What up!

Haven't blogged for awhile because Matthew ditched his Mac and got an iPad, which he says is great, but I can barely type on the thing.  (So NOT a replacement for a laptop.) I'm a carpenter. I build stuff. I'm not a super-typist.

Anyway: MAN, this planet is off-kilter. Seriously. 

For example, these religious leaders today. They decided to stone a woman to death, because they caught her in adultery.  (Where's the guy she was with? Don't ask. Double-standard.)

Anyway, they're all the "good", Bible-reading, law-keeping sort, and take "stands" against sin - other people's, anyway. So I pointed out that they could go ahead and do that, provided none of them have sinned. 

That ticked them off (surprise!) and they left.

And I told the lady that I didn't condemn her, and to go and sin no more.

This made her VERY happy.

Posted today at 4:32 p.m.

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COMMENTS

Well, Jesus, I'm sure your well intended, but once again, your not really teaching her a lesson.  She DID sin, and sin is serious. Those were some of our top Bible teachers there today, and you certainly came off like you think its OK to do adultery.  

Again, I know you're well intended, but you can't let people think its OK to sin.

-- lizlovesjesus21

Ya, I agree with Liz up there. It's one thing to be for "grace", because we ALL are for that, of course, but its another thing to just let her walk away after what she did.  You probably had some kids watching, too, who now think God is just fine with sexual immorality.  

Grace is great, BUT... we can't be all "grace, grace, grace..."  

-- randy_g

Jesus, you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater, again.  There's a whole movement of people like you who are just trying to be "cool", and aren't taking a stand against adultery. I'm sure it earns you friends, but at what cost?  You can take the grace thing TOO FAR.  

-- christie

I've been reading your blog for awhile, Jesus, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to switch blogs.

I know you're God and so forth, and I go to church multiple times a week to be on your good side, along with my kids.  But they read this blog, too, and they are going to get the idea that, when they grow up, it's okay to have adulterous sex.  That's not something I want them to be doing.  

I like the stuff you said about how we need to be a GOOD person.  Maybe stick to that.  I'm switching to a blog that's safer for my family.

-- concerned mom

Well, I like the "sin no more" part, but in our culture, so many people just ignore that.

-- Bill

Wait: Are you guys serious?

You honestly think this woman's life wasn't totally changed by this? You honestly think the law changes people, deep-down? 

You'd seriously RATHER they kept their law and killed her?  

You guys genuinely don't think you're just as guilty as she is?  

You think if people are afraid of the law, their hearts will be right with God, and they'll stop sinning?

UH... obvious question here, but... have YOU?

You actually say, "Grace, BUT..."?  Like you really, truly WANT a "but" when it comes to the grace God is showing YOU?

REALLY?

You're worried about the example for everyone ELSE, when you, yourselves have sinful hearts, and you're fully aware of the law?

You WANT to be under the law?

You'd RATHER have big-shot religious leaders pretend they've got their moral acts together, so your kids learn to be THAT way?

You think, "I don't condemn you, go and sin no more," doesn't take sin seriously enough?  Do you think what Jesus does on the cross takes sin "seriously enough" to cover this woman's sin?

Or, let's be honest here, you'd actually rather it didn't.  That way you can keep your, "Grace, BUT..."

You know what?  It's sad, really. Apparently, you haven't experienced grace at all, like this woman just did, or you'd never have this reaction. 

-- Paul of Tarsus

Yeah, Jesus, I'm with most of the people here.  Grace is great and all, but you can over-do it.

I *know* you've got a good heart, and love how you've healed some people, etc.

But just telling someone to "sin no more" after taking away the consequences isn't going to work.

She'll just go do it again, since now she doesn't have to worry about the consequences because you got involved.

-- Ed H.

Yeah, I'm confused, Jesus. I thought you came to teach us how to stop sinning. If that was your point, then why would you do this?

I mean, if you're whole point is "Stop sinning NOW!" it doesn't make any sense that you would do something like this. 

-- Ashlie23asdfasdf

HEY THERE I TOTALLY WORK FROM HOME AND MAKE $36 AN HOUR AND YOU CAN TOO!!!!  I NEVER THOUGHT IT WOULD HAPPEN TO ME JUST CLICK ON THIS LINK AND START MAKING DREAMS COME TRUE WWW.WORKFROMHOMEMAKEMONEY.ORG/BIGBUCKS  

-- iworkfromhome

Well, Jesus, I happen to know several of the men you TRIED to embarrass today. And they are EXCELLENT men of God.  So for you to side with a KNOWN adulteress, in front of everyone, when THEY were just doing what God's law calls for, well, that's terrible.

I can see why they are really made at you.  And you claim to be a Christian!

-- Upset

jesus i am so glad u rescued me, to. 

-- horsegurl9

Hey Brant,

So I have been feeling really far away from God reasently. I've tried praying and reading my Bible but nothing is changing. Do you have any advise? 

Thanks,

Maddie

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Hey Maddie!

A couple thoughts about this:

I have felt like this before.  MANY times, and sometimes... for years.  

I've thought, "Maybe I'm sinning so much, and maybe that's the problem." And I had people even questioning whether I was really a Christian at all.  But I don’t think that was it.  I was honestly calling out to God for forgiveness, honestly calling out to him for some kind of sign, or reassurance that he was the there – all that.  

And you know what?  I'm a stronger believer now. 

Turns out, the "feelings" element of our relationship is a wonderful thing, but FAITH is not founded on that. If we're dependent on it, we begin to mistake feelings for reality.  We are called to actually TRUST God. 

You can hear the words "trust God" or "trust Jesus", and they start to lose their meaning after awhile.  But now, now that you have no warm, God-is-here feelings, you really DO have to trust him, and what he has promised you.  "I am with you, always," Jesus said.

