Some Thoughts

1 Cor. 15:1-2 (NLT) - "Let me remind you of the Good News that I preached to you before...it is this Good News that saves you, if you continue to believe."

“let me remind you” - often we need to go back. Not back in progress, but back to progress. It was never knowledge, never power, never strategy, never influence, never esteem, never skill, never gifts. We must always bear this in mind. May we never ascend so high in our understanding, in our giftings, that we lose touch with the simple gospel that sets us free.

“of the Good News” - when all is said and done -- when we are finished scrambling about, attempting to address problems we don’t understand with a capacity we don’t possess -- when we have learned to quiet ourselves, when our best efforts have proven inadequate, when our deepest insights have proven shallow, when our highest pursuits have proven empty, when our passion wanes, when our hands tire, when our hearts grow faint, when our bodies collapse -- we will be left with nothing but this. The Good News. And it is, and has always been, enough.

“that I preached to you before” - O that cherished “before”! Those who have seen, those whose hearts have been opened, all have a “before.” Before life was this busy. Before I had these questions. Before I faced this opposition. Before I was hurt. Before I messed up. Before I was confused. Before I lost faith. Before I gave up. Before, when I dreamed. Before, when I burned. Before, when it was real. Before, when it was alive. Before, when it was pure. Before, when it was everything. Where have we gone? How have we come here? Does hope yet remain?

“it is the Good News that saves you” - Present tense. Those who are perishing are perishing; those who are being saved are being saved. Like everything else in the Christian life, salvation is not a box we check so we can move forward. It is the experience of a life redeemed. It is the state of right standing with God, of open and intimate relationship with Him; it is a place of safety, a place of trust, a place of fulfillment, a place of reliance, of satisfaction, of peace, of joy. It is -- not because of effort, but by grace through faith.

“if you continue to believe” -- When we find ourselves lacking, what is the solution? If we have already gone wrong, if we have been distracted or discouraged or defeated -- what is left? Simply put, Jesus has no plans to die again. Nothing has changed from His end. He is equally victorious, he is equally good, he is equally loving, he is equally mighty to save, equally able to deliver, equally ready to forgive, equally powerful to restore, equally intent on leading unto destiny, and equally calling for you to come. There is nothing but the Word, nothing but the Good News. Will we receive it, humbled as we may have become by our own inadequacies?

I am reminded of a dazzled Peter, peering through the darkness to see the Son of God walking toward his boat on the water. What was it that inclined him to say, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come”? When it seems that Jesus stands on the other side of my inadequacy, may I never be found among those still in the boat! May I always find in the sight of His face all the courage I need to answer his call to “come.”

The Time Has Come

A familiar path lies ahead

Known to my heart, not to my head

I have seen it without seeing

Been there without being

Here without, but away within

Gone in spirit where time’s not been

What lies ahead not presently known

Yet certainly soon to be shown

I cannot stop, cannot stray

From this path that you have laid

Before my feet, so on I walk

Compelled and called to “come and talk”

Onward drawn, a great heart Beat

Signals to my drudging feet

“The time has come, you’ve counted the cost -

pick up now, lest your time’s lost!”

Left with nothing lest I obey

I’ll stop at nothing but to remain

Wholly yours, having taken hold

Of Your intent - faith pure as gold

Not cheaply wrought of only talk

But through the flames bravely walked

Head in the clouds, but feet on earth

Living a life of eternal worth

Heaven beckons

And my heart’s reckoned

Dead completely to this life

Quelled completely my inner strife

To none but you I’ll myself give

For by your words is my life lived

The cost I’ve counted, and it is great

But your worth surpasses, your love outweighs

Compelled by love, consumed by truth

I’m beyond persuaded there’s none but you

So to the end, I set my face

Like flint toward sufficient grace

To attain the prize that lies before -

Jesus Christ - my great reward!

The Jump

I am so fired up I can't put it into words. There are some things that you cannot articulate because no selection of vernacular could possibly do it justice. So I find myself, unable to sleep, unable even to think, but compelled to do something. I must let something out.

I feel as though the reality of Life -- the divine life of God's intent, my life's singular passion and pursuit -- dangles over my head, inches away. Its weight is so immense that although I am separated from it by space, I can feel it as one can feel the heat from a fire standing many feet away. Just the feeling of its immensity, of its significance, of its worth so close to me is beyond my ability to bear.

I find myself in a familiar predicament. On my spirit man's tongue I sense a sour flavor as one might imagine how a food item tastes seconds before it is in his mouth. It is the place where one stands on the precipice of surrender. His feet remain on familiar spiritual ground - the ground that though once was a steep, seemingly insurmountable mountain has become nothing more than an infinite plateau.

There is only one way off the plateau. It is not rolling up one's sleeves and attempting to climb higher; there is nothing to climb. Only a precipice. All that is to be seen below is mist; he does not know where or whether he will land.

But what will he do? In the very fiber of his being is this force that has inexplicably driven him onward through years and tears, through evils within and evils without, through joys and pains, through trials and flames. It was this burning force that corralled him through the deserts, drug him through the valleys, and pushed up the cliffs until finally he was driven to this place.

It's different this time. It's different because there are no more steps to be taken. Even if he decided to drudge on, there is no ground upon which to tread -- there are no footholds, no dunes, no steep rock faces. There is nothing.

What does one whose basest inclination, whose life's essence is movement -- what does he do when he reaches the end of road? He would go anywhere, scale any wall, climb any mountain, cross any bridge, drudge through the deepest swamp, walk through an ocean of desert -- but there is nothing. Only a cliff.

He knows the answer before the thought is even articulate in his mind. There are but two options: stop, or jump. He cannot stop. Stopping is a joke of an action. To stop is to contradict all that he has come to be. He could not stop if he tried. No, he must jump.

Still, he cannot help but take a moment to process the implications of this decision before he takes the plunge. To jump is to leave familiarity completely. It is a paradigm shift on his journey. He has come to the place where steps no longer suffice. He has been brought to the place where he will no longer be able to control his pace, his trajectory, or his routine. There is nothing to be known about the new journey before he jumps. There is no preparation for it, no insight. To leave this cliff is to leave any inkling of control, any semblance of logical certainty, forever.

But he must jump. As he inches toward the cliff, he begins to feel as though this jump will somehow take him higher. He dreams that it will take him where he has heretofore been unable to go. He dares to imagine that he will somehow be carried even farther than he had ever hoped, blissfully plummeting into a destiny yet unknown, into territory yet unoccupied, into lands yet uncharted.

He thinks of his heroes in the journey. Could this be the place they jumped? Or had he finally made it to a place even they had not yet been? Something tells him, "Not yet." But on he goes, unable to do anything but yield to the fire inside that will not allow him even to slow down. O that he would reach the end, having given all he had and more, having blazed a trail for many to follow!

He leaps. His figure fades into the mist. Time will tell the world where his leap has taken him; but as he falls, he smiles, feeling as though he may as well have already arrived.