Why do the majority of people esteem human life as valuable? What is it that makes us more valuable than animals or plants?  While I do realize that not everyone holds the notion that all life is valuable, the majority of people do hold human life to be valuable, even sacred if you will.

One of the main points against abortion and capital punishment is that all life is valuable and should be saved at any cost. This post isn’t about abortion or capital punishment.  I am just stating a point concerning one reason why people are against these issues.

Heroic measures are shown every day from the medical care field in order to save lives.  Soldiers live by the motto of “leave no man behind” so that even in death life is honored and valued.

Everyone has their opinion on the sanctity of human life.  Being that I am a follower of Jesus I believe that all life is sacred because Jesus’ death on the cross proves that.  I serve a God that would rather lay down his life for his friends and enemies than live without them. 

I also hold to the sanctity of human life because of Genesis 1:26 where God says, “Let us make man in our image and in our likeness.”  All of humanity, both individually and more so collectively, bears the image of our creator.  We each carry the Imago Dei (the image of God).

Much as been written concerning what bearing the image of God means.  I am not going to write much about that here.  My main point is that we bear God’s image and that has never changed.  For those that hold to the doctrine of the total depravity of man (of which I do not hold to), they cannot see the image of God in people because of the total depravity of man.  Far too many Christians believe that God is offended with mankind and that he is angry with them unless they are “born again” and then somehow he isn’t angry with Christians (unless you mess up and then he could be angry….it’s just so hard to tell what mood God is in at any given moment).

I believe that when God looks at humanity, he isn’t angry.  Rather, he sees himself.  He sees his reflection (possibly broken like a shattered mirror, but a mirror still shows the reflection of the viewer).  I believe that scripture shows the lengths that God will go to show humanity his kindness and mercy. 

It’s an important concept that we must understand, the idea that all people bear the image of God.  It’s what makes us valuable.  It’s what gives our life sacredness. We must understand the image defines the value.

Just as in our American currency, the face on the bill determines how much the bill is worth.  Since we bear the image of our creator, we have infinite worth.  We are valuable because of the one whose image we bear.  I believe that Genesis 9:5-6 backs this up.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost.  While I believe this is every human being who ever existed, I also see Jesus specifically identifying with the least, the lost, and the last.  I see Jesus identifying with those that are marginalized, those that are outcasts, and those that are oppressed.

Jesus came to the earth in the most humbling of ways.  Instead of arriving in royal splendor, he arrived in a small town, to a poor, scandalized couple without much earthly fanfare.  Throughout his life, he hung out with people that he wasn’t supposed to.  He treated all people with dignity and respect. 

He treated women with equality and respect.

He touched the untouchables,

He loved the unlovable.

He forgave the unforgivable.

He redeemed the unredeemable.

He looked into the faces of those around him and saw the image of his Father.  He saw past their sins, past their “masks”, past their walls, and saw the reflection of God. 

He saw their value because in them he saw himself.  Before he was a human being, he was the Logos and through him all things were created and all things created had his mark upon them.

The question for us is:  can we see the image of God in people today?  Can we see God’s image in the homeless person, the drug addict, the prostitute, the drug dealer, or anyone else that we might find repulsive or beyond our social circles?

Can we see God’s image in our national enemies?  Can we see the image of God in the ones that want to kill us, that would blow us up if given the chance?  Can we see the image of God in the ones that we bomb and kill?

Can we see God’s image in our personal enemies, in those that have hurt us, betrayed us, or written us off?  Can we see God’s image in everyone around us?

If we ever hope to become authentically human then we must start here.  If we ever hope to practice what Jesus practiced and loved as he loves then we have to start by seeing his image in those around us.

You have never met, nor will you ever meet, someone who isn’t made in God’s image and likeness.  They may not display or reflect that image and likeness well, but they carry it nonetheless.  It’s up to us to open our eyes to see it.

The post Seeing God’s Reflection appeared first on Michael Wilson.

As we celebrate this Christmas Season I am intrigued more than ever about the eternal Son of God actually becoming a human being.  In theological terms, it’s called the Incarnation. Christmas is the time that we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Far too often we tend to romanticize the humanity of Jesus.  We tend to think that he never made a mistake (a mistake, not a sin). We fail to realize that Jesus was just as human as you and I are, with all of the limitations that you and I have as human beings.

Jesus laid aside his “God-abilities” in order to truly live as a human being.  He was still God, but he chose to live within the confines of humanity by not using any thing that would give him an advantage of other humans (see Philippians 2).

Let’s explore this idea for a moment.  Jesus could have come into the earth any way that he pleased, and yet he came as a human being, born of a woman as a tiny, defenseless baby.

As a baby, and even later as a child, Jesus was vulnerable as any baby or child is.  He depended on Mary and Joseph to feed him, change his diaper, clothe him and keep him safe.  He was at their mercy.  He could not take care of himself.  If that isn’t laying down your abilities as God, then what is?

Jesus had to learn how to walk, how to talk, how to obey his parents. He had to be potty-trained.  He had to learn how to eat solid food on his own.  He had to learn how to get along with others.

In my youth I believed that Jesus was the perfect child who just knew how to share, get along with others, obey his parents and who never made a mistake.  As I study his life and humanity I realize that for him to be truly human then he didn’t automatically know how to do these things.  He had to learn.  He had to be taught and he had to be teachable.

By becoming human, and laying aside his god-abilities, Jesus put himself in a vulnerable position.  For his entire life, just as you and I are, he had to live with and be affected by the choices of others. He could have chosen to control everything, but God is not a God of control.  He is relational and being relational means that you don’t try to control others. Actually, to be in relationship means that you give up control for partnership.

Jesus never controlled anyone.  He allowed people their choice to follow him or reject him.  He allowed them to even kill him.  He gave up his “rights” and ability to call down legions of angels to come save him.  He willingly allowed the Jewish leaders, in conjunction with the Romans, to take his life.  That day religion and politics came together to breed the greatest injustice in the world.

And Jesus gave into that willingly and lovingly. Most astonishing was his willingness to forgive.

So, as we celebrate the Christ child this season. As we sing songs of his coming and we talk about the baby Jesus lying in the manger, let us daily be reminded of his true humanity. Let us remember that this baby Jesus was just that, an actual human being – not a demigod, not God simply in a cloak of skin and bones.  No, he was a real human who became the most authentic human in order to teach us what it truly means to be human.

The post The Vulnerability of Jesus appeared first on Michael Wilson.

