Redemptive Journey

What You See is What You Do

2011-03-16T04:46:00.000-07:00

(The following was written while interacting with ideas from Bridges Out of Poverty)

Mental models are internal pictures of how the world works. In actuality they are a person’s interpretation of his or her surroundings. These mental models are developed over a lifetime of experience and varieties of other inputs. Most of us are not even aware that we are operating by these theories of how life happens, but we do, and they impact many things, including our ability to learn new ideas and ways, and our interpreting the life experiences of others.

Let’s consider an example. A few years ago, I had mentored a middle school boy for a number of months when the teacher of his self-contained class asked me if I would do character education with the class for one hour each week. Without hesitation I said yes. This was a class of mostly boys who had ongoing behavioral issues in school. A few weeks into my time with them we were to discuss the character trait of self-control. It just so happened that two of the boys were part of a lunchtime fight that day and provided us a perfect story to unpack. After some engaging conversation, I asked the students, “Knowing all of the negative consequences of choosing to enter a fight, why would you fight?” One of the boys didn’t hesitate in his answer. He said, “Because my mama told me, ‘You were born in da hood, you ain’t never gettin’ outa da hood, so you might as well learn how to survive in da hood.’”

This boy’s answer forever rattled my mental model and impacted the speed at which I now come to conclusions about people and their world. Adjusting our mental models happens on purpose. I could have chosen to tell the boy in our story that his mom was foolish and if he listened to her, his life would be a failure. The reality is, this mom had spoken from her life’s reality as well as that of previous generations of her family and friends. She couldn’t be faulted for what she was passing on to her son.

These mental models act as filters allowing some observations to enter while others bounce off unrecognized. Our observations are then translated into what we believe about a person and their story. What we believe about a person determines how we act toward that person. Those who know nothing but the story of middle class or wealth must be keenly aware of the presence of this filtering system when walking with our neighbors who know nothing but poverty’s story. Humility must be our launching pad of understanding, not arrogance. From this place of humility, relationships of mutual learning can be planted leading to growth for all engaged in the journey.

Biographical Humility

2010-09-05T05:08:00.000-07:00

Biographical humility speaks to a person’s journey story – how a person is where he is. One of the issues at hand here is the poison that assumption is to restoration. Because how a person sees another determines how a person responds to another, it matters what a person assumes about another. In fact, great attempts should be made to avoid assuming anything onto a person’s story and how she arrived in the reality where she is presently living.

For example, it is very common to have a person drive up in an expensive vehicle (i.e. – Lexus, Cadillac, Suburban) to a food pantry that provides free food to people in need. The immediate assumption easily made is, "There is irresponsible behavior here. Get less expensive transportation and buy food for your family.” However, biographical humility would pursue the story of the client being served. How did he end up in this place of need? Has it been a journey of bad decisions or was it a recent job loss that has him in a decision-making process about where to go from here and how to get there? That food pantry’s service could be a very new and humbling experience for a client on a hard road.

Maybe it is generational poverty and that car represents a lot of unhealthy life choices. But when those unhealthy choices have been part of a person’s entire life history, it is what is known. Sociologists say that once a family has reached the third generation of poverty it typically becomes impossible for that family to immerge to self-sustainability because they know no other life road.

One year I was serving a local middle school by providing one hour of weekly character training for a class of students with ongoing behavioral issues. One day the character trait to be discussed was self-control. It just so happens there was a fight at lunch that day and two of the boys from this class were involved. When asked in the class discussion later that day, “Why would you not choose to walk away from a potential fight when you know what the negative consequences will be?” One of the students unhesitatingly answered, “Cause my mamma tells me, ‘You were born in the hood, you ain’t never gettin’ out of the hood, so you might as well learn how to survive in the hood.’” If that is a youth’s life story told to him by his mother because it has been her story, how is he to think any differently? For that student, the negative consequences were survival based – his story told him so.

Copyright, Chuck Coward, 2010

Restorative Humility

2010-09-02T05:27:00.000-07:00

People like to fix people and when the successes of repair efforts are limited, patience and compassion run out. Restorative humility always remembers “but by the grace of God.” A broken fallen world is the dwelling place and reality for humanity. Physical and mental disabilities are a fact. The complexities and extended, mountainous challenges of generational poverty are unbelievably and deeply real. Does God have the power to heal it all? Sure He does. Will He heal it all for all people? It doesn’t seem so. Where does that leave the church and the rest of the responding world? Restorative humility stays the journey, whatever the perceived successes and failures. The humble motivation is ushered out of love that is patient, kind, is not arrogant, does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things – it does not fail, end or dry up. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) Even a broken world becomes a better and different world when restorative humility is at the core of the church’s presence and global expression.

