Blessed at Work

"The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered... the Lord gave him success in everything he did... the Lord blessed the household...because of Joseph..." Genesis 39: 1-5

Now, I'm not into prosperity gospel, "name it claim it" and all of that and I don't believe this passage teaches that at all. This is a character issue. Here is a picture of a young Hebrew man, a slave at that, Joseph, who was so into God and God was so into him that he was good to have around. Even Potiphar, an Egyptian who had no interest in the Hebrew religion recognized that the Lord was with Joseph. Everything Joseph did was blessed by God so much so that it carried over into his duties in Potiphar's household affairs.

As Christians, are we a blessing to our workplace? Do we prosper at everything we do so much so that it brings prosperity to our employers? We hear so much talk of employers exploiting their workers and even Christians chime in saying "it's not fair" or "corporate greed this and that" blah, blah, blah... Joseph was a slave. He had NO rights and yet, God was in Him and he was blessed and was a blessing to others. Could he have complained? Yes. He was beaten up by his own family and sold into slavery but instead, he remained in God and God blessed him.

How can you be a blessing to your workplace today?

Maybe, as Christ followers, we need to stop complaining so much about our work environments (at least you're not a slave, you are free to quit) and focus on how to be a blessing to those we work for. It will be better for us in the end.

Get out of the way of "The Way"...

I'm re-reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell, yeah, it's that good. Here's a thought,

"Times change, God doesn't...We learn and grow, and the world shifts around us, and the Christian faith is alive only when it is listening, morphing, innovating, letting go of whatever has gotten in the way of Jesus..."

What, in my life get's in the way of Jesus for other people?

"We're All Going to the Same Place Anyways..."

I was having a discussion with someone last evening and the topic came to religion (as it somehow always does with me). She said, "if people would just realize that we all came from the same place and we're all going to the same place, we'd be so much better off." Well, needless to say I had to change the topic because the setting we were in didn't lend itself to the discussion. But, I want to delve deeper here.

Her belief is known as Universalism and she stated it perfectly. It doesn't matter what we believe, we all go to the same place. Well, there are some big holes in that thought. First of all, not everyone believes in the same thing so how can we go to the same place if that same place is different for everyone? Does that mean that as a Christian, I'm really entering Nirvana when I pass or that I'll be re-incarnated as Hindus believe? I didn't sign up for that; I want heaven. It's like buying a car. You save up your money in anticipation for this perfect car, say, a BMW you had all picked out. You sacrificed and scrimped and saved and when you're ready to buy, they bring out an Acura. You'd be disappointed, right? I mean you sacrificed because you knew you were going to get a BMW but instead you got an Acura (no offense to Acura owners, by the way). Which brings me to the next point; choice.

God, as I have articulated before, is pro-choice. God gave Adam and Eve a choice in the Garden. They could eat of any tree in the garden except one. What did they choose? the one that was forbidden. They had a choice. To suggest that "we all go to the same place" suggests that we really don't have a choice in the matter. God may as well have made a bunch of mind numbed robots unable to choose but he didn't; he created people who have the choice to love and follow him or to reject him. He loves us that much. John 3:16 says that God sent his son so that whoever believes would have eternal life. Belief is an act of the will. You choose to believe in something and we have the choice to believe that God loves us and loved us so much, he created a way to restore our relationship with him through the sacrifice of his son. We don't all go to the same place and I'm grateful for that choice.

Time to Re-think...

I'm really digging Rob Bell's Book Velvet Elvis. Read what he writes, this is crucial to the church today.

"...the most powerful things happen when the church surrenders it's desire to convert people and convince them to join. It is when the church gives away in radical acts of service and compassion, expecting nothing in return, that the way of Jesus is most vividly put on display. To do this, the church must stop thinking about everybody in categories of in or out, saved or not, believer or unbeliever. besides the fact that these terms are offensive...they work against Jesus' teachings about how we are to treat each other."

Wow, I must say, I agree...

"In Your Heart?"

My little girl once asked, "how does jesus get into my heart?" That's a really popular thought in Christianity but it's simply not biblical. How about these, "have you prayed "the sinner's prayer?" "Have you read the "four spiritual laws?" Do any of these sound familiar? Can I share something with you? None of them are biblical. That's right. You will not find anywhere in the bible any of these concepts. Please take note, I'm not suggesting that they are bad or wrong. You won't find the trinity in the bible either but that is an accepted concept in orthodox Christianity.

