Category: First Steps

“But sooner or later we must distinguish between what we are not and what we are.  We must accept the fact that we are not what we would like to be.  We must cast off our false, exterior self like the cheap and showy garment that it is.  We must find our real self…created to be a child of God, and capable of loving with something of God’s own sincerity and His unselfishness.” (Thomas Merton-No Man Is An Island).

Often we present one view of ourselves to others, and we withhold who we really are as if behind closed doors.  Perhaps it is fear.  Maybe we are scared of what people will think of us if they really see who we are.  The net effect is an inauthentic life.

What is interesting to me is that the message of the New Testament is one that recognizes the inconsistencies of what we are and what we are becoming.  To some degree it is a paradox.  We are both sinners and saints—at the same time.  God is aware of this and is not fooled by our inabilities to be authentic.  Therefore, at some point we must become more comfortable with the paradox of sinner and saint.  Perhaps the more we get comfortable with what we are and what we are becoming with the help of God’s Spirit, the less likely we are to live inauthentically.

 

This week’s reading:

• Monday – Ephesians 6
• Tuesday – Philippians 1
• Wednesday – Philippians 2
• Thursday – Philippians 3
• ​Friday – Philippians 4

Please Pray for:

• Our nation and our leaders.
• Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
• Our new year in Christian studies and activities.
• Those that are suffering and grieving.
• Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
• The United Methodist Church.

Anger and anxiety characterizes our lives more than patience and peace. We act in compulsive, competitive, and controlling ways.  We have our addictions and issues, though some of us hide them better than others.  We lose our temper, and our tongues rattle off with meaningless chatter or hurtful diatribes.  Often they are verbal arrows that pierce others.  Then all of this produces grief and guilt because we don’t want to live in this way.  A conflict rages inside us that our shame and guilt only fuels.  We know we ought to love, and at times we desire it deeply; but still, more often than not, we do not choose to love.

Yet, our experience with the risen Christ reorients and renews us towards compassion and kindness.  As we continually—daily—give ourselves to Christ, it creates a whole new capacity to love God, our neighbor, and even ourselves. We are all not what we want to be BUT we definitely aren’t what we used to be.  Thankfully, personal transformation is not left to us alone.  We are not abandoned to our own will and ability.  We participate with the Divine One.  It is the Holy One who breaks into our time, our space, our minds, our psyche, and our personality to give comfort and companionship in a very real way.  It is the Spirit’s work in us, which produces the inward transformation that is desperately needed.

Unfortunately, I forget the assurance that comes with the Spirit’s work, especially when I focus on the destructive areas of my life.  Therefore, trust that God is working on their areas.  We are all works-in-progress.  Remember the Spirit’s work in you.

 

 

This week’s reading:

• Monday – Ephesians 1
• Tuesday – Ephesians 2
• Wednesday – Ephesians 3
• Thursday – Ephesians 4
• ​Friday – Ephesians 5

Please Pray for:

• Our nation and our leaders.
• Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
• Our new year in Christian studies and activities.
• Those that are suffering and grieving.
• Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
• The United Methodist Church.

Martin Bucer was a German priest and friend to Martin Luther. Under God’s direction, Bucer was a proponent of The Reformation.  Because following Christ doesn’t always equate to an easy life, Bucer’s obedience resulted in exile and a life of poverty.  What I’ve always enjoyed about Bucer is his writings on love and care of others as a natural expression of one’s faith.

Bucer would often say that if you want to follow Christ and change your perspective and behavior, then take all your concern for yourself and redirect it towards others.  Genuine love, which fulfills every Biblical command, doesn’t seek its own profit at the expense of welfare of another.  He said, “the best, the most perfect and blessed condition is that in which we can most usefully and profitably serve others.  Keep in mind that spiritual service is superior to material service and that the community is more important than individuals…the responsibility of service to others rests upon both the spiritual and secular leaders.  There can be no greater plague than people seeking their own advantage” (Instruction in Christian Love).

For many people, they live on the work of others.  But followers of Christ do the opposite.  The Christian gives up what might be rightly due so that one can help another.

 

 

This week’s reading:

 

• Monday – Romans 7
• Tuesday – Romans 8
• Wednesday – Romans 9
• Thursday – Romans 10
• ​Friday – Romans 11

Please Pray for:

• Our nation and our leaders.
• Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
• Our new year in Christian studies and activities.
• Those suffering due to catastrophic natural disasters.
• Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
• The United Methodist Church.

I have a child who loves acting. Broadway is her happy place. When she performs, she radiates a sense of joy and fulfillment. Unfortunately, there is a side of acting that has nothing to do with the stages, sets, comedies, or tragedies.  It is the false reality where most people live.

For instance, when there is a reluctance to admit weaknesses, we inadvertently live a lie.  Often we pretend everything is okay, only to hide behind the mask of competence, self-sufficiency, and perfection. The unintended consequence is isolation from those who are closest to us. Fearful that someone would notice that we don’t have-it-all-together, we exhaust our energy maintaining this false reality.

The remedy is to do the one thing we think will be the most painful: Admit/Confess our weaknesses.  If we do, we think it will bring the whole house down.  What we think will be painful actually becomes the means to freedom.

As you begin this week, take a moment to center yourself before God.  Pray this prayer:

O God, you are always more ready to hear than I’m ready to share. Help me to come out of the shadows of the false reality that I have created. Lord, help me to be authentic and live knowing that any level of perfection stems from you in me and not what I generate. Lord, as I live each minute in this week to come, strengthen me to be comfortable in my own skin knowing that I’m loved first by you. Cover me with your love and acceptance.  Amen.

 

This week’s reading:

• Monday – 1 Thessalonians 5
• Tuesday – 2 Thessalonians 1
• Wednesday –2 Thessalonians 2
• Thursday – 2 Thessalonians 3
• ​Friday – Romans 1

Please Pray for:

• The United Methodist Church
• Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
• ​Our nation and our leaders.
• Those grieving the loss of loved ones.
• ​Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
• Upcoming activities and studies planned for this fall/winter.

I once read that when we fail to forgive, we hold others and ourselves in a pseudo-conscious bondage.  Refusal to forgive holds the other person in the bondage of our own judgment.  In our minds, the other person can never be more than what we conceive of them because of the event that led to our bitterness.

For instance, a person hurts me and I perceive him/her as a rat. He/she will always be a rat because I can’t envision anything else.  Though the person is bound in my consciousness as a rat, the real bondage is NOT the other person—IT IS ME.  Failure to forgive traps me.  Often the other person lives their life free from bitterness trappings; but I’m bound to that singular event which holds me as a captive.  It is not by chance that the Latin word for mercy (Eleison) actually means, “to unbind.”

Perhaps this is why Jesus taught often on the subject of forgiveness. Maybe it is the key to true freedom. I think so. Therefore, pursue forgiveness and in doing so, you pursue freedom.

 

 

 

This week’s reading:

• Monday – Matthew 23
• Tuesday – Matthew 24
• Wednesday – Matthew 25
• Thursday – Matthew 26
• ​Friday – Matthew 27

Please Pray for:

• The United Methodist Church
• Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
  ​Our nation and our leaders.
• Those grieving the loss of loved ones.
• ​Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
• Upcoming activities and studies planned for this fall/winter.