Copyright Chuck Coward, 2010

Love with Gusto, Act with Vision

2010-06-18T05:10:00.000-07:00

I'm reading Ronald Rolheiser's Holy Longing for, I don't know, the 4th time maybe. I have been stimulated and refreshed by his writing on the detriment of divorcing moral piety and social justice. As I pondered his thoughts I realized the negative impact of personal faith and rugged individualism. There is a need for the integrated thinking and view of the east to infect the disintegrated world of the west. Is it possible to experience individual piety or "moraless" justice?

There is a lot of busy movement in the world deemed to be helpful, but in the end really is not. Haste, more often than not does lead to waste - of resources and life. The need for thoughtful response to world issues via integrated thinking is quite significant. However, lack of or half-hearted engagement in the world's brokenness is equally detrimental.

Response to human needs should be with gusto anchored in and guided by a vision of life restored. I picture a kite with a string and tail or a hot air balloon with a controlled fire. Love with gusto, act with vision. When giving into generational poverty is with no questions, accountability or coaching it is life-detrimental and selfish - guilt relief is what I tend to call it. When there is a lack of giving out of cynicism or a childish attitude of "mine," it is life-destroying and selfish - arrogance.

Action must also avoid avenues that are simply paved by what I can do. I alone can do very little. We together can accomplish much. When strengths, knowledge, resources, relationships, etc. are pulled together into intentional and collaborative action, driven by selfless love and a vision for life-restoration, we all become better people in community.

If you claim to be a follower of Jesus, his way is to love with gusto and act with vision in and through you. Take a look. What do you see?

Envisioning with Humble Excitement

2010-06-17T03:57:00.000-07:00

This morning I read James 4:13-15:

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'"

Be careful of believing your own press. Arrogance can take you to a place that does not lead to life, health and peace. Remember who and whose you are. You are not Creator and Sustainer, God is. This is the Father's world and you are but a small part of it.

With that said, you are also part of God's special creation bearing His image. As a follower of Jesus, God dwells within my being - He IS my being and my life!! I am to be a visionary, creative, life restoring force in this world of brokenness. It is not to be ushered from arrogance and pride, however. It is service from a place of humble excitement for what the day, month, year, lifetime may hold.

God is good and He wills to live that goodness through you. Don't taint it with pride.

See Him NOW?

2010-05-10T04:45:00.000-07:00

My thoughts this morning are on how locked in people become on what God has done in the past without it driving them to consider what God is doing or is going to do. God's past activity should press us forward. We should always be attentive and anticipatory of God's activity. For those who do pay attention, a further danger is that we think He will duplicate past activity. However, it should be our desire that we experience God acting in present context with a knowledge of future realities as only He can. Then the question becomes one of what our role is within the developing story and whether or not we are faithful in it.

How is God at work in your world right now? How are you to be an expression of His life-restoring heart amidst human brokenness that exists in the now?

Stirred By Life's Music

2009-09-13T03:54:00.000-07:00

Monotony is something people and organizations seem to fall in to quite easily. The mono-toned life is colorless, absent harmonies and movements...boring. Is that really life? Isn't monotony something other than life? Life is more than busy motion and noise. Life is a constantly developing symphony, choral, song...with heart stirring movements and harmonies. Layers upon layers of voices and instruments that express life's beauties and pains, joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, dreams and nightmares.

I love music. All kinds of music. One of my favorite things to do while driving or at home is to turn my stereo up to where I am fully enveloped and can physically feel the the sounds. Classic, Rock, some Country, Choral, R&B, Jazz...I listen to a broad range of stuff. Depends on my mood. Sometimes I conduct, sometimes I dance. Music moves me to tears of awe, to laughter, to pain. More often than not, something about it stirs me and causes me to keep seeing, keep hoping, keep acting, keep believing.

Life does that for me as well. I see and feel the pains, joys, fears, dreams of the world around me. It stirs me. Brokenness stirs me to want to act and restore. Life turn-around stories stir me to believe it can happen. Beauty and wholeness stir me to want to cultivate more.

How are you being stirred by the music of the world around you? Do you hear the music or is your world hum-drum monotony? Find the music again!

Your Story, My Story, Our Story

2009-06-22T06:42:00.000-07:00

Whether a decision to be made, a ministry to be designed, or a statement to be interpreted, I always want context. I woke up early yesterday morning to the reality that contextual followers of Jesus is my "message" or "passion." It is the reason for my struggle with any church, ministry or follower of Jesus. It's why Divine design matters to me.

Each person was made and has a story. For me to try to live another person's story is to disregard who God made me to be. To disregard how my story fits the world around me is to disregard "us-ness." Ignoring context is to ignore my story, your story, and the wrapping of all our stories into the grand story of life. We need to learn to listen to the stories of the people in our world. Really listen. Every life situation has a context. Every brokenness and strength has a story around it. The church must learn to be God's life restoring influence within those story lines.

That's what Jesus does. That's what incarnation is.

Sensuous Living

2009-05-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

Impact living should be context living. Context living necessitates sensuous living. My calling as a follower of Jesus in any given moment should be guided by:

Where I am - Place
Who I am with - People
What I have - Provisions

Whether I am in my neighborhood or on the other side of the planet for ten days, the role that God would have me play in this world is based on these three dynamics.

