June 15 - Identify the allergy source

Scripture focus: Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They'll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they're animals. Stay clear of these people. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (The Message)

Looks are deceiving. As Jesus reminded us in his teaching in John, separated from God - we can do nothing. But wait - we were created in the image of God! It doesn't sit well with the piece of eternity that God so lovingly planted in our heart (Eccl. 3:8). We, created in his image, are born to run free, work productively, express creativity, and most of all - love large.

So when separation from God leaves us vulnerable to the ravages of sin and shame (two things that the human body absolutely is not equipped to manage), we begin acting in ways that are in direct contradiction to our true selves. In 2 Timothy, the author provides a small sampling of the symptoms associated with shame-filled living. Here's where the paradox gets really interesting.

Our bodies, minds and spirits are basically allergic to sin and shame. But when we get all turned around in our thinking - deceived and disoriented - we begin to experience sin and shame as if they are a natural part of our core identity. We begin to feel as if we are allergic to God. When we feel as if we are allergic to God, we find ourselves reacting to God like a rash - we avoid him. This separation increases our shame. Our inflamed shame increases our propensity to sin. It's a giant circle of shame - and we get nowhere on this merry-go-round of misery.

If we stubbornly resist jumping off this dead end ride, we soon discover that people begin to avoid us. Our shaming ways make us so prickly that people eventually decide they have to protect themselves from us. Isolation is both internal - resistant to receiving love, and external - our resistance teaches others that their gift of love will be rejected. Even the hardiest of souls are tempted to grow weary in loving those who continually reject their invitation to live in community.

Religion isn't a show.

It is a decision to trust God's love. May your decision to trust guide your day.

Recommended reading: Psalm 65-68

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Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community

June 14 - Clinging to the vine

Scripture focus: "I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is-when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples." John 15:5-8 (The Message)

Today's scripture focus provides us an opportunity to test our shame-o-meter. Let's consider how our shame level might influence how we experience Jesus' teaching...

High shame: Steeped in shame, the reader might choose to focus on the "deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire." He or she might listen and moan quietly, certain that Jesus is right, just as they suspected – they will never be productive, they are terminally unique and perpetually separated, isolated and alone. They assume that their sin - shameful and worse than most people's sin - stands between them and the vine. They lose hope of an intimate, organic relationship. Maybe they're tempted to go for a fast food, processed, fake relationship. So the shamed person redoubles their effort to earn their way back to the vine. Inevitably, all this striving leaves the striver sick and tired.

Low shame: Living with the belief that God's grace and protective love are intended not just for salvation, but also for transformation, the reader with a low shame level hears this teaching with joy and delight. They marvel and appreciate the intentions of Jesus – God wants to be intimately and organically connected with them! True enough, separation would render any man, woman or child unproductive and ineffective, without purpose, drifting in the waves of a chaotic life. But that's not overly concerning, it's more like a gentle warning or a clear explanation of what happens when we grow forgetful of God and his ways. Quickly Jesus tells the reader that if they're feeling separated, a solution is present. All that's needed is to make one's self at home with Jesus and his words. All of us who draw near to God can be completely confident that we can approach the throne of grace and God will listen to us – and even act on our words. Maturity isn't dependent on our performance, it's a by-product of trusting and loving God. How cool is that?

Are you sitting there thinking, yep, that's me, high shame? If so, here's what I want you to do. Tell God – I feel very shame-filled AND I am trusting you. I know my shame does not separate me from you – because nothing can separate me from your love. I'm trusting you to work with me on my shame. I don't know how that will look but I'm trusting you with the process. I believe you love me, listen to me, and act on my words. Amen. May your day be filled with the joy of the Lord!

