Category Archives: Life

The Most Important Word

Brainflurry.com | Sin - The Most Important Word

What word in the Bible do I believe is the most important, even more so than justice, love, truth and even faith?

Sin.

Sin means to miss the mark, to offend. It indicates that there is someone that set the mark. Which further indicates there is someone who claims to have the authority to set the mark.

On what basis can one claim such authority? The very word “authority” suggest the answer: authorship.

Sin demands a Creator who has the authority of ownership and thereby the right to set the mark.

According to the Bible, the Creator set that mark for us to be His representatives in the earth, to be caretakers of it. But we were not satisfied with being His representatives and in ignorance of the knowledge and power it takes to sustain creation, we rejected His rule and made for ourselves gods we could understand and control so that we could be the rulers and sit on the throne instead of God. In our effort to gain and to maintain power we have suppressed what can be known of God even apart from the revelation of Holy Scripture by creating false and distracting narratives. In our ignorance, we were also unaware of the immutable spiritual law that to whosever’s idea you yield or to command you obey, you become that person’s slave. Furthermore, we did not understand that ideas do not originate with us: they either stem from Truth or Lies, Good or Evil. As such, by obeying a command stemming from lies we did not become rulers as we thought but subjects, trading the rule of a loving God for the rule of the Father of Lies. We thereby entered in league with Satan and acting as his subjects, we threw the world into disorder, injustice and evil.

We missed the mark.

We used what has been given to us for purposes other than what the Giver intended, thereby opposing and offending God which is sin. There was yet another immutable law, the penalty of sin is death. Sin is opposed to God and whatever opposes God will be destroyed. We are all guilty under this law, leaving corruption and death in our wake and becoming enemies of the Creator, appointed to destruction.

But, God.

But, God was not caught unaware. In fact it was part of His design. Before time, He purposed to grow His beloved family, accounted for our weakness and prepared a Way out for those who were born into corruption but would accept His Love.

In His tender mercy and His loving kindness, God humbled Himself to plea His case with the creatures He made! He spoke through messengers and even established an entire nation to demonstrate the impossible task of humans bridging the gap between themselves and God, even if we were given the instructions!

These were tutors to humble us and bring us back to square one that upholding and governing the universe –achieving good, requires that God does it. But even more than that, it was to prepare us for His greatest act of Love yet, making His appeal to us flesh and walk among us. Such was God’s desire to be with us that He came and made His case to us directly in the person of Jesus Christ!

But not only that, Jesus was sent to take back the creation we lost by being a human that presents Himself obedient to God, being a caretaker of creation, advancing the kingdom of God by taking dominion of the earth, submitting everything that enters His domain to the Father, translating it from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

Not only that, He sent Jesus to satisfy the penalty of sin -death, by dying Himself, so that there would no longer be any separation between us and God. Being a perfect man in whom the fullness of God dwells, Jesus is a sacrifice who’s worth can cover all the sin of all mankind; past, present and future. So great is His worth that His sacrifice forever tips the scale so that grace continually abounds toward us.

Not only that, when we believe that God sent the Son, we agree with God about our sin, that the penalty is just, that we are incapable of setting things right, that He alone is good and fit to rule and we, having now no reason to boast, are at His mercy to restore us and all creation.

Not only that, for those that humble themselves, acknowledge their error and place all their hope in Christ, so great is God’s love towards us that rather than leave them subjects, He gives us robes and crowns and makes us sons and daughters! Hallelujah!!!

In this age, by the tutelage Christ’s example provides but moreover by the power God provides and that we receive through faith, we are transformed and given a new heart -a new center of our being with new desires. We want what God wants and walk as Christ walked -living obedient to God, submitting everything in our domain to Christ as he continually translates everything from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light until that day when all things have been put under His feet -where all evil, darkness and even death have been abolished. Our ultimate hope is the resurrection that begins the age where we reign with Christ and live with our loving Father and all those that love Him forever.

To many, this is utter foolishness but if any of this resonates with you, you are being saved.

