Can Geoff Posegate Just Stop Talking?!?

Last week I chided the 700 Club's Pat Robertson for thinking out loud too much and making insensitive and unChristian remarks. God has a good memory and a good sense of humor. God has caught my attention with an admonishment to take care of the log in my own eye before I start making judgments about the speck in another's eye. I think I wrote about this subject years ago in this blog, but now it's time for me to deal with it.

People frequently steal a glance at their watches when I start talking. It's too obvious for me to ignore. This happens with all kinds of people in all kinds of social settings. This fraction-of-a-second act includes friends, acquaintances, colleagues, church folks, and family members. I can try to spin this any way I want to, but I have to face the truth. By previous experience people know that if my mouth opens they may be in for a long haul.

Some of this may be an occupational hazard. Like all church pastors I largely make my living verbally. Let's be honest, pastoral colleagues; for all our altruistic motives, we're all in love with the sound of our own voice to some degree. Someone once said that preachers are people who take thirty minutes to say something that could be said in five.

Beyond this, though, I'm concerned that I cave-in too easily to the cultural mantra of "it's all about me!" The more I'm talking the more the focus is on me and not on another human being. The more I'm telling stories and making pronouncements, the less I'm asking questions through which I could learn about other people and the world around me. The more I'm flapping my gums the less I'm listening. Some followers of Jesus practice an economy of words as a spiritual discipline. This means saying only what needs to be said and otherwise listening, inquiring, and engaging the world which is our mission field. Reportedly, St. Frances of Assisi once said something like, "Preach Jesus. If necessary, use words."

And here I am, having written more than I need to. I need to do better. We live in an information age, but most people are bombarded with information with limited listening and caring attached. From the perspective of people who are all-in for Jesus, we can't be leading people in new life with Jesus that way.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river. I'll keep my mouth shut this time.

Can Pat Robertson Just Stop Talking?

So, Pat Robertson, of the apparently still functioning 700 Club on television allegedly hinted that God's justice would be served if quarterback Peyton Manning's injury was aggravated again once he begins playing for his new NFL team, the Denver Bronco's. Apparently, like many of us who are Tim Tebow fans, Pat feels Tim was dealt an unfair blow by being replaced as starting quarterback by Manning, formerly of the Indianapolis Colts. I'm not any happier than Mr. Robertson, (though I secretly hoped Tim would end up with my favorite team - the Kansas City Chiefs!), Pat isn't helping the cause of leading people in new life with Jesus, the very cause for which Pat claims to stand.

People who have yet to encounter Jesus will be quick to point out Pat's lack of being congruent. (They will call it "hypocrisy.") Representing Jesus, Mr. Robertson claims to stand for all that Jesus is. This includes radical, forgiving, life-transforming love. This includes esteeming others as better than ourselves. This includes unwillingness to judge, lest we open ourselves to judgement. This includes a just and righteous God, but a God who has chosen to become one of us and die for us, rather than dismissing us. I've heard Pat Robertson speak. He can be passionate and focused on God as known in and through Jesus of Nazareth. However, Pat does not offer congruence with all that when he directly or indirectly to wish harm on someone because a follower of Jesus (Tim Tebow) might not have been treated fairly.

Nor am I offering congruence if I come down hard on Pat. Grace and forgiveness are grace and forgiveness, without selectivity. I have to acknowledge and repent of my own lack of offering congruence between what I profess and how I actually live. And that's the point for all who claim Jesus. An unreached world needs our proclamation to match our actions and our day to day living. Faith in Jesus is more caught than taught. It is more impact by how we live than what we say. And it matters. If Matthew 28:19 really is the marching order of the Body of Christ, being congruent is crucial.

Ironically, as least until now and at least as far as I can tell, Tim Tebow is the one who has done his best to push past the hype, the ridicule, being dismissed and everything else in his world to genuinely and humbly yield to Jesus.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Overwhelmed!

Gas prices are inching toward $3.70 a gallon in our area, and we've on the low end nation-wide! People are choosing between food and gas. And that's just one factor overwhelming many people. The high cost of medical care...rampant bullying in many schools...endless bills and shrinking incomes...family difficulties...relationship pain and break-ups...and on, and on, and on.

Has life ever been overwhelming to you? Is it now? Here are some resources that might help:

• GOD'S OWN SELF: "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." (Psalm 34:18 - New International Version of the Bible.) This is true for you.
• SHATTERED DREAMS by Larry Crabb. Helping us to see that sometimes being overwhelmed, painful as it is, shows us more clearly the One on whom we were designed to depend.
• THE SHACK by William P. Young. A novel about a man who loses a child suddenly and violently, and who encounters God in the midst of being overwhelmed by grief.
• STREAMS IN THE DESERT by L.B. Cowman. A daily devotional guide specifically for those who are overwhelmed and discouraged.
• THE JOURNEY OF DESIRE by John Eldredge. Beyond all that overwhelms us, helping us to realize that for which our hearts and passions really desire.

For those in our area, our church is exploring how to live faithfully and well in the midst of being overwhelmed. We're doing this through our Wednesday worship service in our Chapel at 6 p.m. each week between now and Easter. We'd love to have you join us, as we let God navigate us through overwhelming times.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

A Lesson from a Ridiculous Fencing Class

A Jesus-following leader named Paul used the image of a 1st century Roman soldier to describe how a follower of Jesus should be prepared for spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare is about dealing with attacks that come not from human efforts, but from the enemy of God. In the Bible used by Jesus-followers, in a section known as the letter to the Ephesians, Paul identifies several elements of "the full armor of God," using the language of a soldier's garb of that time...things such as the helmet, the breastplate, the shield, etc. (Ephesians 6:10-18) Virtually all of the items are for the purpose of defense or protection. The one exception is the sword, identified as the Spirit of God via God's Word and prayer. (verses 17 & 18)

Most every week I spend time with a group of Jesus-following men who gather to pray together, to dig into the Word together, to encourage each other, to address the primary mission of making disciples for Jesus, and to stand with each other in spiritual warfare. A couple of those men wisely noted that most Christians spend a lot of time on the defensive side of spiritual warfare. We just hunker down and hope to avoid damage and to protect each other. They note that, with the sword being part of that armament, we're expected to be on the attack, joining with Jesus in the battle for the human heart! So we've been examining what that would look like in our context.

