The Sheep and the Goats…An Invitation

Luke 14:12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

I was reading this passage recently for the purposes of doing a painting and it fascinated me. There’s something beautifully selfless, the idea of doing things for those who can do nothing in return and trusting God for the blessing. It’s particularly fitting in light of what Christ has done for us. He has given us a gift we cannot repay, the best we can do is devote our lives to serving others and I believe that is the invitation Christ has given everyone who calls upon his name. I was having a hard time seeing the image in this passage but it drew my mind to another passage.

Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
   34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

   37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

   40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Jesus is telling us that whatever we do to help those in need, we are actually doing for Him. It makes sense if you think about it. Hungry, Thirsty, Stranger, in need, sick and in prison, we were all these things when Christ came to our rescue. For us to be the sheep of our shepherd, we need to follow our shepherd.

Interestingly, Jesus also speaks to those who refuse his invitation to serve. 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

   44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
   45 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
The least of these are all around us and we as Christians have been invited to stand up and meet their need. How will we respond to the invitation? Will we be sheep or goats?

Bible Reading Guide
An important part of following God is knowing what He wants and a great way to know what He wants is to read His Word. Follow this plan and you will finish reading the Bible in a year.
1 Kings 9-10; Proverbs 17
1 Kings 11-12
Ecclesiastes 1-4; Psalm 80
Ecclesiastes 5-8; Psalm 101
You can also download your own chart here.

#Trust 30 Alternative Paths

Sometimes the toughest thing about art is the idea

The Challenge:
When good is near you, when you have life in yourself, it is not by any known or accustomed way; you shall not discern the foot-prints of any other; you shall not see the face of man; you shall not hear any name; the way, the thought, the good, shall be wholly strange and new. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The world buzzes about goals and visions. Focus. Create a vivid picture of exactly where you want to go. Dream big, then don’t let anything or anyone stop you. The problem, as Daniel Gilbert wrote in Stumbling Upon Happiness, is that we’re horrible at forecasting how we’ll really feel 10 or 20 years from now – once we’ve gotten what we dreamed of. Often, we get there only to say, “That’s not what I thought it would be,” and ask, “What now?” Ambition is good. Blind ambition is not. It blocks out not only distraction, but the many opportunities that might take you off course but that may also lead you in a new direction. Consistent daily action is only a virtue when bundled with a willingness to remain open to the unknown. In this exercise, look at your current quest and ask, “What alternative opportunities, interpretations and paths am I not seeing?” They’re always there, but you’ve got to choose to see them.

My Response:
The life I am currently living at least in regard to my ministry and vision are already an alternative path. My vision was and to some degree remains to have a group of artists serious about creating productions, performances and exhibitions that tell people the story of Jesus and His love for us. The inability to get that group to gel caused me to share the things I was creating on the web and going to churches and sharing live. This has opened doors to me to share with folks all over the world. It’s also changed the way I look at life to some degree. I now try harder to be faithful with each day and let the day serve God’s plan. The best advice I can give is to hold onto God tightly and my plan loosely. Use each day as best you can, work toward your goal but let God steer.

Bible Reading Guide
An important part of following God is knowing what He wants and a great way to know what He wants is to read His Word. Follow this plan and you will finish reading the Bible in a year.
1Kings 5-6; Proverbs 15
You can also download your own chart here.

Forgiven Much?

The Bible speaks of a time when Jesus went to have dinner in the home of a Pharisee. A “sinful” woman came into the home and made a scene. This painting tells that story.
The Bible really doesn’t say exactly what her sins were, but it seems they were of a moral nature.

Those kinds of sins are the ones a lot of people focus on but they aren’t the only sins.
Here’s how the story played out.

Luke 7:36-47
36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an ala-baster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

The pharisee was so focused on the woman’s sins that he overlooked the more press-ing issue, the one issue he could do something about, his own sins. He had them you know and they were many. Worse than that, he was so focused on the woman’s sins that he found himself sitting in judgement of Jesus. This was simply unacceptable.

He was disqualifying Jesus in his mind because Jesus was doing what He came to do, seeking and saving that which was lost. Jesus needed to straighten him out so he told him this story.

40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
41 “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred de-narii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he can-celed the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

Jesus can see he understands the basic point and yet there is a disconnect between his clear understanding and his judgement in the case before him.