You need only need to confess a belief at the center of your being (in your heart) that the Father sent the Son and raised Him from the dead to be saved -saved from the death your sin is contributing to the world now and the second death later; the wrath of God to come.

If you want to learn more, start here: https://bit.ly/39ipuDP

I love you.

Consider The Lilies Of The Field

Brainflurry.com | Lilies Of The Field

Worry is more than a momentary thought about an issue of concern.

Worry is an emotional state that is a response to a perceived existential threat.

We typically do not worry about our car breaking down. What we do worry about is how the car breaking down may affect our ability to get to work, to earn a livelihood so that we can secure food, clothing or shelter. So in this example, the real worry is not about the car but the underlying perceived threat to our physical well-being.

There are a number of aspects to our well-being besides physical, such as emotional and social. As such, there are a seemingly limitless combination of things we can worry about. But, whatever aspect of our well-being is giving rise to unrest and anxiety in our lives, Jesus has a prescription.

I, for one, have been wrestling with my sense of self worth. We live under a constant barrage of messages that aim to assess and ascribe our value. The use of terms such as “net worth” and the practice of placing value on human lives based on how much stuff they’ve been able to amass or how many people the are able to control is the cornerstone of our culture. I therefore find myself assessing my own value based on such trivial things as how much money I make, how may followers I have or how much engagement I have on a social media post.

Sure it would feel good to shed ourselves of these measures of value, but we live in the real word and value is a real thing, so can something have worth if others do not value it?

Absolutely. We know that even apart from the wisdom of scripture. How many songs do we have about things and people we didn’t appreciate until they’re gone?

But, Jesus reveals a higher truth. He says, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin…” (Matthew 6:28). God’s creation blooms and blossoms, they give their fruit in season without the slightest care about your acknowledgment or approval.

Now imagine how duplicitous a thing would be if its characteristics were to change based on who’s watching or how many approve. What if that thing were basing its actions on how much applause it would get? This is the way of the world and is fertile soil for double-mindedness and hypocrisy.

As for the lilies of the field -God’s creation, it matters not whether you appreciate them or enjoy their fruit. It simply does what it is in obedience to its creator.

Therefore, my prayer is,

“Lord, help me to be like the lilies of Your field, a tree in Your garden, a branch of Your Vine -Your creation. Help me to bear fruit according to the incorruptible seed, the image of Your Son -the implanted Word. Help me to do the good I was created to do regardless if anyone notices.
Amen.”

Jesus concluded His exhortation about how we should handle worry with an affirmation: if God shows such care for the grass of the field and the birds of the air, what does that mean about you? You are beautiful, even more so than a lily arrayed finer than the richest man in the world. You are valuable, even more so than many birds.  You are of great value to God. (Luke 12:7)

The key to overcoming worry and securing our peace is opting out of the world’s value system and taking up God’s (seeking His approach and government i.e. ‘the kingdom of God’ Matthew 6:33). Rather than “net worth”, Jesus must be the chief cornerstone in our lives upon which all value and truth are built.

The truth is: you and I are valuable whether anyone sees us or not. In fact, you are most you when you believe no one sees. So, I say to my soul and yours: Whether seen or unseen let us be what God created: blessings; loving caretakers of creation and our fellow man (Ephesians 2:10). Our life and value in Christ are secure. There is no need to worry.

The White Girl Who Gave Me Hope

Female RunnersPhoto Courtesy of Women’s Running

I’m a black man.

It pains me to write it perhaps more than the pain of another potential article or news story making everything about race. I don’t look to make my race the subject of conversation, but I constantly find myself thrust into situations that force the subject. It’s the burden of that constant coerced vigilance that made a seemingly ordinary interaction with a high school-aged white girl today so extraordinary. It happened as I was dropping my son off for cross country practice, but it may help to first contrast it against another encounter that happened with my son a few years earlier.