In college my wife (girlfriend, then) and I took a class in fencing. It was more entertaining than formidable, but I did learn a couple of things about swordplay. First, to be on the attack, mistakes are necessary. In swordplay, the vast majority of your swings, thrusts, strikes, etc. will fail. You'll miss, they'll be blocked, ducked, parried, whatever. Yet you keep doing it for the one movement that will hit and score. Sometimes Christians are so afraid of failing, so afraid of risking, and so afraid of image, that we try one thing to further the Kingdom in some way, and, if it fails, we quit. Nothing is a failure if we learn from it. And we're not going to learn unless we're willing to fail. The second follows on this: don't quit. In fencing, you have to thrust and strike, over and over. If you just defend, you score no points, and the match is lost. Too often we let ourselves get discouraged and give up on that to which we were called. The greatest testimonies in scripture and life are of those who moved resolutely forward when all the evidence pointed to failure, when no encouragement was forthcoming, when derision was all around. In my experience, for Jesus-followers to move from being nominal to being impacting, and for churches to move for inward maintenance to outward growth in leading people in new life with Jesus, is not about flashy technique, charismatic leadership alone, or even about the illusive "momentum." Ninety percent of it is dogged persistence in that which pleases the heart of God and that which draws people to God.

Those are my initial thoughts on the "sword" in the "full armor of God." Your thoughts? I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Why I Am What I Am; Why I Do What I Do

People follow Jesus for a variety of reasons: to get to heaven, to feel love, to have purpose, to please others, to fight for God's Kingdom, to get blessed, to succeed, to feel like they're "right" and a host of other reasons. Some are good reasons, and some are not. Last Monday I was gifted with of a reminder of the "why" for me. One day each month I take a "day apart" just to go to a local retreat center and spend time alone with God. At noon on those days a treat myself to lunch at a favorite restaurant in a nearby town that overlooks the Mississippi River. It's there that I had the reminder.

For the last several years in my own prayer life I've been captured by the concept of "praise."
As indicated in the Bible, praise is due to God not because of what God has done, is doing, or will do for us. (That's actually called "thanksgiving.") We praise God because of God, not because of us. The biblical witness indicates that the nature of God evokes praise, regardless of how we benefit or fail to benefit from that. That's probably a pretty foreign concept for many people.

My chosen prayer verse from the Bible is Psalm 46:10 - "Be still and know that I am God." (My friends at the Disciples of Christ Church in our town once had this message on their street sign: "There are two things you need to know - 1) There is a God, 2) You're not Him!") Identity, purpose, hope, and joy are not a function of us. They come from losing ourselves in the One who is our origin and our destiny. We are created for relationship with the Creator, and nothing this life gives us, great blessings though we may receive, will fill what intimacy with God will fulfill. As creatures we have this unavoidable tendency to try to replace God with a thousand different things. We are the architects of our own distance from God. God won't settle for it, though. Jesus is proof of that. His life, his death, his rising, and his promised return are God saying, "This is how much I love you. This is how resolutely and passionately I am reaching for you. You and I together; that is what you were designed for and designed for. Everything else will ultimately fall short. I will not."

In the last several years I have known both glorious circumstances and challenging circumstances in my life, my health, my family, my church, my vocation, and every aspect of my life. Overall, externally, I am blessed more than I could imagine or deserve. Regardless of all that is visible and measurable, though, I know a deep relationship with a God who is real, personal, powerful, and persistent. Like an underground stream gushing up an Ozark spring, God is consistent and vibrant no matter what is happening on the surface. By centering on this God above all, I best love those whom I love most in this life, and I best serve those I am called to serve. I did not have to work for this, earn it, or deserve this relationship. It is a gift, always ready to be given.

Without planning, the morning of my day apart last Monday just kind of gave way to being lost in praise. I'm a relatively shy, retiring, analytical person, not given to bouts of emotion. Yet I just got lost in love for God. So I went to lunch overlooking the Mississippi in this kind of spirit. I was the first one of the lunchtime crowd. A very congenial waiter took my order, then left me alone on the second floor, CNN on the television screen near me, ESPN on the screen above the one or two patrons at the bar below, and blues music in the background. Out of nowhere a question rambled across my mind. "What if this was it, Geoff? What if it ended for you right here; you're number is up and yours days are done? No one knows you here. You're basically alone. They'd have to check your wallet once you keeled over. What if this was it? Would you be okay?" I thought about that. I have a beautiful wife and family who have been the epitome of God's grace for me. Sure I'd like more time with them, but if this is it, I cannot begin to say how much I've been blessed by them. I serve a fantastic, vibrant church. I'd love to serve it for years to come, but, if this is it, I'm so grateful for what I had in every place I served. I have friends who mean the world to me. I'd miss them. But I have God, who I know personally in Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And with all the things done, and the many things undone, that which is resolved, and that which is not, with the pains that are healed, and the pains that continue, I would be more than okay. If that had been my moment, glory to God. I'd exit rejoicing. (The waiter probably wondered why his customer was smiling but a little weepy over a southwest salad!)

That is what I long for every human being to feel and know. That's why I am what I am, and that's why I do what I do. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.