The Challenge of Genuine Spirituality

Can the spirituality of the early church be ours today?  Yes it can if we accept the challenge of living Jesus' spirituality and not ours. 

 

The great challenge for genuine spirituality in Christians is to move away from attaining spirituality to receiving spirituality.  We must move away from the current personal spirituality paradigms of believing doctrines or creeds, perfecting our personal thought processes, practicing lists of so called Christian principles or living intense church activity.  We must move to the perfect and perfecting spiritual presence of Jesus who abides in every disciple.  We must move toward Jesus in us as the source of all authentic spirituality.  We must live His already perfected spirituality not develop our own over time.

 

When we are in the presence  of people, we are impacted by their presence.  In fact, some people's presence will drive us crazy over time!  Jesus' spiritual presence, on the other hand, spiritually heals us and makes us sane for love over time.  Pursuing a Jesus in us spirituality is not a spiritual therapy we master and then walk on our own.  It learning  to live continuously in the presence of Jesus who is the perfectly Spiritual Person.  He goes with us and is in us until His spirituality is our spirituality and His life is our life.  Jesus in us spirituality is learning to abide in Christ.  It is to go to Jesus alone for spirituality and stay there forever.

 

All who long for a return of a genuine, original Christian spirituality the path to spiritual life will need to move from increasing their own spiritual information or spiritual activity to increasing their awareness of Jesus' spirituality in them and their cooperation with His eternal spiritual life.  

 

Only when the church's primary  concern for believers is seeing Jesus' spirituality formed in every disciple will we see Christianity expressed in spiritual power as it was in the beginning of the church.

 

By the Spirit of Christ in us there is enough genuine spirituality  in us to make us perfectly spiritual.   Our job is to receive and release His spirituality.  He gives it and we live it.

 

Are we up for the challenge to live Jesus' spirituality?  By His Spirit Jesus in us certainly is ready and all we need to do is receive His spirituality moment by moment and release it as fruit.

 

"For to me to live is Christ."  Phil. 1: 21

"It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me."  Gal. 2:20

 

Bud McCord

Abide International14

The Temple and The Sanctuary

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

I Corin. 3:16

Temples and Sanctuaries are not unique to Jews and Christians. All the major religions of the world have holy places where disciples gather to know their source, consider the meaning of their life and seek healing. What is unique to Christians is that we are the Temple and in the center of each of us there is the Sanctuary of God.

As a Christian where do you go so God can show you Himself, to find healing and to see your future? Do you go within? Do you know how to find the Sanctuary at the center of the Temple of God you are? Do you know how to enter into and abide in the presence of the God who dwells in you?

Jesus said: ... nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:21

Thomas Kelly said: "A practicing Christian must above all be one who practices the perpetual return of the soul into the inner sanctuary."

Major Ian Thomas said: "Relate everything, moment by moment as it arises, to the adequacy of what He is in you, and assume that His adequacy will be operative..."
For much of my Christian life I made my church my Temple and my Bible my Sanctuary. The result of this was a limited intimacy with God and a lack of inner healing.

The Bible never says it is the Sanctuary. The visible church building is certainly no Temple where God now dwells.

Today in the light of the Scriptures and as a part of the visible church I know I am the Temple of God and I know I must enter the inner Sanctuary in me to begin and continue to live in the Spirit of Christ.

This is part of what happens when I quietly enter the Sanctuary in me where I meet the Trinity within.

I enter empty. I leave with abundance. Matthew 5:3
I enter mourning. I leave comforted. Matthew 5:4
I enter releasing control. I leave calm. Matthew 5:5
I enter hungry. I leave satisfied. Matthew 5:6
I enter wanting to be merciful. I leave merciful. Matthew 5:7
I enter with pure intentions. I leave seeing God. Matthew 5:8
I enter wanting peace. I leave as a son of God. Matthew 5:9
I enter persecuted. I leave knowing my future. Matthew 5:10
I enter hated and falsely accused. I leave joyful. Matthew 5:11-12
I enter without meaning. I leave as salt of the world. Matthew 5:13
I enter with a heavy load. I leave as light as light. Matthew 5:14-16

Learning to practice the perpetual return of the soul (mind, emotions and will) into the inner sanctuary is to learn to simply abide in the true Vine. Learning to relate everything moment by moment as it arises to the adequacy of what He is in me is to walk in the Spirit or walk in the light as He is in the light.

