Author: Kevin Sherman

Have you ever secretly wished for a power outage that would last for days, maybe even weeks? I have. I know what you’re probably thinking, “Kevin, have you lost your mind? Don’t you remember the last major power outage we had in September of 2008 when Hurricane Ike came through and knocked our electricity out for 6 days? Yes, I do. In fact, some folks were without power for weeks. Was it an inconvenience? Yes. Were there benefits? Yes, from my perspective.

One of the benefits that stood out to me the most was the sense of community that came to the forefront. I met neighbors that I had not known up to that point. Family members came together and we actually conversed with one another instead of getting lost in our computers and cell phones.

Why does it seem like we can only have true community when our modern conveniences are temporarily shut down?

Webster’s Dictionary defines community as a group of people with a common characteristic or interest. We are all part of some community in one form or another. However, I want us to think about the root word of community: commune. No, I’m not talking about the noun form, which is a group of people living together and sharing possessions and responsibilities. I’m talking about the verb: to communicate with someone or something in a very personal or spiritual way.

Ah, but never fear, we have Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram now, don’t we? I love social media. It’s a great tool for communicating thoughts and ideas, not to mention those cute pictures of puppies, kittens, and grandchildren of course! We can learn a lot about each other from social media, but how can I really know the real you? It can only come from time spent together. In person. I write a weekly blog and publish it on Facebook. I share bits and pieces of my life and some of my beliefs, but there are some things about me you’ll never know unless you spend actual time with me, and vice versa. It’s easy to sit behind a computer or cell phone and go on a rant about politics or the guy who cut me off on the freeway.

There’s something about being able to look you in the eye, to hear voice inflection, to see body language. We can’t get that through any other means than personal time together.

Time together. That’s what I love the most about holidays (and eating good food!). It’s the time spent around the table eating, laughing, sharing stories, sharing ourselves.

I can’t imagine what it is like to be without family to spend holidays with. We have what I call “the open family concept” in the Sherman household. More holidays than not, we have had guests in our home who were not blood relatives or in-laws, but if you eat at my table you’re considered family. I feel pretty good about that. I believe that’s the heart of our Father God.

 

“God sets the solitary in families…” (Psalm 68:6)

 

Becky and I have jokingly talked about putting a basket by the front door at our next family gathering. Upon entering the house, everybody would put their cell phones in it, to be left there until time to leave (except for taking pictures of course, which we will then immediately post to social media, lol!) We might actually set that basket out this time.

I’m going to make a challenge: Put a basket by the door. I you can’t do that, at least try to put your phone down long enough to have an actual conversation. Who knows? You might actually get to know somebody.

 

Let us commune.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Kevin

 

It’s Tuesday November 8^th, 2016. Election night in America. By the time you read this blog, it will be Thursday and we will have elected a new president and other leaders in our government. Watching the election returns on TV, I’ve found myself far less anxious this time than in past elections. That sounds strange, given that this has been the wildest, most bizarre and divisive election I can remember. There were past presidential elections where I was so angry at the results that I wanted to throw objects at the television set after I had called half the population of my country ignorant idiots for not voting the way I did. After all, it would be the end of the world as we know it because my guy wasn’t elected.

The purpose of this blog piece is not to minimize the importance of this election. Were it not important, I wouldn’t have bothered to vote.

However, I have come to understand that there is Someone who transcends all kings and rulers and He has a kingdom that supersedes all earthly governments. I have seen social media posts during this election cycle by some of my fellow followers of Christ that made me wonder if they understand who our King is. Statements like “If Hillary gets elected, it’s all over! She’s going to destroy this country!” “God is going to remove His hand from this nation if we don’t elect the right person!”

If anything changes after this election, I hope it’s this – That we, the people of God would stop looking to politicians to be agents of change and realize that WE are the change.

 

What if we are the awakening we’ve been waiting for?

What if revival’s laid at our front door?

(From the song “Carrier” by Nathan Isaacs)

 

The prophet Isaiah foretold of the coming Messiah with these words:

 

Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this.

(Isaiah 9:7)

 

I am under a government that was not elected by men, but appointed by Almighty God. That government was embodied in Jesus Christ and through His death and resurrection it is now embodied in us, the Body of Christ. How many presidents, governors, mayors, senators, etc. must fail before we realize that the only government that carries any weight in heaven is His government? That government legislates through us.

When this election is over and we have a new president, whether it’s your guy or gal, or my guy, Jesus will still be king. The sun will come up the next day and His mercies will still be new, just like they are every morning. God will still be in charge of His universe and nobody will have replaced Him!