Always.  He's with you, whether you feel it or not.

I even think, now, that the loss of that God-is-close feeling helped me understand him more, and my faith is more mature.  

Some of my "heroes", the people I admire for their faith, have gone through the same thing, sometimes for decades.

This is not a reason to despair.  It IS a reason to re-think what a relationship with God might look like.  Remember, God blesses us in many ways, not just feelings.  And – this is REALLY important – God wants us to want him for HIMSELF, not for the stuff he gives us.  

As a father, I "get" this.  I want my kids to love ME, their loving dad, and not just for the fact that I give them stuff like, say, food, a phone, college, or even warm, protected feelings.  I want them to love me not for what they get, but because they freely can love someone besides themselves.

And THAT, of course, is real love.  If they love ME, I'm thrilled. In our relationship with God, valuing his GIFTS higher than God, himself, is actually idolatry.  He's a jealous lover. And he's good. He knows the "stuff", even feelings, aren't, ultimately, what we need.  What we need is him.

So be honest with him, call out to him, even be open about your anger or frustration. But TRUST him, and know that he may be taking you to a place you haven't been before.

One last thing. Someone gave me a brief example on this:  If I'm in a large room with you, and I'm yelling our conversation, you can hear me just fine.  But if I whisper, just barely whisper, you can only hear me…

...if you come closer.

I think there's something to that.  And I think there's something maturing about just KNOWING God is good, being reminded by other believers that he is good, and serving people, even without the feelings. 

Okay, one REALLY last thing.  I mean it this time, since I have a meeting to go to:  Our feelings are just plain untrustworthy, anyway.  

They're dependent on so many things that have NOTHING to do with the subject of our feelings.  Like, am I sleeping enough?  Have I eaten well today? Am I hydrated? Have I had too much (or not enough!) coffee?  Am I exercising? What's happening to me, physically, right now? Am I tired? Have other things happened that have been really stressful, like a break-up, or a move, or a death in the family, or even something good, but big and stress-inducing, like a recent trip?  Many reasons to be suspicious of our feelings.

So many factors. Everything changes.  

He does not.

God bless you, Maddie!

Best,

Brant

I didn't write this. Mike Yaconelli wrote this. And I realize this is the second blog entry in a row inspired by heroes of mine, both of whom died in car accidents.  I didn't do it intentionally. And I apologize if I'm breaking any laws by posting this. I had to re-type it all, because I can't find it on the web, anywhere. He wrote it years ago, in a now-defunct magazine, and I made a copy of it (another law violation?) and stuck it in a box in my garage. When I read it on the air today, we were inundated with requests to see it, so here you go.

I highly recommend Mike's book Messy Spirituality, by the way. He was a game-changer for me.

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It's Time to Party, by Mike Yaconelli

Recently, my wife and I were having our devotions and reading our favorite devotional guide, Cosmopolitan. In it was another one of those mindless quizzes.  (You know the ones: How Responsible Are You? How Sensual Are You? Do You Have ESP? Will Your Marriage Last?) One of the questions caught my eye. It said:

Which would you prefer?

a) a wild, turbulent life filled with joy, sorrow, passion, and adventure - intoxicating successes and stunning setbacks, or

b) a happy, secure, predictable life surrounded by many friends and family, without such wide swings of fortune and mood?

I thought the answer was obvious. Everyone, I thought, would choose the first option. I was shocked to discover that a good majority would choose the second option. And then it occurred to me: I have been working with adolescents for the past twenty-nine years. And, when I ask them to describe adults, one word always comes up - borrrrrring.

As I began to think about it, I realized that most adults I know are boring. They don't have fun anymore. Oh sure, get a few drinks under their belts and they act alive for awhile. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about being and acting alive all the time.

The truth is that games are wasted on the young. Little kids don't know how to play games. Remember when you were seven years old and you played hide-and-seek? You'd hide behind a telephone pole with half your body hanging out. No, hide-and-seek isn't for children. It's for people like you and me. Now that I'm 46, I know how to hide. I'm a darn good hider.

I have suggested a game of hide-and-seek to many adult audiences and I am always amazed at the response. I see adults all throughout the group nudging each other, quietly discussing a great hiding place they just thought of, secretly planning a game with their children. It doesn't take much to make most of us realize that we have become too serious, too stressful. The result is that we hae forgotten how to live life. It seems like the older we get, the more difficult it is for us to enjoy living. It reminds me of a description of life given by Rabbi Edward Cohn:

"Life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time, all your weekends, and what do you get at the end of it? ... I think that the life cycle is all backward. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live twenty years in an old-age home. You get kicked out when you're too young. You get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You go to college; you party until you're ready for high school; you go to grade school; you become a little kid; you play. You have no responsibilities. You become a little baby; you go back into the womb; you spend your last months floating; and you finish up as a gleam in somebody's eye."

It's hard to imagine we were a gleam in someone's eye once. What happened to the gleam in our eye? What happened to that joyful, crazy, spontaneous, fun-loving spirit we once had? The childlikeness in all of us gets snuffed out over the years.

A.W. Tozer once said, "This society has put out the light in men's souls." He had it right. The more pagan a society becomes, the more boring its people become. The sign that Jesus is in our hearts, the evidence of the truth of the Gospel is... we still have a light on in our souls. We are alive, never boring, always playful, exhibiting in our everydayness the "spunk" of the Spirit.

The light in our souls is not some pious somberness. It is the spontaneous, unpredictable love of life. Christians are not just people who live godly lives. We are people who know how to live, period. Christians are not just examples of moral purity. We are also people filled with a bold mischievousness. Christians not only know how to practice piety. We also know how to party.

I believe it's time for the party to begin.