It snowed last night: a soft, deep snow.  In the morning light, the fields around our home glistened in the beauty and newness of its smooth, white covering as fresh, cold, clean air assaulted my senses.   Snow can change a landscape overnight like nothing else can.

David writes: ‘Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow’ (Psalm 51:7).  In its simplest form, that is the Gospel: that through the sacrifice of His Son, God has changed the landscape, and that we now glisten in the newness of our identity in Christ.

Yet, as I shared last week, that newness, that fresh clean covering, has been assaulted; frequently by those closest to us.  As we have sought their love and their acceptance, it is subsequently their rejections that have hurt us the most.  And so Jesus teaches us that we are to forgive just as we have been forgiven.

We tend to misinterpret His meaning here, wrongly assuming that our forgiveness by Him is conditional on our efforts.  That teaching, however, flies in the face of so much of the rest of the Gospel teaching.  So what are we to understand about forgiving others?

I believe part of the answer lies in the snow. There is this moment, when you first walk out your front door, that the beauty of a new snow just overwhelms you.  But then you start walking in it and driving in it and it becomes slick and cold and dirty.  The calmness gives way to chaos.  That, I believe, is what happens with our own unforgiveness.  It makes His forgiveness, and the life that we have in Him, very difficult to walk in.  It dirties the snow, melts it, and causes us to question what we ever loved of it in the first place. 

God doesn’t command us to forgive as a condition, he invites us into the beauty and the majesty of forgiveness as an opportunity to once again taste of the cool, clean, fresh air of a winter snow. 

To the King,

David

        

              Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.
                                                                             2 Corinthians 5:17

I know that it is true, I have known if for some time now.  I get it.  I get that Jesus took away my heart of stone and gave me a new heart, a heart of flesh.  I get that it is no longer I who live, but Christ that lives in me, that I am now an heir of God and a co-heir with Christ.  I understand all of that … and yet I still keep listening to them. I hear what they say about me and choose too often to agree with their assessment of me rather than that of my King.

I don’t think that I am alone on this one.  Everyday I talk to someone who has chosen to let the assessment of someone else become their own assessment of themselves.  Whether it is a positive assessment (‘they think I am the bomb, therefore I must be’), or more commonly a rejection in which someone of immense importance to us tells us in no uncertain terms that we are a failure, ugly, stupid, or just plain unredeemable; their words can speak so much louder than the truth that we ‘know’.

Why is that?  I am sure that there are multiple reasons, but the underlying common denominator seems to be this lie of our enemy: that they are where life is found.  And especially when they are the ones that we hoped would love us unconditionally – and they don’t – well the pain can lead us to a pit of darkness in which the light of the truth appears as nothing but a small flicker of an extinguished hope.

But you see, that is precisely the place where we are called to fight.  ‘Resist the devil, and he will flee from  you.’ James tells us (4:7).  Our battle for this life that Christ has for us begins with refusing to listen to them, and more precisely, refusing to listen to our enemies suggestions to agree with their assessment of us. 

However it goes further still, for in their rejection of us, Satan strategically inflicts life threatening wounds, wounds that will fester and continue to cover us in a shroud of darkness.  It is this battle where we are called to be strong and courageous, for this is the place where only forgiveness can allow that wound to heal. 

I’ll talk more about forgiveness in my next blog, but for now know that the rejection and the pain of them is not the measure of you.  You ARE a new creation.  They are not where life is found, and consequently, do not have the power to take that life from you.  Jesus Christ is your life.

To the King,

David

        

‘Therefore, we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us and eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.’
                                                                                                     2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Few things make us more uneasy than the combination of religion, politics and violence, and with good reason. Be it Muslims, Christians, Jews or Hindus, all have had more than their fair share of dark moments in history, and so I understand the critics that take issue with a movie that portrays the salvation of the Christian Bible in the context of extreme and highly graphic bloodshed. I was honestly quite uncomfortable as I watch Denzel Washington fight his way through The Book of Eli.

But I was also captured by the obvious metaphors, especially as it relates to our message here at Knight Vision Ministries.  Without giving away too much of the movie, the story centers around a man on a mission; a mission that he had likely never even dreamt of and a mission that seems almost certainly doomed for failure.  Yet, he knows that this is exactly the road that God has placed him on; in his own words, he ‘walks by faith, not by sight’.   Along the path are dangers and choices that he is forced to deal with.  Some of those choices he makes are good ones, some are poor, and a few are just downright selfish; but as he listens to his God, he grows and matures into the man who can ultimately accomplish what is only for him to accomplish.  In the midst of a great, transcendent, even supernatural call on his life, it is really the journey that changes him.