 

One more thing. Can we learn how to love one another? After all, Jesus did say this –

 

“By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you are Republicans have love for one another.”

 

That’s what His government looks like.

 

Love,

 

Kevin

When does a life begin? This question has been debated over and over for decades by religious leaders, media pundits, and politicians. For we who consider ourselves pro-life, the obvious answer to that question has been at conception.

I would like to suggest that even that answer comes up short.

Before you or I were conceived in our mother’s womb when the sperm met the egg, we were conceived in the Father’s heart. Before we existed in this world, we existed in His world – heaven.

Mankind was not simply an afterthought in God’s mind after He created the heavens and the earth.

 

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you;

Before you were born I sanctified you;

I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

(Jeremiah 1:5)

 

Stop and think about that for a moment (or a lifetime!). Before we were the tiniest of cells, He already knew us.

Life is sacred. It should come as no surprise that the issue of abortion has come up so little in this presidential election. I guess that shouldn’t shock us considering this culture of ours where death seems to be celebrated, especially in arts and entertainment. And I am not one who believes legislation will cure this culture of death.

Not only is life in the womb sacred, but all human life is sacred, in and out of the womb. It hurts my heart to hear of an unborn child being ripped apart in the womb. My heart should be equally hurt when innocent children are ripped apart in the bombing of a village in the Middle East. When I see every human being as someone created in the image of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, my whole perspective on death changes. Perhaps that is why the bible calls death an enemy.

The very breath God breathed into the nostrils of Adam is still given to us today, and if that is so, then what a joy it is to breathe it back to Him. God literally taught us how to breathe (Gen.2:7) by sharing His breath with us. Wow!

 

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”

(Psalm 150:6)

 

The word “breath” here (neshamah) is the same word used in Gen. 2:7 when God breathed into the man’s nostrils the breath of life. He desires nothing less than our every breath. It originated in Him, I give it back to Him. When I meditate on this truth, it causes my thinking to shift to eternity. When I say eternity, I’m not talking about going to heaven someday. Heaven is a present reality because the One who fills heaven lives in me and I in Him. In fact, I’ve always been in Him, because I was in His mind before creation. Is your head spinning yet? Mine is and has been ever since I came upon this truth! I’ve always been in Christ, but didn’t realize it until His spirit came alive in me and I was born again.

May you never wonder again if He cares about you or if you even matter.

Before you were physical matter, you mattered to Him.

 

You still do.

 

We still do.

 

Just breathe.

 

Kevin

 

It was a typically cool, comfortable Fall Friday evening in East Texas. My son Brian and I threw our overnight bags and bedding into the jeep and took off to meet a friend (about Brian’s age) who was catching a ride with us to a church men’s retreat. It was to be the first one our church had done in quite a few years. I was looking forward to getting away for a couple of days with some other men and do manly things like sitting around a fire telling stories and fishing.

We picked up our buddy and headed east to the camp which was about an hour and a half away. We began to talk about what anticipated the weekend being like, which was of course fishing, sitting around the fire, or just relaxing and doing whatever the heck we wanted to do. We wanted very little structure and no “agenda.” Having been to quite a few of these type events in my life, I knew better than to expect that.

We had whipped ourselves into a frenzy of excitement with visions in our minds of driving into the camp to find a fire already going and join right in. We were running late due to waiting on our friend who had just gotten off work. I decided to give my friend John a call. John was the one in charge of the retreat and he and most of the guys were already there. As soon as he answered, I asked, “There IS going to be a fire, right?” “Uh, no, we hadn’t really planned on it,” he said. “What? No fire? You can’t have a men’s retreat without a fire!” I could tell he was taken back by my response. Then he proceeded to tell me that they were going to have a session of praise and worship and then a little teaching.  I’m usually content to join right in and go with the flow, and some of the most powerful and deep workings of the Holy Spirit had happened to me at men’s gatherings, but this night I had succumbed to murmuring and complaining. What was worse, these two young men who looked to me as an example were brought into it with me. The remainder of the trip was nothing but a big gripe session.

We finally arrived at the camp, parked, and walked inside the room where the meeting had already begun. There were some guys with guitars and some percussion leading worship. And there we stood in the back with our hands in our pockets. This wasn’t the kind of retreat I had in mind and I wasn’t going to enter in. Or was I?

After standing there a couple of minutes, I felt the urge to go lay down on the floor behind some chairs. This is not anything out of the ordinary for me, but this time was different. This time I didn’t really want to, but seemed to be compelled by a force greater than me or my rotten attitude.

