What Did He Just Say?

This past weekend I said something that was alarming. Even to me.

The introduction of my speech included the use of an "F" word from a childhood memory. Certainly there were gasps. People stunned with bewildered looks on stoic faces. While others sheepishly grinned. But not for reasons you would think.

In an effort to garner the attention of my audience I had stooped to a level of unprecedented depths. I said the word "fart" in church. And as a 10 year old boy in the home of my best friend I had carelessly used this "obscene gesture" to describe the unpleasant disdain of my friend's ill-timed shenanigans.

But this was not the alarming statement of my speech.

My sermon had focused on some obscene "F" words that prevent us from accomplishing and fulfilling our God-given calling in life. Words and phrases like "I'm fine" and fear and failure.

I expressed these sentiments as casual thoughts and attitudes that rob us from experiencing life to the full. To say "I'm fine" keeps casual conversations at bay from peering into the depths of our soul. It will not allow for honesty and vulnerability to shape our attitudes and actions. Fear frustrates and paralyzes us from accomplishing even greater endeavors than our resume already includes. Failure convinces us that we are the sum of our past mistakes instead of believing in second chances.

And then I shared what I believe can be life-altering thoughts to depose these gestures that keep us bound captive from experiencing God's best for our lives.

Forgiveness, faith, and freedom.

When we recognize that we've been forgiven we can choose to embrace and extend that forgiveness to create a dynamic shift in the way we see ourselves and others around us. When our faith is renewed it allows trust to take root, not in our strengths and abilities, but in the eternal presence and power of God to prevail. And the freedom we now have in Christ begins to release the chains and bondage of sin in our lives. To see ourselves as sons and daughters of God for that's who we are.

And here was the alarming illustration that is a constant battle and a constant frustration even in my own life.

Remember, the children of Israel? God sent Moses to be their deliverer from Egypt. They crossed the Red Sea and the Egyptian army was drowned. And God's people were free.

But do you remember their response to Moses in the desert? "You brought us out here to die! It would have been better for us to stay in Egypt!"

Are you serious? It would have been better to be in bondage and captivity and under the harsh rule of Pharaoh than to be free among God's people?

Lest we be too harsh we must remember that our hearts are just as sin-stricken as theirs. We oftentimes prefer the known to the unknown. The familiar rather than the unfamiliar. Even though Egpyt is more costly than the wilderness we still prefer bondage over freedom. Why? This battle that's raging in our minds blankets these "F" words: fine, fear, failure, forgiveness, faith, and freedom and we're constantly having to choose between Egypt and the wilderness.

Conforming to the patterns of this world will keep us confined to Egypt's landscape of captivity but being transformed by the renewing of our minds will lead us precisely toward God's will for our lives be it the wilderness or beyond.

Here's my dilemma: Egpyt or the wilderness? Conform or be transformed?  Fine or forgiven? Fear or faith? Failure or free? Slave or son? Whatever course God is establishing for my life, that's the path I want to take. The journey that places all my trust and confidence in Him. Because He's good.

Can I Really Trust You?

My son and I recently spent the day at Stone Mountain, the world's largest exposed piece of granite, riding the Skyride and hiking down the steep western border.

There are also smaller chunks of granite around the park that made for great places to run, jump, and play hide-and-seek.

As my son's courage continued to grow, I told him to jump off the rocks into my arms. "I'll catch you! Just jump! You can trust me!" And as he hesitated and considered all the possible outcomes he said, "Can I really trust you?"

I'm his dad. There's nothing more important to me than loving and protecting and providing for my son. And he's going to ask if he can trust me?

But how often are we guilty of asking the same question?

Can I really trust you?

Trust is a "firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something."

Because we've been let down by others' unreliability we find ourselves holding loosely in our minds any real belief that we can trust them. Our hopes have been stripped from the firm grasp of placing our lives, our emotions, our future in their hands.

Broken trust can leave us basking in the rays of relational conflict. Where we find ourselves drowning in the tears of misplaced trust. Strangling on the words of broken promises. Carrying the bags of betrayal to the next street corner of frustration and insecurity.

And then people want to come offer their opinions and advice. "You have every right to be upset. You don't need them. Their time's coming. Forget them. Take some time away."

Even the religious crowd wants to chime in. "Well, you know everything happens for a reason. God is working all things together for good. Vengeance is Mine thus saith the Lord."  

But when someone's trust has been violated they don't necessarily need our high and lofty opinions. They don't even really need our coffee cup verses from the Bible. What they need, what I needed, is someone to be present. Someone to be remain faithful. Someone they can trust.

My son jumped, not because I told him to jump, but because he quickly replayed in his mind all the times I had been there before. He asked if he could trust me but he already knew the answer. He knew I would catch him!

Remember, I said that my priority was to love and protect and provide for my son. I'm His father. And my Father, perhaps your Father, is doing the same for me. He's loving and protecting and providing for me. He's building my trust in Him.

Spurgeon once spoke these words, "God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.”

I may not always see the way He sees but I'm learning to trust Him anyway. Why? Even though His ways and thoughts are higher, He's always been present and faithful. He's never forsaken me. He's never abandoned me. He's never let me down on one single promise. He's a good good Father!