Likewise, the portrayal of evil set against the very life that God calls to is vivid and unmistakable.  Its aggression, its randomness, its invitation to join with it is so evident and familiar, that you wonder how any man could succeed.

And that I believe is the key to the movie. No man could succeed.  While the movie never comes out and states this, you have to assume that Washington’s character had been changed, literally by God himself. 

It is our story.  We too have been commissioned with a with a unique path to follow, one that only we can walk, but also one that we have no hope of finishing unless the mystery of the Gospel is true, the mystery that states that it is no longer I who live, but Christ living in me, that we too have been changed. We will be opposed, fiercely, and it will take all that we have to stay in the fight, but it will also take more.  It will take walking by faith not by sight.

The Book of Eli is not the story of religious fanaticism, it is the story of of the evil that we are facing every day, and of the God who is more than able to see us through those evils.

Fight well my friends.

To the King,

David

        

I wrote a blog last night that I planned to publish today, but this whole Haiti thing has just got my heart torn and it is really this disaster that I feel God is asking me to address today.

I’m sure that you have all seen the pictures and watched the videos.  The pain, the loss and the hopelessness over there is just pretty much overwhelming.  Children suffering, dying, and losing parents; individuals roaming the streets helpless; murder, looting and the complete collapse of a nation leave me feeling numb. What are we to do with that?  Where is God is that?  Like many of you, I have sent a few dollars to some relief organizations, I have prayed for the people, and I have even considered applying for a passport and going over there myself, but it all seems so little, so impotent.  Even as I type this there is this sense of ‘what can I say, I really have nothing to offer.’

I suspect Gideon felt a similar hopelessness.  His land and his people overrun by the Midianites, he had spent the last seven years just trying to survive.  We find him in Judges chapter six hiding in a wine press, foraging for a little grain to make bread.  Those words spoken by the angel of the Lord must have sounded almost laughable, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” (v. 12).  His response certainly doesn’t sound warrior like, “if the Lord is with us, why has all of this happened to us?  Where are all of the wonders our fathers told us about …” (v.13).  Gideon had been watching the devastation around him, he had felt his own fear and powerlessness in it all, and he wants to know why God hasn’t done something about it. His question sounds all too familiar. 

God’s response isn’t really one of comfort either.  He doesn’t say, ‘Oh it will all be OK, I’ve got everything under control, just rest and trust me.’  No, he says to Gideon, this ‘mighty warrior’, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand.” (v.14). He places the ball square back in Gideon’s court.  Oh how that verse haunts me.  What strength do I have against such a travesty as Haiti?

Enter Paul’s Mystery.  Really it was God’s mystery, Paul just explains it to us in Colossians chapter 1, verse 27.  ‘To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.’

Haiti isn’t about what we can do; it is about what God can do through Christ in us.  It isn’t just Christ, it is Him in us.  That is why we are told to go in the strength we have, for we have immeasurable strength. 

I still don’t know what I am supposed to do, but I know what I don’t want to do. I don’t want to hide in the winepress any longer.

To the King,

David

        

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1:2-4)

For those in the midst of the battle, I doubt that many see the trials and tribulations that they are experiencing as a particularly joyful event.  As I look back over the past year, I can honestly say that I am thankful that 2009 is firmly behind me as it seemed to be a year full of trials.  And if I am being completely honest, I don't recall "joy" being one of the emotions that I associated with those events.  Yet now that I have had an opportunity to reflect on those events, from a safe distance mind you, I am beginning to understand what James meant as he wrote those words.

Perception it seems is a matter of perspective.  How we view our life, the good, the bad and the ugly, seems to be based upon our perception of what we can see, touch, feel and experience.  When life is going well, our senses relate to our perception of good where as when life is not going so well, our senses relate to our perception of bad.  And yet as Christians, I firmly believe that there is something else that we must consider in all things.  That is, how does God see these experiences...

In Hebrews 12:2, we read "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

There is that word again - joy.  And yet the scripture clearly states that Christ viewed this event as a "joy set before him."  The implication here then is that Christ viewed this as something more than what it appeared to be to mortal eyes.  Christ's sacrifice at the cross wasn't simply a matter of simple endurance.  Rather, Christ's sacrifice at the cross brought peace and established a new covenant between God and man.  Christ found the lost sheep, paid the ultimate price for their deliverance (a shameful price as written in the scriptures) and then established a bridge so that all who call upon the name of the Lord and repent of their sins have access to the Father without fear or condemnation, but rather love, grace and mercy.  The "joy" that is described here provided the lost - you and I - sinners all who had no possible way of coming to the Father of our own accord, with a new beginning....

