Monday, May 30, 2016

Book Review: Be Light



Book title: Be Light
Author: Samuel Rodriguez
Colorado Springs, Waterbrook Press, 2016
Number of pages: 212

Let YOU Be Light

When I was first handed this book, I didn’t know what I was in for. The book is wrapped in a black and white picture of a well-dressed hispanic man with his palms pushed together in a position of prayer. I told the friend who gave me the book that it looked like it was for readers with more religion than me. Before I dug into the book, I went online to watch videos of Pastor Sam Rodriguez to get a hint of what I was in for.

Rodriguez is a preacher’s preacher; fiery and theatrical; engaging and engrossing. He has a way with language and can turn a phrase; he’s eloquent and passionate.

Rodriguez get's my attention from the very beginning of Be Light with the line "Let there be light!" That's where it all starts, right? The way Rodriguez defined "light" and explores the word from so many angles gave me something to chew on all day. So, mission accomplished, Sam!

That’s right. Rodriguez wrote the book and formatted it with a thirty day “journey” in mind for the reader. Each one of the Be Light’s thirty chapters are meant to be read in less than ten minutes each day for thrity days. Each chapter’s goal is to challenge the reader to be light.

Chapter one starts with some powerful, quotable phrases that show that Rodriguez is more than a fiery preacher. He’s a thinker and wants those he communicates with to engage with him at a cerebral level always turning his phrases over in their minds. "Let there be light!" This is how Rodriguez opens his dialogue with readers. This is a powerful, biblical quote from Genesis One and echoes of the gospel of John. Rodriguez has the reader’s. It evokes layers of meaning that readers are forced to think about and personally apply.

Rodriguez writes about a "canopy of disillusionment" which seems to be a familiar concept to many a cynical Christian. We've become used to disillusionment and let allowed our faith to hibernate, inneffective, impotent, fat, and lazy. This is unacceptable, according to Rodriguez. It's time to “throw off dissillusionment” because there's no purpose for it in God's economy.

I love the way he ends the first chapter by contrasting biblical heroes with villains. We need more REAL heroes in our lives.

In chapter two, Rodrigurez employs the scientific term "reflective coefficient." The biblical application here is that sometimes I reflect God's light, and other times, I absorb every bit of it.

In chapter three, Rodriguez discusses the battle that rages between light and dark. Darkness wants to shut down light in the Christian’s life. Even Christians (especially Christians?) can live in the darkness that comes from unbelief and unforgiveness.

This chapter caused me to take a personal inventory as I read through it. Am I withholding forgiveness from somebody? I think I am. Do I have what it takes to get the process of forgiving and reflecting light into the life of the person who has offended me? I hope I do. I pray that the Holy Spirit will give me courage to be humble.

Those are all the spoilers I’m going to give you, friend. As thought provoking as it is, Be Light is an easy read. The time you invest in this book will be time well spent. As you come to the end of the Be Light journey, it’s Rodriguez’s goal that  somehow, someway, God will use you to be one of the heroes that turn on the lights in the world God has placed you in. Get the book and read it with your tribe.

»Book website

»Pastor Samuel Rodriguez on Facebook


Monday, May 09, 2016

How to Find Holy Balance

“But select from all the people some capable, honest men who fear God and hate bribes. Appoint them as leaders over groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, and ten.”—Exodus 18:21 NLT

Many sons hate the idea of working in the family business. Many pastors’ daughters quit church after high school. These kids grew up watching Dad build “the family business” or “the ministry.” Meanwhile, Dad was depleted. Their families were robbed of time together.

The day before Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, said the words quoted in the verse above, he had just returned with Moses’ wife and sons. Moses had sent them away, and while the Bible doesn’t spell out the reasons for their separation, there was tremendous conflict that preceded the separation.

Moses told Jethro all that the Lord had done to bring deliverance and provision as Israel fled Egypt. Jethro was so amazed by all God had done, he was moved to make a public declaration of faith and praise by offering God a sacrifice. “I know now that the Lord is greater than all other gods,” Jethro declared.

While Jethro was amazed with all that God had done, he was a lot less impressed with how Moses was running things; Moses was a one-man show.

“I inform the people of God’s decrees and give them His instruction,” Moses says (Exodus 18:16 NLT). Jethro responds by basically saying, “Well, this is not good. You’re not really getting much accomplished doing this all by yourself. Your frustrating the people by making them wait all day and exhausting yourself. Find some guys to help you. Train them in the things God has shown you and then watch how much you ALL can get done” (Exodus 18:17-23).