I walked over to the back of the room and laid face down on the floor. I felt nothing, but somehow knew that was where I needed to be. After a few minutes, I felt as if I was the only one in the room. Then suddenly I felt what seemed like an electrical current go through me in wave after wave. My entire body was shaking. I don’t know if anyone else saw me, and didn’t really care. It felt like warm liquid waves of love going through me. This went on for at least half an hour.

God spoke some things to me that night, but I won’t share them right now.

What I learned more than anything that night was this – Jesus wants an encounter with me more than I ever could.

That night made no sense to me at all. How could someone who had spent the entire trip to the camp complaining, whining, and acting like anything but a man of God, walk in with a scowl on his face and then have such a powerful encounter with the love of God?

 

I don’t know.

 

But I do know this – He loves me because He is Love. He wants me more than I could ever want Him.

 

He wants you.

He doesn’t love you because of anything other than He loves you because He loves you because He loves you because He loves you!

 

This kind of love is beyond my understanding.

 

Oh, by the way, we built a fire later that night and went fishing the next day.

 

Letting Him love me,

 

Kevin

One of the things I love about writing this blog is the ability to pick you up, so to speak, and take you for a little ride on this journey I’m on of changing the way I think. Hopefully, as you come along with me, you’ll choose to venture out into this new territory and recognize areas of your own thinking that must change.

God has a variety of means He uses to speak to people. With me, I see pictures and images most of the time. Sometimes it’s like a video playing in my mind. These seem unusual to me when I consider the fact that I love being a wordsmith. Nevertheless, this is the way it happens with me most of the time.

This past Sunday morning was no exception for me as we were engaged in an intimate time of worship. As I stood there I saw a movie playing in my mind of an atomic bomb exploding over a city, obliterating everything and everybody for miles. Mothers, fathers, children of all ages, people going about their day, gone in an instant and yet others dying a slow, agonizing death. Then I saw the name “Hiroshima” written across the top of the picture. I saw another movie again of an atomic bomb exploding over a city, this time the name “Nagasaki” was written across the top. Over 220,000 died in those two cities. It moved me to tears. As the tears flowed, I heard Jesus say “That’s how I feel about it.” Then it occurred to me that I had never really considered how Jesus might have felt or thought about those horrible events. I know how I felt about it most of my life. Thoughts like this:

 

Those Japs deserved it.

 

They started the war, we needed to finish it.

 

Sometimes innocent people die. That’s just the way it is.

 

Ask any Christian you meet and he or she can recite The Lord’s Prayer or at least most of it. It is one of the most quoted and recited passages in the entire bible. I’ve known it for most of my life, yet until recent years, I had never looked intently into what is being said. Especially those words, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  

At this point, you’re probably asking, “What do atomic bombs have to do with The Lord’s Prayer?” Nothing. Absolutely nothing. That is my point. In heaven there are no atomic bombs. In fact, there are no weapons at all. Only love. Only peace. Only Jesus and His ways. When we say those words, “on earth as it is in heaven,” we are saying this: The way it is in heaven should be the way it is on earth. We Christians can be very good at compartmentalizing our theology. For example, if you asked any Christian if God condones the killing of innocent people, the answer would be “no, of course not”, and yet violence seems to be our default response to violence most of the time.

What if our default response would instead be to ask, “Father, how is heaven responding to this attack?” Or is it easier to just resort to violence? The “what if” questions always come when advocating for non-violent response, like “What if someone attacked you or your family?”, or “How else were we to end that war?” I wonder if Jesus thought about that before He said all that “love your enemies” and “turn the other cheek” stuff?

I’m pretty sure He did. He is God, you know.

What if there was a government that operated from a heavenly perspective and when faced with a violent attack, instead of responding violently, asked for God’s intervention in the matter? There is one. It’s called the kingdom of God. Her King is the Prince of Peace. I wonder how He got that name?

 

How different would our world look if we who believe in the Prince of Peace also believed that He is the better way?

 

Peace,

 

Kevin

 

 

Recently, I made a decision to turn off the talking heads. No, I’m not talking about the popular rock group of the 80’s. I’m talking about the ones you can find on popular TV news networks and all over the AM radio dial. I used to be addicted to these talking heads. I had my favorite TV news network that most closely represented my political views and they were always right. I also had my favorite radio talk shows. Just to be clear, I still tune in every now and then, but they don’t have the same influence on me that they once had.