When I was just out of college (many, many years ago) I used to hate the new year.  Back then, what the new year represented to me was an overcrowding at the gym by those who had "resolved" to get back into shape.  The gym became crowded with people who were clueless about how things worked, where things were at and worst of all, they were forever in my way.  What had taken an hour prior to these "new beginnings" now stretched into two hours and only worsened as everyone frantically tried to shower and leave the facility to continue on with their day.  Yet the resolve of the new year didn't last long for most and my joy was soon realized by about mid-February when the gym once again belonged to me and a few other faithful who had the decency to stay out of each others way...

And although I must admit that I still find a certain amount of joy in that at the gym that I go to now, my greatest joy is to witness those who have discovered a new beginning with our God through Christ our Savior.  And so to you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, I urge you now to stop and reflect upon the giants of the past year with new eyes - those of our Heavenly Father.  What do we need to see through His eyes to claim our "joy" and "new beginning"?  Whatever that may be, Knight Vision Ministries is here to walk with you.  I leave you, with the words of Paul from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

"Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Your brother in Christ,

Jim

        

I drove my truck out this morning to one of my favorite places to just sit and listen to my King: a small frozen farm pond on the edge of our acreage.  The sun hadn’t risen yet, the sky was overcast and the temperature was a balmy twenty-three degrees Fahrenheit … in short, it was cold and dark.   I wasn’t even supposed to be there.  I had an early morning meeting scheduled with a good friend, but he called just before I left the house telling me that he couldn’t make it, so off to the pond I went.  There was this real sense that God wanted to say something to me there. I didn’t know what, but I felt sure that He had cancelled my meeting so I could meet with Him.

As I stopped my truck, and the heater finally started taking some of the bite out of the air, I opened my BlackBerry Bible App and the verse in the middle of the screen spoke louder than any voice ever has.  It spoke of the place that I was at, at the call that God has given me, and of His promise to fulfill that very thing.  I so needed that.  As happens so often in the battle, I was questioning all of it; but now, in the cold, in the dark, He reminded me of His faithfulness in the midst of that fight.

That’s when I looked up.  Out of the window of my cab, in the distance through the trees, a lone light shone.  He spoke again, ‘I am the light in the darkness’.  It’s crazy how often we get so busy and so distracted that we forget to look at the one who longs to show the way, a beacon in the darkness of night.

And that is exactly what our King is inviting us into, an adventure of finding him in the midst of the fog, a life of listening to his voice, and a faith that believes His adjustments in our schedules are for our benefit.

‘Listen to me … the Lord is with you when you are with him.  If you seek him, he will be found by you’ (2 Chronicles 15:2).

To the King,

David

        

OK, I know, screwdrivers are intended to be used to attach and remove small metallic threaded fasteners, but sometimes, honestly, it is easier to grab a screwdriver than a pry-bar.  Unfortunately, the last time that I tried this I broke the tip off of my nice Craftsman Professional flathead screwdriver.  But you see, that is precisely why I own Craftsman tools.  I returned my broken implement to Sears yesterday; and just as they promised, I received a brand new one, no questions asked.  Guaranteed for life, they call it.  How cool is that?

As we embark on a new year, even a new decade, it would be good for us to remember that our King has offered a similar if not much better promise.  ‘If anyone is in Christ’, Paul writes, ‘he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come’ (2 Cor 5:17).  As my pastor Rob is famous for saying, Jesus is all about offering New Beginnings.

The cool thing is that it doesn’t matter whether we are broken from using our ‘tools’ as they were intended – in His service – or stupidly as we are sometimes known to do.  2009 was a great year for me.  God did some awesome things through Knight Vision and through His call on my life, but not all of it was without pain.  Further, if I am honest, there are events in the last twelve months that I would rather forget, places where I should not have gone, things that I should not have done.  And so I am claiming another of Paul’s words as mine for 2010: ‘Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.' (Phil 3:12-14).

Guaranteed for LIFE – that’s our promise. 

To the King,

David

        

It’s hard to believe that it has been ten years since all of the chaos of the Y2K scare.  You remember that, don’t you?  Everyone feared that all of our computers would fail to turn over to the new millennium and life as we knew it would come to a stand still.  The end of the world some feared.  Before that was the touted return of Christ in 1994 along with many others, and now of course, we have 2012 to look forward to.