Boys At A College Football Game

I was taking my boys to a college football game. My youngest son was a Cub Scout and our Boy Scout troop was hosting a tailgate on campus. As is often the case with tailgating, it was hard to know what the exact location of our tent would be on the day of the event. When we were in the proximity of where we were told it would be, I decided I’d ask some people tailgating in the area if they had seen a bunch of midget misfit soldiers running around (all the Boy Scouts were supposed to be in uniform). Because I was in a public and very crowded space, I was already hyper-aware of my blackness. So, as I approached the tailgate tent, I did everything I could think of to be non-threatening: I intentionally walked slower than usual and spoke softer than usual, “Excuse me, ma’am…” Before the words had been completely spoken, the college-aged white girl I had spoken to, with other white people to her right and her left, screamed to the top of her lungs, turned away suddenly while putting her face in her hands as though I had startled her -her screech having now turned into nervous laughter, her friends around her are laughing and I walked away having died a little in that moment. I was terrified, humiliated, confused and angry all at the same time. She reacted to me the way one might react to being unexpectedly confronted by their greatest fear -some dangerous animal: a snake, a spider or a black man -with an eight year old Cub Scout in tow. I spent the remainder of that afternoon wrestling with the tacit implications of that encounter and the racist narratives it reinforced: I am bad. I am dangerous. I am a criminal. I am a super predator.

Now, fast forward to today. I’m dropping my son off at cross country practice. I’m standing apart from everyone else, not because we’re practicing social distancing to limit the spread of COVID-19, but because mostly everyone else is white and standing with their own circles to which I do not belong. Practice is about to begin and I watch the coach give athletes instructions of how they’re going to modify workouts for everyone’s protection and then they file in line to have their temperatures taken. Another athlete, a high school-aged white girl, arrives a few minutes later. She walks casually across the parking lot, past other students and several groups of people and walks up to me. “What are we doing?”, she asks. I reply, “Coach has just given instructions about safety practices for the workout -about staying six feet apart. Now he’s taking everyone’s temperature. You can go up those stairs to get in line.” As casually as she walked up, she walked off not knowing that she had single-highhandedly restored some of my faith in humanity. Our interaction was sublimely innocuous. She was not measured in her words or cautious in her approach. She did not indicate the slightest hesitation. The entire encounter was fluid. I was pleasantly taken aback. Since that moment, I’ve reflected on it’s implications. She treated me like a normal person. I felt like a human being.

If everyone would look at black people the way this white girl looked at me today; not as a threat, or invisible, or someone to be pitied or even as someone who should be given special treatment, but simply as another person -like everyone else, there might be hope for us all.

Love Lifted Me

Starkville Cloudy Sky

“I’ve messed up,” I say to myself looking up at a grey winter sky. It was true, I had really made a mess of things. I had gotten kicked out of school, lost a full scholarship, stolen my Dad’s credit card and racked up $30,000 dollars in charges taking multiple women out at a time, I abandoned my mother, was totally not there for my little brother, I had been fired from J.C. Penney’s for stealing and had been evicted from my apartment in College Station just a little more than a month earlier. I was a wretch. Now, I’m on campus, out in the cold, staring down at a bright yellow boot on the place I called home -my car.

I’m angry but not angry. I’m sad but not sad. Those things are there but I’ve tipped beyond feeling. I’m resigned. “I’m done. There’s no point,” I think. But before I end it all, I felt the overwhelming need to apologize. I wanted absolution. I remembered back when I interned at Entergy in Jackson, MS, there was a man who knew I was going to Mississippi State that told me to visit his friend, Dr. Gregory Jones. And, at that time, Dr. Jones had an office at the Baptist Student Union. So, I trek across campus, walk into the BSU and am met by a large, bald-headed man with silver aviator style glasses sitting atop round, rosy cheeks that seemed to be permanently fixed in a grin. Wasting no time, I ask, “May I talk to you?” He ushers me into his office. With tears, I immediately began to share everything I had done wrong or even thought I had done wrong since leaving home.

Dr. Jones sat all the way back in his chair, his face now more stern, squared his body to mine, leaned forward slowly, resting his elbows on his desk with his large hands clasped and said out of nowhere, “God does not hate you.” As though he could see me mentally recoiling from the notion, he continued, “How do I know? Because, He sent Help just for people who makes mistakes.” Dr. Jones talked for several more minutes but I don’t remember what he said. I could not hear him. His voice became muffled as though he were speaking from another room. I was shell-shocked. My hardened heart was being eviscerated by the blast of those words,

“God does not hate you.”