I’ve been on a journey of understanding trust for the past couple of years now.  While I would say that I’ve always trusted God, he’s been teaching me some new things about what it really means to trust him. 

Back around February of 2020, during a time of frustration, I went hiking so that I could pray.  For some reason, I always feel closer to God when I am outdoors fishing, hiking, or riding my bike.  As I was laying out my frustrations and concerns to the Lord, I felt him simply whisper to me, “I just want you to trust me.” 

Sounds simple enough, but my question then became, “trust you for what?”. You see, for most of my walk with Jesus I had learned to trust him for answers to prayer, that is, a better job, a different car, breakthrough in ministry, more finances to handle situations, etc., etc., etc.

Is that not what most of us do?  When we have a need we go to God in prayer knowing that God is able to do what we ask of him.  We trust in the ability of God.  We know that He can do whatever seems impossible to us.

But what about when he doesn’t use his ability to answer our prayer?

What do we do with the times that he doesn’t seem to come through for us in the way that we are asking him to?

What if our business fails, our church closes, our marriages dissolve, our kids turn their backs on us, our most trusted relationships sour, we lose our job? And that list goes on.

What do we do when God doesn’t answer our prayer and we end up suffering?

What is God Really Asking?

What was God really asking me to do that day in February when he asked me to trust him?

As I continually asked him, “what do you want me to trust you for?” I began to sense him saying to me, “I don’t want you to trust me for anything. I want you to simply trust me.”

It was a “light-bulb moment” for me.  I finally understand what he was asking of me.

He was asking me to not trust his ability, but to trust his character.

God is good, loving, kind, gracious, and compassionate.  Most of the time I do believe that about Him, but there are times that I’ve struggled to believe that because he didn’t answer my prayer for healing, restoration, or for the suffering to stop.

I was struggling to trust him because I had trusted him to do something very important to me in the past and he didn’t do it.  Why should I trust him again?  The things I had been believing for were good things, and they were things that were his will.  Yet, it would seem that he didn’t intervene.

I became disappointed and angry, even hurt and offended.

I trusted his ability and when he didn’t use his ability to answer my requests I lost faith in his character.  Now, before you hurl your stones at me because of what I just said, if you would be honest, most of you have done the same thing.

I would dare say that most of us have been mad or disappointed with God at some point in our lives when he didn’t come through for us in the way we wanted him to.  The good news is that he loves us in spite of that and his heart is big enough to handle our feelings and disappointments.

I was trusting in his ability and not in his character. When God doesn’t use his abilities to answer our requests, we cannot lose sight of his character. As a matter of fact, our trust should never be in God’s abilities; it should always rest within his character.

A Learning Moment

What I learned is that if I am to believe that God works all things out for my good, then that speaks of his character – not his ability.  Does he have the ability to work things out for my good – absolutely.  But it’s his love and concern for me that drives his abilities.

I am sad to say that many times in my life I was more concerned with God doing something for me (his ability) than I was in seeking his heart (character).  I wanted him to move on my behalf.  I wanted him to answer my prayers. I wanted his favor and blessing. 

I don’t believe that there is anything necessarily wrong with that. But, if I don’t understand his character then when he doesn’t move on my behalf in the way I was expecting then I will get hurt and disappointed.

However, when I trust his character, if he doesn’t move the way I want him to then I can be assured that everything is still going to be alright even if I have to suffer through something.

His character is unchanging. It’s steadfast and trustworthy.  The way he answers our prayers certainly changes.  The way God moves will be different at different times and seasons. 

I think that it takes maturity to learn how to trust his character and not his ability.  Maturity only comes through evaluated experiences.

I have been a follower of Jesus for almost 40 years now.  In that time, I have seen his faithfulness.  He has always come through for me and helped me to overcome many situations.  However, it wasn’t always in the way that I wanted him to.  There have many occasions that I’ve suffered loss, even when I did the right thing. 

Suffering is the soil in which the seed of trust matures.

It’s in the seasons of suffering and loss that we actually see the true character of God – his faithfulness, his compassion, his goodness, and his ability to suffer along with us.  As I look back over my life I can see where trusting his character is far better than trusting his ability.

The post Are You Trusting God’s Abilities or His Character appeared first on Michael Wilson.

Lil Nas X recently came out with his satan shoe.  I know, I know – it’s old news now but I’ve been giving this some thought lately.  At one time in my younger years, I would have reacted as most Christians did on Facebook (with shock and judgment).  However, I hope that I’ve grown wiser in my journey. I hope that my standards today are more in line with walking in love than focusing on behavior.

What saddens me the most is that Lil Nas X felt ostracized by the church.  The Church should be the one place in the world where people feel loved, valued, and accepted, and yet he wasn’t. 

He said, “I spent my entire teenage years hating myself because of the (expletive) y’all preached would happen to me because I was gay. So, I hope u (sic) are mad, stay mad, feel the same anger you teach us to have towards ourselves.”

According to him, he spent his entire teenage years hating himself because of the message he heard from the church.  Sadly, his isn’t the only story that is like this.  The one place in the world that should have made him feel loved, valued, and accepted rejected him and caused him to hate himself.  Image if that were you or your son or daughter. I know that some don’t have to imagine because they’ve been there.

Why?

Why do we do this to the very people that we are supposed to reach?  Why do we feel the need to single out a couple of issues (mainly abortion and homosexuality) to hammer out a message of God’s wrath?

Why don’t we cover the other sins that Christians are guilty of?  Sins like lying, cheating, anger without cause, not getting angry over just causes, gluttony….and the list goes on.

I am sure we don’t hear about gluttony because overweight preachers preaching on this would be a bit hypocritical, don’t ya think?  I know that is a bit harsh but the Church’s hypocrisy is harsh to those that we are supposed to be loving and reaching.

We must have standards.

“But we must have standards……”. I know, but why do we only focus on a few standards?  Those standards typically are the sins that we don’t commit.  To me, it seems the main standards we push are sexual in nature. Why do we ignore all the rest?

Please don’t think that I am excusing sin or condoning it.  I am simply saying that there is a better way. 

Our base standard is loving people the way that Jesus loved us.  If we fail at that standard, then all of our preaching is just simply noise in an already noisy world.

We need a distinct sound that is going to be heard in the midst of a noisy world.  What is that sound?  It’s the sound of love being preached, love being shown, love being manifested to those around us.

Casting the first stone.

What if Lil Nas X had been the woman caught in adultery (see John 8)?  What if he had been caught by the Pharisees (the religious leaders of Jesus’ day) in a homosexual act and brought before Jesus for judgment?  Just like the woman caught in adultery, homosexuality was a stonable offense.

