Do You Believe You Can Fly?

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. - Galatians 5:1

If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. - John 8:36

I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. - John 10:10 MESSAGE

This past Sunday at Creekside we finished up our series: Overflowing – a life of abundant generosity. I hope it has been a meaningful six weeks for you and that you heard from God. If you struggled, are still struggling, or are still processing, that is probably the best outcome of all. I do not say that flippantly, but with a good deal of thought. I really do think God wants us to struggle with, and wrestle with, the questions and challenges that He brings before us.

Have you ever seen video of a butterfly emerging from a cocoon? The transformed caterpillar struggles and fights, pushes and undulates until finally he or she is free from its silk tomb. And, she can fly!

I don’t know how much butterflies think, but if they can understand what’s going on, the first thought that must come to their butterfly mind as they lift off the ground is, “This is awesome!” They quickly forget their relatively recent contentment with caterpillar life, the dark turn in life’s circumstances brought about by their unexplainable compulsion to enclose themselves in silk, their awakening in a dark hardened bubble of their own making with no chance of escape save brute caterpillar/butterfly strength; life’s trajectory almost inarguably downward, until they emerge: “Look at me, what happened, I can fly, and I’m beautiful.”

Transformation, when we are in the midst of it, is an often messy and doubt-filled struggle. If we knew the extent of the struggle going in, many of us would simply settle for the life we have known, and leave the struggle for someone else. God, however, has bigger and better plans for us, plans for good and not evil, plans for a future and a hope, plans that we might be transformed, plans that we should fly.

- In what areas are you tempted to settle for the status quo?
- What might your life look like if you were transformed in that area?
- Where do you feel God is calling you toward transformation?
- How does that call cause you to struggle?
- Do you believe that He is with you in that process?

Share your thoughts with others and share them with me.

Peace, Hope and Love,

Doug

A Wonderful Selfish Generocity

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 1 John 3:16–20

It was great to have Katilyn Phillips share with us at Creekside this past Sunday. She said something that particularly stuck with me. She said “I don’t think I am really a generous person, I think people have been generous to me.” You can listen to the entire interview here.

Kaitlyn does not see herself as a generous person. Yet, if you heard her speak you heard a heart of generosity lived out in a life of generosity. I think there is something to that, something we need to pay attention to. I suspect that truly generous people do not feel generous. They don’t feel generous, because they experience the joy of their generosity flowing back to them – truly generous people may actually feel selfish. A life of generosity flows from repeated filling up and a pouring out; seeing God replenish what you gave so that you can give again – and in the process an experience of freedom and joy.

Agree? Disagree? What has your experience been? What might you do to truly experience a life of selfish generosity?

Talk about these questions with others and with me.

Peace, hope and love

Doug

P.S. The video that we showed and that was referenced in the interview can be seen here.

What, Me Worry?

“Do not be anxious about your life . . .” Matthew 6:25; “Do not be anxious about tomorrow . . .” Matthew 6:34: “Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say.” Matthew 10:19; “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6–7

Do you ever worry? That’s a dumb question, of course you do, we all do, it is only natural. Isn’t it? I suppose so; it is natural, it is normal.

But think about those words, “natural,” “normal.” Think about the implications of being bounded by the natural and the normal. When you follow Jesus across the pages of the New Testament, do you see him bounded by the natural and the normal? No. And that was not simply because he was fully God, and that wasn’t a reality for a different time. As followers of Jesus, we are not bound solely by the natural and the normal, but invited into a reality where the supernatural is real.

When we are invited by Jesus into a loving relationship with him, we are indwelt by the Holy Sprit, God himself, living in us and transforming us from the normal, from the natural into the peculiar; a peculiar people Kingdom people, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. . .” (Colossians 1:13)

So here is where it gets unnatural, abnormal: We are commanded as followers of Jesus not to worry – about anything, ever. Would you agree with me that never worrying is unnatural, abnormal, frankly, impossible? God, however, never commands anything that is impossible. He tells his disciple (and us) “with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26). And, he commands us not to worry.

Why are we spending these several weeks talking about money? Because study after study shows that Christians and non-Christians alike worry, and that when we worry, we worry most often about money. It’s that simple. In the process of our worry, we elect to be bound by the normal and the natural and rarely if ever experience the supernatural. So many Christians would love to see a miracle and yet spend an enormous amount of energy avoiding the circumstances where miracles happen. Jesus says repeatedly that money (and the connected issues of control and security) is one, if not the, primary things that that gets in the way of our experiencing the Kingdom reality.

- Do you find this true about yourself?
- What do you worry about?
- Do you believe it is possible to live a life without worry?
- What first step could you take toward eliminating worry in your life?

As always, share your stories and your processing of these important questions, with others and with me.

Peace, hope and love

Doug