The challenge arises in that observation is mandatory, which is more of a difficulty for some than others. However, we can sensitize our senses over time to the realities of the world around us. Begin concentrically. Look to the place, people and provisions immediately around you. Learn to pay attention. Tune your senses to the world around you - what you see, hear, smell, touch, and even taste. The more we are willing to pay attention through our God-given senses, the less we will find our resources wasted. Attention, when paid, is a good investor of resources. Our senses help make sense of the world.

So, begin living sensuously.

Body of Belief

2009-04-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

While waiting with a few other leaders within the non-profit world to speak to a board for funding from a local foundation, I found myself stunned. A lady who arrived a little late sat down beside me and indicated having been to the Charleston Outreach website. "You are a faith-based organization, right?" I told her we were. She then asked, "Tell me more about what exactly you do."

Now, understand, this is a lady who walked in the door in a very engaging way. Lots of questions, strongly communicating that she had investigated all of her "competitors." That part was funny to me. No doubt I had a smirk on my face at some point. My explanation of our work included the words "helping churches work together to respond to basic human need." She laughed out loud to those words. Needless to say, I was uncomfortable. It did not end there.

"You are kidding me, right? You really have to help churches work together for human need. Aren't they supposed to be teaching the rest of the world how to do that?" She had no argument on my part. Then, she said words that choked me. "That's why I am not a Christian." She then stuttered around and left it at that.

I immediately thought of Jesus' prayer as recorded in John 17. Verse 23 says, "May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me...." It has become my passion. Collaboration is logical to me. Isolation is stupid, unless you have a disease no one else wants!!

We are to be the Body of belief - Jesus Body expressed amidst the world's broken.

An Attractive Life

2009-04-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

There is an attractional ministry that the church/followers of Jesus should have. It is not a "come and see" event for people. It is not a "coming attraction" that happens from time-to-time or season-to-season. The attraction of the life of a Jesus follower is just that, the presence of life. More specifically, it is the Giver of life. Isaiah 55:5 says:

Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you know not you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for He has endowed you with splendor.

Spoken then of the nation of Israel, now spoken to a "holy nation" of Jesus followers:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. I Peter 2:9

What becomes attractive is a life of purpose, clarity, peace, joy, purity of conscience, loveliness, graciousness, others above self, etc. However, as was mentioned in Isaiah, the attraction and intrigue comes not from you and me, but God having endowed us with His presence. His presence makes the above realities possible. Such a life leads to an onlookers head-tilted gaze.

A person in darkness is groping, disconcerted, disoriented, fearful, aimless, longing for ability to see and understand the world they are walking in, etc. When you find yourself in pitch black darkness, the faintest of light becomes attractive. You are drawn to it. It's what you long for. So should our lives be as a city set on a dark hill. Intrigue about such a city stirs the onlooker: "What goes on there? How is that place different from my place? What will I find there? What will the people be like?"

Then, when the onlooker gets up close, does the splendor of that "city" become more evident? Or, does the vision of splendor deteriorate to a "just pass through" instead of a "stop, stay investigate and enjoy" response? If they stop and stay, will they find refreshing and guidance for their journey?

I want for my life to be an attractive life. I want for people to be intrigued. I want for people to be refreshed. How about you?

Pro - Life?

2009-03-24T04:50:00.000-07:00

There is an inner struggle that has been building in me over the past few years that is anchored in the pro-life movement among evangelicals. The struggle is not about the message. My wrestling started with how the message is communicated. A number of years ago while reading and meditating on Isaiah 58 I was struck by a phrase. When I read it a picture formed in my mind that I have not been able to shake since - "If you do away with...the pointing finger and malicious talk...." (Isaiah 58:9). At that time the picture was of the pro-life movement and how venomous the messengers can be. The nature of political presence can be so intensely angry and spew hatred that espouses inner-tones that indicate hypocrisy. How can one hate another and say "I am a lover of life?"

Years after those first strokes upon a developing canvas, the painting has taken on new dimensions for me. If I am pro-life, I must be pro-all-of-life. Do senseless killings in the inner cities grieve me each time I hear a story? As I drive or walk down the street and see a dirty, drugged-out, lonely, homeless woman...do I weep? When I consider the level of child abuse - verbal, physical, et al - does it eat my lunch? Does war bother me? Do I really love and pray for my "enemies?" Does hunger and disease across the globe move me to wish I could just speak and remove it all!? Do I love as Jesus loved and gave himself? (Note: Jesus didn't just die on a cross, he also lived a life.) To these we may say, "Yes! Yes! Yes! A thousand times, YES!!"

Soooo...what are followers of Jesus doing about what are just some of the present, life-destroying realities mentioned above? What are you doing? How are you proving that you are a lover of life by being a restorer of life? God does include "...and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, THEN your light will rise in the darkness...." (Isaiah 58:10)

Oh, that we as followers of Jesus would be people who ooze his gracious and merciful power and presence! That we would be overwhelmed by the loss of life as it was when God in His triuned expressions at the beginning of time spoke a vision into reality!