This is a tough question for some Christians because adultery and fornication have become very common in our society, even among Christians.  While we know that it’s wrong and that God disapproves, we seemingly tend to overlook it with a sigh and a gasp but we do nothing about it. The only exception seems to be when a preacher or Christian public figure commits it then they are thrown to the wolves.

We tend to judge harshly those sins that we think ourselves incapable of.

What if Lil Nas X is standing before Jesus with the Church ready to stone him because he is a homosexual?  What would Jesus do?  Do you think he would say stone him?  Do you think he would condemn him to hell?  Do you think that Jesus would be so audacious as to look at him and say the same words he utters in John 8? 

“You who are without sin, you cast the first stone.”

For those that have been outraged at Lil Nas X’s publicity stunt …. would you throw a stone?

For those that are outraged at Lil Nas X’s homosexuality, would you throw a stone?

Would Jesus say, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more?”

Some of us Christians get caught up in the last part of that sentence.  Some will be quick to point out that Jesus said do not sin anymore, which he did.  However, the love part came first. The non-judgment attitude, from the one that had the right to judge, came first.  The love, value, and acceptance came before any command to change.

We tend to focus on the commands of change before we focus on the principle of loving, valuing, and accepting people as Jesus has done for us. We think that change comes first, then the love but it’s not that way at all.  Love comes first, then change.

Sadly, it seems that many Christians tend to focus on judgment rather than restoration and redemption.  This is funny because Jesus Himself said that he didn’t come into the world to judge the world but to redeem it.

But we must have standards!

If we are going to use that line, then let’s be clear about something… judgment begins at the house of God.  Maybe if we will get the logs out of our eyes, maybe if we will begin to clean up our own houses and our own messes, maybe if we start judging ourselves to see if our base standard is love then, and only then, can we begin to make the world stand up to our standards.

When the world can begin to accuse the church of loving too much, then we might begin to have a voice that they will listen to.

Until then, maybe we need to listen more than we speak when it comes to the world and their issues and sins.

Maybe, if listen more, love more, value and respect more, maybe, just maybe, people like Lil Nas X won’t grow up hating themselves or hating the church.

Before anyone claims that I am being soft on sin, embracing sinful lifestyles, or compromising the Bible in any way, I am not.  What I am saying is that we need to do a much better job of loving people where they are, not as we want them to be.  I am saying that we need to let God change people in His timing and in His ways, not ours.

I am saying that my heart breaks for Lil Nas X and the multitude of others that didn’t find love and acceptance at the church. Instead, they felt rejected and ostracized. 

But homosexuality is a sin, some of my Christian family will argue.  A lot of things are sin.  One of the most flagrant sins of all is to treat someone that is made in the image and likeness of God, someone that Jesus died for as if they were less than human.  To fail to see the image of God in every person is a sin.  To judge someone else’s sin as greater than my own is a sin.  To not love as Jesus loves me is a sin.

Which sins should we be excluding people for? 

The post Did the Church Fail Lil Nas X? appeared first on Michael Wilson.

The Bible has many stories in it that are hard for me to read, and they often leave me with more questions than answers. I believe that most Christians are not willing to wrestle with the hard passages of the Bible because we tend to either romanticize Bible stories or we simply gloss over them because we don’t know how to really wrestle with the text.

We romanticize a text or story when we tell the story but we don’t deal with the bad parts or we see ourselves in the role of the protagonist and ignore the other characters in the story.  A great example of this is Noah’s ark.  We put up pictures of Noah, his ark, and the animals in our nurseries, both at home and at church.  We tell the story to our children because it’s a cute story of a man that draws all the animals together to save them.  We love the fact that God saved Noah and his family and all the animals aboard the ark.  What’s not to love about Noah’s ark?

But what about all the people that died?  What about all the animals that drowned?  What about the people beating on the boat to be let in only to suffer a drowning death? 

Well, they got what they deserved is how we reason it out.  Or, we will simply say that God can do whatever God wants to do.  I think we do that when we don’t have answers to our questions, our really tough questions, so we tend to just put the blame on God’s shoulders. 

Things have to make sense to us and when they don’t we tend to make up answers to make ourselves feel better.  Any answer is better than no answer. 

The older I get the more I am comfortable saying, “I don’t know.”

The Dark Side of the Christmas Story

One story that gets overlooked is the dark side of the Christmas story, The Slaughter of the Innocents.  Maybe you’ve never heard that term used before.  It’s the story of when Herod tried to kill the baby Jesus by killing all the boys who were under two years old, who lived in the region of Bethlehem.

It was an absolute massacre of precious, innocent lives, rightly named The Slaughter of the Innocent.

I have to admit that I have really wrestled with this story.  The main reason that I wrestle with it is that God saves Jesus by sending him to Egypt, but he doesn’t give any of the other families the same opportunity.  God doesn’t give us any reasoning for this. 

We tend to move quickly over this story because, if we are honest, it makes us all uncomfortable.  We tend to highlight the fact that Jesus is saved from death by moving to Egypt.  We romanticize the story a bit but focusing on Jesus’ rescue (which I am very thankful for) but how many of us have put ourselves in the shoes of those families who lost their son?

If you know anything at all about this time period, the period known as the Pax Romana, or Roman Peace, you know that it was a very violent time.  Sure, it was the time of the Roman Peace, but Rome kept the peace through the form of violence and forced submission. 

If you dared to defy Rome, you were killed.  Crucifixion was a popular means of the Romans to discourage others from insurrection or rebellion.  It was a bloody and violent form of death.  As long as you were submissive to Rome all would be peaceful, but whoa to the person or persons who would dare rise up against Rome to shake off Rome’s tyranny.

The Tyrant, King Herod

King Herod the Great, while a great builder who gave the Jews their marvelous temple, was a very paranoid and dangerous tyrant.  He had his own wife and sons killed.  He was afraid of losing his control and throne.  He was so unpopular with the Jews that he knew his death would not be mourned, so he had it arranged that when he died Jewish priests were to be executed so that the Jews would be in a season of mourning at the time of his death.  Crazy, just crazy!

When Herod was visited by the Oriental Magi about the birthplace of the King of the Jews, he was greatly troubled, as was all of Jerusalem concerning this question and the arrival of these men from the East.  He asked them to find the newborn King and report back to him so that he, too, could come and worship.  However, his sinister plan wasn’t to worship but to exterminate.