So, just how did early Christians "get saved"? That concept is in the Bible so we do have a framework from which to begin. here are some concepts.

• We read that God loved the world so much that he gave his son so that whoever believes would have eternal life.
• Paul says that "by grace you have been saved, through faith and not from works..." and that if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

Why am I bringing all this up? Because in doing "church" differently, I think we need to get back to the basics. Let's get away from all of the processes that we've created. The Bible says that to be saved we need to do two things, believe it and confess it. We've created such a "country club" like atmosphere with our christianese and secret phrases and handshakes (OK, maybe not the handshakes) that we alienate ourselves. Don't get me wrong, the message alone will alienate us but we don't need to make it any harder. Remember, the bible teaches that God loved the whole world that whoever believes that's pretty big, it's not exclusive of anyone, and confesses that belief, would be saved.

Christian

I read a great quote this morning by Rob Bell, "Christian is a great noun and a poor adjective." Love it. To be a Christian is to be a follower of Jesus. To label something as "christian" such as music, art, literature or whatever runs the risk of putting us in awkward positions. For example, I don't listen to a lot of "christian" radio because, well, honestly, I don't like it. Some of it can be really cheesy or just bad. So now, I've got this "christian" title in front of it. Is it supposed to make it better? So, bad radio with the word christian in front of it makes it better? No, it doesn't. What it does then is give the impression that christian radio is bad. What about a "christian" business owner that is corrupt? Or the "christian" politician; OK, maybe that's an oxymoron, but you get my point. Stop trying to be christian and be a Christian.

Easter Thoughts

I'm kind of sad today. Tomorrow is Easter and all around me I hear people talking about going to the beach, having dinner with family or friends, stuff that really is all well and good but I don't hear anything about attending a service or celebrating the resurrection which is what Easter is really all about. And those that do go, how many go out of obligation rather than real curiosity? Have we become so bored with the story of Jesus' betrayal, death and resurrection that we just yawn at it and consider it just another option on an otherwise busy Sunday? I don't say this in judgement. It's partially my fault for not making it more of a big deal in my life so that others may get excited or at least curious about it. I mean, when I got U2 tickets, I was telling everyone. This is infinitely more important and greater. My very belief system and worldview is based on this one series of events. How do I portray it in my life so as to make it inviting to others around me?

Wrestling

I know it's Easter this weekend but something else is on my mind. Have you ever wrestled with God? Genesis 32 has as interesting story about Jacob wrestling with God. Don't believe me? Read it for yourself. Apparently, Jacob put up a good fight going all night until finally, his hip was dislocated. The Bible says he walked with a limp from that day on.
I've been reading a book called Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. In it, he invites us to "wrestle with God." There's a lot of difficult stuff in the Bible and sometimes, I know I have, we just accept it. It's what we've always been taught and we never question it. It just is. Take for example, Easter. Why did God have to send his Son to die a brutal death on a Roman cross? Why not just snap his fingers or wave a holy wand or something? I mean he SPOKE existence into creation. Why did Jesus have to die? And oh by the way, did he REALLY die? I mean if he was God incarnate, can God REALLY die? And how could he be God incarnate?
Don't miss my point; I'm not questioning the truth or authority of scripture, I'm just suggesting that we "wrestle" with it a bit. Might I add, like Jacob, we won't win and we may leave the fight limping but how awesome to walk away knowing that we "wrestled with God."

Will We Ever Learn?

So, I'm scrambling to get some papers done by the deadline next week while still allowing some of the information I'm blowing through to actually sink in! What a concept! As I'm writing about "Common Themes of Old Testament Prophecy" it's occurring to me that nothing has changed really over the last few thousand years. The basic problem of mankind is that we continue to live the way we want to live rather than by the principles set forth by God. I mean, he even tells us, "if you live this way, you'll be blessed; you'll do well." But in our stubbornness we say "wait, I've got a better way!" It sounds like my 4 year old when I ask her to do something; "Wait, wait" she yells as she tries to do it her way. Then, out of frustration she realizes her way really wasn't the best way and to boot, she has the consequences of disobeying me in the first place. If she'd done it the way I told her in the first place, things would have worked out just fine.

We are no different when it comes to God. He's laid out a plan and a method for us to live our lives that in the end is guaranteed successful but we seem to think we can do it better. When it doesn't work, we then have the audacity to blame God for the consequences. Will we ever learn?