Grace

Grace.

Christian Theism works IF and ONLY IF it is about the grace of God -- unmerited favor offered to undeserving recipients.

                                                                                Christianity
                                     Christendom
                                                                                                  Christian schools
Local churches
                                                                    Bible study
                                                                                                         Sermons
         Christian literature
                                                     Christian music
                                                                                                         Christian programs

Christians . . .

. . . nothing on the above list stands a chance on the authentic scale unless grace alone is at its very core.

Grace.

Unless grace is the rudder, our Christian boat runs the danger of sinking under the torrents of preference and morality.

Preference and morality agents struggle to find a consensus. Some find me too conservative; others deem me too liberal. Some call me too predictable; others label me too elusive. Some find my choice to observe Lent offensive and untrue to my Baptist roots; others say that it lacks too many traditional elements. Some find me kind; to others, I appear unkind because I state my beliefs unequivocally.

The list goes on and on, day in and day out -- not just for me, as it turns out.

Some say they'd join that church if . . .
. . . the pastor was more hip
. . . the music was softer
. . . the music was livelier
. . . the sermons were longer
. . . the sermons were shorter
. . . the church members were holier
. . . the church members were more fun

Others say they'd buy that resource if . . .
. . . the author was not Catholic
. . . the singer didn't have a tattoo on his arm
. . . the artist had not revealed his alcohol addiction
. . . the band wasn't peppered with religious charismatics

Still others say they'd invite this coworker to their church if . . .
. . . he wasn't quite so gay
. . . she didn't smoke quite so much
. . . he had much nicer clothes to wear

Such misconstrued thinking/judging lamentably leaves a sour taste in people's mouths. It purports that self-professed followers of Christ are to find no flaws within themselves and can only associate with flawless individuals.

And flawlessness is an impossibility for us to achieve -- "To err is human," as the saying goes.

It goes without saying that such erroneous thinking is lethal.
It repels people.
It keeps strugglers at arms' length, causing too many of us to say,

"I'd share my story with others if . . .
. . . I could clean up my act
. . . I didn't struggle with suicidal thoughts
. . . I didn't have a porn  addiction
. . . I was a better Christian"

So, we keep our mouths shut and forget to join David in pleading, "O Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare Your praise" (Psalm 51:15, NIV).

How can we praise the Lord for redeeming us unless we fully see our heart's mess and our insensate folly apart from Him? How can we thank Christ for the gift of His righteousness unless we come face to face with our vile, wretched, miserable, and blind selves?

Grace comes to our rescue. It posits that Christ came to meet our warts, flaws, blemishes, and failures with His beauty, perfection, adornment, and victory. It teaches that the Father "demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8, NIV).

Grace.
What a beautiful gift!

I needed it before. 
I need it this morning.
I will need it tomorrow and forever.
I need it intensely because I err so easily and readily.

I sin.
I soil.
I stray.
I stumble.

I see days of trouble and faint, forgetting such days are divine invitations for me to enter the holy of holies and pray. I hear reports of deaths, illnesses, or sorrows and totter, not remembering that even in them the steadfast love of the Almighty never ceases. Indeed, I need grace to remember that all days -- days of joy, days of sorrow, days of gladness, days of sadness -- are designed as days of prayer and praise.

At times, God seems to have withdrawn from me. I need grace to lead me home to Him, to guide my heart to seek Him till I find Him, to draw me into His holiness. 

I need grace to sing . . . 

"Whatever my lot 

(peace like a river, 

elation like a fountain, 

turmoil like thunder, 

terror like that of a tornado) 

Thou hast taught me to say: 

It is well, it is well with my soul."

In days of dread, I need grace not to run after the diversion of busy-ness or the distraction of cheap entertainment, but instead to wait patiently for God and His favor.

In seasons when I am under trouble of mind or filled with heartaches, I need the grace of perspective, not allowing the memory of lost comforts to render me ungrateful for the divine joys that are still left for me to experience.

In moments when unbelief is working in my soul, heart, and body, I need grace to suppress its risings and learn to believe in the One whom the Father has sent.

In times when disobedience enters the members of my body, I need grace to acquire the fullness of a godly sorrow that trembles and totters yet continues to trust and love the Man of sorrows; I need grace to weep salty tears of repentance in order to come and find rest at the foot of the Cross. 

I need grace.
I surrender my striving to earn status, salvation, or satisfaction in any place other than the blood of Christ.
I need grace.

Don't you need grace?