God warns the Magi after they had found Jesus, worshipped him, and gave him their gifts. They left to go home by an alternate route.  When Herod realized this, he was incensed and ordered the slaughter of all baby boys two years of age and under.

Jesus escapes this slaughter but these innocent ones do not.  And I am sure that the killings were not in any sort of humane way (if there even is such a thing).  There were not drugs given to put them to sleep.  There were no doctors there to be sure they didn’t suffer.

No, it was violent.  It was mayhem.  It was evil and satanic.  Soldiers ripping the babies from their parents’ arms.  Parents struck and pushed away as they attempted to defend their child.  Some parents may have lost more than one baby that day if they had two sons under the age of two.  It’s possible that some parents may have even died trying to defend and protect their son.

I can’t imagine as a parent having to watch this take place.  I can’t imagine what they must have thought.  Surely, they either heard rumors or picked up on news, after the fact, of Herod’s intentions.  The Bible doesn’t say and we can’t know for sure.

What we do know is that Jesus was born into a violent world where babies die at the hands of evil tyrants.  They still do.

A Prophetic Picture

I’ve wrestled with this story trying to make sense of it.  Trying to figure out, and asking God, why he warned Joseph but not the other parents.  Trying to see what I can learn from this story, as I wish Mathew would have not put it in his narrative.

The one main thing that I come away with is this is a prophetic picture of fallen humanity.  Whenever one in power feels they are losing control or facing an overthrow innocent people will always get hurt. 

Whenever we feel afraid and that we are losing control, we will come out fighting….and innocent people get hurt.

Whenever countries (Presidents, Kings, Dictators, etc.) feel like they are losing control of their power …. innocent lives will be hurt and lost.

Collateral Damage

It’s what we call collateral damage.  Oh, how I hate that term.

Collateral damage is simply when innocent people (the unintended party) get hurt or die as a result of the activity of another person, group or country against the intended person or group of people. 

The innocents in this Christmas story were simply the collateral damage of Herod’s bloodthirsty lust to keep power and control.

But they were more than collateral damage.  They were innocent families. They were innocent baby boys. They were people that Herod didn’t value.

Therein lies the problem.  We always hurt people when we don’t value them.  When we see our lives as more important than their lives.  When our ambitions and our way of life become more important than someone else’s, we will always slaughter the innocent.

When getting back at our enemy is our objective, no matter the cost, the innocent will always be slaughtered.

For me, that’s the takeaway from this sad story.  Our lust for power and control will always result in the lives of others being less than our own . . . and we will slaughter the innocent.

And God allows it to happen because of the gift of free will.  Our choices matter and for God to always intervene means that he has to force us to do right, which is something he will not do.  He didn’t even force Joseph to take Jesus to Egypt.  He didn’t miraculously teleport them there.  He spoke to Joseph and waited for Joseph to obey.

Herod made the choice to allow his lust for power and control to overcome his humane sensibilities.  He was more into his own life than those that he ruled.  Whenever we put ourselves first, there will always be casualties in our quest for the throne of our own making.

The post The Slaughter of the Innocent appeared first on Michael Wilson.

I love new beginnings, the start of something new.  I love to start working on a new project, a new sermon series, a new blog article.  There’s something fresh about new beginnings.

My best friend’s daughter just had a baby.  Talk about new beginnings!  A whole life waiting in front of this little human being.  For this family there will be many firsts…first steps, first tooth, first sleepover, first bike ride, first date, and the list goes on.  We’ve all experienced this.

We are celebrating a new year, 2021. Many were glad to see 2020 go because of everything Covid-19 related.  We are hoping that 2021 is different.  Even though January 1^st of every year is not a magical date, there is something magical about new beginnings.

New beginnings bring fresh hope!

We all need hope in our lives.

The Proverbs writer tells us that hope deferred makes the heart sick (Prov. 13:12).  When we have no hope, we lose our energy and zest for life, depression can easily set in.  Without hope, life is meaningless and we tend to just drift along carried about by the waves of circumstances.

But with hope life is energized, invigorating, and full of meaning.  Hope gives us the will to carry on.  Hope is the rudder that allows us to navigate the waves of circumstances, keeping us from shipwrecking on the reefs of despair.

Hope keeps us fully alive.

I believe one reason why God gives us new beginnings is to give us hope.  Every day is a new beginning, which means that every day is a day filled with hope.  The writer of Lamentations declares, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lam. 3:22-23)

His mercies are new every single morning.  I find it interesting that in Genesis 1 it says, “there was evening, and there was morning.”  Each new day ended in a morning where God’s mercies are waiting for us fresh, new, and given without any judgment or condemnation.

Think about that!  Each day that you wake up there is a fresh heaping of God’s mercies for you.  Mercies that covered the mistakes and failures of yesterday.  Mercies to get you through anything you face today.  And the best part is that you cannot ever exhaust his mercies or love.  His love is steadfast and never ceases.  His mercies never come to an end.

God is full of new beginnings!

I know what’s it like to suffer loss.  I know what it’s like to lose everything and feel that life isn’t worth living anymore.  I know what it’s like to not care if you live or die.  I know what it’s like to grieve and have a vast emptiness inside of you.  But I also can tell you that I know what it’s like for God to restore your hope!

If we will allow him to (and yes, you have to allow him as he will not force anything on you), He can make beauty out of ashes. He can turn graves into gardens. He can restore what you’ve lost.  He can resurrect dead things.  He can restore hope to the hopeless!

He can give you a new beginning.

That’s my prayer and goal, not just for 2021, but for the rest of my life . . . every day a new beginning.  I’ve wallowed too long in the valley of weeping, grief, and loss.  I’ve cried too many tears over what I had lost that I missed out on the good that was in front of me.  It’s a day of new beginnings, not because my circumstances have changed, but because I am changing my thinking.  I am grabbing hold of God’s new beginnings.

Maybe you’re in the same boat.  There is no condemnation.  God isn’t mad at you because you struggle.  He is a loving patient father who holds out mercy, love and hope each morning to you just hoping that you will grab hold of it.  It’s there for the taking.

Today can simply be just another day full of the same old stuff, or today can be Day One of a new beginning.  You may still face the same circumstances as yesterday but if you will accept God’s offer you can face them today with hope and not despair.

Here’s to your new beginnings!

The post New Beginnings Bring New Hope appeared first on Michael Wilson.

What if the Bible were still being written today?  In a manner of speaking I believe that it is.