Isn't it time you visited the Sanctuary in your spirit and learned to live in the Presence of your God? The Bible tells you where the Sanctuary is and the church should teach you how to enter. Even so, you must enter alone.

Bud McCord

Abide International

The Rose Bush

When visiting a vineyard rose bushes carefully planted around the outer edges of the vineyard are a common sight.  Besides being beautiful and adding a colorful touch to the vineyard,  the rose bushes are nature's alarm system for protecting the sensitive branches in the vineyard.

There are diseases and plagues that can weaken or destroy the ecosystem in the vineyard.  When these unwelcome invaders come the signs of disease and death first appear in the rose bushes.  This gives the Vinedresser time to protect the vineyard and save the harvest.

In the life of the church the alarm system is the sudden loss spiritual beauty around the edges of the church.  When a church loses the sensitive and beautiful signs of righteousness, peace and joy, then spiritual disease and death is coming to the entire vineyard.

Along with our desire to have a fruitful vineyard we must also be sure to surround the vineyard with beauty that is sensitive to the coming of sin.

"...for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Romans 14:17

Future Fever

People are willing to do almost anything to have the future they want.  Some will literally stop at nothing to have the future they envision.  This may, at first glance, seem admirable but the cemeteries of the world are filled with those who stood in the way of someone's vision of the future. Cain and Abel had two different visions of the future.  When Cain's vision of the future was rejected by God, a fever burned inside Cain and he killed he own brother to eliminate the future competition. The future fever that burned in the heart of Cain was just the beginning. The fever would spread and millions would die. Some of the more recent mass future fever killings were led by men named Stalin, Hitler and Mao. Their future fever burned so hot  that it led them to murder millions. Though most are not as evil on the world stage as these future fevered men, we are all tempted to kill relationships to secure the future we envision.  We, too, can catch future fever. Older men trade the wives of their youth for a younger woman.  Company executives move older employees into early and unwanted retirement to save a few dollars.  Young pregnant women abort tiny babies to continue pursuing lucrative careers.  Friends abandon old friends in order to move in a more popular group. Pastors build churches while abandoning Jesus' followers who get in their way. While in the grip of future fever we all are tempted to kill whatever impedes our move toward the future we believe we need. Living for a future we feel we must have makes us all dangerous to ourselves, others and the glory of God. The only man who ever lived completely free from the fever of needing to have and protect a future at other's expense was Jesus. From eternity Jesus had the future He wanted. He never lost it.  He left his future voluntarilly to die for us.  Rather than kill us to get a future He wanted, He left what He had and died so we could have with Him the future He already had and we really need right now. At this moment Jesus' future is in us.   He abides in us as our future so we can lay our life down for our friends who need to live His future. The next time you are about to panic and protect your future in some way that will kill a relationship, remember that Christ in you is your future and nothing can take your future away.  Nothing. Turn the other cheek.  Go the extra mile.  Don't worry about tomorrow. Forgive 70x7. Love your enemy.   This kind of living can only happen if our future is not an issue.  This only can happen when we say  "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." May God deliver us personally from the temptation to fight others, leave others or kill others for our future.  May God rid the world of those who fill the cemeteries with the bodies of those who stood in their way and fill the world with friends of Jesus who will lay their life down so their friends can live Jesus' future now. "Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends."  John 15:13   Bud McCord Abide International

Identity Matters

Who I perceive myself to be exercises a powerful control over everything I do.  Identity matters.

Who are you really?  How many different voices and experiences have fashioned your perception of yourself.  Would people be shocked to find out what you honestly think of yourself?

All of us must deal with the question of our identity every day. For some it seems fairly easy.  For others it is a frightening battle they fear they are about to lose.

I fought the identity battle in my childhood and into my adult life.  Looking back I can now see that this was the most critical battle of my life.  I learned that my sense of identity was impacting every relationship and every move I made in life.

My cure began when I accepted Jesus' offer to lose my personal identity and begin a new identity in Him.  I lost my life to find it.  I had to change identity instead of trying to repair my own identity.  This hurt deeply, but the result has been abundant life and a new, stable identity.