Come.
Come to the mirror.
Let the mirror of God's Word reveal to you the flaws -- all of your failures -- for which Christ died on your behalf. Once revealed, surrender each blemish to Christ and refuse to let anyone (including yourself) hang your flaws over your head. Christ has already paid for them in full with His blood; please, do not insult Him with inadequate, self-righteous payment plans.

You and I are accepted, loved, cherished, and embraced -- warts and all -- because when the Father looks at us, He sees the work of His perfect Son on the cursed, yet life-giving, tree.

Indeed, grace is the divine gift of salvation, redemption, and freedom to flawed individuals who learn to embrace a lifestyle of pure and unadulterated reliance on the finished work of Christ.

Patient Lips

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue,

and those who love it will eat its fruits.”

Proverbs 18:21, ESV

Patience.

Who wants it? 


No one.

Who needs it? 


Everyone.

About four years ago, I launched what I have now come to define as a truly rewarding journey. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I found myself writing my first published book Weeding Impatience—learning, absorbing, and seeking to exercise daily scriptural truths on the virtue of patience. I was led to write about God’s immeasurable patience with rebellious humanity and how His patience means salvation for those who believe. I was also prompted to focus on our need for patience in many areas such as ill health, food, money, relationships, sex, and spirituality.

To be sure, the above were (and still are) very difficult and convicting topics to consider and address. Yet now, long after the release of the book, I am finding a new subject matter that demands utmost attention from me—the use of my lips. Like a log begging to be removed from my eye, this issue quickly sprouted in the aftermath of the recent Nye/Ham debate on the viability of Creationism in this scientific era.

My lips were dying to move 90 miles a minute as pictures, status updates, tweets, and blog posts invaded cyber space from people camping on either side of the question. I was determined to speak sense into the brains of the contributors whose words, I am sad to say, were venomous and reckless. It was as if those engaged in the battle saw fit to outdo each other in fits of rage and insults.

However, try as I may, God prevented me from writing . . . ranting, really. As He did for Balaam, the Father sent His angel to block my irate path. Instead, He made me realize there was wisdom to be gained while waiting with a prayerful attitude despite the vitriolic noise that erupted after the debate. During that waiting period, I gratefully came to understand that “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:20, ESV). In other words, divine wisdom encouraged me to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.

I want patient lips.

I want lips that are kind, conciliatory, slow to anger, and abounding in love. For one thing, patience invites me to thank God for the lips I do have before I even think of addressing people. Gratitude opens my heart and mind to realize that not everyone has lips. In fact, a cousin of mine was born with a cleft palate. It was by the grace of God through a wonderful medical missionary to Haiti that he was able to receive lips to use. In other cases, leprosy has eaten away many lips whereas mine are still intact and functioning.

Clearly, I have cause to celebrate and express gratitude to the Father because the lips I possess are His blessings to me—enabling me to respond to Him and serve His children. Moreover, the words that cross the threshold of my lips matter. They either tear down or build up; they either produce death or engender life.

Furthermore, five scriptural concepts come to mind when it comes to the use of my lips:

-                Using words sparingly. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Ecclesiastes 5:2 states, “God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.” And, Proverbs 10:19 reminds us, “When words are plenty, sin is not absent.”

-                Unlocking lips for God. Psalm 51:15, “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.”

-                Uttering praise to God. Psalm 150:6, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”

-                Unarming or starving deadly talk. Proverbs 10:18 asserts, “A slanderer is a fool.” Colossians 3:8-10, “But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.”

-                Unrolling words of life and encouragement. 1 Timothy 4:12, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.”

As I think of the crucifixion and death of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I am awestruck by the choice He made on the cross to remain obedient to the five scriptural concepts presented above. He has patient and fruitful lips!

For me, not much in my life is required to activate my loquaciousness in the presence of people, to lock my lips in God’s presence, to withhold praise from the Creator, to fertilize deadly and detrimental language, and to refrain from speaking words of life and encouragement in my sphere of influence. Yet, for the Son of Man, His excruciating circumstance was a gracious opportunity to allow seven defining and life-producing statements to cross the doorsill of His patient lips.

1.              The Word of Absolution. “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34, NIV). Christ’s words are powerful because, instead of the self-centeredness and impatience my own lips are so prone to display, they contain grace and love.

2.              The Word of Assurance. “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43, NIV). Addressed to one of the criminals who hailed Christ as King and Savior, these words depict grace poured out through faith, providing confirmation of forgiveness and eternal salvation to the dying man.