Are you really pro-life?

Who Do You See?

2009-03-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

In the Ovidian version of the Greek myth of Narcissus, beauty was made ugly with pride. At first, his pride had nothing to do with his looks. It was just a general self-love. Then, he caught a glimpse of himself and liked what he saw. In fact beyond liking, he was mesmerized by the image reflected back to him in the waters from which he sought to quench his thirst. From that place, he would never know satisfaction. His deep love of the image of himself led to his wasting away unto death.

Who a person sees determines what a person does. If one looks into the face of another and sees her own reflection, the response will probably be based on self and not the other person. A person who rarely gets beyond the implications of his actions upon himself will rarely connect with the true and full realities of another person’s life.

Narcissus-like behavior has been the problem from the beginning – love of self over love of God and others. It is not that love of self is wrong or unimportant. Jesus said that his followers must love neighbors as one’s self. But, self-love must be in its proper place. Self-love can be debilitating. As the apostle Paul put it, the Christian should not consider himself more important than others. The way of Jesus is one of humility - where the attitude of self to others is servant, instead of master; an open hand that gives with graciousness, instead of a tight grasp upon power, position and possessions.

So, who do you see?

Just Ask

2009-03-16T04:49:00.000-07:00

Our family is home on Sunday mornings for a restful time. We worship with the Body on Sunday nights. As I was making breakfast I prayed for God to lead me in the search for a construction ministry coordinator for Charleston Outreach. Our current coordinator is retiring in August. My prayer was for a godly contractor who has a heart for people, who could work some with Jimmie in the upcoming months to learn some things from him and could work part time. After praying I sat down to read "A Godward Life," by John Piper, to read the Scriptures and to journal. The Piper devotion was based on Psalm 121:3 and spoke of God being up all night - He never sleeps, he is always at work.

Then, about an hour later, my wife walked up. No, she wasn't the answer, but she potentially had the answer. She handed me a card and said, "You want to meet with this guy." She went on to tell me that he was a contractor that loves to hire guys to work for him who have lost a job or are just trying to get back on their feet. He is a visionary and an entrepreneur. As she described him, my mouth had to be wide open. I said, "Anita, you are not going to believe what I just prayed no more than an hour ago."

I don't know that this guy is the answer, but I'm sure going to make a phone call today! God never sleeps. He is always way ahead of us and can give us huge levels of direction and insight...if we would just ask.

As Walking Along

2009-03-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

Matthew 4:18

"As he was walking along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers...."

It is interesting that Jesus connected with people throughout his days on earth "as he was walking along." He was always on the move, interacting with and influencing people along the way of life's normal pathways. So should it be for Jesus followers. We should be "along the way" people. Our greatest opportunity for influence is where we invest most of our time. Jesus always made sure that he was in places of influence.
- Limited time with the pious
- Extended time with the broken
- Focused time with a handful of multipliers

Always "along the way."

INCARNATIONAL RESPONSE TO HUMAN NEED

2009-02-24T20:12:00.000-08:00

It began with conversations, lots of them over a series of months. Each of the dialogues with human-service agencies started off with a question: “Where do you find yourself turning on a regular basis to find someone to help you do something that you can’t, and you keep finding no one there?” Then there was a bold statement, “That’s who we want to help the Church to become.”

Two and one-half years later the Human Needs Crisis Network (HNCN) has become a growing force for empowering the Church in her response to basic human need. An even greater miracle, this network crosses over a dozen denominations and throughout a three county area. The vision? Lives restored. It’s not enough for followers of Jesus to just pay a portion of an electric bill or provide a bag of food and send a person on their way. There should be a greater level of involvement.

An incarnational response to human need understands that the church is the body of Christ. In so being, she must be about life restoration – in this case, lives moved from crisis, to stability and, where possible, to self-sufficiency. The aim should be to come to a point when that individual or family doesn’t have to ask for help any more. That means personal investment and accountability. That’s where HNCN comes in.

HNCN provides churches with:
1. Growing levels of training for this redemptive response,
2. A regularly updated Church Resource Guide to assist them in response and
3. An Internet-accessed database for tracking the responses of other churches and agencies aiding in accountability.
All of these pieces to the Network provide empowerment for the Church to respond in such a way as to express the life-restoring presence of Jesus, as His body should.

See:
www.charlestonoutreach.org
www.charitytracker.net

NOT a Bridge

2009-02-20T05:25:00.000-08:00

Our service to people should never be a bridge to something else - an under-the-covers agenda or motivation. When Jesus healed the sick and provided food for the hungry it was simply because they were sick and hungry and that was not okay to him. I am part of a new church that is sponsoring a Little League t-ball team this Spring. If the reason for sponsoring that team is for advertising purposes - banner on the field, name and logo on the shirts - it's about us and not the people. If the motivation is to be part of the community, have fun, and be a life-restoring presence, that sponsorship takes on a whole new expression. When people think you have an agenda it becomes difficult to connect. Agenda = non-authentic. People who are not part of "the church" believe that we always have an agenda, therefore trust never has a chance.

