3-D

I enjoy art, and the creativity that drives it.  Each new concept or creation brings renewed hope and possibility to life.  Art is beauty, imagination and initiative mixed together.  Art explores the possibilities of life and then dares to dream.  Art says yes when monotony says no.  Art is courageous.  It dares us to step out of the box.  It is not afraid of failure.  

Art is the ability to take any pallet or medium and pour creativity into it, resulting in a new dimensional perspective.  Early art, however, was limited in this regard in that early artists were not aware of techniques that added the third dimension.  Early art was flat and two dimensional.  It reflected height and width but no depth.  It was not until artists started adding the third dimension that the fulness of life could be reflected on the canvas.  

As with two dimensional art, two dimensional living is flat, shallow and superficial.  As a result, there is no room for anyone or anything outside of one's own life or self interests.  The third dimension brings depth to our two dimensional lives.  

You may ask, "what is this third dimension?"  It is the ability to look at life from a new perspective, outside of our flat two-dimensional box.   It is life without limits.  It creates volume, space, and room for God and others.  

This third dimension, or 3-D as we like to call it, is life in its eternal form.  3-D also stands for "third day."  The day Jesus rose from the dead, introducing the perspective of eternity to our flat, two dimensional minds.  

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the element that brings us a new perspective on life.  It enhances every aspect of who we are.  It gives life depth and meaning - a new capacity.  It is life without limits, beauty without boundaries.  The third day is to life what depth perception was to art.  Without it we would be limited by the canvases of our lives, never reaching beyond our flat perspective.  

On the third day Jesus Christ stepped off the canvas of mortality and walked boldly into the depths of eternity.  He painted the most glorious picture known to man, and now stands on the horizon and beckons to whosoever will, "come and follow me.  Enter into the fulness of life." 

I love it when God paints a picture!

PK 

All You Need Is Friends

I think it was John that said "All you need is Friends."  I don't know it might have been Paul or George, but I am pretty confident it wasn't Ringo.  Any way, I'm not much on Beetle trivia, but I do find some elements of truth in those words.  

Christ (somebody that is much larger the John Lennon, by the way : ) said these words:

This is my commandment,that you love one another, as I have loved you.  Greater love has no man than this, than that a man lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.

What a concept . . . people helping people.   I think somebody like John Lennon would think on that concept and formulate a one-word sentence - Imagine.  

Imagine that.  Imagine a world where people actually lived out their Christianity; a world where living like Christ meant more than learning all the rules.  Imagine people seeking out those who are hurting so they can give their life away to them.  Imagine a place where people actually did all the "stuff" that Christ taught them to do - not just learning about what Christ did, but actually behaving as Christ had.  

Imagine a world where Christians live as Christ lived.  So many people in a world like that would be influenced in a positive way and God would be wondrously glorified!  In a world like that, no one would be able to doubt the power of Christ and the influence He had on the world for which He laid down His own life.   If Christians would act like Christ, what a world that would be!  

Imagine how we would worship in a world like that.  Oh, the songs we would sing!  Fanny Crosby, Bill and Gloria Gaither, Michael W. Smith, David Crowder, all would resound with praises to the King.  Perhaps though, there would be one more voice in that choir; a voice singing so loud that his name would become as common place as Christ's Himself. This added voice singing with an illuminated imagination - an imagination that would then include a heaven.  

All he really needed was a friend, or maybe it was love?  Same thing.

Imagine,

Pastor Keith

You Can't Take it Back

Devotion.  I've spent a lot of time thinking about that word this past week.  It's a word that we often throw around, but quite frankly, don't fully understand the full depth of its meaning.  

Oh, we may have a good concept of how we define the word, but our definition is not necessarily what the word truly means.  After all, we Americans are good at redefining everything to fit within our culture.  To us, devotion is synonymous with commitment. If we are devoted to some one or some thing we feel committed to it or them.  My question, however, asks if there is something more to this word than mere commitment? After all, commitments are often broken and circumstances seem to always trump any promises made prior to changing our minds.  Commitment is relative.  Relative to our current situation.  