44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

Jesus is telling the pharisee to clean up his own house. His pride has blinded him to the condition of his own soul. He neglected even the most basic of social graces while the woman the pharisee despises has gone above and beyond. Let’s make sure we don’t fall into the same trap. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We all have our own mess and in truth only Jesus can clean it, we owe Him our obedience and love. The people we might be tempted to look down on when we play the silly game of your sin is greater than my sin are people Jesus loves. They are not to be looked down on, they are our mission field. We’re here to love them, serve them and invite them to the table. We all need the same thing, the same one, We need Jesus. He’s the one who forgives and the one who heals.

Remember what Jesus said “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

Whether you know it or not, you have been forgiven much… so love much.

Bible Reading Guide
An important part of following God is knowing what He wants and a great way to know what He wants is to read His Word. Follow this plan and you will finish reading the Bible in a year.
1Kings 3-4; Psalm 73
You can also download your own chart here.

Tell a better story… The Good O Meter

Okay this one is a little corny, but it illustrates the point really, really well. How could you tell a better story?

#Trust30 Surprise

The Challenge:
I will not hide my tastes or aversions. I will so trust that what is deep is holy, if we follow the truth, it will bring us out safe at last. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Think of a time when you didn’t think you were capable of doing something, but then surprised yourself. How will you surprise yourself this week?

My response:
The first time this manifested was when I preached for the first time. There was a time in my life where I was terrified to speak in public and so this was momentous. It’s funny, I now believe this (along with art) is what I was born to do. I had to overcome fear to do it and I had a lot of help, but in overcoming, I have found my life’s purpose.

How will I surprise myself this week? I don’t really want to surprise myself, I want God to surprise me. I hope that I will finish everything that I have before me, but not just that I finish it, but that is I finish well. I have the opportunity to speak to two groups of middle school students this weekend about finding and living their life’s purpose, I am going in with expectations high, but I want to see God surpass them. I want to see him use me to speak into the lives of these young people and set them on a course to being more than they can ask or imagine. My purpose is to help people find their purpose, my prayer is that I will be used to do just that.

#Trust30 Fear

The Challenge
These are the voices which we hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world. Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Is fear holding you back from living your fullest life and being truly self expressed? Put yourself in the shoes of the you who’s already lived your dream and write out the answers to the following:

Is the insecurity you’re defending worth the dream you’ll never realize? or the love you’ll never venture? or the joy you’ll never feel?

Will the blunder matter in 10 years? Or 10 weeks? Or 10 days? Or 10 minutes?

Can you be happy being anything less than who you really are?

My Response:
No fear is worth the beauty of the vision I see. It’s a vision of helping people to find the purpose in their life by helping them develop and use their God-given gifts. If I don’t get there, if I let fear stop me, not only will I miss out on what God has created me to be, but I may make it more difficult for the people I could have reached. When I get to that point I realize there is a lot riding on this and it would be irresponsible to turn back on account of fear. I will make mistakes, you can’t create without them, but God is good and He can work even in my mess-ups. I will persevere, I can’t imagine being happy doing anything less than God’s will for my life. I must live this vision and in order to do this I need to fear not doing it more than I fear doing it.

Bible Reading Guide
An important part of following God is knowing what He wants and a great way to know what He wants is to read His Word. Follow this plan and you will finish reading the Bible in a year.
1Kings 1; Proverbs 13; Psalm 52
1Kings 2; Proverbs 14; Psalm 120
You can also download your own chart here.

#Trust30 My Personal Message

The Challenge:
To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is burning deep inside of you? If you could spread your personal message RIGHT NOW to 1 million people, what would you say?

My Response:
Jesus loves you. I don’t say this as some holier than thou type. I say it as someone whose been broken and hurting and defeated. I say it as a person who had a major drinking problem. I say it as a person who has screwed up royally and who still messes up far too often. No matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, He loves you and He wants to help. He wants to show you a better way. The old cliche holds true, He loves you just as you are but He loves you too much to let you stay there. On behalf of all the Christians who’ve judged you, turned you off and offended you, I am sorry. We don’t always represent Him well, but He is good, even when we’re not and He loves you with a perfect love that He will never take away. The Bible tells us that God demonstrates His love for us in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

No Christian is a Christian because he is worthy of it. We are Christians because Jesus is worthy. We’re not saved because we’re good and He doesn’t love us because we are good. He loves us and saves us because He is good. I tell you this because He has radically changed my life and He is helping me find the purpose in my life. My life has value because He values it, not because I am somehow worthy. What He did for me He will do for you.

