Grace

Interchangeable

17-1204 Journal 40.jpg

I just launched journal number 40 with a thematic cover that is similar to journal 39.  Usually, journal covers are different, each reflecting a theme in my life at the time.  This time however, I felt I needed to correct for #40 "incorrect" phrasing on the cover of journal 39.

Notice the "Doug Walkerism" statements near the bottom of each cover.

Journals.JPG

P.S. A "Doug Walkerism" is my own coined phrase in honor of Doug Walker, the pastor of Grace Chapel, our church since mid-1997.  He usually follows this and many of his "isms" phrases with something like, “The Gospel changes everything.” This phrasing derives from a greater, gospel philosophy Doug brought to Grace Chapel when he became our pastor in 2004.  

Journal 28 cover by daughter, Laura - a 2006 Father's Day gift

Journal 28 cover by daughter, Laura - a 2006 Father's Day gift

I've been keeping some kind of notebook or journal since 1972, my junior year in high school.  Thematic covers like these started with journal #28 in 2007 when our daughter Laura gifted me a journal with a decorated cover for Father's Day 2006.  I liked it so much, I decorated all my subsequent journal covers.

After I locked the “Grace” version onto the cover of #39 in March (2017),  Doug used the term in one of his messages.  Only he used “Gospel” not “Grace.”

“Darn," I thought.  "I got it wrong.  How could I after hearing him say this all these years?”

Resolving to get it “right” with the next journal, I created the cover for #40 a month or so prior to completing journal #39. After replacing “Grace” with “Gospel,” I locked the cover in with a contact paper layer.  

Didn’t have to wait long for Doug to use the phrase again.  Except this time, he used “Grace” instead of “Gospel.”

Turns out they are interchangeable! Dah.  Apparently, I'm not one of Doug's star pupils. Perhaps I should invite him to grade me on this next sentence. The Gospel is the source of Grace and Grace flows from the Gospel. Gospel and Grace go hand in hand - interchangeable as long as grace always contexts the gospel.

A two-sentence statement on our Grace Chapel monthly bulletin summarizes the philosophy, beginning with, “The gospel is the story of God’s work as He restores a broken world full of broken people through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

The gospel restores brokenness through Jesus Christ. The Gospel is the work of Jesus and Grace is the redemption we receive through faith in Christ.

So you see, Gospel and Grace build off each other.

So did I “waste” this #40 journal cover to correct what didn’t need correcting?  What do you think?

Subsequent journals also "covered"

Subsequent journals also "covered"

Notes:

Other favorite Doug Walkerisms:

  1. Upside down gospel
  2. Bad Heart; Bad Record; Broken World
  3. That every book (of the Bible) contains an entire gospel
  4. Real God, Messy People. Changed Lives
  5. Others?

Workplace Grace

Photo credit: see notes

Photo credit: see notes

A co-worker admitted to a bit of a laissez-faire attitude about work that he attributes to perceived inequities experienced or observed during his work history. Offering a few experiences of my own, I sympathized with his sentiments.

Given that we all spend a considerable amount of our lives at work, experiencing problems there should come as no surprise to any of us.  However, Christ-followers should be ready to offer that while sin weighs on everything to do with life and creation, including workplaces, grace triumphs over sin. (See James 1:14-15 and Romans 6:14, NLT)

Am I taking St. Paul too literally to suggest that we believers “work out” much of our salvation at work?

“...continue to WORK OUT your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who WORKS in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, ”
— Philippians 2: 12b-14, NIV

Unfortunately, hearing my experiences only reinforced my co-worker’s cynicism.  Not my intention but our duties that day didn’t allow me to dive more into this with him and we haven’t worked together again for a couple weeks.  

Reflecting later on our exchange, I prayed for an opportunity to revisit our discussion.  If that occurred, I would want to say something like….

“As a Christian, my context is based on Jesus Christ and the Bible. While work disappointments are certainly troubling, they should come as no surprise since all people are born with a condition called sin.  Sin inclines most people to be prideful and act in their own best interests in a way that may be detrimental to others.  This is natural and should be expected even with the nicest people.”

If able, I might add that “pride and selfishness are especially prevalent at work. However, Jesus came to cure people of this sin condition even while we were still sinners and enemies of him.  (Romans 5:8, NIV).  As a Christian, I am a new man in Christ, enabled to bless my co-workers and supervisors regardless of how they treat me in return.”

Side note.  I’ve never said anything so succinct to anyone before but, God-willing, I’ll have other opportunities to do so - to be prepared to share the hope that is in me. (See 1 Peter 3:15, NIV).  

While I suspect I’ve suffered more workplace disappointment than most of my mostly-younger co-workers, my inclination to be negatively influenced by those disappointments is tempered by something far stronger, stronger even than sin itself - grace.  