I came to the realization about a year and a half ago that allowing these voices to shape my thinking had caused me to become cynical. A cynical person is deeply distrustful of others and usually pessimistic. There is a conspiracy behind everything and nobody is to be fully trusted.

A wonderful truth was uncovered in my mind. God created me with the marvelous ability to think for myself, to come to my own conclusions. I started to see with new vision what it means to live and think from a renewed mind. That is why I named my blog site “As You Think.” Its purpose is to make you think.

It is very amusing to watch the news networks after a presidential debate. They will tell you what you’re supposed to think about the debate you just watched. If you’ve learned to think for yourself, you won’t need them to tell you. More importantly, if our mind is being renewed by the Word of God, we’ll know how to form our thoughts based on that. Here is a good rule to use:

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious – the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. (Philippians 4:8-9 MSG)

One of the typical responses you’ll hear to this is “you’re being very naïve.” No, we’re being naïve when we allow our thinking to be influenced by voices that don’t pass the Phil. 4:8 test. We can’t simply compartmentalize this truth and somehow separate it from our political opinions. I have a hunch that if we could have a face-to-face talk with Jesus himself, we might be surprised at some of his political views.

I have narrowed down my spiritual quest to this one sentence – I am simply after His heart. I’m steadily losing interest in anybody’s opinion but His. If yours’ is in line with His, then that’s just icing on the cake. It’s good to be informed by paying attention to current events in the news, but always filter it through the Good News. If you’ve found yourself becoming cynical like I was, here’s some advice: Turn off the talking heads of cynicism and when you get up in the morning begin your day by thanking God for something good, and then remind yourself of it throughout the day.

 

Cynical no more,

 

Kevin.

 

When I arrived home from work a few days ago, my wife was watching a movie. Nothing unusual about that. This is normal for her when she’s in chill-out mode and it’s usually a Hallmark flick. However, this time she was watching “The Help.” For those who have never seen this movie, it is based in 1963 Jackson, Mississippi. Southern society girl “Skeeter” (played by Emma Stone) returns from college with drams of being a writer. She stirs up a hornets’ nest by interviewing the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent white families. Only Aibileen (Viola Davis), the housekeeper of Skeeter’s best friend, will talk at first. But as the pair continue the collaboration, more women decide to come forward, and as it turns out, they have quite a bit to say.

I grew up in the South. Southeast Texas, to be more precise. Racism was extremely prevalent in our community and in our family. I was probably 9 or 10 years old before I ever heard a black person referred to as anything other than a “nigger.”

The first time I watched The Help a few years ago, I had tears running down my face a couple of times. That is nothing out of the ordinary for me, as I’ve been known to shed a tear or two at certain movies that tug on my heart strings. This one was different. There was pain in those tears. I had experienced a change of heart many years ago concerning the races, although it was gradual. I felt both the pain of prejudice and the shame of knowing that the white families depicted in the movie could have easily been mine.

It was the same pain and shame I felt the first time I heard about The Trail of Tears. In 1838 and 1839, as part of Andrew Jackson’s policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee people called this journey the “Trail of Tears” because of its devastating effects. I think I felt pain because I have some Cherokee blood in me, and shame because of the way my white ancestors treated them.

My change of heart came about as I began to realize that there’s no place in the kingdom of God for racism. It goes without saying that even though civil rights can be legislated (and they have), it doesn’t change the heart.

There was a time, years ago, when I would watch the news and see a black person upset about a perceived racial injustice and I would say, “These people have no right to be upset, they have equal rights now!” Again, legislation doesn’t heal a man’s heart.

Forgiveness.

Forgiveness heals the heart. I remember distinctly the day the healing process began in my heart. It was a chilly November day in Dallas, Texas at event called “The Call.” I, along with many others that day in the Cotton Bowl participated in acts of repentance for racial prejudices we had inherited from our ancestors. It was the most gut-wrenching weeping I had ever experienced as I saw my racial prejudices for what they were – sins that had nailed Jesus to the cross.

New creation is a process. From the moment we are born again, something completely new is set in motion. The new creation that we become looks exactly like Jesus.

If I were to ask every Christian in America if they are racist, my guess is that 99.9% would say, “No, certainly not!” That would have been my answer. I wish I could say that I had an instantaneous transformation in this area, but it’s been a slow process. Racism has fallen off of me one small piece at a time. I thought I was a pretty good Christian back in 1984 when I took a job working for the prison system in Texas, but some ugly things in my heart came to the surface. Ugly racial things. Little had changed in me those seventeen-and-a-half years working there. Prisons in America have a large, disproportionate number of black men and I was quick to tell anyone who would listen why I thought that was so, as if I knew.