3.              The Word of Attentiveness. “When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother’ ” (John 19:26-27, NIV). Even in His indefensible position on the cross, Jesus showed the responsible care of an eldest son who still had concerns for the essential needs of Mary after His death. Since His half-brothers were nowhere to be found, He lovingly entrusted this noble task to John, the apostle.

4.              The Word of Abandonment. “About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachtani?’ (Which means, ‘My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?’).” (Matthew 27:46, NIV). As agonizing as His physical pain was, nothing was more heartbreaking to Christ than the separation He experienced from His Father as He took upon Himself the full weight of sin. Still, instead of hurling out filthy language, He chose to quote the opening words of Psalm 22.

5.              The Word of Agony. “Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips” (John 19:28-29, NIV). Again, Christ’s anguish was so intense that He could have chosen to express it differently; instead, He fulfilled the messianic prophecy recorded in Psalm 69:21, “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.”

6.              The Word of Accomplishment. “When He had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘Tetelestai’ or ‘It is finished.’ ” (John 19:30). He was essentially saying to His Father that His work had been completed. The deed was done. The terrible pain He endured was worth it—the spiritual pain of being separated from His father, the emotional pain of being ridiculed and His nakedness exposed to the world, and the physical pain of torture. He has brought justice to the world. He has put the finishing touches to the vibrant masterpiece He has created. He has severed all ties between those who believe and the deeds of darkness. He has borne beauty, light, love, and goodness to the world.

7.              The Word of Ascent. “Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.’ When He had said this, He breathed His last” (Luke 23:46, NIV). Here, His final words to the Father are extracted from Psalm 31:5. These words are filled with trust, rest, and confidence.

May I remember the power of words as I approach God’s throne today! May I enter each circumstance—the good and the bad—in a manner that offers up my lips as pleasing sacrifices to God, patiently surrendering my tongue and lips and teeth and mouth to the Master! May patience place a restraining order on my lips when I am provoked or enticed, hence eliminating the potential for ruined relationships through reckless words—insults, malice, gossip, slander, slur, or sabotage! And, when I fail the patience tests over and over, may I remember my Savior whose flawless record obliterates my guilt!

Alive and Addicted

I awoke with a startling revelation this morning: My name is Louima Lilite and I am alive.

Whoa!


For far too long, I took being alive for granted. However, nearing 17 months of consecutive losses (the deaths of my father, two brothers, and friends), I now readily see life as a miracle.

Again, I confess: My name is Lou and I am alive . . . and addicted.

Addicted?
Yes, I am addicted to air.

Each new molecule of air entering and exiting my system is a powerful drug that beckons me to breathe and breathe and breathe. I cannot have enough of this substance -- my lungs, my nostrils, my brain, my heart, my vocal folds, and my whole being crave it. And in that I am not alone; all human beings, in fact, are addicted to air. The second a person is cured of this addiction is the moment when earthly life evaporates. 

Hence, I breathe.
I inhale and exhale generous lungfuls of air.

Air is life.
Air gives life.
Air sustains life.

Since God is spirit or air, the above statements can be re-written as follows:

God is life.
God gives life.
God sustains life.

And since it has been established through the Word that God is love, we can further say:

Love is life.
Love gives life.
Love sustains life.

Perhaps the problem that plagues our species is the illusory notion that life, true life, is independent of three essential entities -- air, God, and love. 

For one, the frenetic pace of life has all but eradicated time and space in which to breathe. Gradually, our head and heart muscles atrophy for lack of oxygen -- the kind that energizes and sensitizes us toward fruitfulness and intimacy.

For another, the self-entitled ingratitude and the self-glorifying spirit invading the nooks and crannies of heads and hearts arrogantly suggest that life is just fine without God in the equation. Thus, we foolishly overdose on self-sufficiency -- refusing to let God pump out of our stomachs the poisonous lies we had steadily imbibed.

Moreover, society continues to tout its deceitful wares . . .

. . . it is fine to preach unconditional love without liking outcasts.
. . . it is okay to claim unconditional love without forgiving offenders.
. . . it is fine to recommend unconditional love without listening to the cries of sufferers.
. . . it is okay to promote unconditional love without lending a helping hand to orphans and widows.

In other words, we are being taught the idiocy of loveless living to the cacophonous tune of, "I love you but I don't have to like you."

Are we so dull?
Can we not see that all persons are in desperate need of genuine love?
Do we not comprehend that, just like we love those who like us, those estranged from most can only learn to love us and others in return if (and only if) we learn to like them?
Are we not conscious of the necessity to slow down long enough to notice, see, hear, heed, reach out to, embrace, uphold, encourage, strengthen, and bless anyone and everyone strategically placed on our paths?

