Ancient Path of Peace

One of the great joys of my life was making friends with Craig Smith. He was an up and coming contemporary Christian artist back in the day. He won a dove award and his music career was beginning to take off. However, he had such a heart for worship, evangelistic and pastoral ministry that he decided to stay home and help establish a local church ministry and to compose and then basically "give away" his recorded music all over the world as an overflow of his love for Jesus and what He had done for Craig and as a musical outreach to people who had not yet come to faith.

I have always been deeply moved by Craig's music and every variety of it--contemplative, celebratory, rock--whatever! Back around 2000, we collaborated on a project called Your Kingdom Come. Integrity Music produced the live worship CD at our church. It was all based around Craig's songs that had been inspired by the Lord's Prayer. He asked me to write a devotional book as a companion for the music and Charisma House published it. The CD and the book share that same title and cover art.

Now Craig has done it again. He has developed a website where anyone in the world can go and, at no cost, download a compilation of amazing songs that were inspired by Psalm 23. It's called Ancient Path of Peace and it was especially created to help Christian leaders connect with God in the midst of the press of intensive ministry to others. I have listened to it over and over again during quiet times and it's classic Craig Smith--songs of intimacy, gratitude, joy, faith, hope--deep rivers of divine life.

This blog is definitely overdue--I'm sorry I haven't told you about it before, but...better late than never! You can click on the site, sign in so he knows a bit about you and download the music for your personal enrichment. Enjoy and delight yourself in God and some amazing music crafted for His honor. Just hit this site: http://www.kardiamedia.com/ and follow the prompts at the bottom of the page.

The Salt-Lick of the Earth!

I was sitting in the board meeting of Church of the Hills in Austin TX with some good friends yesterday. We were speaking about the importance of believers being a gracious and dynamic “presence” sent by God into the seven “mind molding” arenas of our cultures: government, education, business, family, church, media, and arts/entertainment. We were lamenting about how the church has too often insulated itself from our Father’s world and the people within it that He so desperately loves and for whom Jesus has offered his life.

Church leaders have called people out of the world and into the church but we have subconsciously (and sometimes consciously) resisted “sending” our fellow-members back out into the world bearing the life-transforming Life of Christ within, a life-style that is aligned and integrated with that Life and then simply shining for Christ in those obvious realms in which God has gifted and called them to serve. This problem seems so fear-based to me and fear is antithetical to the Spirit of Jesus and his love.

I have heard about the powerful witness through many years of the people of the Presbyterian church in D.C. that was once pastored by Richard Halverson. This was a church home to many influential believers strategically placed by God in government, business, education and media. He apparently taught them that salt does its job best when it is scattered, melts into the food it flavors and becomes a powerful, but often “invisible” influence. He spoke to them about the importance of many “good works” being done through them that had no apparent connection to their church name. It’s amazing what good can happen when no one cares who gets the credit!

This is, of course, not the only analogy to describe our witness. Jesus also said that we are to be a city set on a hill—and that is impossible to hide. But, Jesus did not say to us: “You are the 'salt-lick' of the earth”!

Open or Secret Righteousness?

Mt 5:16 "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Mt 6:1 "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

I love meditating on the Sermon on the Mount. Just think...it's the most famous sermon in the history of the entire world and...it was delivered by none other than the Prince of Life Himself, our Master Jesus. It's actually very brief and it's message penetrates to the core of the human heart and condition.

Have you ever noticed the apparent contradiction of the above two statements that are both a part of this amazing sermon? Have you ever wrestled with obeying them simultaneously? Maybe it's just the way my brain works! Anyway, I think that the contradiction is merely superficial in nature. I think they can be synthesized by applying the following concepts.

1. Beneath (on a "subterranean" level) any outward display or demonstration of our faith through "good works" (which are a natural outflow of the reality of life of Jesus within us), is a genuine interactive friendship in real-time with the Trinity in the innermost chambers of our hearts--a "secret place", if you will.

2. I believe that Peter was referring to this secret aspect of our being and relationship with God when he used the phrase, the "hidden person of the heart" (1 Pet 3:4). It is in this hidden realm where proper intentions to do good are conceived and formed in partnership with the Holy Spirit.

3. So as we determine to do some act of righteousness, we do not consider if people will notice it. We may even have the ability to keep them from knowing the source of the good--and that might be an appropriate course of action--depending on the nature of the act. We essentially do the good thing, whatever it may be, to please our Father and not "in order to be seen" by people.

4. The beautiful irony is, that when we live this way, we will not ultimately be able to hide the "light" of the good we do and...we should not be ashamed of the radiance of Christ that will inevitably shine in, around and through us. It is by this inside/out process that we allow our light to shine before men "in such a way" that they will glorify our heavenly Father...instead of them glorifying us or, even worse, as happens too often in the realm of toxic religion...us glorifying ourselves!

Individuality and Community

Hi--I'm back after taking a bit of a break from writing. I wanted some time to process my dad's death in a time of quietness. Thanks for your prayers--I and my family are doing well. I am presently preparing for an important trip to an Eastern country to share the good news of our Lord and Master, Jesus. Please lift me up before the Father--that He will smile on this mission and use me as an instrument in His hand.

1 Cor 12:27
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

In this classic chapter, Paul addresses the tension of being an individual before God who is also called to be integrated with other individuals into the corporate "body" of Christ. Our local church body has included in our values' statement both "individual personhood" and "community". I'm so glad that we have done this as I believe it reflects two very important matters that reside in God's great heart for people. In fact, unity of substance and diversity of personhood is even true of the One true God! We are called by the apostles' teaching to avoid co-dependency (and the inferiority complex that is associated with it) as well as strident independence (and the superiority complex associated with it) and to rise up to a kind of healthy interdependence in our relationships with our fellow disciples of Jesus that speaks of a security in our personal identity (and the personal privileges and responsibilities that are associated with it) and also of the humility of heart that it requires to give our strengths and gifts away to build others up in the faith.

In practical terms, this means that we are called to honor and respect one another's quest to discover and do the will of God without seeking to over-control our brothers and sisters in the name of "unity" (that often looks more like uniformity!) I believe that this is the basic nature of our covenant with one another--to help each one find and do the Father's will--for His pleasure above all else.

I love to ponder the paradoxes and mysteries of the kingdom of God--I find them at the core of every central truth of Biblical faith.