Originally posted on Facebook on Thursday, May 15, 2025.
Someone dear to me asked, “Can you be a good person without being a Christian?”
Without hesitation, I answered, “Certainly” (in the way goodness is typically understood—acts of kindness, justice, generosity, love, etc.).
I continued, “But that’s not the objective of Christianity, nor is it its exclusive claim anywhere in Scripture. Our aim is to be with God, and Christ makes the exclusive claim of making that possible.”
Still, asking whether someone can be good without the God revealed by Christ is like asking if life can exist where there is no sunlight. Yes—but not ultimately. The effect only exists because of the Cause.
Just as life can exist apart from the sun, that life only exists because of the sun. So too, while people may express some form of goodness apart from God, all goodness only exists because of God. This is a part of common grace.
In both cases, the effects still depend on their causes. In the complete and permanent absence of the cause, the effects will cease to exist.
The goodness we see now is a mercy—and temporary. Only the Son leads us to its source forever.
Originally posted on Facebook on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
A precious treasure was revealed to me in my Bible Study this morning.
In Paul's prayer for the Ephesians in Ephesians 3:18–19, he says, "[I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ … that you] may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
Before, what I heard was, "that I may understand the width, length, and height of the love of Christ." I understood that to be a call upward—beyond simply religious engagement with two-dimensional words on a page and to experience Christ as He is: real, a person who came in the flesh in three dimensions (width, length, and height), who I can know. Beautiful, right? But I didn't know the half—still don't.
Two things came to me today.
One revelation was that Paul didn't give three dimensions—he gave four: width and length and depth and height. We exist and experience reality in three dimensions, but here he points out that there's a depth beyond merely existing. Yet, the sense I have is that the Apostle Paul was not just being poetic; he was using language for an extradimensional reality that would be explored by math and physics thousands of years later—think Einstein’s theory of relativity, which posits a single continuum of space and time.
The other, and most remarkable, was that Paul didn’t say "that I may know the width and length and depth and height," but "that we may know"—that we, together with all the saints, may be able to comprehend and know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.
"With all the saints" is the linchpin of that passage—a central theme that anchors not only this passage but much of Paul’s message in Ephesians. With Christ at the core, that togetherness allows us to step into a dimension we cannot even conceive.
This leaves me in awe. I get chills pondering it. It is so inconceivably awesome that Paul concludes this prayer in Ephesians 3:20 with, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
And I, though thousands of years removed from when this prayer was penned, but by the power of Christ, as part of one continuum, can say—just as though I were there at that very moment—“AMEN!”
I want this more than anything.
And, I see more clearly that I need you to get it.
Originally posted on Facebook on Sunday, May 4, 2025.
Scriptures, quotes, and affirmations do not produce action.
Desire does.
Scriptures, quotes, and affirmations will not change your life unless they have power — and unless you allow that power to change your desire.
"The Word of God is living and powerful…"
— Hebrews 4:12
Do not be religious and live in denial.
Do not have a form of godliness but deny its power.
(2 Timothy 3:5)
There is Power — the very Power that raised Jesus from the dead — that will give you a new life that flows from a new heart with a new desire.
(Romans 8:11)
Let it.
Let it change your desire.
And a different life will follow.
Originally posted on Facebook on Thursday, May 1, 2025.
Why is it so hard to trust God?
Because this whole world is a lie.
Our experience and feedback loops are dependent on corrupted information. Lies are constantly being reinforced.
Could it be that the scales that fell from Paul's eyes were snake scales?
Well, not exactly snake scales but "something like scales" because Satan was not a snake, but something like a snake—he took the form of a serpent.
Adam—who was given dominion of the whole world—thrust everything into darkness when he obeyed the deception of Satan.
"Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?"
— Romans 6:16
When Adam's eyes "were opened" it was not to enlightenment as we suppose, but unlike what he knew previously—a world that was only good—his eyes were opened to a world where evil was present. Now, he had knowledge of good and evil.
His view became calloused.
"So he said, 'I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.'"
— Genesis 3:10
And there formed something like scales—this world under Satan's dominion that's been pulled over our eyes to blind us.
"whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them."
— 2 Corinthians 4:4
So when Saul met a glorified Jesus such that a light shone around him, that confronted him with the darkness of his deception compared to the brilliant truth of the Lord Jesus, the illusion of this world was broken. Something fell from his eyes like scales and he received sight that was more than physical. And after being strengthened "immediately he preached the Christ…"
"For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
— 2 Corinthians 4:6
Is it any coincidence that in Revelation we meet a Jesus from whom both heaven and earth flee from His face?!
"Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them."
— Revelation 20:11
This is Jesus, who sits on the throne, unrestrained in His fullness. Like light that chases away darkness, His face blasts away the lie of this world!
Do it for me, Lord Jesus!
I am blind. If You are willing, You can give me my sight.
Let the lie of this world fall from my eyes like scales that You might be all that I see and that I may trust You completely.
Originally posted on Facebook on Tuesday, April 29, 2025.
Being the church is like eating a wonderful meal.
When you are eating food, you taste it but how it nourishes you is largely unknown to you. However, you feel its effects.
It's like that with the assembly of believers. You don't know what you're getting at the time, but when you've engaged in true church you eventually feel yourself being strengthened. It's especially apparent when you've not eaten in a while—because you become weak.
Likewise, the taste is not the indication of the nourishment, strength is. It doesn't always taste good. Sometimes, the most horrible tasting things are the best for you.
Sometimes, when it gets difficult (nasty), that's when you're getting to the good part (Acts 6).
The problem often is, too many of us only like sweets.
