Life Death — and the Mess in Between

If you wonder whether you are able to think big, ask yourself a simple question: can you imagine someone offers you the biggest thing you ever wanted for free - and you can accept it without any hesitation? You Cannot Perform Your Way into Salvation Salvation comes before sanctification. It is impossible to do this the other way around. Sanctification, the process of becoming progressively more like Christ and to be set apart for God’s purpose is a life-long process and it starts with salvation. From Christ perspective, salvation means our recognition we are imperfect and we actually need saving.  If we believe we need some form of sanctification first in order to receive salvation, we ignore that Christ is our salvation. It has been achieved through him already and is now available to us with no strings attached. Trying to earn this salvation somehow means we reduce sanctification to a program to better ourselves. The result is we do not seek salvation because we either belie...

We tend to try to make stuff happen. We are seekers but the quest gets in the way when it is all action and no real abiding, meaning to just be in the presence of Christ.  I always thought preparation means acquiring yet another skill to be ready, including to be "better at being his presence". There is no real manual for it and we become aware of his presence in different ways.  In the end, we wait to receive grace. Every word in that sentence is potentially challenging. We don’t like to wait because we are impatient. Some of us find it hard to receive because receiving requires humility. We can only receive grace with humility and being poor in spirit because that’s the one thing we cannot earn. But we believe we need to earn it because there is no such thing as a free lunch. We do not choose Jesus. He chose us. He also prepares the works which means he chose the works for us. Maybe we just need the patience, humility and trust to just receive while we focus on our hearts. ...

I came across a Munk Debate from 2018 in which Stephen Fry argues that political correctness does not work. He argues people should take themselves more lightly and be less certain. During the debate, he also states the following: “Progress isn’t achieved by preachers or guardians of morality but by madmen, hermits, heretics, dreamers, rebels and skeptics.” This struck a core with me. What am I certain of? Based on my own experience, Jesus Christ has always been in the midst of my humanity. That does not mean I understand much of it, especially why he still loves. I am sure Jesus was accused of being a madman at the time. As C.S. Lewis argued either Christ was a madman or he spoke the truth. We must decide for ourselves whether Christ was a madman or spoke the truth. Not many are willing to think this through but the fact of the matter is we need to take a position. All other terms do apply to Jesus and his contemporaries were well aware of that. Hence the need to kill him.  Christ...

The day you are born you start the journey of life until the day you die. The bits in-between are messy. We don't control the events and people around us. We only can influence how we react. Sometimes we react well. Sometimes we don't. Our challenge is to remain aware of our thoughts, emotions and actions during the seasons full of joy and equally important during the seasons of acute pain and suffering.  The Work never Stops Living life to the fullest means to put in the work to mature while fully accepting we are invited to this process until the day we die. Even when we have found our purpose, life will go on and we will always find ourselves confronted with new problems. We won’t really arrive. Our call is to make the most of it. No Full Life without Love Living life to the fullest cannot be a self-centered life because that would mean we miss out on love. We give and receive love. We love ourselves and others. That kind of love is not an emotion or based on feelings. It is...

The last post ended with the statement that life is hard. In fact, the more I live, the more I find myself accepting that life is indeed hard and full of problems. In his book, The Road Less Traveled, M. Scott Peck said as much but encourages us to look at these problems as a chance to mature. In so many words, he tells us to accept that life will always be hard so we might as well learn to focus on solving our problems instead of trying to avoid the inevitable pain.  When Life Sucks However, it is also a fact that we will not always succeed and may choose not to address a problem. That is part of our humanity. And if you won’t take it from Peck, take it from Christ, who was very explicit about it, telling his disciples they will have trouble. Importantly, Christ also comforts his disciples pointing out that he has overcome and by extension his disciples.  How Church Does Not Help Where things can go terribly wrong is when churches put a lot of emphasis on “overcoming” a...

I ended the last post with the question whether we can have purpose when all is stripped away. When it is down to just God and us. That presumes we actually have some form of faith. What if we don't? Is it any of this even real? Is this Even Real? There are moments when I think to myself, “honestly, it all does sound a little ridiculous”, but my doubts are rarely about God’s existence. For some reason, I always knew there was a God. One of my earliest memories is my declaration with all the wisdom of a three-year old: “I know God exists, but I don’t believe in him.” So, my doubts about God can be better summarized with “what the heck, why that now?” When Faith Works There are those days, when it feels like I am ready to take on the world. On these days, God is great. The sun is shining, things do not bother me that much, they may even go according to plan, people are nice, and I am really looking forward to whatever I need to do that day. That’s when I do feel like a true child of...

  Is it life changing when you almost die? For me it was an important starting point of a much longer process of transformation — NOT “improvement”. I am not a better person now. I’d like to believe I am better equipped to deal with life. That does not mean, I am the finished product.  Dying Can Change Your Life — If You Stop Sleepwalking So, is it life changing when you almost die? You’d think so but it entirely depends on how you react. I know because I (almost) died — five times to be exact. Four of these times would have been quick affairs: two near misses involving a car and I really mean “near” and instant death. Twice I almost drowned. That was different because you have the time to get scared and fight back — especially when you are on your own in the ocean. Note to self: don’t go ocean swimming in stormy weather when the red flags are out and the lifeguards aren’t. Unfortunately, the subsequent thrill and gratitude of having survived didn’t last very long and the day-...