Becoming a Christ!

I am to become a Christ to my neighbor and be for him what Christ is for me.[1]

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.[2]

What does it mean to be Christ to someone else? Our answer must be with the full knowledge of what Christ has done for us. Only as we know who Christ is and what Christ has done for us can we truly become Christ for our neighbor. We find our "job description" as we experience Christ within our own being.

The Holy Spirit has prepared us in exactly the way we need to minister to those people drawn across our path. You are equipped! You are able!

Have you been alone and without friends in a strange place and had to rely on the relationship with Christ alone? If the answer is yes, then your command is to be Christ to the lonely and those without friends.

Have you been afraid and wanted comfort more than lecture about your fear? Then your presence is the Christ you bring to those in fear.

Remember when you made such a mess of some decision in your life? What you wanted was someone to listen as you expressed your frustration rather than remind you of what their advice had been and how it had been the opposite of what you decided. Knowing that, are you able to be present as a pastor/caregiver before you put on the role of professor, teacher, or corrector. 

How did you want Christ to be present for you in your time of need? More than likely, that is how you may need to be present for the person standing before you in their moment of need.

Yes, Christ does come to us at times as the corrective person when we have gone against his command for us. Yes, there are times when we are called to pull a sibling in Christ aside and, with the same compassion Christ would have used with you, issue that corrective word to another member of the family of God. Yet, it is always with the full compassion of Christ that we come to this moment. We begin and end with compassion. We always seek to restore the brother or sister to their place in the family. We show forth Christ in our life in such a way to draw others to Christ, always prepared for the person and the time when we are called to demonstrate how present Chris is within us.

 Pastor Craig

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[1] Martin Luther

[2] 1Peter 3:15

Beyond Our . . .

The next moment is as much beyond our grasp, and as much in God’s care, as that a hundred years away.[1]

We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.[2]

What are your plans for this afternoon? Will you watch a little football? Work in the yard? Go visit family or friends?

The truth is, none of us really know, do we? Oh, we have plans. It would be foolish to go through life in a totally random fashion. We must save for retirement, for our kids’ education, for a house, car, or any other large purchase. What the Scripture wants us to recognize is that each day and, by extension, each breath is a gift from God. As that first breath in the garden was given to Adam as a gift from his Creator, so each breath we take is a gift from God, a blessing of one more day we have to serve him in his creation.

It is our hope that each breath we take is gifted to us by God and our gift back to God.

Life is an adventure when we live it God’s way. When we put ourselves totally at his disposal, we will never know what the next moment holds. He may prompt us to step outside our cautious self and to talk to the person quietly sobbing in the waiting room at the doctor’s office. The Holy Spirit may convict us to write the check for the mission project AND pack our bags to go along.

Our God loves to be unpredictable. He loves to come to you at your weakest point and calmly whisper, “Trust me.”

Will you? Do you? Can you? The unknown future is not next century, it isn’t whether the glaciers melt due to global warming or not. The unknown future is your next breath.

Now, all that uncertainty might raise the anxiety level of some people. Please remember, the one who holds your future is the one who has been present all through your past. It is the same one who has walked every step of your existence with you. It is the one who knew you before you were born, and it is the one who offered himself on Calvary for your failures in order that whatever your future may hold you can always know the certainty of your Savior’s love for you and his presence with you.

 Pastor Craig

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[1] C. S. Lewis

[2] Romans 5:2

Outside Your Comfort Zone

Shut yourself up in an intellectual monastery, do not disturb yourself with the thought of unregenerate men, and of course you will find it easier to he a Christian, just as it is easier to be a good soldier in comfortable winter quarters than it is on the field of battle. You save you own soul – but the Lord’s enemies remain in possession of the field.

-J. Gresham Machen

It is easy to hide ourselves away from  culture. When we do, there are no questions about abortion, gay marriage, fair taxation, the rights of migrant workers, or what to do with undocumented workers within our borders. We hide in our quiet little world and let everything else work itself out, taking no stand on anything. However, Christ does not call us to be safe or content. And, on many of the issues above, there are few answers that give us comfort in every scenario we could envision.

Christ calls us to a life of tension, to live openly with the “I don’t know.” It would have been so much easier, easier to condemn and to judge. It also would have left us farther from our Savior. There would be no struggle to deal with loving people wrapped in things we would like to call sin. There would be no question as to who our brothers and sisters in Christ truly are; obviously, they would be people like us, people who believed as we believed, who never challenged or questioned us. Neither would there be growth.

When we struggle with issues of faithfulness and righteousness we also find ourselves turning to the Savior more for the answers that lie far beyond our comprehension. We are left with “God, HELP ME!” far more often than our hearts and minds would like.

However, it is as we get dirty in the culture, as we come in contact with those across the fence from us, that we show forth the love of Christ more clearly and more to His glory. There is nothing hard about hiding in the church, safe in our cocoon. If we do that, the enemy is in control of the field, and our love for Christ is a faint shadow of what it could be, allowing the light of the Living One to be lived out where it needs to be seen more clearly. Leave your comfort zone.

Pastor Craig

Love Without Limits

I just finished reading a book by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel. The story takes place during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. If this wasn't one of those "had to" books somewhere along the way in your education, I would encourage you to read it.

The hero is one Sir Percy Blakeney. It has been said that Sir Percy was the inspiration behind Batman. He is the original, superhero in disguise.

The story tells of Lady Blakeney, who has grown tired of her husband. He is an aloof socialite, if there can be such a thing. He is labeled as a large buffoon who just happens to be the wealthiest man in England.

Lady Blakeney’s heart belongs to a dashing hero, The Scarlet Pimpernel, who risks death to save the royalty of France from the guillotine. He uses his own money, a masterful ability to disguise himself, and a razor sharp mind to remain a mystery and escape the clutches of the French Republic.

Lady Blakeney has a brother who happens to fall captive to the forces of the French Republic. Her brother is offered in exchange for her discovery and betrayal of The Scarlet Pimpernel. Since Lady Blakeney knows everyone in society, her position makes her the one who can most likely find out the true identity of our hero. 

She efforts to save her brother leads her to information concerning times, places, and meetings for our hero. She turns these over to her blackmailer in an attempt to spare her brother from   the guillotine. She is unaware that the person she is condemning to death is her own husband, a man she would never suspect of being the dashing Scarlett Pimpernel.

Upon discovering her betrayal, she uses all her resources to save her husband, whom she has now decided is worthy of her affections.

The point of using this book for this writing is to illustrate the fickleness of the heart. Affections that were dead, have sprung to life once Lady Blakeney the hero is her own husband. She will go to great lengths, endure tremendous danger to try and save him whom she hardly talked to before. That is not the lesson the author intended. However, it is one of the things that comes out of the story.

How many times do we have little interest in a person until they, suddenly, do something interesting, something that makes them “worthy” of our time and effort? How many have we cast aside because they were not "useful" to us?

Christ offers to us, and requires from us a love much sturdier than that which follows our most recent items of interest. He offers us a love that holds up in tough times, and he asks us to give to one another the same.

Pastor Craig