Recommended reading: Psalm 62-64

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Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community

June 13 - Gifts with no strings

Scripture focus: John pointed him out and called, "This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word." We all live off his generous bounty, gift after gift after gift. We got the basics from Moses, and then this exuberant giving and receiving, this endless knowing and understanding- all this came through Jesus, the Messiah. No one has ever seen God, not so much as a glimpse. This one-of-a-kind God-Expression, who exists at the very heart of the Father, has made him plain as day. John 1:15-18 (The Message)

Here's another false belief that kept me up at night. I thought that God reacted to Adam and Eve's "incident" in the garden by first trying to provide us with principles to live by (the ten commandments) and when that didn't work out as he intended, he was forced to send Jesus to our rescue. I imagined how disappointed God must be with all his children, wayward creatures that we are, totally unappreciative of God's long suffering patience with us.

It never occurred to me that God isn't as freaked out by my sin and shame as I am. He's not pacing in the heavenlies wringing his hands over the mess his babies are making down on earth. In point of fact, God has always been and will forever continue to be ahead of us.
He's not reacting in frustration to our human ways but is instead offering a perpetual attitude of generosity and blessing to us – gift after gift after gift. God is exuberantly giving to us, and it is fully expected and even desired that we will exuberantly receive all that God desires to give us.

I can't imagine giving gifts to my children based on their performance or pleasing me. My husband and I give to our children because we love them; when they accept these gifts it is because they are choosing to receive our love. I suppose if we had used "things" to try to manipulate our children, maybe the giving and receiving would get complicated. Some people worry about spoiling their children with gifts. But I've observed that the only kind of gift that seems to rot on the vine of generosity is the gift given as a substitute for loving relationship. When we are in a love and trust relationship, it forms the foundation for healthy gift giving and receiving. But if we're not in loving, trusting relationship, gifts are more like bribes and payments.

God isn't trying to win our loyalty and affection, he's simply giving us his love. God's generous bounty won't be yanked away from us at the first sign of trouble, so there's no need to try to please God in order to keep the pipeline open. Our trust of God pleases him. If you're trying to earn God's pleasure, I bet you feel pretty tired. I pray that you will find a way to believe God when he tells us that the thing that pleases God is when we trust him.

Recommended reading: Psalm 59-61

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Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community

June 12 - Neighbors

Scripture focus: The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish. John 1:14 (The Message)

Why did Jesus move into the neighborhood? Was it a good time to buy property? Early in my introduction to Jesus, people told me he came to earth to save me from my sins. My child's mind heard this, "You are so bad, God had to send his son to live on planet earth to protect the world from you." This teaching was also paired with the song, "Jesus loves me this I know for the bible tells me so, little ones to him belong, they are weak but he is strong." So I figured I was bad and weak. I imagined that God had to fling Jesus from heaven against his will. Who would willingly leave heaven, especially if the purpose of the visit is to deal with all the bad people who are too weak to help themselves?

I lived with this God-is-reluctant-but-able-to-save you philosophy for many years. I tried to make it easier for Jesus to live in my neighborhood by being a good girl. On those days when I couldn't quite carry out my best intentions, I learned some coping strategies – blaming, defending, manipulating, and self-deceiving. I even learned how to starve myself so that I could be needless and wantless – totally self-sufficient.

All these efforts to hide my weakness in a vain attempt to make life more bearable for a reluctant traveling God left me exhausted and disingenuous. So it came as quite a shock and a great relief to hear that I had ascribed wrong motives to Jesus' transfer from heaven to earth.

Jesus, who lives in complete harmony with God, came to earth and moved into the neighborhood to protect, not to spy or judge or condemn or punish. He moved into the neighborhood because he loved us and his father, not because we were a pain in his holy neck. God didn't send Jesus to earth to handle the sin problem – because sin can't be managed. He sent him in flesh and blood form to demonstrate his love for us.

God desires to protect us. Generous inside and out, true from start to finish, God's desire to renovate and restore is an act of protective love not a shame-driven desire to whip his children into shape. Jesus moves into the neighborhood because we delight him, not in response to disappointment with our human foibles and limitations.

What would life be like in each of our neighborhoods if we held tightly to the belief and firm conviction that God desires to protect us from the dangers that our vulnerabilities to sin and shame expose us to on a daily basis?

