Charisa Stories

Tag: Jesus

  • Jesus Gave Us A Much Better Intelligence Gift than AI

    I have written a lot recently about the need to show love and grace to those you disagree with on social media. That’s if you actually want a chance to influence them. Sadly, in our world today even that approach is a Hail Mary attempt. At least there is hope for some impact if you listen, refrain from name-calling, and speak with a tone of grace.

    All followers of Jesus should show a spirit of kindness to those who don’t share our faith and especially to those who do. Maybe our starting point in improving our culture would be unity in Christ throughout the universal church community as our primary focus. Then we have a healthy place to gracefully debate differences. And that would greatly diminish the too often unnoticed enemy. Satan.

    I believe all communication must be done looking through the consistent focus of the love of Jesus.

    He loves me. He loves those I vehemently disagree with. Sometimes it is tough to accept that God loves both sides. How can we hope to influence a person we disagree with if our communication is angry or even hateful?

    This is not about guilt or condemnation. This is about examining our heart and desiring to be a light in the darkness of our world.

    I have contemplated developing an app that pauses social media posts for an hour to give you a chance to take a breath and determine if that is really what you want to say.

    Every post about our faith, our culture, our leaders, and our community should be done with prayer and leadership of the Holy Spirit. That thought rocked my heart. How can we do that?

    We constantly get offers from social media and writing apps to have AI evaluate and edit our content. It can be helpful at times but there is one qualifying note on those apps that matters a lot.

    AI can make mistakes.

    Hmmmm. Me too. Then I thought about the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide the thoughts and actions of followers of Jesus. The best application to say the right thing and do the right thing could be known as HSI.

    Holy Spirit Intelligence.

    I am pretty sure that there is no Scripture that says that HSI (Holy Spirit Intelligence) can make mistakes. Jesus came to earth as a human so that people could relate to God the Father in a new and remarkable way. But when Jesus rose from the grave and returned to the Father how would that continue to have an impact for centuries? The words of Jesus in the book of John show how God’s perfect plan worked then and works for us today.

     “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth…” (John 14:15-17, NLT)

    A few thousand got to see, listen, and interact with Jesus during His time on earth. But now every follower of Jesus has been giving the greatest parting gift ever…the constant internal presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds. And what does that gift include for His followers? Jesus explained the profound influence that the Spirit would have if we obey and follow Him.

    But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.

     “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:26-27, NLT)

    Can we pause and reflect on that gift? The Holy Spirit will teach a willing heart. The Holy Spirit will remind us of Scriptural truths. And trusting the presence of the Holy Spirit will give us peace of mind and heart. Is there a better gift we could receive in the world we live in today?

    So here is my idea for the HSI app process. With AI you submit the content and the technology will revise it. With HSI (Holy Spirit Intelligence) we can take negative thoughts, fear, and anger and prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to evaluate and revise our hearts and minds. It takes faith. It requires trust. But it works.

    Jesus gave us this powerful gift. Let’s use it every day to glorify God.

  • Why Would You Want To Be A Troublesome Christian?

    Because of my career path in secular television I have a lot of people very dear to me who do not share my faith and hope in Jesus. Some are simply disinterested. Some think their good works will outweigh their bad deeds and they will be granted entry to Heaven. Some think that faith in God is a foolish pursuit that no intellectually honest person would consider. Some have witnessed horrible actions of people claiming to be Christians. Some have experienced harsh and legalistic religious types who make living a life of faith miserable and emotionally damaging. Some are pushed away by those who share sincere beliefs in a way that does not show the love of God. 

    Any combination of these factors can cause people to step away or not pursue what it means to follow Jesus. I get it. I have struggled with many of those things over my long journey of faith.

    Brennan Manning wrote this very convicting observation. “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” 

    It is easy to dismiss the hypocrite. No problem to ignore the angry and judgmental religious types. But before I came to faith I was troubled when I saw some Christians who displayed something different in their lives. I could not dismiss so readily the joy, peace, strength, courage, and love they modeled. They were “troublesome” Christians to me.  I could not ignore them because their lives were authentic and different (different good, not weird). 

    I wanted to be that kind of Christian. That is what any follower of Jesus should pray to become. Troublesome. When others look at your life they see kindness and grace when the circumstances call for anything but that response. That is troublesome to those observers. Or how about being a positive light when you are going through a difficult valley?
    Our spiritual season today is divisive because many in the church are losing focus on Jesus. You can be a “troublesome” Christian by listening to and loving those you disagree with. The truth must be presented through grace and love and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. There must be unity in Christ first and then we can pursue political reconciliation with the proper light to guide us.

    Another way to impact those around you is to love and serve without looking for anything in return. That is being a “troublesome” Christian by simply following the commandment of Jesus.

