVE purity and show what a beautiful thing it truly is.

• It is not enough to HATE the destruction of marriage, we must now LOVE the beauty of what that union was made to be. And fight for our OWN!

• It is not enough to HATE the idea of so many becoming prodigals and wandering lost through this world, we must now LOVE redemption and celebrate anyone who hears and responds to the call of home.

 It is no longer enough to hate and be angry about the things we disagree with, we must now face them with the all encompassing, all powerful, unrelenting force that is the Love of God.

Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up strife, but LOVE covers all offenses.

1 John 4:7  Beloved, let us LOVE one another, for LOVE is from God, and whoever LOVES has been born of God and knows God.

Romans 5:8 but God shows his LOVE for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:16  “For God so LOVED the world,that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not LOVE in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Ephesians 4:2-3 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in LOVE, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.