JR. Forasteros - November 6, 2011
What's Behind Us
We live in a world shaped by choices other people have made. We live in an inheritance that seems pretty broken most of the time. It's easy to feel trapped by what's been chosen for us. But God gave Ezekiel a message for the Israelite Exiles that we need to hear too. God says that we are responsible to choose God here and now, in our time. That we will be held accountable not for what others have done to us but what we choose. What's behind us doesn't define us.
From Series: "This is Not the End"
We often look at the way our culture is headed and lament what we've lost. But God is preparing something new, something better. By listening to the voices of Israelites who lived after the Exile, we can learn how to hope in God's new thing. Because this is not the End!
More Messages From JR. Forasteros...
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Get Rich QuickSeptember 5, 2010 |
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Camel for Sale!September 12, 2010 |
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Best Church Ever!September 19, 2010 |
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ChurchJanuary 2, 2011 |
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TrinityJanuary 9, 2011 |
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Anyone else ever have awkward family reunions? Growing up, my dad’s family got together every Thanksgiving at my grandpa’s church. We’d feast around 11 am, all my grandpa’s brothers and sisters and their descendants – usually some 150 of us. Sometime in the afternoon, a pickup football game would start outside and run basically until it was time for dinner around 5.
By the time I was in college, the reunion had shrunk (as reunions tend to). But my aunts and uncles and cousins all still gathered. And though the football game was a lot smaller, we still played. By the time I was in college, my little brother wasn’t so little anymore. He was a three-sport athlete in high school, including football. And it’s possible I was feeling a little self-conscious playing against him during this particular football game.
So when I tackled him to stop a touchdown one play, it’s possible I might have celebrated a little too hard.
My dad (who was also on the other team), told me to calm down, and when I refused, he decided to teach me a lesson on the next play. But he missed the tackle, I scored on him, and I doubled down on the trash talk and bad sportsmanship.
It was one of those moments when everyone could feel the tone of the game shift. It wasn’t about family having fun anymore. Suddenly, it was about two big egos both trying to be the biggest man on the field.
Needless to say, the game dissolved pretty quickly after that, and dinner was way more awkward than usual. At least for me.
That moment was emblematic for my dad and me because the real problem was how stubborn we both are. And it’s not just him and me. My brother is the same way, and so is my father’s father. In fact, if you look back through our family tree, it’s pretty clear there’s some kind of gene for hard-headedness that runs in the men in my family. And it’s caused plenty of problems a lot more severe than just a ruined football game.
Let’s talk about the sins we inherit from our families. The deep patterns of pain and brokenness we sometimes can’t even see because they just look normal to us.
