A real kind of freedom

Two months later...

This is not about being a good steward, there are already books and programs out there put together by much wiser people than I, for that purpose.

This is about FREEDOM.

The world — both Christians and non-Christians — is held captive by so many things. But none of these captors is as all-inclusive and pervasive as the issue of money.

Everyone wants it. No one has enough of it. And even the best are unaware of the power it has over their lives.

I want to be FREE.

I’ve been fed so many lies about the happiness and contentment that is found in a supple bank account. That is akin to being content with a better form of slavery. We have been given a way out. We can live by the grace and means of the Great Sustainer — there is nowhere else I want to be.

This idea should fail. No one wants to hear this — I presume it is because it hits too close to home. So, I will have to count on God’s hand to open the ears and eyes of people who are slaves (whether they know it or not) to money. We are all in the boat here. For thousands of years, we have been held captive by the promise of and hope of more, MORE, MORE money. The thought of worldly financial freedom keeps us going, it keeps us up at night, it is the American dream and we are sleeping soundly until it wakes us up.

What about a Supernatural freedom from financial worry?...

I am not a good enough writer to make this subject sound doable — only God can change our hard hearts and I pray He will change mine, even as I write.

Recognizing and really knowing that all I have is God’s — He can do with it and me what He wants whenever He wants is key. It is kind of funny and mostly naive of me to think I have even a little control over all of it.

Lastly, it is imperative to realize that without God this equation of freedom does not work. Consequently, a relationship with Him must be the first step, not the only step, but the first step. We must have empathy for those without God and first of all lead them toward Him.


What could that possibly look like in an individual’s life?

1. Giving my absolute first 10% to God’s work — even more from the other 90%. Give joyfully always, not begrudgingly.
2. Not being affected by what others think of what I have, not letting others’ opinions determine where my money goes
3. Two-fold honesty:
a. Not lying to impress (i.e. saying something cost more than it did)
b. Not lying to justify (i.e. saying something cost less than it did)
4. Simply put: Don’t spend what you don’t have
5. Not being consumed with comparisons of your money versus others’. (i.e. “I have more…” or “I don’t have as much as they do…”) True joy expressed at the financial successes of friends.
6. No judgments made on those who ask for help.
7. Practically…
a. If something still works — I don’t need a new model.
b. Save leftovers
c. Wear hand-me-downs
d. Etc.

DO NOT BE A MARTYR

When living in the flow of God’s will, we trust Him to take care of our needs.

You know you have achieved complete freedom from the love of money when you do not have the need to let others know you have achieved this freedom — be humble.

200 words or less - Context

I believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God. A book, in its original languages, that allows us to see the very heart of our Lord. It is a story from beginning to end (chapter and verse numbers were added much, much later). It is an intertwined adventure, full of love, mysteries, action and life-saving truth.

Unfortunately, I have seen this most ancient, celebrated collection of words abused by very well-meaning people. Like any literary work, these Biblical authors, both human and divine, had intentions in their writings. They wrote to specific audiences at specific times under specific circumstances. Now don’t get me wrong, there are truths that are timeless and I believe the Bible speaks these truths clearly. But we must not take individual verses or passages without their context and frame them into a meaning that was never intended.

1 Corinthians 13 is about proper use of spiritual gifts — not about romance.
Revelation 3:16 is about being a useful Christian — not about becoming a believer.

Read things in their context, we do not need to force our misaligned truths into places where they don’t actually fit. The Bible can defend itself from even the most scrutinizing critics.

Can you spare any change?

When was the last time you walked by a homeless person on the street? When was the last time you walked by a homeless person on the street and lied about how you didn’t have any cash on you? When was the last time you justified ignoring this person’s need because they would just, “go buy drugs or alcohol” with your 50 cents? Did you judge them in your mind?

I write with no intention of preaching, only with intention of admitting that I have done all those things… in the last 24 hours. I do all those things all the time. How dare I?

Is the answer throwing a dollar at someone and saying, “God Bless?” Maybe. Is the answer sitting down with every person who panhandles your spare change and sharing the truth and freeing life that Jesus Christ offers? Maybe. Is the answer prayer? Maybe. Is the answer simply caring enough not to ignore other human beings, other people made in the image of God, other people who cannot even feel their fingertips because of frostbite, other people who have not seen their children since the 90’s, other people who cannot possibly escape from the world of cocaine, alcohol, prostitution and cardboard boxes? I don’t know.

“This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other’” (Zechariah 7:9-10, NIV).

Is it possible to feed everyone you pass and put a roof over all these heads? No. And that isn’t the answer anyway. I do not know a whole lot, but I do know that the red letters in my Bible are true…

“’Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

"‘Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

"The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me’” (Matthew 25:34-39, NIV).

Jesus doesn’t get much more explicit than this. You either take care of Him or you ignore Him. I have been ignoring for too long.

I am not letting anyone off with the easy, “Do what your heart tells you?” It isn’t that easy, folks. Jesus (Need I remind you, The Son of God) has called us out here. And I know it starts with asking God for a genuine heart of compassion for those in need. And from there, hopefully He will free me from my judgmental ignoring just as He is powerful enough to heal any person I pass on the street from any number of addictions or behaviors.