It comes as a shock to us that our personal identity is not adequate do let us be what we really know we should be.  We keep hoping we can tweak the identity we have from our life experience and somehow it will all fall into place and we can be the person we know we should be.  This just does not work.

An old Jewish man named Nicodemos came to Jesus to talk about entering the Kingdom of God.  This deeply religious man had done all a human can do to be the man he knew God would have him to be.  Even so, Jesus looked at Him and said  "You must be born again."   In other words, Jesus was saying to him, "You need to lose your old identity and live the new one the Father and I will give to you."  Identity matters.

Once I lost my old identity I began a daily spiritual discipline of repeating a list of my new identity in Christ.  This habit helped me embrace my new identity in Christ.

Perhaps a part of my list will help you enjoy your new idenity in Christ.

As I awaken each day I know that God wants me to see myself as...
 

• A Child of God  Romans 8:14-16
• Crucified with Christ  Romans 6: 6-8
• Reconciled  Romans 5:10
• Resurrected  Romans 6: 9-11
• In Christ  Romans 8:1
• Free of Condemnation   Romans 8:1
• Loved John 3:16
• Secure  Romans 8: 31-39
• Complete in Christ  Colossians 2:10
• Forgiven Colossians 1:13-14
• Saved forever  Ephesians 2:8 and Romans 5:9-10
• Justified Romans 5:1
• Sanctified  I Corinthians 6:11
• New Creation II Corinthians 5:17
• Redeemed  Galatians 3:13
• Joint Heir with Christ  Romans 8:17
• Conqueror  Romans 8:37
• Justice of God  II Corinthians 5:21
• Light  Matthew 5:14
• Salt  Matthew 5:13
• A Branch of the True Vine John 15:1-8
• Dead to Sin  Romans 6:11
• Having the Divine nature  II Peter 1:4
• Chosen João 15:16
• One with Christ  John 17:20--21
• Sealed in Christ  Ephesians 1:13
• Free  John 8:36

Your new Identity in Christ Matters

Bud McCord

Abide International14

Satisfaction

If Jesus suddenly walked into your home one morning and you had two hours to be with Him, what do you think would be the most striking difference between you and Jesus?  What is it about Jesus as a human being that sets Him apart from all other men and women who have ever lived?

The difference was in His inner life. Nothing biological made Jesus different than you or me.  The difference was in His spirit and His soul.

Jesus lived from a source of continuous inner satisfaction with His Father. At the very center of His being Jesus was 100% satisfied in God. This satisfaction allowed Jesus' soul (mind, emotions and will) to be completely at rest and continuously able to release God's love without interruption.

Being in the presence of Jesus for two hours would probably make us all extremely uncomfortable with the state of our own inner life. If not for the continuous love coming from Jesus to us during our two hour meeting we would certainly be overwhelmed by the presence of such a pure human being.

Now expand this two hour encounter to every moment for the rest of eternity.  Jesus has made His home in you. You are His home! If you will let Him love you He will overwhelm you with His love and you will begin to experience the satisfaction He continues to find in His Father. Your inner life will become one with His inner life.

Don't be afraid. Abide in Christ since He already abides in you.

"The difference between Jesus and me is simple. He lived 100% satisfied in God 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. I do not, but I can learn!"

 

Bud McCord

Abide International14

God's Expectations and Man's Competence

Many years ago I read a book called  "The Peter Principle".   The principle that had been discovered by a researcher was that  good employees will be eventually be offered a promotion beyond their level of competence.

The person who discovered this principle counseled people to know their level of competence and never let the boss promote them beyond it.  If they were promoted beyond their competence then very soon the boss would be wanting to get rid of them due to unfulfilled expectations and incompetence.

In any relationship it is critical to know what the expectations and competences are on both sides.   If the expectations are clear and the competence is there, then there is great hope for satisfaction for all involved.

Now think of expectations and competence on a universal scale.  Jesus among us is God letting us know what he expects of humanity and Jesus is the kind of competent human being with whom God will become one.  Anything short of Jesus is just not acceptable for God.  No Jesus equals no relationship with God.

Jesus is also the kind of human being we must want to become for this relationship to work..  Seeing Jesus' love in action we need to say say clearly that this is the kind of human being we long to be and can become.  Somehow we must believe we can be made as competent as Jesus was as a human being.