Now before you condemn me as a heretic, hear me out.  The word itself, Bible, simply means books.  The Bible is a collection of books, 39 Old Testament Books (Hebrew bible) and 27 New Testament books.  This is the Protestant Bible, as the Roman Catholic Bible has more books than that.

So, the Bible is simply a collection of books inspired by God, written by men.

 I used to believe that the Bible was our rulebook for living. While it most definitely has guidance for our daily lives, I don’t believe the primary purpose is to tell us how to live.  I believe that is more a story of God’s desire to interact with the creatures that he created in his image and likeness.  It’s a story of God’s desire to be love and to be loved back.  More specifically, I believe that it’s overarching theme is point us to God’s Son, who coming into the earth as the man Jesus, explains to us who the Father is, how much he loves us, and what he is wanting for us.

Everything in the Bible points us to Jesus. 

Which brings me to my point.  If the Bible is a story of God’s interaction with humanity, and God is still interacting with humanity, then the story continues. But how is that story told?  We will get to this.

Also, since the books of the Bible point to Jesus, then shouldn’t our lives point to him as well?  Again, we will touch on this in a moment.

This brings me to an interesting part of a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth.  In his second letter to them, he says,

Are we beginning to praise ourselves again? Are we like others, who need to bring you letters of recommendation, or who ask you to write such letters on their behalf? Surely not! The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our hearts; everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you. Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts. (2 Corinth. 3:1-3, my emphasis added)

Wow, what a beautifully worded commendation to the Corinthian Christians.  Who, by the way, were not ones that had it all together.  Just read the book of 1^st Corinthians. They really had some issues going on among themselves.

Paul declares them to be a letter from Christ showing the result of Paul’s ministry among them.  What was Paul’s ministry?  It was Jesus. It was the New Covenant.  It was pure, 100-proof, unadulterated grace.  The people of Corinth were able to see Christ through the lives of the Corinthian Christians.  In essence, they were reading the Bible through the lives of the Corinthian Christians.

What about us in modern, 21^st century America?  If the people around us would write a “book report of our lives” what do you think they would say?  If we told them that our lives were a letter from Christ to them, how do you think they would react?

Would the letter read like a love story or a verdict of judgment?  Would it be a great story or a depressing one? Would it be a story of radical, scandalous grace or legalistic conformity to religious rules?

I don’t believe that the Bible is still open to add books to it.  It’s a closed canon.  However, if we are talking about a story of God’s interaction with people, well then a living, breathing “Bible” may very well be being written.  Each of our lives is a story of God’s interaction with us. 

Paul’s words to the Corinthian church are so true….”Clearly, you are a letter from Christ.”

The world should “read” the story of our lives and see God’s amazing interaction of grace within our lives.  I know that I want people to read my story, my letter written by Christ Himself and see the good work of other people who have poured into me. 

Considering that Paul wrote this to the Corinthian church, a group of people that were really messed up in a lot of ways, there is hope for all of us that don’t have it all together. Even though he had to correct them in numerous areas, he still spoke of them highly.  He still said that they were a letter from Christ. 

God sees things very differently than we do!

I asked earlier how the story of God’s interaction with humanity is still being told.  The answer to that question is through the lives of His followers.  Each of our lives should point back to Jesus and His work in us, for us, and through us. 

Again, if people around us were to write a “book report” of our lives as seen through their eyes, could they see a letter, or story, written by Jesus Himself?  Could they be able to write of God’s works in our lives?  Would they write a love story full of grace and wonder or would it be a depressing story of condemnation and judgment?

I know that some people will start saying that our lives do not hold the authority of the holy scriptures.  I understand that, and somewhat agree with that. But that’s not the point of this article.  The point of this article is that God is still writing stories of His interaction with us . . . it’s called our lives!

You may be the only Bible someone reads.  What does “your Bible” say?

The post Are You Someone’s Bible? appeared first on Michael Wilson.

Am I my brother’s keeper?

A very famous line and one that is so appropriate for today in the light of the recent murders of African American men.  Am I my brother’s keeper?

While I would love to think that I have mastered being my brother’s keeper, I know that I can honestly say that I have not fully been my brother’s keeper.  One major area that I have failed in is that I have allowed too much suffering to occur without saying anything. Too many times we turn a blind eye because “their” suffering does not affect us.  Sometimes, it is just that we do not want to be made uncomfortable by the suffering of others.

I’ve have felt saddened by past events of injustice and have even said a prayer asking God for justice.  But that is not really being my brother’s keeper.

Cain & Abel

My brother’s keeper comes from the very first book of the Bible.  In Genesis chapter 4 we have the story of Cain and Abel. Both bring an offering to the Lord.  Abel’s offering is accepted but Cain’s is not.  We are not told why Cain’s offering is rejected but he gets mad that his offering is not accepted.

God challenges Cain about his attitude and gives him a chance to make things right.  God always gives us a chance to make things right.  Cain does not take the chance and gives in to his jealousy of Abel, ultimately killing Able.

God then asks Cain where his brother his and Cain’s response becomes the famous line that we all know, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

God wants to know what Cain has done. Again, God gives Cain a chance to make things right.  God tells Cain that Abel’s blood cries out from the ground.

I wonder how loudly the blood of victims of injustice speaks to God.  If Abel’s blood cried out to God, what about Ahmed Aubrey’s or George Flynn’s blood, or any of the victims of injustice around the world (the hungry in Africa, innocent civilians killed by drone strikes, the religious persecution, the list goes on)?

Am I their keeper?

Cain was asking God if Abel was his responsibility.  I believe that he is being a bit sarcastic with God but it’s a very valid question, especially in light of the New Covenant that we have with Jesus.

Jesus said that the world will know that we are his disciples by our love for one another.  It is easy to love those I go to church with but what about people I do not know?  What about the people of the world who suffer injustice?  What about people of other cultures that I do not understand?  What about victims of injustice that do not affect my life?  Do I love them?  Do I care about what happens to them?

Can I hear their blood cry out?  Am I even listening?

If God hears the blood of the victims (Luke 11:51), shouldn’t I be listening?  Especially if I pray to become more like Him?

Am I my brother’s keeper?

I believe that we are! But, we (particularly my fellow white Christians) are failing at it. Followers of Christ should be the first to speak out at injustice.  We should be the first to come to the aid and comfort of those who have suffered.  We are quick to call out persecution when it affects us but not quick enough when it affects others.

Let’s take a look at another passage of the Bible that isn’t quite as famous as Cain’s response to God.

