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Michael Mercer: teacher. writer. father. husband. follower.

A Broken Spirit

5/2/2013

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The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.  You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. -Psalm 51:17


I find myself many times in my life with what I feel is a broken spirit.  Most times when I feel this way it causes me sadness, discouragement, and self-examination.  The broken spirit is something that happens to everyone.  Sometimes it is because there is healthy dose of pride being exerted.  However, there are those times when the people we know, don't know, or even love break our spirits.  Intentionally or unintentionally we feel a punch in the gut from life and loved ones, not because we need humility, but because they feel the need to share their displeasure with us.  There are those times we can even justify the desire and action of breaking another person's spirit, simply because we don't agree with their actions or we feel the responsibility to judge.  I find this verse above fascinating, because there is a breaking of pride and the author is self-inflicting the backseat of life so that God can be the driver.  If I swell up with pride may I be one who can offer a broken spirit to the Lord and a contrite heart, because He cannot reject this posture.  

My heart breaks though when I witness either myself or someone I know force a broken spirit and contrite heart on another.  Jesus who was perfect and God in the flesh did not desire to break the Spirit of the people, but rather chose a unique path to love someone into repentance.  Think about some of the stories we know about Jesus.  What if they were different.

And so Jesus instructed the adulterous woman to beg for mercy until he put down his rock.

Zacchaeus you are the scum of the earth and you should feel the burden of guilt until you start giving away money

Well...if you hadn't had so much sin and thought more about God you wouldn't have been an invalid for 38 years.  Get up and cry out that God will save your wretched soul and then you can walk.

Who touched me?  No really, who touched me?  I don't just give my power to anyone.  Why do you think you're bleeding?  Fix your heart and then maybe God will fix your illness.

It would be most difficult to love this type of Jesus.  And we would quickly see that this is not the heart of God.  Calling down people so that they will look up is an appalling method of evangelism.  One of my mentors, Randy Harris, says "What you win people with, is what you win people to."  

If we want to win people to a Jesus that matters and that will change their lives, then we have to be careful about how we share His story.  Jesus has a story that loves others and wins them to God because of who God is, not because of how awful Humans behave.  When I was in college the main reason I didn't pledge a social club (fraternity) is because the common ingredient among them was that they "broke you down, in order to build you up."  And they justified this move with scripture and the practice of Christianity.  We must be careful not to bring that into our walk with God and others.  Life is hard enough and the people we come in contact with don't need another reason to hate Christians or feel horrible about who they have become in this life.

If we will just be people who extend a loving savior to the world I guarantee that the Love that God has for them will break their spirit and give them a repentant heart.  We won't have to call them names, list their sins, quiz them on their ethics, or make them give promises we would never keep ourselves.  All we will have to do is show them who Jesus really is and they themselves will take on humility and live a life of Psalm 51.

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Tuning Our Voice part 3 -What happened to Please and Thank You?

10/19/2011

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I've never been in the military, but sometimes at home as a child it felt like it.  My mom's nickname at one time with the family was "Drill Sergeant" or just "Sergeant." All in fun what it really meant was that mom demanded and commanded a lot from me and my brother.  

We sometimes approach God like this.  He is the drill sergeant and we have to keep in line with all of his demands as he barks them out through scripture or loud preachers.  God has expectations and let's be honest, we do too!

I don't approach scripture as my marching orders and how we read scripture needs to be a future blog series in itself.  I don't view God as my sergeant either, especially the drill sergeant.  Someone who has been in the military might find that comparison different than me, but as I see it God is not barking at me ready to make a spectacle of me when I do wrong (I understand that my view of military is from the movies and TV, so If I'm way off base, comment and share a new perspective). 

But our series isn't about who God is, but rather how we speak to God.  I teach my kids and expect my youth ministry students to treat each other and me with respect and that it is beneficial to use, "Please" and "Thank You."  However, sometimes I, myself, get bold and speak to God as if he lacks intelligence or is hard of hearing and I bark my commands at him.

It's okay to expect things of God and know that he has the power to do whatever He wants.  But if we are truly tuning our voice, then we need to come to God with a heart of anticipation, expectation, and humility.  It is our own arrogance that creates a commanding voice to God.  We think we know the answers and what is right.  We bark at God, like a dog or even worse people we love.  We are not in control and therefore we cannot command what God will do.

Please has become a weak word in our American Individualism vocabulary.  We have made please a place of inferior meekness in a world full of sharks.  The truth is that "please" is a sign that we understand and respect another person.  We don't whine to God, "Pleeeeaaaaseee!!!", but we do come to God with humility and ask please for his will to be done.  Even God's equal, Jesus Christ, comes to God with great humility when he ask that the cup be passed over him.  We must follow that example and expect that God will come with power in his own way and we remain faithful and leave the commands to the professionals, Drill Sergeants!

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    Michael Mercer

    I like to explore different things about theology and the life of the church.  You might also find things here about me and my family.

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    mercerprays@gmail.com

    God Is... by Michael Mercer

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    God Is... -God is... is a book that takes a look at Genesis and portrays six true images of God.  There are many ways we think about God that are unhealthy and even destructive.  These six images help turn our attention to who God really is and how we might follow him more closely.  Click the Lulu button below to download your copy!

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