One thing this long streak of losses has taught me is this: 

Life without air (time and space to breathe), without God (recognizing human dependence and inter-dependence), and without love (sacrificial and unconditional commitment or grace) is not life at all. Such a life is death.

Today, life is beckoning you and me to surrender our addictive nature to its proper rendering. 

a)  Let us breathe -- taking in loads of molecules of air. Let us carve out time and space to swim in air, to relax, to stand firmly grounded though all around us totters.
b)  Let us worship -- revering the One in whom we live, and move, and have our being. Let us be open to the Father, attentive to His Word, and ready to obey His Way and Will for our lives.
c)  Let us love -- yielding our minds, hearts, souls, and bodies to our Creator and placing the interests of our fellow humans above our own. Let us be generous with our affection, commitment, kindness, patience, and respect. 
 
Life on this earth is fleeting. 
It is like a tulip in the field -- it blooms in the spring.

We have been granted no guarantee of life for the next minute. Five minutes from now can usher us into the winter of our lives. Might we take stock today and live life to the fullest? Might we learn to "number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12, NIV)?

Indeed, let us truly live while we are still alive.

Truth and Lies

In this world, we have so many lies being thrown at us that we start rearranging our lives to be in one accord with them. Like darts, lies such as the following prick our brains:

We are too fat, too skinny, too short, too tall, too dark, too light, too forward, too shy, too open, too reserved, too much, too little . . .

No wonder we lose balance and crash.

Gratefully, we are invited to find real truth in God's Word and live by it despite what may come our way.

Jesus says,

"Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, 

so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done 

has been done in the sight of God."

Father, teach us to live by Your holy truth in every circumstance. In Christ alone we pray. Amen!

The Rod of Correction

I am the servant of the God of heaven and earth. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. As such, I need to be continually open to being rebuilt, purified, dedicated, and consecrated only for holy and fruitful purposes. May this earthly tent, this temple, be a token of my love for the Lover of my soul!

Naturally bent to go astray, I need to heed the voice of the Lord which seeks to rein me in as stated in Hosea 2:6,

"Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;

I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way."

Wall me in, Lord! The path that leads to death is too wide and alluring for me. Before I stray too far, have Your thornbushes ready to block my path so that I may follow the narrow way of life. May I feel the sting of Your discipline, the rod of Your correction! May I continue to build and prosper under good biblical training and may my ears be attentive, my heart submissive, so I can walk in Your Way, Your Truth, and Your Life! In Christ alone, I pray. Amen!

Relational Matters

Human beings are people who need people.

As our creator, God knows this basic truth and capitalizes on it by working through relationships to accomplish His mission on earth.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,

and to the ends of the earth."

Acts 1:8, NIV

In other words, 

We are ambassadors. 

As such, we represent Christ and that which matters to Him. What we say and do in our interactions will have a direct impact on the beliefs and opinions others hold regarding Christ and His kingdom. We are an open Bible, a living love letter displayed for all to see. 

We are disciple makers.

The mission of Christ begins with one person who decides to reach another who then reaches out to yet another. It is a small step that turns into a beautiful cycle of multiplication.

We are story-tellers.

We are to tell the world about the love story between the Heavenly Bridegroom and His bride-elect. We are to tell our relatives, friends, co-workers, etc, about the work of Christ in our daily lives. We are to tell people, through our actions, that we are indeed followers of Christ.

We are Christ's image-bearers.

The way we teach directly informs students about Christ.

The way we conduct business testifies about Christ.

The way we drive tells other drivers about Christ.

The way we speak tells listeners about Christ.

The way we tip tells waiters about Christ.

Once we realize that any and every relationship matters greatly to the cause of Christ, we will grow in our willingness and commitment to become genuine and effective witnesses of Christ from our own backyard to the ends of the earth.

Total Freedom

Freedom begins in the spirit and slowly makes its way to the rest of the person until behavior becomes enslaved to the freedom of the spirit. To be truly free means that one has learned and accepted the pleasant boundaries of liberty -- namely, the law of love.

The heart which is governed by total freedom has learned to kill selfish ambitions in order to look to the best interests of others. It has embraced the joy of forgiveness, adopted a lifestyle of sacrificial generosity, rejected jealousy and covetousness, and learned to promote peace in all interactions.

Freedom, an exemplary fellow, walked on earth over 2000 years ago in the form of a carpenter who came from heaven to cease all oppression among men. Instead of political propaganda, He is still choosing personal emissaries to engage people in one-on-one conversations that can lead them to a life of true emancipation and release.