It felt like there was Something in that room besides Dr. Jones and I. I was convicted but no longer felt condemned. I could see the gravity of my error but was somehow no longer under the weight of them. There was a compassion and a hopeful, alternative view of my future. Something shifted in me. Though nothing had changed about my circumstances, there was suddenly power to go on. It was that day that I looked upon Christ and was saved. And, this is not hyperbole, on a dreary, cold winter day, the clouds parted and the sun shone in the office at that very moment.

Pastor Gregory Jones was an agent of grace. He depended on it and shared it freely. As a result, I am here to share this testimony. Dr. Jones would often say, “You don’t have to be perfect, just available.” I thank God that He made Dr. Gregory Jones available to me.

I love you Rev. Jones.

Originally posted to Facebook on January 24, 2017. It is being posted here again in loving memory of my friend and Pastor, Dr. Gregory Wilson Jones.

Until I Get My Life Right

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What I hear more than anything as I encounter people who consider themselves “unchurched”, is a reluctance to come to worship “until I get my life right.” Surprisingly, there is an element of this that is good theology and demonstrates a knowledge of God that many “churched” folks have lost as a result of their religion: God is holy and I must be holy or in “right standing” to enter into His presence. That’s truth.

But, here’s the good news (the gospel): God loves you so much and is so committed to being with you, that even before the beginning, He architected an ingenious Way for you to be in His presence without compromising His holiness. He provided a Savior able to pay the debt required for our sin and thereby making us able to be in right-standing (righteous). Not only that, but when we believe Christ, we’re given a new heart, HIS heart, a seed that grows unto a new spiritual man and empowers us to put to death our former, godless appetites. And, as we undergo the process of being re-made to look more and more like a Son of the Father (sanctification), we enter the presence of God by the blood (the work and person) of Christ. As a result, when God sees you, He sees His Son in whom He is well pleased so that you can dwell boldly in His presence. Hallelujah! #TheDoorOfTheChurchIsOpen

In loving memory of the greatest teacher of grace I’ve ever known, my mentor and friend, Dr. Gregory Wilson Jones.

More Than A Song – Lannie Spann McBride

LannieSpannMcBride.comPhoto Source: Official Website Of Lannie Spann McBride

I woke up this morning singing, “I am a promise. I am a possibility. I am a promise with a capital ‘P’. I am a great big bundle of Po-ten-ti-ality…” It was a song taught to me by my G.N. Smith Elementary music teacher, Lannie Spann McBride. As I hummed the tune, an involuntary smile stretched across my face. I can still see Mrs. McBride in music class. She would often snatch her hands away from the piano between chords and motion with both hands, drawing a big smile across her face, instructing the class to smile as we sung -all without missing a beat. She told us that smiling affected the music. But in truth, as I’m sure she knew, it affected us more. It was her influence that led to my playing piano in elementary, violin in middle school and competing in classical voice as a junior and senior. Though my path would not ultimately lead to music, she forever changed the trajectory of my life. Because, she made me believe that song.

I felt the memory warranted taking a moment to pay tribute and thank God for teachers like Lannie Spann McBride.

Fake Good

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Among Satan’s most powerful deceptions is fake “good”. I suspect it’s why we do mission trips to Africa instead of San Francisco. The poor think anything’s better than what they have and the rich think they’re good and have need of nothing. But both are deceived (Revelation 3:17). Good is not attaining affluence or material possessions (Mark 10:21, Mark 10:25). Good is right relationships -having a right relationship with God which causes us to have a right relationship with everything else (Mark 12:29-31).

And, a right relationship with God is made possible exclusively through Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:27, 1 John 2:23) . Without Christ, any idea or understanding​ that we have of God is askew which causes us to relate improperly to everything else (family, money, ourselves, etc). So, let us pursue real good which begins with feasting on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ (John 6:53-58). Start here.