    “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
    ‭‭John‬ ‭13‬:‭34‬-‭35‬, NLT

    That was not a helpful suggestion. Jesus made that command the cornerstone of following Him and the powerful way to prove that to others. So that is my desire. To love others as I have been loved by Jesus and be a “troublesome” Christian to those who aren’t sure about following Him. You can Google yourself away from faith by looking to find people who claim to follow Jesus and have failed dramatically. The Enemy makes sure we find those people and then encourages us to focus on that. What the Enemy tries to hide are the millions of faithful and loving followers of Jesus who make a difference every day without any fanfare or credit. They can be troublesome to those who desire to dismiss Jesus. I encountered troublesome believers in my early season of doubt who caused me to examine why they were so different, loving, kind, and graceful. God used them to open my heart toward Him. I want to be a troublesome Christian that God can use for His glory. And I want every bit of the credit to go where it should go. 

    Jesus.

  • Recovering From Legalism Is A Challenge

    I was introduced to Christianity in a church that put a legalistic leash on my behavior. By strict rules they believed they could force me to live a holy life. You can imagine how that worked out for a teenager in the Sixties. Our denomination reminded me of characters from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We did not have the dreaded knights who said, “Ni” but we definitely had the dreaded congregants who said, “No.”

    I’m certain there were several volumes filled with things that were forbidden and, not surprisingly, most of them were man-made rules. Here is a sample platter of no-no’s I was asked to follow.

    NO movies. (Might have been in violation)
    NO drinking. (Too young so I got holiness points for this one)
    NO mixed swimming. (I kid you not)
    NO television. (The temptation of Mr Ed, The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction was too strong. Violation.)
    NO cards. (More holiness points)
    NO rock-and-roll music. (Definitely in violation)
    NO smoking. (Nailed this one)
    NO slacks for women.
    NO long hair for men. (Deduct holiness points)
    NO makeup for women.

    I remember asking my godly grandmother what she thought about the no makeup rule. She smiled and gave this memorable reply. “If the barn needs a coat of paint I think you should paint it.” She was my first dispenser of grace.

    It’s not surprising that it took me a long time to figure out freedom in Christ. Ironically, there are a few verses that strongly emphasized the word “no” in the New Testament that our moralists somehow overlooked. For example, this little “no” verse would have come in handy (capitalization and italics added for emphasis).

    There is NO condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. Romans 8:1-2, NLT

    That would have been a refreshing mist of grace to our parched flock. Or how about these “NO” verses?

    This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is NO fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:17-19, NIV

    “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” The second is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” There is NO commandment greater than these. Mark 12:30-31, NIV

    Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps NO record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 1 Corinthians 13:4-6, NLT

    I have been crucified with Christ and I NO longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! Galatians 2:20-21, NIV

    That is a very different “no” list than the first one.

    NO condemnation.

    NO fear.

    NO commandment greater than to love God and your neighbor.

    NO record of wrongdoing when you love one another.

    NO longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.

    I can be holy because of Christ and not because of my anguished rule keeping. There is joy and freedom in that second list.

    NO kidding.

    Parts of this article excerpted from Stay: Lessons My Dogs Taught Me about Life, Loss, and Grace

  • Being A Light Of Love and Grace Can Help Change This Dark World

    I believe that God uses difficult circumstances to grow us in our faith. I will likely be canceled by some readers of this blog and that’s okay. Followers of Jesus need to focus on the life changing impact of the Gospel more than political rants. The lengthy political division in our nation has given us lots of opportunities to reevaluate priorities in our relationship with God and others. The frightening uncertainty of the past few years has also given followers of Jesus a chance to show how faith makes a difference in crisis. The results have been mixed. 

    I used to get angry and judgemental when those who identify as Christians didn’t live up to their title. Now I mainly feel sad at missed opportunities to show how Jesus makes a difference when we trust Him during trials. Christians should have a message of hope during this confusing and anxious season. Jesus followers should be demonstrating that trusting God gives peace and hope in dark times. A song by Thomas Rhett neatly summed up how Christians can be different in a good way. We are called to show a different path and a better way. 

    In a world full of hate, be a light
    When you do somebody wrong, make it right
    Don’t hide in the dark, you were born to shine
    In a world full of hate, be a light

    Jesus told His followers that we are to be a light to those around us.

    “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:14-16)

    I don’t know about you but those challenges from Jesus can feel daunting. Sometimes I don’t feel much like a light to the world. I feel more like the dimmest bulb in the Church Light Store. A quote from one of my favorite authors gave me hope.

