Underwood Unplugged

To be honest, there are times when I dread "doing the chores" of house or yard keeping.

I do have my moments, however, when I become a neat freak. I can't stop cleaning up. Maybe you know the feeling or you get in the obsessive cleaning or fixing mode. You love products like "Krud Kutter" that just obliterate nasty stains and marks.

When you do a job, you want the job done right. Fixed. Clean. Finished.

Many people are like that when it comes to God. We want to be spiritually "clean" or righteous, so we get in the habit of doing things to look righteous. We set goals and boundaries that help us "be good" or avoid sin.

It's easy to point at the New Testament Pharisee (Matthew 15:1-20) and say that human rules and goals and traditions really cannot make me clean. It's easy to see legalism and empty rituals in somebody else's life.

Are there parts of my life that aren't clean? Absolutely, and I should be in "clean-up mode" to set those things straight. Like the Pharisee, I can look at my spiritual life, make a to-do list, and go on my self-righting attack.

Jesus challenged Pharisees then and now about what it means to be clean. If your heart is not clean, your actions are worthless. Everything starts within, trusting the forgiveness and righteousness of Jesus Christ for every day's action, word, and thought.

Your actions reveal what's in your heart. So if you want to go "Krud Kutter" for God in your life, you've got to start on the inside. What's going on in there?

When my daughter Allison wore this outfit, I must tell you I was pretty proud of it. Sometimes I look at her and struggle to put into words or even wrap my mind around the way and the amount that I love her.

The fact that she's incredibly cute is one thing. But our connection as father and daughter is something that just keeps growing and developing every single day.

When she tries to repeat something I say... When she does something I do... When she laughs at just the right time... When she already listens and does (or doesn't do) something I tell her to do...

It's easy to be proud of Allie.

It's teaching me about how God is my Father. How God invites me to be His child.

I've read verses about being God's child, and sometimes my thought process starts and stops at salvation. Take John 1:12 - "But as many as received Him (Jesus), to them He gave the power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe on His name."

On one level, that's about finding salvation, forgiveness, and a relationship with God by believing in Jesus Christ.
On another level, that's only the beginning of life as God's child.

We are called his "dearly loved children."

Do you know that God is always watching you? You are made in His image, and He's proud of the faith and goodness He sees in you?

Do you know God always wants to share Himself with you? You were created to turn to Him, open your heart to Him, and follow His words and His heart?

Do you know that God is proud of you? When you obey Him, God feels loved just like a beaming father feels when His kids make Him proud.

Allie is fourteen months old, and making her earthly daddy proud.

Is your Heavenly Daddy proud of you?

Nobody really wants to be a loser. To the contrary, most of our culture is obsessed with winning.

Be the best at all costs. Win the race. Look out for #1. Just win, baby.

Unfortunately, most people find victory only on this earth. We only compete to win in the "temporary." Get the grade, the promotion, the girl. Win the game, the prize, the popularity. Gain the fame, the respect, the reward.

Even if you would win every possible earthly lottery, championship, or award, Jesus would follow those victories up with one question: "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16:26).

Actually, that's what most of us human beings do. We forfeit our soul to win more money. We sacrifice the spiritual for the financial. We basically have exchanged the hope of eternity for today's "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

No matter what you achieve, collect, or win - you are going to lose it all in the end. When you leave this world, you will not be able to take it with you.

That should be a wake-up call. It should encourage me to figure out what it means to "win" for the next life. To find out what Jesus means by the "treasures in heaven" we could have.

Are you willing to lose what you have to gain Christ? Are you willing to be a loser if it means "winning" God's approval? In the same conversation, Jesus teaches us that, "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."

The only way to find greatness, eternity, and victory in life is if you are willing to lose all that you are to gain all that God wants to offer you. It's time we Christians start to lose ourselves in the quest to follow Someone else.

My heart and mind are breaking over Hurricane Katrina. It has been called "the greatest natural disaster in American history," and I wouldn't disagree.

I have been watching a lot of CNN, to be honest. The coverage of the devastation, the looting, the desperation... it is all incredibly sad and alarming as the bad news seems to grow by the hour.

Several of the questions posed by reporters and others are pretty provocative, but not very relevant, for example:

(1) Why didn't we do more to prepare for this? At some point, that will be a valid question. But how in the world do you prepare for a level 5 hurricane? Everyone was told to evacuate, but not forced to actually do it. Unfortunately, this was not just "another hurricane" that people can ride out.

(2) Did God do this, as some sort of punishment on New Orleans? I've had this question in several e-mail. We live in a fallen world (Romans 8) with tragedies, disasters, and pain as a result of the curse of sin (Genesis 3). Gone are the Old Testament days when God sends judgment and tells us where it comes from and why it happened. For now, God allows creation to "groans" and suffers - sometimes dramatically - longing for God's eternal rescue and pointing people to faith in Christ.

Ultimately, our response should be that God grieves, God comforts, and God responds. We must pray for His response, and we must also seek to BE His response, as His church.

I do not think it is enough for the Christian community to say - along with all of the TV anchormen and women - that "our prayers are with you." We must give, we must serve, we must encourage. We must be proof that a loving God cares about the needs and devastation experienced in our own country.

I am grateful for places like The Red Cross and others, who are providing opportunities for people to give. If you give, please make sure that you are giving to a credible effort where funds go straight to relief efforts. Unfortunately, there have already been some bad schemes out to take people's money.

Unbelievable - unless this is truly a fallen world.