Dying For An Apology

Couple Disagreement

Has someone ever offended you and it seemed that the relationship was “on hold” until they apologized? Yep, me too. It naturally makes sense to think that the one who broke it should fix it. But, Jesus teaches something very different in Matthew 18:15. There, we’re told when someone hurts us, that we are to take initiative to restore the relationship and go to the offender. You’ll also find in Matthew 5:23-24, that Jesus commands those who realize they’ve hurt someone to take immediate action to restore the relationship. What does this mean? Regardless of who is in the wrong, I am responsible for doing all I can to pursue a healthy relationship.

I think this speaks to the heart of what it means to be Christian, a follower of Christ. Jesus’s entire purpose was to reconcile creation to God (Colossians 1:20). And to be Christian, is to be Christ-like. Therefore, we also have this ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). What this means to me is that our default disposition should be one of restoral. We should be driven, looking, to restore people to fellowship with God and then with us.

This helps me, especially in marriage. When my wife and I are at odds, I must take responsibility for restoring that fellowship -regardless of whether I hurt her or if she hurt me. Practically speaking, if I truly desire to maintain the relationship, I would remove any obstacles that prevent us from getting there. And among the first obstacles to remove is the idea that because I offended her or I was offended by her, I’ve taken a position that is against her. Instead, I must communicate, even over-communicate, that I am for her, I am not her enemy, and desire to be in fellowship with her again.

I’ve tried to implement this by establishing ongoing gestures that communicate my openness and good-will toward her. One of these gestures is simply to kiss her on the cheek or on her forehead every night before we retire to sleep (Ephesians 4:26). Whether she’s angry or whether I’m angry, I try to do this to communicate there’s hope and I’m open to restoring fellowship.

How is God doing that for you? How has He communicated His openness to you and the hope of fellowship with Him? First, have you received His gesture of goodwill? And secondly, how can you do more of that for others?

That 90’s R&B Type Love

Black Couple
So, listening to 90’s R&B yesterday evening has got me in my feelings and thinking about the blissful allure of an intense, all-consuming, never-ending love that characterized our music. And, sometimes I think I want that, but I’ve learned to ask, “Is that really good?” Is the way I want to be loved healthy?

If I can be real for just a second, I will admit that I sometimes struggle with wanting to be the center of my wife’s universe. But I know that isn’t good because I lack the “weight” or kabad to hold everything in her universe together. Being the center of her universe puts me in a position to do something I’m not built for -to sustain someone else’s existence forever. Conversely, it puts my wife in a position to be sustained by something that will surely fail (even if I were perfect, I have to die at some point). Apply even a little Bible and you’ll quickly find that my looking to be central to another: to be exalted and worshiped, isn’t love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil…”

To be blunt the love trumpeted by most music is promoting idolatry -a diversion of attention to someone or something else for what we should be getting from God.

So, what SHOULD we want? Answer: an intense, all-consuming, never-ending love with the only one who can deliver it -God. I believe the first step in really enjoying love is to be completely satisfied with Him -alone. Only then, can we really love or be loved by others, because if God is love (1 John 4:8), to love is to share God. And, for that He has to be central.

What Is Hypocrisy?

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It strikes me how sternly and often Jesus spoke about hypocrisy (Matt 16:6, 23:28, Luke 12:1, etc). If the Teacher sees fit to warn about something and call attention to it repeatedly, it’s important and something I need to press into.

So, I’ve been praying for some time, “Lord, what is hypocrisy? What is the corruption in us that you are speaking to when you say ‘hypocrisy’? How do I identify it in me?” I believe this answer came to me during my study time today,

“Hypocrisy is to elevate oneself and condemn fault in others that we overlook in ourselves.”

This is informed by passages such as Romans 2:1, “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.” In short, we are all corrupt and corruption causes harm. Period. So, we’re all guilty and in need of mercy. If we have received such great mercy as that made available in Jesus Christ, we know it was not because we were worthy but because He is merciful, else mercy is not mercy. This should produce in us humility and compassion, definitely not superiority.