He is worth it. So trust Him. He loves you and nothing can separate His love from us.

Bible Reading Guide
An important part of following God is knowing what He wants and a great way to know what He wants is to read His Word. Follow this plan and you will finish reading the Bible in a year.
2 Samuel 20-21; Proverbs 10
You can also download your own chart here.

#Trust30 Afraid to Do

Who do you think you are?

The Challenge:
The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word, because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson says: “Always do what you are afraid to do.” What is ‘too scary’ to write about? Try doing it now.

My Response:
The one thing that I find too scary to write about sometimes is my vision. The reason is simple. It’s big, really big. Too big for me. If I post it will people laugh? Will they think I think too highly of myself, that my ego has gotten the better of me? Then of course there is this little voice in my head that says who are you to think that you could ever do that. You’ll never make it. Be realistic. (This is from the prompt of a few days ago that I kept to myself and will tie in here as well.)

Well I often tell people that they need to do things afraid so here goes. I want to travel the world and paint and preach. I want to go to events and arenas and festivals and paint my pictures and tell my story, The story of a God who gave everything for me. I want to speak to multitudes and be used make a real difference. I want to encourage and resource people to do what they do all over the world. I want to be like the guys who inspired me. I want to create new ways to share the “old, old story” and I want to share them with the world.

About now many of you will start to want to correct me and tell me numbers don’t matter or you might even be tempted to say who is He to want that. Do it on a small scale and be faithful. I’m with you on that and I have been and I will keep on doing that, but that wasn’t the assignment. The assignment was to write about that which is too scary to write about. Writing like this leaves one open to criticism, irritation and on and on. It’s risky, but this is my vision, what I see when I close my eyes and when I pray. I’ll be faithful to whatever God asks of me with His help, small or large, but I am a subscriber to the theory that if your vision is small enough that you can do it all by yourself it’s too small. Sometimes you have to trust God and jump.

There is a place for realistic thinking and a time to get practical, but if you start out there you will never create what doesn’t exist. There is a better reality for those who will hold God’s hand and create it. Don’t be afraid, Dream big.

Five Years from Now #Trust30

There will be an agreement in whatever variety of actions, so they be each honest and natural in their hour. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

What would you say to the person you were five years ago? What will you say to the person you’ll be in five years?

To the person I was five years ago, I would say, “It’s going to be rocky at times It’s going to be a long road. I might be tempted to tell him a few different turns in the road to make a few people I should not have trusted, a few areas where I should have made different decisions, but all this is tough because the experiences I’ve had are part of what makes me who I am. We can’t really change the past anyway so it’s a little pointless to ask this question.

As to what I would say to myself five years down the road. Hopefully I will live these days in such a way that I can say “You’re welcome.” What really matters is what I do with today.

Bible Reading Guide
An important part of following God is knowing what He wants and a great way to know what He wants is to read His Word. Follow this plan and you will finish reading the Bible in a year.
2 Samuel 18, Proverbs 7, 8, Psalm 50
You can also download your own chart here.

#Trust30 Travel

Where would I like to go before I die? A few places come to mind. The first is Israel. I really want to go to the places where Jesus walked. I also would love to visit the Louvre in Paris and I’d equally love to see Michelangelo’s Sisteen Chapel. To get to these places really for me involves me being proactive is accomplishing my life goals. The ultimate goal in each of these is to not just get to go but to take my wife with me.

Beyond those places, I have been to many great places in my ministry to which I have gone alone that I would like to return to with my lovely wife Dawn. Places such as Kauai, Nashville, even my most recent trip to Boise Idaho, etc. I also have a goal of getting the two of us back to Sanibel Island, FL. I know this may sound small by comparison to those listed above, but it was a very special trip for us and the place holds a special place in our hearts. I have also had a dream of taking my son Chris and my wife Dawn to Disney World. The instability of my job the last few years have prevented us from making this trip, but eventually we will get there.