    “Don’t shine so others can see you.  Shine so that through you, others can see Him.” ~C.S. Lewis

    For years I tried to patch the cracks with new disciplines and teeth gritting self-effort. Now I own each and every flaw and crack that allows the light of the Gospel into the dark corners of my soul. And when I am vulnerable to others they see that light shining right back through those same cracks of imperfection. And suddenly the command of Jesus is not so daunting because it has NOTHING to do with me. It is all about letting the light of the Gospel into my heart and sharing that light with others.

    “Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.””
    ‭‭John‬ ‭8‬:‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

    When I follow Jesus my good deeds flow out of gratitude and not begrudging obligation.

    Another of my favorite writers is 19th Century preacher Charles Spurgeon. He said this about the topic of light.

    “I would not give much for your religion unless it can be seen. Lamps do not talk, but they do shine.”

    Remember where your light comes from today and pray that you can be a light this week. Let your good deeds reflect the loving light of your Father. You might be amazed how much of a difference that can make. Way more than social media ranting.

  • Trusting God Lessens The Devastating Impact Of Worrying

    I hear worried people around me everywhere. Worried about the national division in our country. Worried about international tensions. Worried about cultural upheaval. Worried about all kinds of things. But this old proverb rings true today.

    “Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but it doesn’t get you anywhere.”

    As I get older I experience more and more how practical Scripture is for daily living. In the legalistic teaching of my youth the Bible was a book of lofty and seemingly impossible demands to behave in a way that would please God. Now I see that the Bible is a love story where Jesus met those impossible demands on my behalf. I see now that my simple faith and trust pleases God. And I see a practical book that shows me how to find joy during this temporary journey on earth. Our loving Father knows the destruction of worrying so He gave us this powerful advice through the words of Jesus.

    “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?” (Matthew 6:25-27, NLT)

    Jesus continues in the same message.

    “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (Matthew, 6:31-34)

    Our Designer knew something else. Most of what we consume ourselves with never happens or is not worth getting anxious about. Modern research verifies ancient wisdom.

    A research study examined how many times an imagined calamity actually came to pass. In this study, subjects were asked to write down their worries over an extended period of time and then identify which of their imagined misfortunes did not actually happen.

    The remarkable results came back that 85 percent of what subjects worried about never happened! Slow down and digest that. Eighty-five percent of what we work ourselves into varied states of frenzy about never even happens. And here is the even more remarkable finding. For the 15 percent of the worry agenda that did happen, nearly 80 percent of the respondents reported they were able to deal with the concern better than expected or they learned a valuable lesson from the event. So 97 percent of what the majority of this study group worried about was not worth wasting the energy, faith and time.

    Worry is exactly where the Enemy wants to keep the children of God. Living in fear of the future cheats you out of today. A precious moment tugs on your heart like a child at your sleeve. Too often you miss that moment concerning yourself with something that likely won’t happen or will happen in a way that your worry can not change.

    For those of you who struggle with worry maybe it helps to remember that your Heavenly Father is always on the job. Worry is not an attribute of our God. I suspect that it grieves His heart that we are paralyzed with worry when our Father is calling us to know Him, trust Him and rest in Him.

    Trusting Jesus for tomorrow, next week, next year and forever frees us to see what this moment holds. No amount of worry will change the fact that we will face death, adversity and sadness.

    As a young believer one of my favorite artists was Andrae Crouch. His lyrics powerfully showed how God uses trials to help us mature in our faith.

    I’ve had many tears and sorrows
    I’ve had questions for tomorrow
    There’s been times I didn’t know right from wrong
    But in every situation
    God gave me blessed consolation
    That my trials come to only make me strong

    Through it all
    Through it all
    I’ve learned to trust in Jesus
    I’ve learned to trust in God

    Through it all
    Through it all
    I’ve learned to depend upon His Word

    I pray that all of us learn to trust in Jesus and depend upon His Word in this difficult season.

  • God Has A Weight Loss Plan For The New Year

    Most of us see New Years Day as a fresh start. We make steadfast resolutions of how we are going to do better this year. The reality is that January 1st is just another day. We could just as easily resolve on May 18th or August 3rd that we are going to change how we live. But there is something psychologically powerful about New Year’s Day.

    The most cited resolutions generally include things like exercising more, saving more money, getting out of debt, and reading the Bible all the way through without getting bogged down in Leviticus and skipping directly to the Psalms. The most popular resolution year after year is losing weight.

    I thought I would be doing a real service if I gave you God’s Weight Loss Plan to take into 2026. This weight loss plan will make you healthier, reduce stress, give you more joy and cause you to grow in your relationship with the Lord. By following this no subscription, no monthly dues plan you can lose the weight of bitterness and anger caused from lack of forgiveness. If you are carrying around an unforgiving spirit it is weighing you down spiritually and emotionally.

    This is from a chapter on forgiveness I wrote in “Bring’em Back Alive – A Healing Plan for those Wounded by the Church”.