So, from the Divine side Jesus is God's expectation and from the human side Jesus is our expectation.  If we cannot become like Jesus the relationship will not work.  If we do not want to be like Jesus and cannot become like Jesus the relationship will not work.

So, Jesus is the key to everything. In Jesus God gets what He  expects and wants and we get what we expect and want.  Jesus makes this a win/win for all involved.

Jesus is the perfection God demands of us and Jesus is the perfection that will make us  competent humans like Him.  Unlike any other relationship that has ever happened before, God met all the expectations in advance for both sides in Jesus and He invites us to come into the relationship through the door of  fulfilled expectations and competence named Jesus.

On a universal scale the Peter principle is completely overcome in Jesus.  God's expectaions are perfectly met and we will become competent human beings like Jesus.

This is very, very, very exciting indeed!

Romans 8:1 "There is, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"

John 1:10-11 "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:  who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

Bud McCord

Abide International

Perfection

 

"No one is perfect."

At first glance this appears to be a very reasonable and true statement.  Starting from our knowledge of ourselves and our contact with other human beings like us, we can easily be convinced that perfection is a non-existent or very rare thing.  Is it really?

Among humans perfection is certainly missing. Perfection in the universe, however, is not rare.  Perfection is actually the norm because God is perfect and we live and move and have our being in God's perfection.  Perfection has imperfection surrounded.

If we observe the beauty of creation around us it is easy to see that many things are living as they should.  When something lives as it was created to live it is accurate to say that thing is perfect.

Perfection is fully being what we were created to be.  When we observe the flowers and the birds in our world we can still glimpse creatures being what they were meant to be. That is why Jesus told us to observe the birds and flowers to calm our minds and hearts. 

When we do observe them, they seem to be able to be what they were meant to be without great effort.  They seem completely at peace being what they are.  When we observe ourselves and other humans trying to be who we should be, we certainly do not see peace or perfection.

When we see Jesus we do see relaxed human perfection.  Being fully what He was created to be was not hard work for Jesus.  He was perfectly natural and at peace being Himself.  Perhaps that is the main reason some people loved Him and others hated Him. To some He was perfection and they wanted that.  To others He was something they were not and they hated that.

Jesus was human and perfect so we should not say "No one is perfect." What we should say is "Jesus was perfect. Can I hope to be perfect like Jesus?"

The answer is yes!  Jesus' perfection is contagious to all who believe in Him and receive Him.     Perfection is not something we can do, but it is someone we can receive into our spirit.  As Jesus abides in us by His Spirit, He begins to work His perfection into every corner of our life until we are returned to what a human was meant to be.

C.S. Lewis called this new life in Jesus the 'good infection'.  Acording to Lewis,  once you get this 'good infection' you are headed for nothing less than perfection.  You are on your way to being a human who is able to easily do what humans were meant to do which is love God and love neighbors.

Not everyone who gets this 'good infection' shows the symptoms of perfection at the same speed.  In some disciples Jesus' perfection is barely noticeable.  Even so, make no mistake, if you have received the perfect life of Jesus in your spirit you are on you way to perfection.  You might as well relax and cooperate.  You will be perfect eventually in Jesus.

"Be perfect as you Heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48

Bud McCord

Abide International

Truly Pregnant With Jesus

Christmas is about believing.

Elizabeth, the mother of the prophet, John the Baptist, said of her cousin Mary…

“Blessed is she who believed, for this will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

From the beginning, Christmas has been about believing and pregnancy, and it remains so today.  Mary was believably pregnant.  To Mary, Joseph, Zacharias, and Elizabeth, it was not about believing in a myth or philosophy.  It was about very believable angels, aches, and changing bodies.  It was as real as any pregnancy is real as bodies stretch and birth pangs begin.  It was as real as labor and delivery in a shed borrowed for the night.  It was real life – not theory.  Heaven had invaded earth by way of a virgin cradled in the womb of BELIEF from conception to delivery.

To experience the real meaning of Christmas we must be willing to become “pregnant” with the belief that God has in fact come to earth in the person of His Son Jesus.  If we, too, believe, our lives will be stretched and changed as surely as Mary's, Joseph's, Elizabeth's and Zacharias' lives were stretched and changed.  No one carries a life inside them and does not change – especially the life of God!

