New Year's Lions

The Chinese New Year will be January 26. Have you ever seen the celebrations and parades for the Chinese New Year? The things I remember most are the dancing dragons and lions. The lion dance is done by two people in the lion costume with that big head and is meant to symbolize and invite blessing and joy for the new year.

When I think about lions, I think about Aslan from Narnia and I also think about Daniel in the lion's den from the Bible. As most people know, the Aslan character by C.S. Lewis is actually a biblical image representing Jesus the Christ. He is the King who sacrifices his life for his kingdom and returns from death to win victory over the enemy.

For Daniel, the lions were the punishment he received for praying to his God in direct defiance of an order from King Nebuchadnezzer. The punishment was a death sentence by way of being thrown into the den of hungry lions.

I appreciate this painting by Briton Riviere depicting Daniel in the lion's den because it causes me to see that even when Daniel was faced with imminent death, instead of being focused on the lions, he had his eyes and his heart turned toward heaven. Toward God.

I wonder if there are any lions prowling in your life right now? Economic uncertainly? Job in jeapordy? A relationship that keeps getting worse rather than better? Undeserved persecution? A habit or addiction that you can't overcome?

And this is where that other lion image I mentioned comes in to play. The victorious King. The Savior. There is one who is at work in the world and in all of our lives who has already won the battle against evil, oppression, persecution, and sin. His name is Jesus and he is the Son of God.

I encourage you to join me as we turn our eyes and hearts toward God, in the midst of the prowling lions, and see what God will do in us and through us. Remember how the story of Daniel and the lions ends? Read it again and be blessed: Daniel 6:19-28.

May you have a blessed 2009!

Costly Grace

I had a conversation with a friend today and we talked a bit about the concept of grace as it applies to the Christian faith. We agreed that there is a temptation within the faith to misinterpret God's grace as permission to live and act and think however we please because we are forgiven and loved by God (i.e. grace).

We also agreed that such a perspective is not at all consistent with the biblical picture of grace. In fact, God's grace, when applied to our lives and active in our lives, actually changes us from the inside out. We are no longer interested in, or motivated by, living our lives the way we want to and catering to our own desires and pleasures.

God's grace produces in us a love for God and a desire to live the way God designed us to live. Living the way God intended is a concept that is found throughout the Bible and is often referred to with terms like righteousness and holiness.

Instead of considering your life your own to live and God's grace as your permission to do so; how would your life be different today if you saw God's grace in your life as the inspiration and empowerment to live the life for which God created you?

For further reading on this subject, I recommend Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book The Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer was a German theologian, born in 1906, who openly opposed Hitler and the Nazi's until his execution in 1945.