The prophet Micah gives us a very strong word in his short book:  He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)

God requires three things of us:

• Do justice
• Love kindness (mercy)
• Walk humbly with Him

If I am to be my brother’s keeper then I must become a person of justice.  Not justice in the sense of only proving who is right and wrong but in the sense of setting things wrong things right.  It does have to do with determining right and wrong, but it goes beyond just a mental ascent of what is right and wrong.  We must be sure that we right the wrongs that have been done.  We must make sure that those who have suffered receive justice.

Justice involves being sure that the systems that create injustice are dismantled and done away with.  It is not just establishing new laws.  It is being sure that hearts and minds are changed to see the wrongs and corrected so that they don’t happen again.

When we walk humbly before God then we will love mercy and show kindness.  When we show mercy and kindness that we will do the things that justice requires. 

If my brother is wronged, then I must speak out. 

If a whole culture of people is being victimized I must speak out.

If my favorite people, or my preferred political party, or my particular tribe is wrong then I must speak out.

I must add my voice to the blood crying out from the ground.

God requires it of me, and he requires it of you.

Identifying with Injustice

Paul, the great apostle, said that he became all things to all men that he might win some (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). To become all things to all men I must become responsible to be their keeper, to understand them as I am able, to appreciate them, their culture, and their struggles.  I have to identify with them in their humanity.

Isn’t that what Jesus did?  He became us to identify with us.  He became our keeper.  We were the victims of death.  We were under the curse of death.  Death had it’s knee on our neck and as a result, we were dead. 

Yet, Jesus identified with us, became one of us, and brought justice into our lives.  He made things right.  And he intercedes (prays) for us still.  He is still pleading our case, speaking up for us, being our voice when we do not have one.  The Holy Spirit makes groans for us when we don’t have words (Romans 8:26-27).

If I am to emulate him, then I too must become one with the victim.  I, too, must learn to be their voice when they have none. I, too, must pray and stand in the gap for those that cannot.

I, must, become my brother’s keeper and take responsibility to leave my place of privilege and become a servant (Phil. 2).  I cannot call myself a disciple of Christ if I do not.

I have not been my brother’s keeper as I should have.  With the help of the Holy Spirit, I will do better.

The post Am I My Brother’s Keeper? appeared first on Michael Wilson.

Ever had a time when you were so excited to be going to a new restaurant?  You couldn’t wait to try it out.  You had heard from friends that it was very good.  Finally, the evening comes that you get to go. The menu looks great and you have a hard time deciding what to order.  After mulling your choices over, you order and wait.  Everyone else’s food looks and smells delicious.  Your waiter brings your food and you prepare to dig in.  But, it is not good at all.  It looks good, even smells good, but your taste buds do not agree with the looks or the smell.

What a disappointment!

We’ve all had them . . . those disappointing moments in life where an experience or someone lets us down.  Sadly, each of us has even been the cause of someone else’s disappointment. There are times when I feel bad that I disappointed someone.  I never want to let someone down that is counting on me.  However, there are times when I have not felt bad because I realize that their expectations of me were either not realistic, or they were expectations that I didn’t agree to.

Disappointed by God

What do we do when it is God that disappoints us?  How do we handle those times in our lives where God seemingly lets us down, wasn’t there when we needed him, or did not do what we thought he should do? 

And for those of you that would say that God has never disappointed you then I can honestly say that I wish I had your relationship with God.  Because God has disappointed me more than once, and honestly, I think that all of us have been disappointed by the way God handled situations in our lives.

Now, I am not saying that God was wrong in the way he handled things.  I am not saying that God abandoned us or failed to live up to his promises.  Disappointment is the sadness or displeasure caused by the nonfulfillment of one’s hopes or expectations.  It is my hopes and expectations that didn’t get met, but that doesn’t mean that God didn’t have my back.  It simply means my hopes and expectations did not get met.

The Day Jesus Didn’t Show Up

One of Jesus’ closest friends was disappointed with him.  In John 11, we find the story of Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha.  Jesus was very close to this family, often staying at their home when he was in Bethany (which was very near to Jerusalem). 

Lazarus had fallen deathly ill and the sisters called for Jesus to come.  They knew that if Jesus showed up, he would heal Lazarus, and all would be well.  However, Jesus waits a couple of days after being told about Lazarus’ sickness. He tells his disciples that Lazarus has fallen asleep and he must go and wake him.  He was speaking of Lazarus’ death and resurrection, but his disciples did not know that, and Lazarus’ sisters did not know that either.

All Mary and Martha knew was that they had asked Jesus to hurry and come to their aid and he did not. 

They prayed for a miracle and it did not come. Their brother died.

Now, we know the Bible story and how it ends. Jesus shows up four days later and raises Lazarus from the dead.  Awesome!  Praise God! 

BUT, put yourself in the shoes of Mary and Martha during those couple of days. They call for Jesus knowing he would heal their brother, but he does not come.  Lazarus dies and they must bury him.

The Death of Hope

What happens when people or things die?  Our hopes and dreams go with them.  All their hopes of life with Lazarus died with him.  All their future expectations and plans go to the grave with Lazarus.

The same thing happens when relationships die.  When a person loses a spouse either through physical death or the emotional death of a divorce, all hopes and dreams for the future are gone.  Hope dies too! 

And living without hope is next to impossible.

In the case of Mary and Martha, Jesus did not show up when asked to show up!  I believe they were disappointed.  I know I would be because I have been.

When Jesus did finally show up, both sisters had some pent-up feelings for him.  Both Mary and Martha said, “Lord if only you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”  In my mind, I hear her saying, “Lord, where were you when we needed you the most?  If you had been here, Lazarus would still be alive.  But you weren’t here when we needed you.”

Ever felt that way before?  I have and it is okay to admit that you have felt that way before.  Notice that Jesus does not rebuke Martha for her feelings.  He does not criticize her for not having faith.  I see from the story that Jesus legitimately feels their pain, even though he knows what he is about to do. 

God Feels Our Pain

In this story, we see a God that feels the pain of his creation.  God feels the temporal pain of humanity even though he sees the larger picture.  Jesus knows that he has come to raise Lazarus and that this miracle is part of a larger plan.  Lazarus had to die in order for Jesus to resurrect him.  Lazarus had to die in order for Jesus to show that he, himself, is the resurrection and the life. 

But Mary and Martha didn’t know that, couldn’t see that, and felt that God didn’t show up when God needed to show up.  I believe that you and I have felt the very same things before. As we look back on situations in our lives, we can see how God worked things out and took us through the valley of the shadow of death.  But, at the time, we couldn’t see God working and it may have felt that God wasn’t even interested in our lives.