Paul, the great Christian missionary, wrote to a confused, young church in Galatia and said,   “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.”  (Galatians 4:19).  He was worried that the belief he knew had begun in them might not mature into a full understanding and complete Christian life.  His concern for Christians would be greater today if he visited our churches at Christmas.  I am not sure he would see many “pregnant” with a living Jesus.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for people to believe as Mary did.  The idea that God really does invade human history in order to save was taught to her from her birth as a Jew.  It is harder to believe today because we do not think we need saving anymore and we say little to our children about it.

Thank God Mary was ready for a pregnancy from God!  If she had said to the angel, “Thanks, but I just cannot believe that,” where would we be today?  Probably at the mall, but certainly not at church.

For Christians who truly believe as Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth and Zacharias did, Christmas is as life changing as a real pregnancy.  It means the world to us to know He came and we are forever changed by His life in us.

 

Bud McCord

Abide International

A Necessary Confrontation

Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?  Galatians 2:11-14

Personally I do not like confrontations.  Over the years I have tried my best to avoid them but I have found some confrontations are necessary for love to continue.

The Apostle Paul confronts the Apostle Peter face to face because it was necessary. Paul could not ignore the love stopping behavior of the man who preached the sermon on the day of Pentecost.  Wow!  This certainly lets us know that none of us is free from needing a confrontation from time to time!

Paul loved Peter and the church Peter represented too much to simply ignore what he had seen. This was a necessary confrontation.  Love demanded it.

Paul had seen a change in Peter's behavior in his dealing with the Gentile disciples in the church at Galatia.  Peter had treated them as equals until a group of Jewish disciples came to visit.  While the Jewish disciples were in town Peter no longer ate with the Gentiles.  Paul called Peter out face to face because the equality of all believers was at stake.  Peter was too important a voice and symbol to miss this necessary confrontation.  Peter needed to be reminded that a church where equality is lost is no longer the church of Jesus Christ.

There is a valuable lesson in this story for all of us.  When we see someone doing something that is destructive to them and to love, then someone who loves them and loves to see Christ's love flow must confront them.   No matter how powerful they are and how much they have done in the past they need to be confronted.

If a person is doing something to stop love and they see clearly what they are doing then a confrontation will do little or no good.  The person will simply marginalize the person confronting and hide behind their own false superior spirituality.

If, however, the person actually is not seeing clearly the evil they are doing, they will listen if the right person confronts them in love. Not everyone is called to confront every evil they see.  God raises up a Paul to confront Peter.  Who else could have gotten his attention?  Who had paid the price as a Jew to love the Gentiles?

I have been confronted several times over the years by people who love me and love the flow of Christ's  love.  I am so thankful these people were a part of the churches I was leading!  They respectfully followed my leadership but they knew me well enough to know I could go in the wrong direction  but I did not want to stop Christ's love.

I have confronted other leaders over the years when I could clearly see that their errors were not errors of the heart.  Those leaders listened and made the necessary changes.

If you see someone of influence stopping love then pray that God will raise up the right person for the necessary confrontation.  Perhaps you are that person.  Perhaps it is someone else.  Pray until the right person receives the difficult task of the necessary confrontation.  Christ's love and its flow are too important for us to fear a necessary confrontation.
 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Miracles

I recently participated in a beautiful church service in a small Brazilian church.  Talking with the pastor before the service I said "Every church is a miracle.  Imagine any other system working for nearly 2000 years that asks every member to give 10% of their income, volunteer their time and give 100% of their daily life to see the system succeed." He quickly agreed because he tithes and leads his church without receiving any pay as he simultaneously leads his own family and over 150 employees in his four restaurants. A church may have 10 people or 10,000 people.  Every church is a miracle.  The church is a miracle because only God could have kept her healed and alive for this long.  A miracle is something only God can do and from what I have seen only God could have kept the church alive.  Men certainly have not kept her alive. People want to see miracles.  We all want living proof that the God of the Bible is still at work today as He was in the past.  Unfortunately we do not see the existence of churches as living proof that God is still active.  How sad! We prefer to see a physical healing or a raise in salary so we can satisfy our need to know God is still active.  We are satisfied with too little!  If we could see every church correctly we would say  "It is a miracle!  2000 years have gone by since Pentecost and the church still exists!  The Body of Christ remains visible and available in the whole world because God is keeping it healed and alive." People flock to churches when word gets out that God is doing miracles in that church.  Who doesn't want to see miracles?  Who doesn't want to have something miraculously resolved in a matter of seconds?  Everyone does. It is sad, however, that we do not see that we ourselves are an ongoing miracle just like the church is an ongoing miracle.  Every disciple in whom Jesus dwells is a miracle 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The next time you are leaving your home to go looking for a miracle, remember that angels leave home to see you!  They still cannot quite believe that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have made us their home on earth.  Truly, you are a miracle just as surely as the church is a miracle.  You are something only God could have done and continues to do. You can go looking for miracles if you want to, but I am going to continue to see the church and my life in Christ as the main miracles.  These two are the main miracles because they are for every one of us and they are God's very best work for us and in us.  I like miracles that happen for everyone! Bud McCord Abide International