With all the racial tension being highlighted in our nation today, I believe it would behoove us to consider that a major factor involved is pain. Until I understand the pain another person has experienced, I have no business making a snap judgment when I see them acting out. For instance, I’m not a black parent who has just lost a son in a shooting, so I have no idea what that feels like. What if I was willing to have a compassionate conversation with one of them and listen with my heart instead filtering it through the noise coming from the news media? That’s what I can see Jesus doing. Can you?

Healing the racial divide in America begins in my heart. It begins in our (white folks) heart. Prisons aren’t the answer. Violence isn’t the answer. Anger isn’t the answer. Your favorite presidential candidate isn’t the answer. We are. We are the church. Let it begin with us.

 

From a recovering, repentant, former racist,

 

Kevin.

 

There are quite a few interesting debates going on in Christianity these days. There are disagreements on eschatology, the role of women in the church, politics, etc. I have some firm beliefs on each of these subjects, even most of the etcetera!

However, one debate that has caught my attention recently is the practice of tithing. Based on what I’ve observed, there are three positions taken by followers of Christ: 1) Indifference (usually based on lack of knowledge on the subject). 2) Tithing is Old Covenant and therefore not necessary for believers in the New Covenant. 3) Tithing is a Kingdom principle established before the law was given to Moses.

Before I go any further in addressing these, let me tell you why this particular subject caught my attention. It was this question: As a Christian, am I required to tithe? On the surface it would seem to be a legitimate question, although maybe not on the same footing as a question such as, “As a Christian, am I requires to love my enemies?” We can point to the words of Jesus Himself in the gospels (Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:27) for the obvious answer. But what about tithing? Jesus never gave a direct command to tithe. The only time He mentions it is in Matthew 23:23 when He is rebuking the scribes and Pharisees for being hypocrites:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”

Jesus always seemed to get to the heart of the matter, didn’t He?

Instead of looking for legalistic answers to our questions, maybe we should examine why the question is asked in the first place. Oftentimes our heart is revealed by the questions we ask.

I think a more legitimate question would be, “How much of the kingdom do I want to see and experience?”

Recently, I was reading the story of Zacchaeus from The Message in Luke 19:1-9 – Then Jesus entered and walked through Jericho. There was a man there, his name Zacchaeus, the head tax man and quite rich. He wanted desperately to see Jesus, but the crowd was in his way – he was a short man and couldn’t see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by.

When Jesus got to the tree, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down. Today is my day to be a guest in your home.” Zacchaeus scrambled out of the tree, hardly believing his good luck, delighted to take Jesus home with him. Everyone who saw the incident was indignant and grumped, “What business does he have getting cozy with this crook?”

Zacchaeus just stood there, a little stunned. He stammered apologetically, “Master, I give away half my income to the poor – and if I’m caught cheating, I pay four times the damages.”

Jesus said, “Today is salvation day in his home! Here he is: Zacchaeus, son of Abraham! For the Son of man came to find and restore the lost.”

I’ve always loved this story because of the obvious change in Zacchaeus’ heart and his immediate response in giving away half of his income to the poor and to make restitution four-fold to anyone he had cheated. How strange that so many who have experienced salvation would even balk at the idea of a tithe (one-tenth) of their income!

But this time I noticed something I had never paid much attention to before. Jesus calls Zacchaeus a son of Abraham. Previously, he may have been a physical descendant of Abraham, but now he is a spiritual son. I think it’s also very important that he mentions Abraham here. Abraham was the first person to tithe. You can read the story yourself in Gen. 14:18-20 and Heb. 7:1-22. Abraham paid a tithe to Melchizedek, who was a type of Christ’s eternal priesthood.

I find it fascinating when Christians want to call tithing a part of the Law when It was first established several hundred years before Moses was born.

Though we’re talking about tithing here, this is really not a money issue. It’s a heart issue. When Jesus came on the scene and began his earthly ministry, he had a lot to say about the heart. I don’t have space in this article to refer to every time Jesus spoke about the heart. Jesus said, “where you treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt. 6:21)

Whether we like to acknowledge it or not, our hearts are tied to our billfolds. We need look no further than the early church in the book of Acts to see what the heart – treasure connection looks like: Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. (Acts 2:44-45)

Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of houses or lands sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need. (Acts 4:32-35)

What it all boils down to is this – Jesus isn’t asking for your tithe. He’s asking for everything. When you approach Him with a heart that says, “It all belongs to you,” then you’ll never have to ask the question, “Am I required to tithe?”

