Jesus Loves You, James Holmes...and so do I.

I debated whether or not to post this.

For one reason, I haven’t posted in quite some time; hadn’t had much to post about.

Two: because of the raw feelings that might still be out there regarding the tragedy.

Three: I hesitate to even say or write your name, to give you “credit” for the evil that you have perpetrated.

However, after much thought and prayer, I have decided to write this post.

Believe me when I say that there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to say it.

But I believe it to be true, thus I believe it should be said:  Jesus loves you James Holmes.

Part of me feels there is no way this could be true.  Dare I say there’s a part of me that DOESN’T want it to be true.  Not for you.

But that’s the sinful, worldly nature part of me, though.

The real part of me, the follower of Jesus part of me, however, knows it is true.  Jesus does love you, and even more…he forgives you.

If there is one thing we are to know about Jesus – it is that he loves us.  All of us. Every one of us, no exceptions.

This includes you.

This is includes all of us.

It’s easy, James, for us to point our fingers at you and condemn and judge you – your “evil” is right there for all of us to see.  And by pointing out YOUR evil actions and thoughts, we then get to hide and keep our evil actions and thoughts from being discovered.

Of course, we don’t want to use the word “evil” when we speak about ourselves.  Sins, yes, issues for sure – but nothing evil.

But that would be a lie.

If our thoughts and actions were on display, such as yours were, James – we would be devastated by what we would uncover…not just about ourselves, but about those whom we know and love and deem “good” people.

And this is a big part of the problem James…because part of our evil, is that we allow other evil to exist.

You don’t just remind us of our own evil, James, you also remind us that we have failed.

Jesus calls us to love one another, as ourselves, and as he has loved us – yet it doesn’t take any special eyes to see that we fail at this miserably.  Pick up a paper, and while you might be on the cover James, our failings are evident from the first to the last page.

And instead of seeking the true solution: Love.  We seek to blame.

So in a way, James, we failed you and blame you – and are now reaping what we have sown.

This does not take away what you have done, nor relieves you of your responsibility in the actions.  But if we are to stop this sort of evil from happening again...only through admitting our failings will we discover the true problem.

The problem wasn't just that you killed 12 people...it's far deeper than that.  And maybe that's what we are afraid of...to look too deep, for we might discover our hand in the matter.

We didn't pull the trigger, you did.

But before you even set foot in the door, James, where were we to stop you.  Not just at that moment, but far before then?

Maybe we'll never know...

And since you can't take it back, and we can't stop you (from that one instance) there is something we can offer you in hopes to stop this in the future by other James Holmes'.  We can offer something to combat the evil that you were a part of: love.

Love is the true and most powerful weapon against evil.  Especially the love of Jesus.

You have been and will be called many names for the rest of your life, but I wish you to remember the most important name you have “Child of God.”

And though, for whatever reasons, you have strayed away from – as we all do from time to time – he is closer to you than perhaps he has ever been before.

Should the full realization “hit” you one day of what you have done, you will most likely find yourself in a very dark place…perhaps darker than where you are now, but do not forget.

You are loved.

Not only by your friends and family.

But by God, by Jesus.

And by me.

You are also forgiven.  You were forgiven before you even set foot in that theater.

No, James, neither you nor the rest of us can take away what you did.  But we can stop the flow of evil that came from it.

You, like the victims and their families, have tough days ahead.  But evil will not get you through them, only love.

As much love as I am able to offer you, and to all those effected by this tragedy.

It is a narrow path that Jesus calls us on – and love is narrow because it’s so broad.  We sometimes wish it were not so, but Jesus didn’t call us to be likers – but lovers.

If Jesus loves and forgives you James, then we – especially us followers of Christ – are to do no less than the same.

This is His greatness; this IS why I follow him.  It is this love.  A love that surpasses ALL understanding.  And such a tragedy as this – shows this never more clearly.

Yes, this – in a way – is easy for me to write.  I have not been directly touched by this.  However, for those who think this love, this forgiveness aren’t possible – I beg you to listen to message I link Here.

This woman HAS experience the tragedy and evil of losing a loved one through senseless violence…yet, through the love and forgiveness she found in Jesus…well, it’s best if you hear it from her.

Again, I prayed about whether or not to write this…but I believe it to be true and I hold firm to this belief and should not fear expressing it.

Is it popular?

No, but Jesus didn’t come to win a popularity contest either.  He came to save, and show us the truth and light and the way.

That way is: Love.

God Bless.

Peace and Love

Chris

To Love Like The Rain

Matthew 5:44-45

⁴⁴ But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;⁴⁵ That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

I have read over these two verses many times before, but not until today did they really stick out for me.

I was listening to Greg Boyd this morning and he came to these two verses.  Greg pointed out that our love is to be like that of the sun and the rain.

The sun and rain do not discriminate - the same rays of sun that shine on me, shine on everyone, including my enemies.


Thus is how we are to love.  Our love is to fall on everyone as the rain falls, and our love is to rise and shine on everyone as the sun does: without discrimination.


More often than not, I think of terms of "deserve."  I deserve ________, they DON'T deserve ________.  But love does not fall into such a category.  That is: no one deserves love.


God loves us out of his nature, not because we have earned it, not because we have merited it.  God's love, as revealed to us through Jesus, is freely given to all.


God is love.


And like the rain and the sun, His love is to the just and unjust.


So is our love to be.


No one "deserves" our love, because ALL deserve it.


The rain cares not who it falls on, neither should our love.


The sun cares not who it shines upon, neither should are love.


THIS type of love, freely given to all, isn't easy at first.  We may have some worldly ideas and beliefs that will desperately try to hang on...but the more we love, the more we will love.


And this love is freeing!


If we love everyone, we need not have to carry the heavy burden of hate, anger, rage, jealousy, you name it...all those negative emotions that do weigh us down.  We can chuck them aside and leave them for we now love.