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;"
— 2 Timothy 4:3
But,
"as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,"
— 1 Peter 2:2
This we receive through the edification among believers—the word transubstantiated (1 Corinthians 10:17).
"… we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."
— Ephesians 4:14-16
Being the church is like eating, but we have to be intentional and discerning. In the same way we open our mouth to receive bread, we must open our hearts to our fellow believers.
"Open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one."
— 2 Corinthians 7:2
Don't be weak. Eat.
"But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
— 1 Corinthians 11:28-30
Many of us are weak because we have not discerned the Lord's body—dishonoring and disregarding one another. We, the church, are the Lord's body.
"For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread."
— 1 Corinthians 10:17
Let's be the church;
sharing what we received from the Lord Jesus, and opening our hearts to one another.
Eat.
Let us not forsake the true assembling of ourselves which is not the same as the industrial church.
Originally posted on Facebook on Monday, April 28, 2025.
Life in Christ is like dancing. If I'm focused on the rules, I'm not doing it. Yet, when I'm dancing all the rules are fulfilled.
If I'm hosting a feast for those who cannot repay—the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind as Jesus speaks of in Luke 14:13—and thinking of them as people who cannot repay, I'm not doing it.
But, do it anyway.
The steps and rules are a tutor to bring me to form, to create contrast between what is and what is not the dance.
"Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith."
— Galatians 3:24
It begins to come together when I know what is being expressed, but even moreso when I experience it.
Commandments are the form—the steps.
Christ is the expression—the message.
And Love is the experience.
So, we trace His steps that fulfilled the law perfectly. But we do not focus on the steps. We focus on the Principal—Jesus Christ.
Through His perfect expression, we powerfully experience its message: Love. And through it we receive the Spirit of the dance that compels us to carry it on.
As we trace His steps, it may begin mechanically as we learn Him.
We try and fail. We try and fail—understanding by the Spirit we received from Christ how our missteps are not consistent with His form, and we do this until Christ is formed in us.
“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you."
— John 16:13-14
Then, it flows more and more until we're not even aware that we're doing it. That's dancing.
“Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
for I was hungry and you gave Me food;
I was thirsty and you gave Me drink;
I was a stranger and you took Me in;
I was naked and you clothed Me;
I was sick and you visited Me;
I was in prison and you came to Me.’
Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we [do these things]?
— Matthew 25:34-39
When the righteous are commended, they will ask when they did things worthy of commendation because they do not know.
They are not self-conscious, because they are dancing.
Originally posted on Facebook on Saturday, April 26, 2025.
It's a Saturday, I'm exhausted, and I feel guilty for not doing anything.
"I'm not there yet," the thought starts, "So, you don't get to rest."
Because I've not done enough, the logic continues.
But this is what Sabbath cuts directly to the heart of.
I'm with God. Most importantly, God's with me. So, I've arrived. I am there.
The Sabbath reveals the tension between being with Him and my desire to be anywhere else.
That tension reveals that my faith is more in my effort than in God's ability to provide, primarily because there's a specific vision for my life that I want to achieve and I'm not really concerned about His.
I repent.
I will rest in Him because He is where I want to be and, to the best of my ability, I release everything else.
Then, when I pray, I will not ask amiss and can ask with confidence that He will provide everything I need to live: to discern His will and to do His good pleasure, rather than my own.
Originally posted on Facebook on Tuesday, April 22, 2025.
What is the point of faith if things around me are depressing, falling apart, dismal and in disrepair?
Then I brought this into captivity of Christ:
The point is faith creates in me an impenetrable fortress that will not fall.
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: “and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock."
— Matthew 7:24-25
When I have that, I can change the things around me and not be dependent on them.
The point is heavenly expansion—from us to whom the Kingdom has come, to earth—that His will may be done as it is in heaven.
#HeavenlyExpansion #perfectourlove
*Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times
Originally posted on Facebook on Tuesday, April 22, 2025.
As I press into church, a word that has been burning on my heart is "don't use your tools on it".
"And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it."
— Exodus 20:25
A lie is fabricated.
Truth just is.
What are our "tools"?
They're our machinations—our means of manipulation to achieve our desire rather than His.
We profane His altar by inserting ourselves, teaching men to fear men rather than God.
"And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."
— Mark 7:7 (Read the surrounding verses to see exactly how we do this.)
We profane His altar with our own ideas and the efforts of our hands rather than the produce of His heart.
“For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”
— Mark 7:8
"Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings…?
He has shown you, O man, what is good;
…do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God…"
— Micah 6:6-8
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise."
— Psalm 51:17
We profane His altar with our schisms: classes, hierarchy and systems of control.
"and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, 'You sit here in a good place,' and say to the poor man, 'You stand there,' or, 'Sit here at my footstool,'"
— James 2:3
“But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.
Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.
And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.
But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant."
— Matthew 23:8-11
"But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, 'You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.'"
— Mark 10:42-43
Yet, here we are.
Let us repent.
But now, we-the church-are His temple, established and being built stone by stone by Christ Himself. In us, the once-for-all atonement of His sacrifice is offered not on stone altars made with human hands, but on the altar of our surrendered lives as His body.
Let us not profane it.
Let us not use our tools on it.
"Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
— 1 Peter 2:4-5
But let us be the church He is building, His way—through the heart first, not with the tools of our head and hands.
Originally posted on Facebook on Monday, April 21, 2025.
The best way I can imagine to celebrate the Resurrection, is to die to this world and be reborn afresh in Christ.
"Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
— Romans 6:4
The Resurrection should be the Christian New Year, where every resolution is renouncing the world and renewing our pursuit of the Kingdom of God and His righteousness—living in the newness of the Spirit, governed by Christ so that His Kingdom is expressed in Word and experienced in deed through us.
