Year: 2011

“Faith is…” Series, Pt. 6 | Faith is… Cultivating the Mind of God

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8, ESV)

One of the ideas that the bible strives to communicate is that the way that God operates and the way that God conceives of things is not the same as we do. Now, this may sound like an obvious statement. And, I will grant that on the surface that would be correct. What I want to point out is that this is not the practical reality for most of us who claim the name of Christian. For most people who self-identify as a follower of Jesus, the way that we live out our lives make a significantly different story. We tend to live as if God agreed with, or at the very list tolerates, how we go about the business of life. Because, hey, we are not perfect, right?!

“Faith’s task in the life of the believer is to move closer and closer to the way that God thinks.”

What I have realized is that the primary reason that we have to understand that God operates and processes information and decisions on a different wavelength is because if I do not I will not be able to receive what God gives. The Bible is filled with promises and blessings and curses and God’s perspective is not limited by time, space or consciousness. God comprehends all things perfectly. He sees everything as it should be and works to make it so when it is not that way. Therefore, faith’s task in the life of the believer is to move closer and closer to the way that God thinks. When this happens we are able apprehend much of what God is doing even when we cannot comprehend all that he is doing.

I chose the passage in Philippians because it demonstrates the practical application of what it means to live a life that has cultivated the mind of God. Jesus is our ultimate and final example for everything in life. He is the one that has best demonstrated and actualized a God-centered way of thinking.

Paul in Romans provides us with more of a “cause and effect” kind of definition to this reality.

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2, ESV)

In the pursuit of a renewed mind what we will be able to discern is the will of God. Now that is not something to be overlooked or minimized. The age old question of every believer has been to know what is the will of God. The implication here is that this awareness will only come when the patterns of thinking that emanate from the world are replaced with those that emerge from God.

One of the key changes that occurs, and I would argue MUST occur, is that the way a Christian thinks must change. This is a non-negotiable of what it means to have faith and be a follower of Christ. We are not here to continue thinking in the patterns of the world. We must become more and more like our Savior having the same mind that Jesus had as he fulfilled God’s will.

Reflections on a Kid Movie | “The King’s Lantern”

In the movie Tangled, Rapunzel and Flynn Rider have finally arrived to see the moving “stars.” They share this exchange about what will happen after the lanterns go into the sky. Rapunzel is afraid that the moment will not live up to the expectations that she has had for 18 years. But, then there is another thought, what if it is everything that she hoped it would be? What would she do then?

Flynn’s response is wonderful in its simplicity. He says, “That’s the good part I guess. You get to go find a new dream.”

That is such a wonderful demonstration of what it means to have dreams, live them, and then move on to newer dreams.

What makes this scene even more powerful is that the king and queen continued to release their lantern every year in the hopes that their daughter would never forget that she was loved. The expressions on their faces, the hurt and love all mingled together. And then, as they approach the lantern the camera pans over the courtyard and you see the people of the kingdom. They have come to participate and help the king and queen commemorate this painful reality.

I am struck by these two dreams. Rapunzel’s dream of being close enough to the lanterns to know what they meant and to experience them for herself had pushed her to escape her tower prison. Her parent’s dreams of finding their daughter was also being expressed in their faithful dedication to remember their lost daughter. The parent’s dream was feeding and stirring the dream of their daughter.

This complex scene is so powerful because of the simple way that it was done. Even the subtle hint of the lanterns reminding you of Rapunzel’s hair is hard to escape.

The video is below. (You may have to follow the link to see it.)

(Alternate link)

Last Updated on February 27, 2023.

A Spontaneous Display of Love

I am not one to share or pass on cheesy things. But, being an Army brat I cannot help but be moved by moments like these. I never grow tired of these moments when, finally safe, a loved one comes home.

This is such an example of what love looks like. When this little girl comes to the realization of who is standing there in her classroom, everything else just fades away. This is so genuine and innocent.

My question for you and me is this: Is this the response that we give to God when he walks into the room?

I pray that it would be!

Click through to see video

What if they DON’T have ears to hear?

When Life and Love Intersect

I came across this article on The Mars Hill Blog1 about a community group that reaches out to the deaf community in the Seattle area. As I read the post and watched the videos I was moved to tears because the whole time I kept “hearing” this phrase in my mind:

If you have ears to hear…

This is a common phrase used by Jesus to challenge the people who were not receiving His message. Jesus was pushing further into their assumptions exposing their tendency to follow the path of least resistance. This danger of complacency in the face of a difficult ministry may be part of the reason that so many people are satisfied with attendance rather engagement. What this article did was to expose my tendency to think in ways that are far too narrow when it comes to who has access to the message of Jesus. It is easy to think that everybody is able to hear and understand the gospel message when it is presented.