The purity of service with no ulterior motive becomes a breath of fresh, life-giving air amidst the stench of self-centeredness. Let people being exposed to Jesus not be an agenda, but a (super)natural reality because of the power of Jesus' presence through the whole of who you are.

Humble Stirrings

2009-01-29T06:39:00.000-08:00

This morning I find myself humbled by God's goodness. There are a lot of things about me that aren't sharp. My memory for one. I read a book, and unless I am grabbed by the collar by a story or idea, I don't remember the content. I forget names, important dates in history.... My brain is not filled with great quotes that I can spit up for a needed moment.

But what I do have is a God brazened vision and passion that is unshakable. In everything that I do and every conversation I find myself in, what He is growing in me comes out. What is it? That we as followers of Jesus would BE his life-restoring presence in this world of brokenness. We are not mere messengers, we are God incarnated in this world. There are a lot of implications of such a reality and they aren't all easy. That's why humility is stirred.

"God, I can't be that person!" That's me. I can be a real jerk more often than I want to admit. I like for things to be my way. I am wrestling with the critical side of who I am. But, I am also learning that the critiques of "the church" that well up in me are God-given. Like my friend Reggie McNeal, I think I exist to persecute Christian leaders.

God is changing church culture. What presently is, is not good. She is very blindly self-absorbed in her motivations. That is why I bleed the same passion no matter where you cut or what the conversation entails - being God's life-restoring presence.

I accept those stirrings, humbly.

All I Know

2009-01-03T01:59:00.000-08:00

I was awakened early this morning with a verse from the Horatio Spafford hymn, "It Is Well with My Soul," rolling in my mind. It was the following:

"My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!"

As I prepare to invest next week writing at Mepkin Abbey, a local monastery, I find it interesting that my waking thought was here. Martin Luther, though not the writer of this hymn, was a monk who wrestled so intensely with the blight of sin upon his soul. Then the light of God's grace illumined his darkness and set him free! He will be on my mind much over these days.

Interestingly, my last thoughts before bed last night were upon God's emotional gyrations displayed throughout the Old Testament; Hosea 11:6-9, for example. God the merciful-lover who wanted to destroy, but was compelled otherwise.

Somehow it all merges for me where the apostle Paul found himself speaking to the Corinthians: "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (I Corinthians 2:2). Paul did not want to obscure the power of God with human wisdom. What Christ had accomplished was enough.

This morning, with bliss!, that's all I know.

Co-laboration

2008-12-31T07:27:00.000-08:00

Isolation is deadly. Individuals, communities, agencies, nations, et cetera - they all need each other. Life has been designed that way. Coming together is not enough. The strength that results from a strategic coming together is immeasurable, but the results are very powerful. There is no one that can win alone. Everyone brings some strength to the table that all of us are in need of.

We have fire ants where I live. There are several large mounds in my yard right now. It would be a fearful, yet intriguing, thing to see all of them that exist underground. One ant in isolation I can squash. Millions of them working in tandem, they win. In fact, they are winning. Each of them has a role that it plays for the success of the whole. My individual war against their existence only messes with the visible surface while the underground currents seem to be unstoppable. The ants always pop up with a new visible presence.

The thing about ants is that collaboration is in their make-up and seemingly unhindered. It's in our design too. The problem with us humans is that we have opinions and wills that are sinfully rooted in self. Self preservation does not naturally lead to collaboration. "What's in it for me" somehow does not nurture effective togetherness.

What if we uprooted our drive for self preservation and aggrandizement, and conversely nurtured new growth in the soils of life-restoring co-laboration? What kind of shape would life begin to take?

I think I will dwell on this path for a while....

Blessed Are The Pure...In Motivation

2008-12-30T12:09:00.000-08:00

One of my biggest and most recent struggles for my personal life and my work with churches is motivation. Not the problem of getting going, though the closer I get to 50 the more that is a factor. The motivation factor that churns my deepest being is the answer to a toddler's favorite question - "Why?". Something happened to me at 40. Okay, a lot of things happened to me at 40! Anyway, I started asking that toddler's "Why?" about everything.

On a personal level it has caused me to stop feeling guilty about some things - namely heavy baggage from growing up in the church. But, it also includes things like, "Why am I washing laundry and serving my wife her coffee in the morning?" and "Why do I have certain expectations for my children?".

As I work with churches I ask why a lot; probably ad nauseam. It doesn't matter how cutting edged they think they are, motivation is an extremely valid concern. Where most churches want to start - "How can we grow our church?" This question goes to a church's motivation for reaching people. For whose good? Is life-restoration your greatest passion, or is growing your church your greatest passion? It matters.