Watch a little update and thank you video:

Updates from Brazil - Abide International

Define! Receive-Rejoice-Release!

DEFINE!
RECEIVE, REJOICE and RELEASE

It is not easy to define love in this world.  One would think love would be easy to define, but any attempt to explain love clearly is tough and often creates arguments.  Why is this?

The word love has become overused and abused at the same time real love is in short visible supply.  The only hope of love being properly defined in any of our lives is to receive love from God and define it  visibly by moment by moment  release of love.

We know we are being loved when over time someone releases the best they are and the best they have to us.  This is why mother's day is so celebrated!

We know we are loving others when we release the best we are and the best we have to someone else.  This is why true friendships are so valuable and so rare.

It is not necessary that every Christ follower should be able to verbally define love but it is necessary that they be a living definition of love.  For this reason every Christ follower should master the art of receiving, rejoicing and releasing or faith, hope and love.

Paul says in I Corinthians 13:13 that there remain three things in human experience.

"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

Faith is the receiving for ourselves the love that God is releasing to us.  Hope is internal rejoicing because we are aware we are being loved by God.  Love is releasing toward God and others the best we are and the best we have.  This is the spiritual ecosystem God created mankind to enjoy and to be in this world. We exist to receive love, rejoice in love and release love.  The greatest of these is the release of love.

Jesus summed up man's part in this ecosystem with these words found in Matthew 22: 37-39

Jesus said to him,‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Jesus tells us we exist first to release the best we are the best we have to God.  Jesus tells us to release the best we are and the best we have to our neighbor. We know how to release love to others because we always give ourselves the best we are and the best we have.

Verbal definitions for love are hard to create and hard to communicate.  Disciples who know what it is to release love toward God and toward others like Jesus did are the true, daily, defining eloquence we need in the world. Release!

 

Bud McCord

Abide International

No Exit

One of the most enjoyable things I do is eat a leisurely breakfast with my wife while enjoying the view of the Brazilian mountains from our 9th floor apartment.  Rarely is this wonderful moment interupted by unexpected guests.

One such unexpected guest entered through our window.  A small sparrow flew into the apartment (we do not have screens on the windows here in Brazi) and flew directly into a large mirror on our dining room wall.   Needless to say, the mirror was an ilusion that the small bird did not see as dangerous.  It was.

I thought the bird was dead but it was only stunned.  I gently put it in the palm of my hand and waited until it showed more signs it was recovered from its crash with the ilusion.  When the signs appeared I stood by the window and the bird flew away.

As I watch the sparrow fly away I thought of Jesus' words recorded in Matthew 10:29

 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.

Even when we smash ourselves into an ilusion that there is an exit where there is no exit, the Father is with us and takes us to the nearest window that is not an ilusion.

I am not sure if sparrows eventually learn the difference between mirrors and windows, but I certainly hope I do!  If not, God will keep taking me to the window.
 

Bud McCord

Abide International

ME

Was Jesus too focused on Himself?  Isn't it a sign of egotism to focus a lot on ourselves?  Does Jesus' insistence on focusing attention on Himself need to be continued by His followers?  Should Christians focus as exclusively on Jesus as He focused on Himself?  Is Jesus where the Father and the Spirit want us to focus?

Listen to just a few of these statements of Jesus  where he uses the word  "Me" and ask yourself if these statements are still as true right now as they were when Jesus first said them.

Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

Matthew 19:21 

When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

Mark 8:34

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

John 5:39-40

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

John 7:37-38

Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always." And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father givesMe will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” 

John 6:34-40

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

John 15:1-8

Jesus focused the attention of people on Himself because that was God's plan. Jesus is the focus of the entire Bible because that is God's plan. The Bible exists to get you to Jesus.  Be careful about turning the Christian faith into anything other than a clear focus on Jesus. Even a  focus on all of the Bible can become a problem if that focus does not end up at Jesus.

A challenge.  Go back and read any of the four Gospels and note every place where the focus is Jesus.  Look for words like "Me" "Mine" "I"  or "My".  Then ask yourself why the Father never intervened to stop this singular focus.  Ask yourself if you focus on Jesus as you should.  Ask yourself why the church focuses on so many other things and often forgets to even mention Jesus.

Bud McCord

Abide International

Growing In Christ

What does it mean to "grow in Christ?"Does it mean completing a series of studies that increases one's knowledge about Jesus? Is it learning to live by the principles of life that Jesus taught? Is it obeying His commands? Is it learning to do what He would do?
Is it a combination of all of these things?

It is interesting that the Apostle Paul was not so concerned about the Galatian Christians"growing in Christ". He was more concerned that Christ was growing in them!

"My little children, for whom I labor in birth again

until Christ is formed in you..." Gal. 4:19

Perhaps this seemingly minor shift in thinking is the key to knowing how growing in Christ really works.

We start out being somewhat interested in this person called Jesus. We come to a place where we see how what he did for us at Calvary can bring us to a place of forgiveness before God. We accept Jesus as our Savior.

By His Spirit He enters into our spirit. We soon learn that there exists something called the Christian life and Jesus is the key to this kind of life. We want to live the Christian life. We begin to ask the question "What would Jesus do?" 

Suddenly we discover that Jesus did not only teach the Christian life, He is the Christian life!  We continue on and begin to understand that Jesus in us means the entire Christian life is in us.

As we begin to submit to Jesus' perfect  presence and life in us His presence begins to grow in us and we begin to "grow in Christ" because "Christ grows in us." We stop asking "What would Jesus do?" and begin to ask  "What is Jesus doing that I can do with Him?"

Finally we begin to say  "It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me" and  "For to me to live is Christ."  As He grows in us we grow in Him.

The best prayer we can pray so Christ will grow in us is "Jesus, you are welcome in me.  Grow in me and I will grow in you."
 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Reconciliation By, For and To

 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.  II Corin. 5:20

In Christ we have the opportunity to be reconciled to God.  Jesus is God inviting us to be reconciled with Himself. This is an incredible offer and opportunity.  Reconciliation with God is the one opportunity we must not miss.

In Christ we are invited to have a new, reconciled relationship BY GOD, FOR GOD and TO GOD.  In Christ we begin everything again BY GOD, FOR GOD and TO GOD.  This truly is a new birth.

To understand this offer of reconciliation, It helps if we remember that to reconcile with God is to reconcile with continuous love.  "God is love".  Reconciliation means that In Christ we are invited to be recconciled by Love, for Love, in order to Love.

By dying for our sins Jesus makes it possible to reconcile because He is  God's perfect love for us.  BY His love He removes all condemnation for our sins which are our failures to continuously love.  We no longer have a fight with love because love fought for us.

By coming into our lives by His Spirit Jesus makes it possible for us to live again FOR God's glory which is His love.  He restores us to our original purpose which was to  glorify God which is to make His love visible and available.  We no longer live for ourselves, we live for love which lives in us.

By being present with us moment by moment by His Spirit Jesus loves us so we can live TOlove.  He restores us to our original glory which is to love while being one with God or one with love.  We no longer live just to live, we live to love.

When we say we are reconciled  we are saying that we have reconciled BY LOVE, FOR LOVE, TO LOVE.  We are reconciled BY GOD, FOR GOD, TO GOD.

There is nothing as wonderful as being fully reconciled by, for and to God who is continuous love.
 

Bud McCord

Abide International

AVOID

There are some words that we need to eliminate from our vocabulary.  Some words just do not fit who we are and the goals we have for our lives

When I married Pam over 41 years ago, we decided to elimnate the word divorce from our vocabulary.  The word just did not fit our dream of living a marriage as the image of God in the world.  Eliminating the word divorce did not make our marriage work, but it eliminated a thought that could have easily undermined our marriage.