We prayed for a miracle, but the miracle never came.  Our hopes and dreams, our Lazarus if you will, died and God could have kept that from happening if he had just shown up.

And we become disappointed just like Martha.  “Lord, if only you had been here!”

However, we read on in John 11 that Martha tells Jesus that she knows Lazarus will live again in the future hope of resurrection.  Jesus reveals to her that He, Himself, is the resurrection and the life.  Resurrection is not some distant event that is going to happen to us, it is something that can happen to us now in our current situation.

Resurrection and Life

Resurrection and Life is a Person and his name is Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.  He is the power of resurrection.  He is life.  He is the answer. 

He raised Lazarus to life by simply calling out, “Lazarus come forth.”  After four days of death, decomposition, and decay, Lazarus comes out of the tomb alive and well.  All hopes are restored.  All dreams for the future are given back to this family. 

God did show up, just not when they wanted him to.  God has a way of showing up on his timetable and his timetable is always different than ours!

Maybe some of your hopes and dreams have died.  Maybe you feel that God did not show up when you needed him the most.  Maybe, like Martha, you’ve said,

“God if you had been here, my marriage would have been saved.”

“God, if you had been here, my child would not have died.”

“God, if you had been here, my business would not have failed.”

“God, if you had been here”  . . . .the list could go on and on and on.

Disappointment with God is a real thing and it must be dealt with in our lives if we are to have a deep, meaningful, and satisfying relationship with God.  God has shoulders that are big enough to handle our disappointment, our anger, our hurt feelings, and whatever else we might lay on him.

I am thankful that he has big shoulders to deal with my issues.

I am also thankful that God may have disappointed me by not living up to my expectations, but he has never failed me.  Notice that I said he did not live up to my expectations.  We have to always check our expectations to make sure that our expectations are what God has promised. Sometimes we jump ahead of God and expect him to bless our plans without first asking if our plans are his plans.

Remember the Promise

When it seems that God isn’t showing up for us when we need him, we must always remind ourselves of his promise that he will never leave us nor forsake us.  We must remember that Jesus promised that he would be with us until the end of the world.  Not to mention, he has placed his Holy Spirit within us as a guarantee that we belong to him.  We are never without God, even though there are times when it feels that he is absent from us.  We have to deal with those feelings by reminding ourselves of the truth.

I want to end by reminding you that God feels your pain.  He understands your frustrations.  He understands your grief.  Even when you feel that he isn’t there, he is.  And it’s okay for you to pour out your frustrations to him.  He wants to share in the experience of your pain, even when you feel that your pain is his fault.  Be like Martha and Mary by pouring out your heart to him.  His shoulders are big enough to handle it.  And, you might just be surprised at how better you feel when you pour out your heart.

So many people are afraid to be that real and vulnerable with God.  I remind you that he already knows how you feel so why not just tell him?  He knows when you are mad and disappointed with him so just let it out and let it go.  You may be astonished at how understanding he is. 

Bear In mind that when Jesus saw the pain of the people concerning Lazarus’ death, he wept.  He wept even though he knew what was about to happen.  Give God the opportunity to weep with you in your pain.

Two great books to read on this subject are:

• Disappointment with God by Phillip Yancy
• When God Breaks Your Heart by Ed Underwood

The post When God Doesn’t Show Up appeared first on Michael Wilson.

Trust is the foundation of any relationship. Without trust, a relationship will not be deep, meaningful and satisfying.  Trust is one of the strongest, yet most fragile, bonds among humans.  Trust takes time to build up, can be destroyed in a split second, and takes even longer to rebuild.  Yet, it is essential for relationships.

Without trust, relationships simply will not work.

Recently I was watching a TV show where two people were being forced to work together.  These two people had been very close in the past, but there had been a falling out and both felt betrayed by the other.  Two close friends had now become two mortal enemies.  Yet, here they were now needing to work together.  One of them asked the other, “why should I trust you?” To which the reply was, “You have no choice, we have to work together on this.” 

Even though he said “you have to trust me” I don’t think there was much trust from either party.  Even if we find ourselves in situations where we are having to trust someone in a situation that is beyond our control, there is always skepticism in the back of our minds.

Thankfully, in this TV show, everything worked out, the two people worked through their differences and there was a happy ending.  Too bad life doesn’t always work out that way.

Just as trust is vital to our human relationships, trust is also vital in our relationship with God.  The Proverb writer tells us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct all your paths.” (Prov. 3:5-6)

There are seasons in our life where it seems that trusting God is easy, other seasons not so much.  There are seasons in our lives where it feels that God is distant, almost to the point of feeling that he has forgotten about us, or worse, abandoned us.  Those feelings can be very intense at times and even though we know he will never leave us or forsake us those feelings can cause us to question his reliability.

In those seasons it is important that we fully trust him to see us through. But what does trusting God really look like?  We throw that phrase around, “Just trust God”, but how many of us have really stopped to consider what truly trusting him looks like in a practical manner.

Trust Definition

n.  a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of someone or something.

v.  believe in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of.

What is the goal of our relationship with Jesus?

I had the Lord ask me this question one day, “Son, what do you want out of our relationship.”  I had to give that question some serious thought.  I had a list of about 5 things that I really wanted out of my relationship with him, but it all boils down to this:

To grow deeper in relationship.

Isn’t this the goal of our relationships, to grow deeper in them?  I realize that not every relationship we have with people is going to grow deep.  I don’t expect to have a deep relationship with all my co-workers or even all of my extended family members.  But for those relationships that I have that are most important to me, I want them to be deep, meaningful relationships.

That cannot happen if trust is not the foundation of those relationships.

This begs the question:  how does a relationship grow deeper? I believe that the answer to this question is quite simple.  Relationships grow deeper through shared experiences resulting in greater trust of, deeper appreciation for, and a strong love for the other person.

We develop relationships with people that we share experiences with. Those shared experiences build trust and appreciation, thus resulting in a stronger love bond between the two persons.

So, how does this apply to our relationship with God?  He wants us to share our experiences with him, thus resulting in built-up trust and appreciation, and ultimately a stronger love bond between him and ourselves.

Some would say that every experience a Christian has in life is a shared experience with God, but I would disagree.  While it is true that God is with us in all things, it is up to us to share that experience with God.  We can shut God out of the experience.  How do we do that?

• We can shut him out by trying to handle everything on our own.
• We can shut him out by becoming angry with him over the situation we find ourselves in.
• We can shut him out when we operate in doubt and fear.