"Why?" is a fun question when you are asking it of someone else. I long for my motivation to be pure in all things, no matter how hard the change may be. I wonder why?

For the Love of...Pigs?

2008-12-18T11:25:00.000-08:00

Matthew 8:28-34

In this story of two demon-possessed men, a disturbing scenario arises regarding Jesus’ redemptive presence. Upon Jesus’ arrival the two men surface from some tombs and recognize Jesus immediately as “Son of God.” The demons not only knew who Jesus was, but they knew their future with Him and feared him.

After Jesus sends the demons to the herd of pigs nearby, the pigs ran to the lake where they drowned. The response of the people was to run to town and tell what had happened. As the townspeople arrived, they saw Jesus and pleaded with Him to leave, so He did. Verse one of chapter nine tells us that Jesus got in a boat and went to the other side; He removed His presence from them. Why? Because they did not recognize him for who He was. Strikingly, the demons honored Jesus more than the people did. The demons saw His authority as Son of God and responded to him in obedience. The people saw Him at work and responded with rejection.

What or whom do you love more than Jesus? Are there times when you wish that Jesus would go away and leave you alone? Could it be said that the demons recognize and respond to Jesus better than you?

“Father, help me to know when Jesus is present and active so that I do not reject His activity, even when that activity is devastating to what I believe to be of greater value. Help me to see the insanity of valuing the ‘pigs’ in my life over the redemptive presence of Jesus.”

© Chuck Coward 2008

Power of Touch

2008-11-30T13:55:00.000-08:00

Matthew 8:1-4

The redemptive presence of Jesus brings a loving and healing touch to anyone in need. In this story, a leper kneels before Jesus asking for healing. As in many gospel stories the attitude of the broken one is that Jesus can if He will. There is a very real sense of unworthiness expressed in such a plea.

Having been followed down from the mountainside by a large crowd of people, Jesus was in full display before the masses. Once again, his presence became a blessing to one whose life had been void of blessing and filled with marring physical and emotional pain. Probably the greatest pain this leper had experienced was the isolation from relationships, especially human touch. Jesus showed his love first by touching the disfigured body. That alone brought much healing to the man’s soul. The touch of Jesus removed the pain and redeemed the man.

Are there people in the world that you avoid? Who are the “untouchables” that you encounter? Who is it that you don’t want to have too close to you? How far are you willing to go as God’s agent?

“Father, make me a person who is practicing Jesus’ redemptive presence through a loving and healing touch among the “untouchables” of our world. Break my heart with deep compassion.”

© Chuck Coward 2008

Core Reality

2008-11-26T06:47:00.000-08:00

Matthew 7:13-23

The redemptive presence of Jesus changes who a person is, not just what a person does. The evangelical world has had a strong tendency to focus upon what people do to determine if they are righteous. But, in this passage, Jesus gives a very interesting twist. At the end of this Sermon from the Mount of Olives, Jesus begins to summarize the gist of His heart in all that has been said. He makes it clear that His expectations are not easy – “the gate is small and the road is narrow that leads to life and only a few find it.” The few who find life are good trees and capable of producing good fruit. Jesus goes on to explain, however, that good fruit is not as easily recognized as one might think.

What we think is good fruit, because of the “beauty” of the outside, might be rotten on the inside. To further explain, Jesus speaks of those who will come to him declaring they have done the activities that were prevalent in Jesus’ ministry. In essence, a person could say, “I did what Jesus did” believing that such activity will be considered, by God, to be good fruit. What was Jesus’ response to this idea? It is evil doing; rotten fruit. Why? Because your “being” is evil. Jesus is aiming at the heart of who we are – motivation, desires, aims, etc. If our actions, though good-looking, are not from a redemptive heart, they are rotten at the core.

Who are you…down deep? Why do you do what you do? Do you “serve God” for the praises of the people around you? Does your service to people express the heart of Jesus who “came to serve and not be served and to give his life…for many.”

“God, please don’t let me be a good Pharisee! I want to BE like Jesus, knowing that the “doing” will follow. I don’t want to be rotten at my core! Change me, as only you can, from the inside out.”

© Chuck Coward 2008

Beyond a Message

2008-10-30T06:19:00.000-07:00

Matthew 4:23-25

The redemptive presence of Jesus brings good news, compassion and healing. People came from as far as over one hundred miles away to see Jesus, because of what they had heard his presence brought. He was preaching the good news of God’s reign as King of all that is. This news, however, was followed by evidence of God’s reign through the healing of EVERY disease and sickness as well as exorcisms among the masses. Large crowds from all around followed Jesus. The news spread like wildfire! It is amazing what happens when Jesus’ redemptive presence is manifested in visible ways. With Jesus, it wasn’t just kingdom words spoken it was redemptive deeds done.

