[Video] Should Christians participate in Halloween?

I found this video a couple of days ago and thought I'd share it with you.  Whether you fully agree with the conclusion or not, I hope that it gets you thinking.

Hoping but Not Receiving

One of the reasons we don't receive God's power in our lives is that we are looking for the wrong kind.

The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.  Luke 24:20-21a

This statement comes from the conversation between Jesus and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (read it in its entirety here).  People often overlook this part of the conversation in a rush to focus on other aspects of the story like "the good part" where Jesus reveals His identity and everyone gets all excited.  However, we do the story a disservice by neglecting the hoping part because therein lies the reason for the "downcast" faces, and, in a way, the reason they were so excited after the reveal.  They misunderstood the reality of Jesus' mission, but why?

These disciples, along with most of the Jewish people at that time, which, sadly, included the twelve, thought that the Messiah was to come and deliver the nation of Israel from Roman bondage so that they could have the easy life like back in the good old days of David and Solomon.  Despite Jesus' many statements regarding the true nature of "the kingdom of heaven", and His refusal to be crowned as an earthly king, they couldn't rid themselves of the idea that He "was going to redeem Israel", and set up an earthly kingdom.  Sadly, that concept, and ones similar to it, still hold sway among many of the current professed followers of Christ.

One modern departure from Jesus' true mission on earth exists in "prosperity theology" which promotes the belief  that all one needs to do to receive anything is "name it and claim it".  Adherents to this belief system use texts from the Bible as a means to receive anything from good health to a new house.  Interesting thoughts coming from professed followers of one who was essentially homeless, and spoke of riches as a hindrance to entering God's kingdom after telling a rich man to sell all of his possessions.

A more subtle, and therefore more dangerous, variation on this theme also exists.  That being the concept that the life of a Christian should be for the most part, free from problems and sacrifice.  This view continues despite statements from Jesus to the contrary like the one found in Luke 9:23-24 which states that His true followers "must take up their cross daily."  Apparently many of his followers today suffer from the same tendency towards selective hearing as did His disciples back then.  I say this because prior to making that statement, He told His disciples, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." (v. 22)  It doesn't get much plainer than that, yet not long after hearing that statement, we find the two disciples walking to Emmaus all downcast and such, saying "The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped . . ."

In short, we don't receive God power in our lives because we look for His power to eliminate our problems (something He never said He would do) instead of to help us through them (something He often said He would do).

So if you start sensing the lack of God's power in your life, you should stop and ask yourself, "Am I looking for the right kind?"

A Greater Cause for Celebration

Psalm 111:9  He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever—holy and awesome is his name.

God gave us a greater reason to celebration than simply freedom from political oppression.

The verse I chose today comes near the end of a relatively short praise psalm. In it the author (who is anonymous) lists reasons to praise the LORD. I chose to focus on this verse because it mentions the most important item in the list, redemption. A major part of redemption is grace. I read recently that God's grace is twofold. It is both forgiveness for who I am and what I do, but also power for me to keep me from sinning.

We often think of redemption in light of the cross of Calvary, but it's important to note that this psalm was written thousands of years before Jesus even came to earth as a man. God provided redemption and grace before the cross. Even in the sinful pre-advent world God tilted things in our favor.

So today, as we ponder the freedoms we have here as a nation take the time to ponder the true and complete freedom we can have through His redemption. Now that's something we can really get excited about.

Preventing (and Solving) the Polarization Problem

I hate to say it, but sometimes the church can have striking similarities with the current U.S. Congress.  Thankfully, there is a solution to that problem.

A few days ago, as I was looking at the website for a local newspaper, I saw the name "Evan Bayh" as one of their featured topics.  I had never heard that name before so I clicked on the link to see why this guy was newsworthy.  It turned out that he is a U.S. senator representing the state of Indiana who decided that it was time for him to retire from politics.  As I read the article, I came across a quotation from Mr. Bayh, that I am sure that many Americans would agree with.  He said,

"For some time, I have had a growing conviction that Congress is not operating as it should.  There is too much partisanship and not enough progress -- too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving. Even at a time of enormous challenge, the people's business is not being done."

Simply stated, he is leaving because he believes that Congress isn't doing the job it was put in place to do, which is to serve the people.  Sometimes when I look around, I wonder if God's church is suffering from excess partisanship, and narrow ideology as well.  However, instead of merely neglecting to do "the people's business", we are neglecting to do God's business, which has much more serious consequences.

When Simone and I took the pre-wedding classes required by the church we were eventually married in, we learned that one of the things to beware of in a marriage is polarization.  Polarization is essentially becoming an extreme version of yourself.  For example, a spontaneous man marries a methodical woman, and instead of coming together on some sort of workable middle ground, they go in opposite directions.  The spontaneous man becomes radically impulsive, and the methodical woman becomes unbearably rigid.  Then whatever plans God had for them are seriously undermined.

We have to be very careful in both our local churches, as well as in the church at large, to avoid polarization; one group becoming extremely "liberal" and the other becoming extremely "conservative", all the while each faction believes they have cornered the market on the correct way to be.  The results of this behavior are lost souls, and a happy devil.

The only real solution to this problem is for everyone one to stop looking at themselves, and each other, and to start looking at Jesus.  I saw an exercise one time where a group of people stood in a circle.  The center of the circle represented the cross.  Everyone was instructed to take one step towards the center, and as you may have guessed, they drew closer to one another.  So if you want to avoid your church becoming like the U.S. Congress, focus on the cross.  You might be amazed at what can happen.