When teams that could win face teams that should win, what usually happens? The teams that could win, win. That’s because they are playing with something extra. They are already above expectations just to be in the same arena with the team that should win, so they have nothing to lose.
There is no place in the believer’s life for blame. Blame is never justified and it never serves a positive function. It is as old as Adam and as prevalent as sin. It’s the way we divert anything incoming that might humble us or help us face the truth about ourselves and whatever we are doing wrong. It’s a diversion. If we are charged with something, right or not, blame throws back something on someone or something else, and since we are all sinners who fall short of the glory of God, you can always find something to blame on someone else.
If you had been somehow able to view from outside our bathroom window, the conversation I just had with my wife, (why is it that all meaningful conversations in my house happen in the bathroom or the kitchen?) you would have wondered what that crazy woman was doing bouncing back and forth, hopping first on one foot, then the other, and at twelve midnight no less. What she was trying to do was have me grasp the significance of what she calls, “Forgiveness Now!” or if that doesn’t capture it, maybe, “You Can’t Outrun Forgiveness” will help.
Any relationship is going to require a Grace Card. That’s because we are destined to fail each other over and over again. We will fail each other because we are fallible, and we will fail without even trying, because our expectations are always too high for the other to meet.
Here is something you can know about every human being regardless of faith or religion, even if they say something to the contrary: They are searching for God. How can I be so sure about this? Because we were made this way. God put the need for Him in each one of us. Every people group, anywhere on the planet at any time in history gives clear evidence of worship. We are trying to fill a vacuum inside of us. Blaise Pascal wrote 350 years ago that money, power, pleasure, and prestige are all things we shovel into the big black hole we all have in our lives called “Only God fits here,” and that is why we can’t get “no satisfaction” without Him.
When Marti tells me my hair looks like I just put my finger in a light socket, that means it’s time for a haircut. So yesterday I got shorn. The woman who cuts my hair in town is Caucasian and married to a Latino from Mexico. She’s a Christian and grew up as a pastor’s daughter in an evangelical church.
She announced yesterday, while she was cutting my hair, that she and her husband have finally found a church they like. She said it’s taken over a year to find this church and it’s almost an hour away. When I asked her why, she said it was because it was the first time her husband felt welcome. “It’s hard to worship,” he says, “when you know the person next to you wishes you would go back to where you came from.”
Do you know that feeling? Have you ever felt judged in church for whatever reason? It may just be perceived judgment, but perceived judgment is still real, and it can be triggered by body language or a certain look. That doesn’t mean we should all go looking for a place where we don’t feel judged. It means we may need to be the ones who turn grace outward to those who judge us. Kind of like turning the tables on judgment. After all, Jesus said those who judge are only judging themselves.
But my hairstylist and her husband were fortunate to find a multicultural, multigenerational church — a church “On the Road to Reconciliation” in downtown Santa Ana whose mission is to be the hands and feet of Jesus in their city and beyond. That is grace turned outward. Grace got you in, grace is extended to all.
Grace turned outward is a belief and an action. It’s not just a concept. Hey, if they let you in, they’ve got to let everybody in. You have to see yourself as the worst, and truly believe it, before Grace Turned Outward works.
Most groups operate on the premise: “Become like us, think like us, look like us and we’ll let you in.” When a church does that, it’s an offense to the very message of the gospel. That’s the gospel of non-welcome — the gospel of exclusion.
I can’t think of a church anywhere that wouldn’t say they preach the gospel of welcome, but the question remains: is everybody welcome? My hairstylist’s husband would have something to say about that.
That’s why Grace Turned Outward is so important. Grace outward takes us out beyond being inward and feeling what we feel. It’s about taking grace to others. It’s about getting in other people’s shoes. It’s what we all need.
Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luke 12:32
When you look at the world and your little place in it, it’s easy to feel small and insignificant. Especially in light of the recent shootings of innocent, random people that make us feel so helpless. The result of this is to be afraid — to be overcome by worry and the terror that most of these attacks are trying to create.
On the day that you were born the angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair
And golden starlight in your eyes of blue
Remember this one by the Carpenters? It should be a theme song for Christians as a reminder of how we should view and what we should want to do with people … celebrate their uniqueness and get close to them.
Have you noticed how easy it is to grow numb over shootings and mayhem and death? What’s going on right now defies rational thought. You open your newspaper and find articles about two mass shootings inside of 24 hours where two people have killed 29 and injured over 50 (we have a tendency to ignore the injured — at least they didn’t die — without realizing that for many, their lives, plans and dreams have been forever altered) and what do we do with this information? We file it in a growing file under “Incomprehensible” and go on to read about business or sports.
Yesterday we established the fact that Jesus has put us all in the discipleship and disciple-making business, and that part of understanding what that means is to realize we are all students of Christ. A disciple is a student, and class is always in session.
John Fischer The Catch 