It’s all His,

Kevin.

            I am learning to love being unique. That’s right, I’m unique. So are you. I didn’t always know how unique I am. In fact, for most of my life I’ve considered myself to be quite average, whatever that means. I actually went to great lengths to remain average, to look and to act like the majority of the population. Yet, I knew deep inside that I was in fact unique.

What does it mean to be unique? The definition of unique according to Merriam Webster dictionary is: used to say that something or someone is unlike anything or anyone else

• very special or unusual
• belonging to or connected with only one particular thing, place, or person.

 

I spent a good portion of my life playing a futile game called self-comparison. It’s futile because it has no end and there is no winner. It snuffs out dreams and slams the door in the face of possibilities. Worst of all, it’s a direct insult to God Himself.

If I asked you to draw a picture of what you think God looks like, I might get a puzzled look from you. I think I know what I would draw. I would draw a picture of me using the gifts He gave me to express myself to the world. As a man created in God’s image, when I use the gift he placed in me to express myself to the world, they get a glimpse of God!

There are over 7 billion humans on planet Earth. Not a single pair are identical. Even identical twins are not exactly alike. When we fail to see how unique we are, we rob ourselves and we rob those around us of our unique expression. The Apostle Paul understood this too:

 

“To me – less than the least of all the saints – this grace was given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ and to enlighten everyone about God’s secret plan – a secret that has been hidden for ages in God who has created all things. The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.”  (Eph. 3:8-10 NET)

 

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”  (Eph. 2:10 NKJV)

 

We are his workmanship. A unique work of art!

 

Such amazing freedom has come to me since I got out of the self-comparison trap. I invite you get out too.

 

“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well.”  (Psalm 139:14)

 

You’re marvelous! He said so. Don’t try to be anybody else. Just be your marvelous self! You have something we need to see.

 

Uniquely marvelous,

 

Kevin

I very seldom post anything political in social media. It’s not that I don’t have strong political opinions that I’d like to share with everyone, it’s just that most people seem to be very immovable when it comes to politics. On the other hand, I’m seeing a trend where so many are swayed by the voices of leaders in the body of Christ telling us how we should vote, that we don’t think for ourselves.

I was watching the Republican National Convention a few weeks ago. This is nothing new for me. I’ve watched practically every one since 1976. This was the first one that I can say I watched objectively. I’ve been such transformation in my thinking that I was actually able to watch and form my own opinions. I was actually thinking!

For me, the defining moment came as Sen. Ted Cruz was giving a speech. The atmosphere was tense. You see, Cruz had refused to endorse Donald Trump for president up to this point and now the crowd and the nation listened to his speech, waiting for a moment when Cruz might just go ahead and endorse him for the sake of party unity. He was getting near the end of his speech and all I can remember were these words – “Vote your conscience.” And that’s when the boos started. He was practically booed off of the stage for urging Americans to vote their conscience. Of course that’s not the way it was reported or how it will go down in history. After all, they were really booing because he wouldn’t give his endorsement to Trump, right?

 

To me, that moment summed up the sad state of politics in our nation.

 

In the past few elections, I, like millions of others, have made the decision to vote for the “lesser of two evils.” No more for me. How about just not voting for evil at all? I understand fully that it’s a privilege to have the right to vote, and I will vote.

I’ve done some deep soul-searching and repenting after reading the gospels and have come to the conclusion that I have put my trust in presidents and supreme courts to fix the nation and world. I have also come to the conclusion that Jesus is very political. Have you read The Sermon On the Mount? I have and I can’t think of a better way to govern.

I understand that there are certain issues at stake, such as the future of the Supreme Court, but I believe there is something far greater at stake – the prophetic voice of the church. Samuel Whitefield says it well –

 

 “The 2016 election has exposed fault lines in the nation and in the church in a way that no other election in recent history has. In the midst of all the confusion and rhetoric it is time for the church to find her voice and rediscover her identity as a people who find their ultimate hope in another kingdom and another King and represent the values of that king in the public square.

For the church to recover her calling, we are going to have to break free of certain political bonds that have held us for quite some time. If the evangelical church does not wrestle through her current entanglement with politics, then I fear the church will lose her ability to be a prophetic voice to the culture and the government on a wider sphere. It’s becoming clear that the phenomenon of “Donald Trump” might just be what will force that issue in this election.”

 

You can read this article in its entirety here.

 

I don’t need a political savior; I already have one. I already have a king, and His name is Jesus.

 

Kevin