But, what does that mean for our day? How is the redemptive presence of Jesus being displayed through His Body, the church? The question is not about our steeples and Sundays but the everyday lives that we live among broken people. Some of the people with whom we are in contact have brokenness that plagues their lives and you can’t see it – bad marriages, runaway children, financial disaster, potential job loss, depression…the list goes on. Are you in the position of heart, mind and vision for God to utilize you as His visible presence and activity in the lives of such people?

Are you willing to slow down enough to see the people around you? What cries for help do you hear? What need for support and encouragement do you see? What will you do?

“God will you display your transforming and healing power in and through me as you did in Jesus’ day? Help me to believe you for the broken lives that surround me daily. Help me to understand the role you would have me to play and help me to be faithful.”

Hunger Satisfied?

2008-10-05T12:04:00.000-07:00

Matthew 4:1-11

When you are seeking to practice the redemptive presence of Jesus, those who are against Jesus will show up on the scene. There will be attempts to distract and even destroy. Such attempts must be resisted – the urge for glory, power, position, possessions…must be cast aside. Jesus faced the strongest force of all, Satan himself. The devil did all that he could to tempt Jesus away from His calling as a redeemer, but Jesus was undaunted. This was not the last attempt the devil would make to distract this man’s humanness. Jesus, the Son of God, knew the ramifications of not being faithful to the agreed upon means for redeeming the world He, the Father, and the Spirit had created. He stood as a stalwart upon that redemptive vision.

How about you? When the enemy, people, or circumstances come against God’s redemptive work in and through your life what do you do? How do you handle the temptation to pursue glory, power, position, and possessions? Do you stand firm or flounder? The One who stood firm for you can stand firm in you. Surrender only to your Redeemer.

“Father, help me to stand against the multitude of enemies that enter my world at every turn. You are my strength and my fortress.”

© Chuck Coward 2008

Confident-Humility

2008-09-05T05:51:00.000-07:00

Matthew 3:13-17

The redemptive presence of Jesus brings confident humility. John could not imagine the need for the King of the universe to be baptized by him. This sanctifying act could not be necessary, could it? “No, Jesus! I must be sanctified by you.” John knew who Jesus was. So would everyone present, at least those who listened as the voice of the Father rumbled from the sky. Indeed, it was not John who sanctified Jesus, but the Father who declared, “This is my Son, whom I love.”

Humility comes when you know your rightful place. God certainly has a way of helping us remember who we are in light of who He is. John the Baptist probably had a bit of a shift in his deepest self when he realized that Jesus was on the scene. Chances are, there was at least a little pride in this preacher because of the fruit of ministry; that is until Jesus arrived and John was confronted with who the real John was.

But, you can also have confidence in Jesus’ presence, when you know you have been restored to your Creator. Confidence comes because you are in right relationship with a God who loved you enough to buy you back and restore you to that relationship. There is also a confidence that what God calls you to do for Him, He will equip you to do. Confidence, properly rooted in who God is, and not who you are, is a life necessity.

The result is a confident humility – knowing who you are in the never-ending presence of your Redeemer.

In what ways is God saying to you, “You need to come down a few notches.” How is he humbling you? What about your confidence level? How is God saying to you, “You can, because I can”? Talk to Him about it.

© Chuck Coward 2008

Significant Presence

2008-07-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

Matthew 2:6

When Jesus’ redemptive presence is a reality, what is considered to be small or insignificant becomes full of meaning, purpose, value and greatness. Bethlehem was originally a pagan city established by the Canaanites. They named the city after Lahama, their god of fertility, and had a temple built to this god that stood on the present mount of the Nativity. The worship of fertility gods produced a lot of…let’s say, not so good activity. Bethlehem eventually was a strategic city, militarily, and a fruitful place, agriculturally. From her humble and even filthy beginnings, this city became the place where Rachel, Jacob’s wife, was buried; Benjamin was born; King David was born; and ultimately Jesus was born. Over the years this city became great, but her crowning glory was the Redeemer of the world. When asked about Bethlehem of Judea, most of the world knows her as the place where Jesus was born.

Now about you; if Jesus’ redeeming presence is a reality in your life, you are a wellspring of meaning, purpose, value and greatness. God’s desire is that when people are asked about you, what they know best is that Jesus is born out in your life. You are to be known as a person who knows why you exist and you clearly live life out of that deep meaning and purpose. Your world is to be blessed because of Jesus as redeemer being expressed through you everyday, everywhere, to everyone your life touches. Pretty overwhelming, huh!? Don’t let the overwhelming nature of reality keep you from expressing the Jesus in you.

Do you understand the value that you hold having been created in God’s image? What clarity of meaning and purpose has been brought to your life as a result of Jesus’ presence?

“Jesus, thank you for blessing my life with your presence! Thank you for the clear meaning and purpose you restore to life through your redemptive activity. Help me to be a redemptive blessing to the world around me as you are expressed through my life.”

© Chuck Coward 2008

Never Lose the Wonder!