I for one have no clue when our King will return and restore all things, although there certainly are signs that suggest this time is imminent. But whether that is imminent as in next week or the next generation, I for one am thankful for another year of Grace, of our God staying his hand as He prepares His bride.

Don’t get me wrong.  I am looking forward to Jesus’ return, even longing for it on days; and yet it is His will that has been most capturing me of late.  And that will seems to be to wait, at least for now.  How gracious of our God.  How kind.  Another year to stand with Him in the midst of this battle.  Another day to be trained and fathered by the one who knows my heart and who delights in me.  Another minute to enjoy the adventure of trusting His plan for my life.

2010 is charging toward us; and with it … opportunity.  I don’t know what that opportunity will be for you, and I only have a hint of what it will be for me, but I do know this:  it will be good-- very, very good.  Our King has plans for us, plans that He knows and has established from before the beginning of time. They are plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans for a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).

Looking forward to the unfolding of that future with you.

To the King,

David

        

            'Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who was born king of the Jews?  We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” 
            When King Herod heard this he was disturbed.'
                                                                                              Matt 2:1-3

It’s interesting how different people react to Christmas.  For some, it’s the most wonderful time of the year.  For others, it’s filled with pain and sadness.  Many see it as an opportunity to give to others while still others find ways to capitalize on this season of giving with sale after sale.  Christmas is touted as an occasion to proclaim the message of Christ, to market the message of Christ, or even to deny the message of Christ in some politically correct holiday greeting.

Yet, perhaps one of the most honest and insightful reactions to the Christmas story that I have ever heard is that of King Herod’s.  Matthew reports that he was disturbed.  Disturbed?  It’s just a baby, born to a peasant family, in a small insignificant rural town.  But apparently Herod was up on his bible prophesy, for immediately Matthew reports that the king gathered all of the chief priests and teachers of the law to find out where the Christ was to be born. 

You see, Herod seemed to understand something that we often tend to forget during all of the hustle and bustle of Christmas; and that was that this event, this child born in a manger, was about something much more significant than just a silent night, holy night.  This was the King that had been foretold for centuries, the King that was to change everything.  Nothing would be safe any longer. No longer would tyranny continue unopposed.  All of those old excuses of not being born to the right family or belonging to the wrong people group wouldn’t hold water now.  The invasion had begun … and so Herod was disturbed; so disturbed in fact that he had every male child under two murdered in a desperate attempt to end the siege.  While his response was clearly wrong, his assessment was exactly right.

And so, here’s wishing you a very disturbed Christmas. Whether you love the season or hate it, may the child -- that grew in favor with God and with man, that died at the hands of men not unlike us, and that rose from that grave to become the King he was prophesied to become -- may he disturb your holidays and invite you into something much grander and glorious and terrifying than you have ever imagined.

To the King,

David

        

                         After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
                                                                                         Matthew 2:9

Someone once said that the road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places.  Our walk with Christ is really not much different. Oh, I know, our salvation is based on Christ alone, and on nothing that we do.  Likewise, God’s acceptance and love of us is similarly a done deal, nothing that we can ever do to earn or affect it. 

And yet Paul exhorts us to ‘run in such a way to get the prize’ (1 Cor 9:24) and James explains that we are to ‘resist the devil and he will flee’ (James 4:7).  Jesus himself declared that he ‘did not come to bring peace, but a sword’ (Matt 10:34). 

The reality of our faith is that we are daily presented with a plethora of tempting parking places. They may mask themselves in busyness, fatigue, disappointment or distractions, but they are, every one of them, orchestrated attempts of our enemy to keep us from following that star in the east. 

The wise men would have just been a bunch of smart guys if all they did was recognize the star. What made them wise was their recognition of its great importance, an understanding that changed their lives, that convinced them that it was worth the effort to follow from the east, to keep following when Herod interrogated them, and to not stop until it stopped … over the place where the child was. 

Ah, and that was the goal, wasn’t it: finding the Christ, being where He was.  The key to being a wise man is not diplomas, but determination; and that determination is only possible as we begin to allow God’s Spirit to reveal the wonder of the Christ, of Christmas, to us.

May you know the Christ this Christmas.  May you, like the wise men, pursue His presence at all costs.  May you resist the parking places dotting your holidays, those distractions from the depths of hell itself, and not stop until you are at the place that the King has for you.

Fight well this Christmas my friends.

To the King,

David