Mediocrity: the enemy of growth.

Mediocrity is the enemy of growth and fulfillment, yet everyone seems to be pursuing it.

We (including me) are so scared to do anything outside the status quo, that we go on doing the things we complain about and don't really like doing. We work our jobs we sort of like, we attend family and church functions with people we don't really know, we buy expensive houses and cars just maintain and obsess over them. Basically, we spend our whole lives trying to fill a hole within ourselves with nothing that will actually fill it.

If we're all asked to take a survey, most would respond that money is not the key to happiness. It would show that our top priorities do not include our jobs and we're not attached to the bigger physical items we own. But, then we obsess over how much money we make, complain about our jobs (yet spend the majority of our time there), and spend our weekends cleaning houses and waxing our cars.

We say "Oh, that's too bad that that person has cancer" or "those orphans in Africa sure have it rough." We silently judge those who are poor, have broken families, no college education, and live on that side of town.

The majority of folks I know are professing christians and the majority of people I know rarely do anything beyond give a little money to the church they attend. There is physical, emotional, and spiritual poverty everywhere and I don't think we believe Jesus when he talks about helping 'the least of these.' We pass our silent judgement and we're on our way - back to our comfort zones. We focus on Iowa football, who we're partying with this weekend, laying low and grinding our way through the work week. We have the thing in our lives that we should be most passionate about - Jesus. Yet, we just aren't.

I know it starts with me - the only person I can do anything about. And that's half my frustration, I am the person that I complain about. But sometimes, I can't help but vent about the rest of us. 

Jesus doesn't live in a closet.

This guy preached a couple of Sundays ago and said something that I thought was rather significant.

He was talking about resting in the Love and Grace that God extends to us. Then he said, "God does not sit around, thinking about my sin. So, as a result, but not a goal, I find myself sinning less."

It makes sense to me this way. I usually try to pull myself up by my bootstraps and do everything myself, including be a 'good' christian. In doing this, I find myself constantly frustrated because I can never measure up to where I feel like I should be.

Instead, God wants us to bask in his love and grace. When we really start to get a grip on how much God loves us and how much grace he extends to us, everyday, I think we start emulating Jesus. We start reaching out to people, asking for direction from the Holy Spirit, and thanking Jesus for making such a huge sacrifice for us. Essentially, we start focusing on God and Jesus' work on the cross and stop focusing on ourselves (and our own shortcomings).

We stop practicing closet christianity because how could we keep such amazing, life-changing news all wrapped up inside of us? We don't love our neighbors and love God because we feel like we have to. Heck, we don't even love our neighbors and love God because we want to. We love our neighbors and we love God because true understanding of his grace and love is so moving that we literally cannot have any other response.

So, STOP TRYING TO BE A GOOD CHRISTIAN and just focus on God's love and God's grace. That's all he ever wants us to do.

crazy people, part 1.

Matthew 1-4 documents Jesus' birth to the beginning of his ministry. I've read it before, but these days, there are a lot of "crazy" things going on around me. I began to notice a theme I hadn't noticed before...

Everyone worth mentioning was, by my standards, completely crazy.

     1. Mary gets pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
     2. Joseph does not leave her because ... he had a dream/vision.
     3. He marries her anyway and Jesus is born.
     4. The Magi don't return to tell King Herod (a ruthless man) where Jesus is because ... of a dream.
     5. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus leave and go to Egypt because ... of a dream.
     6. Herod slaughters all boys in Bethlehem 2 years old or younger.
     7. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus move back to Israel because ... of a dream.
     8. John the Baptist, probably a crazy, homeless man, proclaims Jesus and baptizes him.
     9. Peter and Andrew drop their entire lives and follow a guy telling them crazy things.
    10. James and John drop their entire lives and follow a guy telling them crazy things.

So, here is a possible outline for Matthew's account of the first thirty years of Jesus' life:

     - God entrusts his only son to a set of parents who are open to getting direction through dreams.
     - God prepares the way for Jesus using someone who seemed like a homeless man.
     - Jesus enlists the help of uneducated men who were willing to leave their jobs and follow him.

It occurs to me that all through the bible, the crazy ones were the ones worth mentioning. These were the people who could be described using words like "faithful" and "righteous." The Pharisees were keepers of the law, much like many christians then and today. They weren't bad people. In fact, they were pretty good people.

Being a "keeper of the law" is a category I most often fall into. I'm a good, responsible person. I love my kids and wife, I go to and give money to the church, and the list goes on. However, I'm not being called crazy for doing these things. While I'm not saying God doesn't call some people to do non-crazy things, I am saying that too many of us are "keepers of the law." It stands out to me that the people the bible chooses to talk about are the crazy people.

Clearly, God creates people to both little and big things. A person who doesn't get mentioned in the bible is not necessarily doing anything wrong. Likewise, a person who does get mentioned in the bible isn't necessarily doing everything right.

However, I do think God wants us all to grow and the only way to grow, is to be spiritually stretched. Those that continually allow themselves to be spiritually stretched are the biggest difference makers in the kingdom of God.

So, while being crazy isn't mandatory, it sure makes me stop and think whether I'm fully sold out for Jesus, or if I'm just trying to live a comfortable, moderately devoted christian life.