Some of the statistics that were offered about the number of hearing impaired individuals that have not “heard” the Gospel is stunning and to the church’s shame. The following information was given regarding the hearing-impaired demographic.

According to multiple Christian Deaf ministries organizations, approximately 2 percent of the deaf population call themselves Christians, Cheslik said. Only 7 to 9 percent will ever be exposed to the gospel in ASL. [Ed. About 1 million people in the U.S. are deaf, and another 10 million are hard of hearing. About three-quarters of the total U.S. population identifies as Christian in some form.]

Confronted with my own Biases

I have been challenged on two fronts. One is the theological front and the other is practical.

Theologically, there are two observation about the reality that Jesus is communicating is that “having ears to hear” is exclusively a heart issue. The one who has the message, the Christian, must make every effort to bridge the gap between the message to be shared and the heart to be touched. What cannot be done is to risk diluting the Gospel’s message by over-simplifying important concepts or leaving the out all together. The theological work of making sure that we know what we are communicating is of first importance.

Connected to this first observation is the one that is more personal. It just never occurred to me that a physiological problem could be a road block to someone hearing the Gospel. I was/am so convicted by this short-coming in my understanding.

The second front that was confronted is of a practical nature. As a church, both local and catholic, what are we doing to reach into those sub-cultures that either have an obstacle that needs to be over come (either on our side or theirs) or a hindrance that cannot be over? The call of the Gospel and the command to love, both friend and enemy, means being proactive in our approaches and strategies. We cannot get stuck in paradigms that worked some time ago, but do not really address the present and potential future needs.

The Nature of Faith

The nature of faith is always to be looking forward. Too often the church has found herself reminiscing about a by-gone era. Hoping and wishing for a return of “the good ol’ days” will not put us in a position to envision of future filled with God’s will.

Vision, the kind of vision that the Bible advocates, is always looking forward in to the future and slightly above what is happening right now.

Vision looks forward because we have to learn to live and play the game of life anticipating what is coming down the road. It has to look slightly above because we cannot get caught up in what is going on. Our sights are set on God and his eternal promises. Promises that call us forward and call is higher than our present situation.

Source: Living Out the Gospel without Words: The Story of a Deaf Community Group [Link no longer Working]

  1. This blog is no longer active [↩]

Word to the Wise | “Walking in the Light”

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7)

This is a very significant verse of Scripture.  John gives two basic principles in this passage.  First, he tells us that the Christian needs to walk in the light as He (God) is in the light.  John does not say that Christians can or should live according to the light.  That would mean that we could be sinless and we all know this is impossible.  The Apostle says, instead, to “walk in the light.”  This is a reference to our submission to God’s truth.  God is truth (light) and the evidence that we are walking in the light is determined by our reception of God’s truth.

The second principle is that we “have fellowship with one another.”  Most of the time this phrase is interpreted to mean that we have fellowship with fellow Christians.  But this is not what John is saying at all.  The fellowship John is speaking of is between the Christian and God.  Allow me a paraphrase.

Since God is light (truth) and if we become transparent enough to accept God’s truth (His light), then we can have fellowship with God because we will both be connected through the light of His truth.

It is this fellowship with God in the truth that makes the third clause of the passage even more powerful: “He purifies us from all sin.”  What a blessing to be in God’s presence and feel cleansed of all sin simply because we accept His truth and walk in His light! Amen.

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(03/20/09)

Word to the Wise | “Grace vs. Legalism”

If we consider all the religions in the world we will find that they will all fall into one of two camps.  They are either based on legalism or on grace.  There are only two options. Either salvation is man made—legalism.  Or salvation is God made—grace.

A legalist believes he is the supreme force of salvation.  He would say that if he looks right, speaks right, acts right, and belongs to the right group he will be saved.  That is, the legalist believes that he can erase enough sin in his life to earn access to the perfect heaven of God.  When you look or listen closely you find that legalists are missing one thing: JOY.  The reason for their lack of JOY is that they are driven by FEAR, ARROGANCE, or a sense of FAILURE.  FEAR—they cannot do enough; ARROGANCE—they are the arbiters of how much they should do; FAILURE—they may have made an irreparable mistake.

Grace says: My salvation is based on God’s work through Christ and I rejoice because God loves me in spite of my flaws and not because I have to get rid of them.  There is peace and comfort in this knowledge.

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(03/19/09)

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