Devotion is far greater than commitment, and as a result, most people never experience the blessings that flow from the heart of that word.  To the Hebrew mind, devotion is the ultimate sacrifice.  It is the greatest of the three voluntary offerings that one can bring to the LORD.  

Let me try to help you understand what I just said.  In the Old Testament God commands His people to bring certain offerings to His house for specific purposes at specific times of the year.  These offerings are required and expected.  Voluntary offerings, however, are neither required nor expected.  They are brought to the LORD out of an intrinsically motivated desire to worship.  

The first of these offerings is the vow.  If a person makes a vow to the LORD, he or she in essence is placing his or her freedom on the auction block of slavery.  An assessment is made of the person's value based on the market's rate for a slave of that given age and gender.  A price is then paid to redeem that person from the vow.  The price, if paid by a slave master, is 100% of that person's estimated value.  If the person making the vow redeems himself, the price paid is 120% of that person's estimated value.  In essence the vow is selling oneself into slavery and purchasing your life back through a sacrificial offering. 

The second option of voluntary offering is the dedication.  The dedication is setting something apart as holy unto God.  Personal or real property is dedicated as holy.  An appraisal of worth is determined by the priest and the property is sold.  If a person other than the original owner purchases the property, it is sold at 100% of its value.  If the person dedicating the property wishes to buy it back he or she may do so, but only at a price that is equal to 120% of the value.  

These two voluntary offerings permit the worshipper to regain what has been offered by paying a price.  The sacrifice is actually found in the price one is willing to pay to keep his or her possessions.

The third, and most holy of all voluntary offerings is the devotion.  Leviticus 27:28 reads: "Notwithstanding no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the LORD of all that he hath, both of man and of beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy unto the LORD." 

Devotion is the ultimate sacrifice.  It is giving something away never to gain it back.  You cannot redeem a devoted thing.  Once devoted it is gone forever.  Wholly devoted to the LORD.

We throw the word "devotion" around so haphazardly.  We talk about our "daily devotions," we speak of "devoting our time and energy" to the Lord's work, we tell people we have "devoted" our lives to Jesus Christ, but at the least sign of inconvenience we adopt an americanized definition of the word and slip into a modern commitment that is contingent upon our current circumstances.  We say we are devoted, but yet we always try to take back that which we've laid on the altar.  

I don't know about you, but after learning this truth I will never look at my daily devotions the same way again.  Lord forgive us for being committed when we should have been devoted.  

If my people . . .

pk  

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Well, its been a while since the last time I had this experience.  After all, I've spent the last four years of my life in the Arizona Desert.  

Last night there came a blizzard, and it wasn't fit for man nor beast.  The grocery stores ran slap-out-a bread and milk and the world shut down for a day.  

Its been strange . . . kinda fun, kinda pretty, kinda boring, kinda deja vu.  Not a whole lot of people to talk to although a few did emerge from their cabins. 

Roger braved the elements, put on his snow shoes and traversed the frozen tundra all the way from his igloo in Rockwell like any respectable abominable snowman would do.  Richard and I faced the savage cold and with great courage survived the 100 yard trek from our houses to the church.  Wild Bill crossed over the river and through the woods to arrive at "base camp."  But that was about all the life we saw today, with the exception of a brief appearance by Yukon Ralph who dropped in to make sure that all was secure.   

We didn't see hide nor hair of the rest of the crew.  We just figured they had better sense than we did.  What a good day to stay at home and enjoy your family!  If I had not spent the night here in Kannapolis I would have spent the day in Yadkinville making a snowman with Katie.  

Snow days are good days.  They let us know that everything is not as important as it might seem.  The world can stop spinning every once and a while without everything falling to pieces.  Snow days remind us that it is alright to slow down and take it easy.

My prayer for you today is that you enjoy the simplicity of a frozen world.     

I think I am going to go enjoy a long winter's nap.

Wake me up when its over,

Pastor Keith