Jesus told his first followers that they would need to carry a cross if they intended to follow Him and be one of His disiples.  He warned them that the narrow path He was leading them down would involve the pain that always accompanies the delivery of real love.

"Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them,  “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."  Luke 14:25-27

To follow Jesus and to carry our cross we need to eliminate from our vocabulary the word  "avoid".   We simply cannot be what He calls us to be if we live by avoiding the cost of loving others.

People who are always trying to avoid things because they are hard or painful miss the narrow path Jesus walked.  They also miss the joy which that the narrow path leads us toward.

I remember telling Pam early in our relationship that I would never be a missionary.  I was absolutely convinced the missionary's life for me should be avoided if at all possible.  If I had avoided God's call to missions I would have lost so much that I now count as precious.  Thank God I eventually eliminated the word avoid when it came to God's call to missions!

If you are tempted to avoid things because they may be hard or painful, think again.  On the other side of the things we often avoid are the great adventures of life and love.

Discipleship and the word avoid just do not match.

Bud McCord

Abide International

Jesus, Risk and Love

"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil."

Matthew 4:1

Everything Jesus said and did  while living among us involved risk. Jesus did not get a pass on the risk of being human and loving in this world. Jesus as a human being had to make real choices that involved enormous risk to himself and to the human race. Jesus' temptations while loving us were real and risky. To love in a fallen world is to take a risk.

I loved watching all of my children compete in sports. Not all of them loved to compete but I loved to watch them in action. I remember telling them, "If you are going to make a mistake while playing in a game, risk making a big mistake because you were trying so hard to get it right."

Everything Jesus did was done while running the risk of having His love proven wrong or weak.  He took this risk on purpose and He took it as a human being not as a Divine being who didn't have to face the tempations we face when we love.

Jesus entered the battle for the future of humanity as a man in whom the Father was living.   He risked making earth shattering mistakes and I believe the risk was as real for Him as it is for us.  Jesus did not get a pass on taking love's risks. Jesus had to get every detail of love right so He could truthfully say "He who seen Me has seen the Father."

When Jesus was living as a  carpenter in a small Jewish town he was taking an enormous risk of not being able to be just a simple carpenter whose daily life was as boring and as daily as your life or mine. To love is to risk boredom.

When He was choosing His disciples he took the risk of associating Himself with men who could cast a really bad shadow on His reputation or even betray Him. To love is to risk the embarrassing  errors of others.

When He died on the cross He took the risk of letting God orchestrate His suffering and pain.  To love is to risk pain that is planned for us.

Jesus knew what God would do for HIm and in Him and he faced every risk with this one confidence. By faith in His Father's love He faced the possibility of human failure on a scale that would never be able to be corrected.

Jesus not only survived the risk, He overcame the risk, redeemed us and rescued us! How is that for taking a big, loving risk and getting it perfectly right!

Without Jesus taking the risk to love us, we would not be inspired to take the risk to love as He loved. Go ahead, take the risk and love because Jesus abides in you!

Bud McCord

Abide International

The Baptism Waters-- Deeper Than We Think

Among Jesus' final words were these:

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:18-20

These very special words have sent thousands of missionaries around the world and these words have sent millions of new believers into rivers, lakes and baptistries to be immersed in water.

The physical baptismal waters are never too deep. They are just deep enough to picture a death, a burial and a ressurrection.  Even so, when  understood spiritually there is no water in the universe any deeper than baptismal waters.

Jesus said we were to be baptized in water in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.  He said we are to be immersed in God's name.  We are to be planted deeply and forever into who God is and what God does for us in Christ.

Jesus did not say to baptize them in the "names". He said to baptize them in the "name".  God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are three persons but only one name.  God is One.

A name says who we are.  Over time a name also says what we do for others.  Being baptized in the "name" is to be forever planted in who God is and what God has done for us. Being planted deeply and forever in who God is and what God has done for us raises us to live in newness of life.

The baptismal waters are as deep as who God is and what God has done for us.  No matter how deeply you look into the baptismal waters you will never find the bottom.  Just when you think you know who God is and all God has done for you there is always more.
 

Bud McCord

Abide International