Recommended reading: Psalm 56-58

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Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community

June 11 - Protection

Scripture focus: God said, "What have you done! The voice of your brother's blood is calling to me from the ground. From now on you'll get nothing but curses from this ground; you'll be driven from this ground that has opened its arms to receive the blood of your murdered brother. You'll farm this ground, but it will no longer give you its best. You'll be a homeless wanderer on Earth." Cain said to God, "My punishment is too much. I can't take it! You've thrown me off the land and I can never again face you. I'm a homeless wanderer on Earth and whoever finds me will kill me." God told him, "No. Anyone who kills Cain will pay for it seven times over." God put a mark on Cain to protect him so that no one who met him would kill him. Cain left the presence of God and lived in No-Man's-Land, east of Eden. Genesis 4:10-26 (The Message)

Cain distrusts God, disses God and ultimately betrays both God and his brother.
What is God's response? He protects Cain.

God's in the business of protecting his children. You're not excluded from his good intentions.

What difference would it make if we woke up every morning, completely trusting God with ourselves?

Recommended reading: Psalm 53-55

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Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community

June 10 - Death by shame

Scripture focus: Cain had words with his brother. They were out in the field; Cain came at Abel his brother and killed him. God said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "How should I know? Am I his babysitter?" Genesis 6-9 (The Message)

We have a grave responsibility and an awesome opportunity.

Future generations can benefit from our lessons learned.

Adam and Eve sinned, which inflamed shame, and then they hid. God had to give them consequences for their actions when they refused to accept responsibility. Consequences are one of God's primary ways of getting us to pay attention to our sin.

It would have been really neat if Adam and Eve could have taught Cain and Abel that sin can't be managed but it can be disclosed.

Cain could have disclosed his lack of trust in God and himself, "God, I'm feeling pretty insecure, wondering if you love me, wondering if I'm even worth loving." This kind of honest disclosure actually reduces the compulsion to sin. Cain didn't disclose. He distrusted God's love. Maybe he doubted his own ability to be "good enough" for God. And Cain was right to wonder. We can never be good enough. But God isn't trying to get us to a state of "good enough" – he gives us the gift of true, God-created identity and asks us to embrace it – a far better state than "good enough."

To be continued....

Recommended reading: Psalm 50-52

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Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community

June 9 - Cain's shame

Scripture focus: Cain lost his temper and went into a sulk. God spoke to Cain: "Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? If you do well, won't you be accepted? And if you don't do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it's out to get you, you've got to master it." Genesis 4:5(b) – 7 (The Message)

How do we master sin? We don't – but God can. Cain demonstrated one of the primary signs of a shamed person. He lost his temper. Oddly enough, shame doesn't teach us to cower and apologize incessantly for our shameful ways.

In its convoluted, crafty style, shame convinces us of our need to attack and defend. This allows shame to stay in command and renders us incapable of giving and receiving love. Other emotions and behaviors often attached to a shame attack include:

• A compulsion to blame.
  
• A commitment to attacking with anger.
  
• A pervasive sense of fear and unease.
  
• A lack of self-awareness.
  
• A propensity to live unconsciously, completely unaware of how others perceive us.
  
• An intentional attempt to hide from others.
  

Cain lost his temper and Abel lost his life. Shame messes not only with us, but the lives of those that love us too. In fact, Frank Pittman says in Private Lives, that "Any effort to disorient your partner is a power play that will eventually hurt the relationship. People who are lied to become dependent, anxious, delicate, and over-reactive...."

When we allow shame to determine our steps, we will deliberately deceive and disorient those that love us. So maybe denial has his ugly fingers wrapped around your neck, choking the life out of you. Perhaps you don't know why we'd spend all this time talking about shame. If so, I wonder if you would consider studying the life of those who are close to you. Do they seem dependent, anxious, delicate and over-reactive? If so, could you be a contributing factor?

Recommended reading: Psalm 47-49

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Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community