Switchboard Missions: Let Me Be

Switchboard Missions: Let Me Be:               While I have known about Switchboard almost since day one, it has only been in the last few weeks I have joined the Switc...

Make me new...

Lord, on the outside I may appear righteous,
but that is only because people can neither see my heart 
or know my thoughts.

Make me new, make my heart new.

I say what people want to hear, because it's easy.
But without a foundation of truth there will be no trust.
If I cannot trust, I will struggle to love.

Make me new, make my words true.

How often I forget of your faithful provision,
how easy is it to forget of your unfailing love.

Make me new, restore to me steadfast love and faithfulness.

I say in words, "I forgive you."
But my heart is a fortress of bitter resentment
leaving no room for your radical grace.

Make me new, restore to me your likeness that I may forgive
and respond in love.

Too often I know what is best for me, as well as for others,
yet my knowledge keeps me from giving life-breathing encouragement
and keeps my ears from listening to life-saving perspective.

Make me new, break down my stubborn pride.

You have created me in your image to reflect your likeness.
Yet too often I bear the image of another,
and resemble the likeness of hatred, pride, and a self-centered, conditional love 
of a finite human trying to be God.

Make me new, Lord, created in your perfect image and likeness to do good works
and to reflect your love, joy, peace, and justice among the nations.

Lord, you make all things new.

Make me new, again.


And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new."  
Revelation 21:5 ESV 

Your grace consumes me....

Who am I, Lord,
so imperfectly human yet created
in your perfect image and likeness?

Who am I, Father,
so impatient for your promises
and still your faithfulness remains eternal?

Abba, who am I
that you would love me with an everlasting love,
building me up time and time again?

Oh Lord, how great is your love for me,
how faithful are you to the unfaithful, 
how just are you to the unjust.  
You, Father, are gracious beyond comprehension,
and thus it is your grace that consumes me.

Messengers of your love...

What an honor it is, O God, to be your vessels of peace,
that you have granted us wisdom to overcome conflict.

What privileged do we have, to be your hands and feet of compassion,
that you have created us in your image that we may be sensitive to
the needs of those around us.

Lord I stand humbled, that you have created us for good works,
that we have been granted your courage to be a voice of justice to
the oppressed and the needy.

Your grace and your love are for all ages and have been extended to all people.
What an honor it is to be messengers of this great and amazing truth. 

Everlasting Love

What love is this, that in my imperfections I am not only desired, but pursued in order that I may be restored and made perfect?  What charge does this leave me?  What more could I want than to share what God has made known to me? 

It is funny how perspective may change daily, or ten times in a minute.  But my God has always been, and will forever remain constant... forever building me up, with his faithful and everlasting love for me.

"I have loved you with an everlasting love; 

therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
Again I will build you, and you shall be built."

Jeremiah 31:3b-4a

Wholly Jesus

Recently the book, Wholly Jesus, by Mark Foreman has found its way into my possession here in South America.  I'm amazed at the books that have been given me in the last two months.  Before, finding a book written in English that offered encouraging insight to my faith seemed like it would take a miracle.  Good thing my God is big, and I believe in miracles.  

I always wonder about how well Christian culture is presenting Jesus to those outside the church, and all to often I feel like they represent the story you will find below of Christy, which Mark shared in his book. 

The underlying argument is that the church was not intended to be separate from culture, and if we continue to pursue church in this manner "we risk losing an entire generation", using Mark's own words.  

Christy grew up in a global, pluralistic, holistic, ecological society for which she was told, “Jesus didn’t care.”  Her youth pastor told her that Jesus didn’t care about world peace, only the apocalypse.  He didn’t care about the wellness of the body, only the soul.  He didn’t care about the people of other faiths, only Christians.  He didn’t care about art and culture.  He didn’t care about ecology; the planet was going to burn anyway.  And he didn’t care about the integration of science and her faith.  And the reason she could be sure Jesus didn’t care about these things is because none of these things were mentioned in the Bible.  Jesus just wanted her to pray, read her Bible and tell others about him.  But eventually the tension between the real world and this fabricated you-pastor’s world snapped.  In order to be true to herself and her passion about these issues, she had to abandon the other-worldly Jesus she’d known.  Christy is an example of tens of thousands of Christians who have learned to disassociate a thin Jesus from their own wellbeing, along with the wellbeing of society and the planet.

I share this because I feel it is relevant.  I don't believe it to represent all churches, maybe there is only one or two things from this story that you recognize in your own life.  Still, these issues are everywhere in the global Christian community and I beg that all in Christian culture to revisit that which we believe to be the love of Christ.  More and more I learn that people respond to love, many people want to believe in the love that Jesus preached about and demonstrated, but the fact is they fail to find it in human relationship.  It is the purpose of the Church to present nothing other than Jesus.  If we wish to glorify God, with one voice, as is the purpose of the church we must be consistent with what Jesus said and did.  Unfortunately, I feel there are far to many people out there who share Christy's story...

Dear friends...  may we let God's love transform us so that we might see where we are lacking in our representation of God in culture, in church, and in the world.  

I hope Paul's words to the Romans challenge you just as much as they have challenged me:

"Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?  It is God who justifies.  Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus the one who died--more than that, who was raise--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us."
Romans 8:33-34

Amazing Grace

So I tried to find the version of this video without subtitles on youtube, turns out there has to be at least a million videos titled "Amazing Grace".  Either way, it is a great way to get you thinking about grace, or amazing grace.  Enjoy.

Love and Grace to you,

Cyrus