2008-07-09T14:47:00.000-07:00

Matthew 1:22-25

Here in the beginning of the New Testament is an old hope brought to reality. Jesus – Immanuel, God with us – was born. The presence of God is now expressed physically upon the earth that He created. What does this mean? How did it happen? It just doesn’t make sense that the God of all that is would come as a man to live among such brokenness.

But He did! God stepped mysteriously from His otherness to become like us. He has revealed Himself in a very definitive way. The Creator has now come as the created, as one of us. We don’t really know how, but we do know why. God came to us so that we can come to Him. He came to live so that we could know what living is. The God of all life came to die so that we could live again. The transcendent One has showed Himself as immanent One all at once – Immanuel, God with us.

Has a cutesy approach to the story of little baby Jesus in a feeding trough overshadowed the amazing reality of God’s greatness come close?

“God, rescue me from the old story being stale. I pray that every time I ponder your greatness being near and becoming one of us, that I would forever find myself filled with wonder!”

© Chuck Coward 2008

Know-it-all Syndrome

2008-06-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

Genesis 3

How does it make you feel when a “know-it-all” enters a conversation? The person that always has something to say about everything and their something is always right. These people are pretty frustrating and not a lot of fun to be around, huh?

Now, what would it be like to REALLY know everything and to have made everything, and have someone tell you that they “know better”? God experiences that with all of humanity! Here we have the Creator of the universe, the Designer of all that is and we tell Him He doesn’t know as much as He thinks He does. That is what sin is – telling our Designer and Creator that we know how to live this life better than He does.

This insanity started with Adam and Eve and has moved on to all of humanity. It is this self-sufficient attitude that separates us from right relationship with our Designer. God desires for us to live life according to His design because it is best. When we choose our own way, we stiff-arm the Designer and Creator of the universe and reject the only possible way to our best.

In what way(s) are you saying, “My way!” to your Designer and Creator? Do you understand the madness of such a move? Are you trying to hide from God out of embarrassment for what and who you have become? You can’t hide from Him. God sees everything, including your thoughts, heart, motivations … everything. Stop the insanity and run to Him for mercy!

“Creator God, I surrender all to you. I want to live life the way you have designed for it to be lived. Help me to know what that means as I live out my days.”

© Chuck Coward 2008

Seeing From the Beginning

2008-06-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

Genesis 1&2

Where you start can greatly determine where you finish. To understand life, as we know it, we must understand (stand under) the beginning of “life” (see note). How we view the life we live and the people with whom we live, work and play is determined by where we start. The common starting point for the Christian conversation has become Genesis 3 – the fall of humanity – which makes a very big impact upon how we live with each other. But the fall, though true, was not the beginning. The story of how the journey began provides us with some very important realities. Here are a few.

God created all that is, (1:1-27)
God is a relational God, (1:26)
God’s image was the pattern for humanity, (1:26-27)
God said all He made is very good, (1:31)
God breathed life (His Spirit) into humanity, and (2:7)
God calls us to be life multipliers and protectors. (1:28)

Critical to our understanding “us” is that God created us. How long ago or how long creation really took is not the point here. That God is the originator of all that is matters most. Humanity was made in His image; like Him in creativity, like Him in relationship, like Him in goodness, like Him as bearers and breathers of life. The “very good” life you were created for is to be in life-giving, creative, relationship with God, fellow humanity, and the rest of all that God created.

So, what do you believe about how the universe came into being? When you see people around you everyday, how do you see them? What effect does that view have upon your attitude and actions toward them? “God, help me view, with new eyes, you, this world you made, and the people who fill the earth. Help me to better understand you, your heart and your vision as the creative, relational, life-giver that you are.”

NOTE: Life ultimately has no beginning or ending, because God, who is life, always has been.

© Chuck Coward 2008

Soda Bottle Principle

2008-06-12T23:00:00.000-07:00

Redemption – it is a word that is used to speak of some very foundational moorings of the Christian faith. But, do we really understand what it means? When we hear or use the word it is most often to speak of Jesus paying the penalty of sin. While that is a partial description of the gift of redemption, it is not the full portrait.

There once was a time when soda predominately came in glass bottles. Because of the expense that the companies went to in producing these bottles, they held a value. That value was considered a deposit upon every bottle that was made. When a bottle was emptied it could be returned to a store and money received for the bottle. The reason the store would pay the deposit for the empty, dirty bottle was because the bottles’ original designer paid the store for them. Why? So that the designer of that bottle could bring it back and restore it to its original design and purpose – clean it, refill it, seal it, and send it back out to bless the world. This process of buying back and restoring to original design and purpose was called redemption.

Our redeeming God is active with humanity in the same way. What Jesus has done for us by paying our penalty and rising from the dead is to buy us back and restore us to original design and purpose – cleaning, filling, sealing by the Spirit and sending out to bless the world. God’s original design was very good. He liked it a lot; so much so that he did not recycle things by destroying them in order to make something else. God is redeeming what He made. That includes you. It includes a world of people around you.

© Chuck Coward 2008