God will always be there and will work things out for our good.  That’s his promise to us.  But the issue here is shared experience and for it to be a shared experience then we must allow God into the experience with us.  The more we do this, the greater our trust in God will become because God always proves himself to be faithful and trustworthy.

Trusting God Looks Like This

If we review our definition of trust we see that it is a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of someone or something.

When we trust in God it looks like this:

• I believe in the reliability of God – He is faithful to me.
• I believe in the truth of God – He means what he says.
• I believe in the ability of God – He is willing and able to help us.
• I believe in the strength of God – He has the power to help us.

But when we distrust God, it looks like this:

• I don’t trust the reliability of God – He won’t be here for me.
• I don’t trust the truth of God – He won’t do what he said he will do.
• I don’t trust the ability of God – He isn’t willing to help me.
• I don’t trust the strength of God – He can’t change the situation.

Tested Trust

All relationships are founded on trust.  You cannot be found trustworthy until that trust is tested. 

The strength of any relationship is forged within the trials of adversity, for the trials of adversity is when the trust in the relationship gets tested.

The test of truth comes in the time of “I needed you.”  Many times, we got upset with God because we feel that at a time we needed him most, he wasn’t there.  We feel that he didn’t answer us when we needed him.  He didn’t come through for us when we needed him to come through.

We find ourselves in the same position as Martha in John, chapter 11 when Lazarus died.  Lazarus was Jesus’ friend and he was deathly sick.  Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters called for Jesus to come to see Lazarus.  However, Jesus waits three days before he comes to see them. Lazarus dies before Jesus gets there. 

Understandably upset, Martha tells Jesus, “if only you had been here Lord, Lazarus would not have died.”  My translation of that goes like this, “Jesus, where were you when we needed you the most?  We needed you to be here to heal Lazarus, but you weren’t here!”

Often, that’s where we lose trust because we feel that the Lord wasn’t there when we needed him.  We believe the lie that he isn’t reliable. 

It’s in these times that we must remember that God always has a greater plan than what we know of.  We must trust in his goodness when it seems that he isn’t being faithful.

Our trust in God is what will help us grow deeper in a relationship with him.  And that is what God is asking of us…to trust him.  Our salvation is based on our trust in what Jesus did for us.  Hebrews tells us that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.  Abraham simply trusted in what God said.  He believed that God would do what he said he would do. 

Without trust a relationship will never grow. I believe that is why God asks us to trust him because he wants us to have a deep relationship with him.  That deep relationship is founded upon our trust of him. Your passion for God will be born out of your deepest struggles as you have learned to trust him with the hardest of situations.

The greatest love stories contain the worst hardships.

The post Tested Trust in God appeared first on Michael Wilson.

For years I’ve allowed external circumstances to affect my thinking about things, which in turn affects my feelings.  Most of the time it’s not been good.  My external circumstances acted more like a thermostat in my life dictating how my inner life was going to be rather than my inner life affecting how I looked at my external world.

Yet, as a believer in Christ, I am supposed to live my life from the inside out.  Jesus said that the kingdom of God is not an external thing that we can find by observation but that the kingdom of God is within us.  The apostle Paul defines the kingdom as righteous, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (all internal qualities).

So, as I have thought about this recently, especially as I deal with deconstructing my thought life in order to reconstruct it properly, I have come to realize how much I am living outside in rather than inside out.

If I am living with the Kingdom of God on the inside of me, then the kingdom is what should be manifesting on the outside of me. The Kingdom of God should be the regulator of my thought life, which in turn controls my feelings, which will then affect my outlook on life.   I should live as a righteous man who has peace and joy amid any circumstance. I just don’t always do that.

It takes a renewing of my mind to live from the inside out.  It takes allowing the Holy Spirit to convince us of our righteousness before God.  As we realize our righteousness we can live in peace and joy.  Most Christians I know are not convinced of their righteousness.  Most Christians I know live from the outside in instead of the inside out.  I think this is one reason why the Church is losing ground in America.  Christians look no different than non-Christians.  We are just as sad, just as troubled and just as unhappy.

This should not be so.  I should not be this way, but I have been. 

I want to be the type of Jesus-follower that people notice there is something different about me. I want them to want what I have because of what Jesus has done in my life.  I hate to admit it, but I am not there, even after walking with God for over 30 years.  Yet, I still deal with the blues, sadness, melancholy, and moodiness because of certain external circumstances that I allow to affect me.

When I live from the inside out, external circumstances do not dictate how I feel or what I think.  My external circumstances may be bad, and ones that I don’t want to face, but internally I realize that God has this under his supervision, all things are going to be okay, and I don’t have to allow my circumstances to affect how I feel or how I think. 

When I live from the inside out, I will have peace that passes understanding, joy in the midst of bad situations, and I will not think that God is upset with me because I’ve done something wrong.

When I live from the inside out, I will see things from God’s perspective and not from my own, which is very limited. 

When I live from the inside out, I will not lean on my own understanding, but I will trust in him with all my heart.  As a friend of mine said recently, “it’s insane to lean on my own understanding when I am prone to lose my keys and make other silly mistakes.” 

When I live from the inside out, I will allow peace to reign in my life even though metaphorical storms may be pressing me in from all sides.  I can be like Jesus and go to sleep in the middle of a storm.

When I live from the inside out, external circumstances will never dictate my inner temperature.  My temperature will stay the same….calm, cool, and collected.

But, the opposite of these statements is true as well when I choose to live from the outside in.

When I live from the outside in, external circumstances will dictate my “inner temperature” and will affect my moods.  I will not be calm, cool and collected. I will be hot, angry and falling apart.

When I live from the outside in, I will not have peace until there is peace around me.  The slightest disturbance can send me into panic mode where I don’t have any peace but turmoil and chaos.

When I live from the outside in, I will always lean on my own understanding and try to fix things.  I will try to control things. I will try to make things happen and ultimately it will all come crashing down.  Unfortunately, control is an illusion.

When I live from the outside in, I will always see things from a very limited perspective which will cause me to be rash in my decision making.  I will make judgments that are often wrong and will assume the worst in every situation.  I will usually see things from a place of rejection.

When I live from the outside in, I will see bad things as God’s punishment for something I’ve done wrong. I will then overthink and overanalyze, trying to figure out what I did wrong to cause this bad situation.

Living from the outside in is not how God intended for us to live. It’s not how Jesus lived, and it will not help us become more spiritually mature. 

The post Living From the Inside Out appeared first on Michael Wilson.