How dare I deny God the chance to speak to someone in need through me? All I have belongs to Him anyway, right? I should trust Him with it.

Life is too short to be safe all the time. Don’t be stupid either, but somewhere in between is the opportunity to share your life with people on the street and more importantly let them share their lives with you. Listen and let God speak to you through them and be amazed.

Please forgive me Lord for my ignorance and selfishness and self-righteousness and greed. I am sorry.

Aslan Returns - Part II

As one of the most prolific writers of the 20th century, C.S. Lewis spoke truth to a generation that seemed to be on the right track. His classics of theology and allegory captivate minds even 50+ years later. But as we delve into the story of Aslan the ferocious savior lion— once again, it is quite obvious that Lewis recognized the inadequacies of the worldly nature of man and held no punches in the distribution of life-changing truth even in his so-called children's books.

We pick up more than a millennia worth of Narnia years down the road. Prince Caspian is fighting the forces of evil to no avail, and everyone, save for a few holdouts and believers, has forgotten the ultimate sacrifice and triumph of the lion King Aslan. He has been relegated, along with the first of His followers, royalty themselves, to the fallacy of folklore and tall tales.

As Prince Caspian fights for good, he is struggling to stay afloat with his tiny band of disciples. Several insurgents and rebels, who mean well, but do not believe, approach the prince with an opportunity to defeat his present day foes, as they have all but given up hope for the glorious reappearing of Aslan:

"’'Either Aslan is dead, or he is not on our side. Or else something stronger than himself keeps him back. And if he did come— how do we know he'd be our friend? He was not always a good friend to Dwarfs by all that'’s told. Not even to all beasts. Ask the Wolves. And anyway, he was in Narnia only once that I ever heard of, and he didn't stay long. You may drop Aslan out of the reckoning. I was thinking of someone else.

'Whom do you mean?' said Caspian at last.

‘ 'I mean a power so much greater than Aslan'’s that it held Narnia spellbound for years and years, if the stories are true.'

'The White Witch!' cried three voices all at once, and from the noise Peter guessed that three people had leaped to their feet.

'Yes,'’ said Nikabrik very slowly and distinctly, 'I mean the Witch. Sit down again. Don't all take fright at a name as if you were children. We want power; and we want a power that will be on our side. As for power, do not the stories say that the Witch defeated Aslan, and bound him, and killed him on that very stone which is over there, just beyond the light?'

'But they also say that he came to life again,' said the badger sharply.

'Yes, they say,'’ answered Nikabrik, '‘but you'’ll notice that we hear precious little about anything he did afterwards. He just fades out of the story. How do you explain that, if he really came to life? Isn't it much more likely that he didn't, and that the stories say nothing more about him because there was nothing more to say?'"”

Excerpt from Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis, 1951.

In times of trouble we run to whatever power we have at the top of our memory. What if we no longer existed on an earthly timetable, but instead waited on God's time —— he has existed since before time, you know?

I, like a child, often find myself doubting the "“stories."” But what if, what if, the "“stories"” are true. Instead of believing the lies of those who combat the truth and sluff off the supernatural, we might try giving truth a try.

Nikabrik was wrong. Not for questioning, but for his distorting the truth for his own gain. There is so much more to say, Aslan'’s story did not end on the stone where He willingly went to death for humanity — A dead lion doesn'’t do a whole lot of good, His resurrection is THE key to the redemption of Narnia. And His glorious reappearing would happen when it was supposed to happen:

"At the sight of Aslan the cheeks of the Telmarine soldiers became the colour of cold gravy, their knees knocked together, and many fell on their faces. They had not believed in lions and this made their fear greater."

And what if we are just wasting our time calling on all the powers that be in the universe, even the despicably evil ones, all while the King, the true King, the resurrected Lion of Judah is calling our name and waiting for us to say "Yes"” to Him.

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." (Jeremiah 33:3, NIV)

200 words or less — Community

Do you ever wonder why we live in cities together? Why when your phone rings you get so excited? Why we can map our lives by the times when key people have come into or out of them?

Because in our deepest, most intimate being, we desire to be with people. We were designed to spend our lives with other people.

The worst thing that can happen to someone is not death or sickness or poverty; the worst thing that can happen to someone is death or sickness or poverty ALONE. We need to recognize the importance of community not only in our own lives but even more so in the lives of those who might be alone and don’t know what to do about it.

God, Himself, has modeled, since before the sun, before calendars and way before the internet — a perfect community. The Trinity, three-in-one, has existed perfectly for all eternity.

As image-bearers of Him who made us (that is, all of humanity), we not only desire that same community, we NEED it.

We were not meant to live this life alone. Find community and live in it.

Toast

More on Aslan later…

As I wrote about a Lion and his power and his ability to make fantasy a reality. He showed up, albeit in the form of a mustachioed man with a bunch of letters after his name. This very wise man stood up in front of me and prayed a prayer that was true for his life and never more than at that moment did I want it to be true for my life as well:

“LORD, if you don’t intervene right now, we are toast.”