This becoming a new man due to grace has evolved over time and experience.  Truly, God used workplace disappointments to mold me into what I’ve become.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV)

In a former job, a coworker/friend there expressed concern that the efficiencies I was introducing might eventually give the boss reason to no longer need me. In response, I failed to put into words my conviction that the Lord gifted me to bless in certain ways, especially at work.  To hold back God’s gifting would violate who I am, even if the boss used my innovations to justify eliminating my position.

Ultimately he did eliminate my position so it seems my friend’s concerns were warranted. However, he is ultimately answerable to God for his motivations.  (See Proverbs 25: 21-22, NLT)

I pray that the Lord’s molding of me is shaping me to live graciously more and more because I am becoming a new “I am” in the likeness of God who also defines himself that way.

“God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" (Exodus 3:14, NIV)

Photo credit:   rawpixel.com via Unsplash

Blessed Are the … Yeast? — 2012 Ornament

Glenn's 2012 Ornament (13th Annual): Blessed Are the…Yeast?

I was struck one day in my Bible reading with what Jesus said about the Kingdom of God. His audience did not have 2000+ years of Christianity behind them heralding him as God incarnate. But they had an idea about the kind of kingdom God’s would be. If it was truly God’s, it would certainly dominate any earthly rival.

But domination was not among the ideas Jesus shared about the Kingdom of God nor were might, majesty or power. Rather, ordinary and even lowly fit better for this kingdom Jesus claimed was home to him and “at hand” and accessible to all present.

Jesus depicted Kingdom people as poor in spirit and meek, mournful, merciful, peacemakers (Matthew 5: 1-10). And then he drew upon common, every day items to describe how Kingdom “subjects” were, like salty salt (v13), light-giving lamps (v14) and in another lesson, seeds that grow into giant trees, and a small portion of yeast that leavens a large batch of dough (Luke 13: 18-21).

Yeast. That one struck me. You can’t get more ordinary than yeast.

In 2012 after four plus years of career search posturing, I failed to secure any of the positions I sought despite making “the finals” on several occasions. But as I searched, I kept God in clear view and trusted that the doors that opened were either opened by Him or allowable by Him for me to pursue. This I did with every one. And here I stand, where I now am.

While I can’t see how my present fits with the balance of my life, I trust I am where God wants me right now. I am not in a career but I have a job with a good company. I don’t have impact like I would as an organizational manager but I can certainly be Kingdom yeast in my workplace.

The lesson of yeast and all Jesus’ kingdom analogies is that attaining the manner of God’s kingdom does not require any measure of success or status in this kingdom, the kingdom of the world, life now. In fact, success in this world may jeopardize our ability to truly see or at least dim our view of the Kingdom of God. (I need to keep that in mind if I should ever find my way back into whatever it is I think I’m looking for!)

Another realization from further study on this topic: virtually every Biblical character experienced this wandering into seemingly wayward places while being attentive to God, including Jesus himself. Think of his beginning, our Christmas: The scandal of his apparent illegitimacy seemed to cling to him even into adulthood – John 8:41?

When in this life, you feel helpless or impotent or left by the wayside, be alert to God slipping in under the radar to win you back to himself or re-establish your relationship with him. Christmas is about that.

If you should be so fortunate to join or rejoin the Kingdom procession, take heart when (not if!) you wander into some places and situations that are not what you had in mind. Where you find yourself will be where He is accomplishing His purposes in and through you.

“…In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
— John 16:33b

Notes:

  1. ORNAMENT TEXT:
    FRONT: Fleshman’s (Blessed Are the…) YEAST; All Natural
    BACK: BLESSED ARE THE … YEAST?; (Jesus) asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to”  It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”  (Luke 13: 20-21, NIV84)
  2. PERSONAL NOTE: This year’s ornament title melds words from three of Jesus’ teachings:

    1) Borrowing a “Blessed are…” from his “Beatitudes” – how God’s Kingdom is (Matthew 5: 1-16)
    2) A missing word, “Least.” How God is “in” our care of the least among us.  (Matthew 25: 40)
    3) And, “Yeast” – Jesus comparing the Kingdom of God to an ordinary staple of life that  everyone could relate to. (Luke 13:21)

    All of the above describes the year of 2012 for me – The sense of not hitting the mark (Least) and being merely ordinary (Yeast) in a world attentive to everything but.  But, all the while, “Blessed…” by people in my life lifting me up and, every step of the way, God!
  3. DESIGN INSPIRATION: came from the Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast package (http://www.fleischmannsyeast.com/landing.html). I presume their yeast is great but their package had perfect ornament appeal!