How much easier is it to "carry" ONE way of being (love) than all the others?


Jesus said his yoke is light...it certainly is: Love.


However, sometimes it seems heavy, and I believe that is because we are still carrying OUR yoke, so of course ADDING to our yoke makes it that much heavier...so first we must REMOVE our yoke and then we can experience the ease and lightness that is Jesus'.


So as the rain falls, as the sun shines, let your love BE.

"Follow me." A Call to Action.

Jesus said, "Follow me."

This is a call to action.

"Follow."

To follow, we must DO...yet more often than not we DON'T.

Sure, we might think we are following Jesus, IE we GO to church, we GIVE to charities and the church we READ our Bibles. etc.

And while those are all well and good - are they really examples of FOLLOWING Jesus?

Certainly they are disciplines that we as Christian's work on...but how are they "following" Jesus.

They aren't.  And maybe that's why we like them!

Now, I'm not saying that we are AGAINST Jesus and don't want to follow him - we do!  However, the list above most times is EASIER than following Jesus.

Oh, it's not complicated, it's not a heavy burden to follow Jesus - even he promises us that - but change is hard at times and THAT'S what Jesus is calling us to do, via Following Him.

The rest of the world follows itself.

It doesn't take much study to see this.

The western world runs and works differently than the Kingdom of God.

Money is a god in the western world - as I've pointed out before, there are people who are celebrities and deemed IMPORTANT simply because they have money!  They are popular and people watch shows on them and the only reason they are known is because of their MONEY.

Is this a Kingdom philosophy?  Of course not.

God calls us to something different - "Follow ME"

Not follow your friends, family, culture, church (yes), society, the next fad, the hottest celebrity, but "ME."

This is tricky too, because it's quite abstract - exactly WHAT does it look like, feel, seem, appear, etc. to Follow Jesus?  Can any of use truly put a finger on it?  If we can, I doubt we are correct.

And Lord knows we like things CONCRETE, black and white, straight-down-the-middle, up front and clearly defined.

God doesn't always, in fact rarely, works this way - for a very good reason too: we are to TRUST Him.  Trust is easy when you know all the facts...it's quite different when you can't see two feet in front of you.

What's worse about following Jesus? Well, like many of His teachings: He gives us NO EXCEPTIONS.  No way to back out - yet we still try to figure out ways around this.

Thus, we read our Bibles MORE.

We DO more "Christian" THINGS - of which I am a culprit of doing!  Sure, we might be doing good - but WHY are we doing good?  Because Jesus called us to it or because WE chose to do it?

The problem with following Jesus is that he doesn't call us to comfort.  He IS comfort, and we will find such IN HIM - but he doesn't call us to do that.  No, he calls us to follow him into areas of our lives we'd rather not go.  He calls us to do things (or not do things) we'd rather not.

Instead, we get more pious - as if THAT will be a fine replacement for what Jesus is calling us to.

Sadly, it's not.

While it's a lot of ACTION at time - it's more or less just spinning our wheels.  Waiting to see if Jesus forgets that he asked something of us...of course that's silly.

He NEVER forgets...and that calling will haunt us until we finally do, put EVERYTHING down and follow.

Yes this means we will have to give some things up that we love.  However, this also means that we will be expected to do MORE of what we love also - which oddly, is just as "bad."  As with doing, comes responsibility and cost: time, money, etc.

But if we truly trust Jesus, as we claim to, then we must trust that Jesus is leading us to where WE should be.  By "we" I mean, individually.

For where Jesus is calling ME is not the same place to where Jesus is calling YOU - and sometimes that is hard to accept.  There are things I am called to do, that (if I am honest) I sometimes feel others should be as passionate about - however, just because I am being called to it, doesn't mean that others are being called to something else.  And because I am passionate about it, doesn't mean others have to as well.

Jesus calls us each onto our OWN path as well - and that's another reason we might not follow as often as we should: sometimes that path is lonely...often times it is...and it's supposed to be!

Those lonely times on that path are to help us get closer to Jesus, depend on Him more, so he can call us into deeper and more challenging places.

While reading the Bible, attending church, giving to the poor, even helping the poor, are great things to do - they can never, NEVER get in the way of the most important thing we are called to do:

Follow Jesus.

God Doesn't Want Your Money

New podcast (again, finally) posted.

You can check it out HERE.

Take care!

Been Too Long

It has been far too long since I have posted much of anything on here.  Hopefully that will change soon.  I have been working on a personal project as of late and haven't had much left over for here.  However, as I said, it should be changing soon.

Chris

Pardon The Mess

I will be making a few changes around here for a bit - so it might get a little funky for a bit!

Thanks.

Chris

Forgive us our sins...

The next (and I believe) toughest line in the Lord's Prayer is this:

Forgive us our sins AS we forgive those who've sin against us.

I highlighted the AS - it wasn't until recently that the "as" struck me.

Is is "as" as in is "while" or as in "like"?

The more I got to think of it - what if it's "as" as in "like?"

Then I might be praying for something I don't really want!  Because if God forgives ME as I forgive others?  I'm in trouble!  And here I am asking God to do just that.

This puts forgiving in a whole new context...

And one that more and more I am trying to forgive others as I want God to forgive ME.  Which means: absolutely and without reservation.

Am I ready for that?  Is that what I really want?

If I am to live how Jesus taught and lived, then yes.

If I want to do things my own way, then no.

Well, considering the trouble I have gotten myself into - I think I'll go with the former.

And while I don't completely like the idea that I am asking God to forgive me the same way I forgive others - I DO like the idea of forgiving others as God forgives them.

I'm not for rewriting the prayer, but one way to look at it might be: to THINK "Help me to forgive others AS YOU forgive us."