He had lived his life in such a way that all he had was Godly power to shape and push and engulf him. He put it all on the table and there was no security money left in his pockets, there was no insurance plan ready for a rainy day and there was no earthly Ace up his own sleeve. All he had was the knowledge, it was no longer hope — it was a sure thing that God would show up at His ordained moment.

I had been ready to run away from the life God had chosen for me and He showed up.

Sometimes I put some of it on the line. Sometimes I would like God to intervene. I wonder what it would be like if I NEEDED God to intervene. I wonder what it would be like if I put EVERYTHING on the line.

Hmmmm…


“My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size — abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become."
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (The Message)

“LORD, take my weakness and make it your strength. Thank you for showing up so that I am not toast.”

Who is Aslan? - Part I

“Who is Aslan?” asked Susan.

“Aslan?” said Mr. Beaver, “Why don’t you know? He’s the King. He’s the Lord of the whole wood, but not often here, you understand. Never in my time or my father’s time. But the word has reached us that he has come back. He is in Narnia at this moment. He’ll settle the White Queen all right. It is he, not you, that will save Mr. Tumnus.”

“She won’t turn him into stone too?” said Edmund.

“Lord love you, Son of Adam, what a simple thing to say!” answered Mr. Beaver with a great laugh. “Turn him into stone? If she can stand on her two feet and look him in the face it’ll be the most she can do and more than I expect of her. No, no. He’ll put all to rights as it says in an old rhyme in these parts: —

Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.

You’ll understand when you see him.”

“But shall we see him?” asked Susan.

“Why daughter of Eve, that’s what I brought you here for. I’m to lead you where you shall meet him,” said Mr. Beaver.

“Is—is he a man?” asked Lucy.

“Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the Great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion.”

“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”


Excerpt from 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' by C.S. Lewis, 1950.
--

Who is Aslan? A simple, self-described “children’s tale” of adventure and fantastical journeys beyond most mortal imaginations speaks more truth than meets the ordinary eye.

By using some simple logic and reasoning, putting together some context clues and realizing whom the author is: it does not take too much prying to realize who Aslan is to Narnia. He is the savior, he is the son of the Great Emperor; he himself is the King. He is The Lion, the ultimate foe to the wicked Queen and the fulfiller of ancient prophecies. He is the ruler, the good leader and the powerful warrior.

No one dares put him inside a box of his or her own making. No one dares come before him unannounced with cruel intent or selfish motives in their hearts. No one can look directly at him with knees unfettered and hearts at a normal rate. Aslan is the one about whom everyone talks and very few have seen. He is the one who will come in his Kingdom’s time of need in order to make things right once again. He has been here and he will be coming back.

Aslan is a Lion — a fierce, snarling brute with fire in his eyes and thunder in his step. His roar is all-powerful and unadulterated as his enemies know their fate even before it befalls them.

Notice how the beaver reacts when the little girl asks if Aslan is safe… “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe.”

Does he sound safe? He is a warrior, a King, a wild creature and he is a lion for crying out loud. What ever gave any of us the impression he was safe? Where does it say he is safe? He is anything but safe, and yet we want him to be safe because we are in denial that Narnia is in eternal winter. But Narnia is under the curse of winter — forever winter with no Christmas. And yet we prefer to maintain the status quo and not rock any boats. We want him to be safe because that keeps us out of danger — or so we think. But maybe this is because it has been winter for so long we forgot what the sunshine and a crystal clear blue sky look like.

Though he is anything but safe, we do know one thing for sure. And the simple beaver lays it right out there to the little girl who is undoubtedly shaking in her proverbial boots after learning about this Lion. “Course he isn’t safe,” the beaver says, “But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

His goodness is known beyond the shadow of a doubt. He is unpredictable, all-powerful and omniscient; he possesses a roar to move mountains and a bite that could slay his foes in one fell swoop. BUT HE IS GOOD. We need not run from him in fear, but rather we must fearfully bow before him. He is after all, The King.

Know him, follow him, trust him, obey him, believe in him, submit to him and love him.

“I wept and wept and wept that no one was found able to open the scroll, able to read it. One of the Elders said, ‘Don’t weep. Look — the lion from Tribe Judah, the Root of David’s Tree, has conquered. He can open the scroll, can rip through the seven seals.”
Revelation 5:4-5 (The Message)

“I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary.”
John 10:10-11 (The Message)

The First

Truth is true because it is true.

Neither you, nor I, nor any other created being has anything to do with the creation of or addition to ultimate truth. There is no mountain to climb to find it... only a God who embodies it and longs to have you know Him. Know Him and know the truth that exists and has existed since before there was a sky and an earth beneath it.

His arms are wide. Run toward them and He will embrace you for who you are and who He has created you to be.

This God has gone by many names, none of them able to encapsulate the entirety of His being. But you can start by calling out to Him as the One who brought you into this world. He has promised to answer your call as soon as you make it.

Nothing can separate us from His love if only we ask Him to bestow it upon us.

Ask.