Jethro, as the grandfather of Moses’s children, was invested and keenly interested in the future of both Moses and Israel as a nation. Their destinies were intertwined. Moses, as the leader of Israel, also needed to be Moses the dad and leader of his family.

Pastor and author Gordon MacDonald says, “The legacy you leave is dependent on the men you train, the men you do life together with, and the relationships you invest into and nurture for balance.”

This principle works in so many areas of how we do church, work, leadership, family, and community building. We’re called to steward this balance. On our own, it can feel like juggling with fine china. But, in the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, it looks, feels, and sounds like a symphony.

Thursday, May 05, 2016

How You Want to Be Remembered

“The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.”—Proverbs 10:7 (NKJV)

Everyone dies. That’s a fact. Flesh decays and bones dry out. The only things the dead leave are memories.

The Jews had a tradition when speaking of the memory of a just man: “Let his memory be blessed,” they’d say. Nothing would be said of the unjust man. The memories of the wicked, like their rotting flesh, are useless and disgusting, “eaten with worms.”

No one wants to touch the memories of the wicked with a ten-foot pole. They are treated with contempt. Just by the mention of their name makes you wrinkle your nose like the smell of rotting road kill. Bad behavior and the commission of evil deeds leave a legacy of rottenness, and often, generations of destroyed lives.

Proverbs chapter 10 is a list of contrasts written down by the wise King Solomon to train readers in righteousness. Observe a few:
  • Wise versus foolish
  • Slack versus diligent
  • Blessing versus violence
  • Integrity versus perversion
  • Rich versus poor
These contrasting words describe choices and actions. Solomon pairs contrast with literary metaphor to strengthen the description of both desired and disastrous outcomes. He teaches that one can choose his choices, but one cannot choose his consequences.

In the New Testament, when we first meet the apostle Paul, he is introduced as Saul and he is present at the stoning of the Christian evangelist Stephen (Acts 7). He is known as a persecutor of the followers of Jesus. He hunted people down and jailed them for having the wrong faith and politics; splitting up families and destroying the newfound peace early Christians found through salvation in Jesus. If that were all Saul did in his life, we would never know his name. If he had never encountered Jesus, his name would have rotted along with his flesh and bones when he died.
But Saul did encounter Jesus. In the exchange, Saul got a new name, a new life, and a new mission that was in complete contrast with the one he had. He went from . . .
  • Destroying lives to discipling men and women in the faith
  • Separating families to uniting groups of families into churches
  • Cursing people for their faith in Jesus to setting them free with the historic, holy, and transforming words we read in the New Testament.
If you encounter Jesus, make the wise choice. Follow Him. Watch Him change the memories you leave along with the lives you impact.

Monday, May 02, 2016

The Devil and Debunking Jesus

“Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.”—Matthew 12:30 (NLT)

Some of the most amazing things I’ve seen are the pyramids in Egypt. They are awesome structures. Their construction has stumped scholars for eons. When I was a boy, the bestseller, Chariot of the Gods, explained that the pyramids and other sites of wonder were built with alien technology. The structures and technology employed couldn’t be human–the achievement is too advanced! Space travelers must have lent us their technology to influence ancient science and religion.

If you’ve made up your mind about someone and you really can’t endorse them as being smart or special or talented, or in Jesus’ case, the Son of God, you’d have to come up with another theory to explain the things you see with your own eyes. That’s what happened with the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. They looked for a way to debunk Jesus. If God was behind the miracles Jesus was doing, then God must have endorsed Jesus healing on the Sabbath, forgiving harlots, eating with sinners, befriending tax collectors, and welcoming outcasts.

So they blamed the devil and said Jesus was doing His work by the power of Satan—basically charging Jesus with witchcraft. If they could get enough people to back this idea, it would be the end of Jesus. Ending Jesus became their agenda.

Jesus laid it out for them: If you reject Him, you are rejecting God’s plan for Israel, and ultimately, for all mankind.

This is a serious warning for us to heed today. The author of Hebrews warns believers not to drift from away from Christ. As you remember when you first came to faith in Jesus, you know Jesus did a miracle in your heart. People saw a change in you. And because you became so different they asked you about it and that opened the door for you to talk about Jesus. You didn’t know any deep theological stuff, but you had an experience with Him that changed your life and you were able to talk about it. People who witnessed it called it a miracle.

Now that you’ve known Jesus for a while, and time has passed between today and that day when you gave your heart to the Lord, you’re tempted to call that work a work of emotion or the convincing words of a charismatic leader or teacher. You’re drifting.

Don’t give anyone or anything credit for the work Jesus has done by His Spirit. There’s nothing or no one else to turn to if you turn away from Jesus.