    • Forgiveness is not condoning or diminishing the offense. Forgiving a person who has wronged you does not mean they are “off the hook” for any consequences or judgment that may result from their actions. Forgiveness is a personal act of your will that releases the other person from your condemnation. At that point you have been obedient to what Jesus asks of you, the other person is responsible to God for their response as you trust God to see that justice is dispensed according to His Holy judgment and timing.
    • Forgiveness is not forgetting. The old forgive and forget admonition was one of the biggest barriers I faced in my journey to learn how to forgive. You know the old mental challenge to not picture an elephant in the room. You can’t do it. Instantly the image pops into your mind. The more I tried to be spiritually mature and try to forgive and forget the more my offender became the “elephant in the room.” That person or event was all I could think of. Over time you will think less and less of the hurt and/or the one who administered same.Trying to achieve a state of instantaneous forgetfulness is setting yourself up for failure and frustration.
    • Forgiveness does not require reconciliation. Certainly it is a worthy goal to have the gift of forgiveness lead to a restoration of a damaged relationship. But it takes two people to reconcile and you have no control over anyone’s response except your own. The other person may not respond graciously. They may not be ready to accept forgiveness or acknowledge their part or even desire to be reconciled. Reconciliation is not required to be obedient to the command of Jesus.
    • Forgiveness is an act of the will and is not a response to feelings. We must choose to forgive and trust the Jesus who forgave us to eventually change our feelings. We may not “feel” like forgiveness has transpired. If you decide to wait until you “feel” like forgiving or that the other person must make the first move you will remain spiritually stuck. We have to make the choice and then wait for God to honor the choice. We make a choice to forgive and then we have faith that the Holy Spirit will reshape our feelings over the course of time.
    • Forgiveness is not ignoring or excusing the offense. There is nothing to forgive if we have not been wronged. Jesus is not asking us to ignore reality. He is asking us to acknowledge how much we have been forgiven and to extend that gift of grace. It may well be undeserved. So was my forgiveness Jesus bought for me at the Cross. Forgiveness is acknowledging the offense without cover-up or excuse and still choosing to forgive.
    • Forgiveness is not denial of the hurt. Pride will often cause us to “not allow the person who hurt us the satisfaction” of knowing we are wounded. That is absurd. Acknowledge the reality of the injury but make the choice to be healed.
    • Forgiveness is eliminating revenge as an option. Lewis Smedes makes a brilliant point about revenge. No matter how much we try “we cannot get even; this is the inner fatality of revenge.” When you start trying to get even you have already lost. How many times must I gossip about you to get “even” for the hurt you caused me? When is the scale even? The truth proclaimed by Josh Billings is “there is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.”
    • Forgiveness means understanding that hurt is part of the faith tour contract that we signed when we decided to follow Jesus. Author David Stoop notes that, “People choose the Path of Bitterness when they get caught up in trying to understand the reasons for the offense. They think, if only they could understand why the other person did what he or she did, they could get over it and let it go.” I have three words for that approach. Does not work.

    The late author Lewis Smedes wrote that only forgiveness can “release us from the grip of our history.” We cannot change an abusive upbringing. We cannot alter dysfunctional theological training that denied grace. We cannot simply deny the hurts that have been visited upon us and be spiritually free. Only forgiveness can release us from the grip of these real and historical events.

    Forgiveness is not the cop out of weak people. The reason you need to forgive is that our Designer knew that is the only way for you to be fully healed. You have a Savior who understands the pain of betrayal. That is why Jesus gave up His glory in Heaven to take on flesh.

    Is forgiving easy? Of course not. I believe that forgiveness is the single hardest thing that Jesus asks us to do. But He knows how important forgiveness is for own growth. But why would you want to live in anger and carry the extra weight of an unforgiving spirit when Jesus has something better for you? The Apostle Paul’s wrote these words in Colossians.

    Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (Col 3, NIV)

    That can lighten the weight of bitterness and anger as you trust God this year.

  • This Is My Christmas Wish For You

    Amy Grant recorded “My Grown-up Christmas List” for her “Home For Christmas” album. The lyrics imagine an adult going back to Santa with a different perspective on what matters most in life. Instead of material things the writer now asks for good things for others. I love the sentiment of the song.

    No more lives torn apart
    That wars would never start
    And time would heal all hearts
    Everyone would have a friend
    And right would always win
    And love would never end
    This is my grown-up Christmas list

    I thought about my “grown-up” Christmas list this week. I would love for all of the things in the lyrics above to come true. But I have lived enough to know they will not. Everyday lives are torn apart. Wars start too frequently. Time does not heal every heart. Some who are reading this are lonely. Right seems to lose way too often and love ends for many.

    So what could I wish for that would be available for all? My grown-up Christmas list would have one simple wish. That every person would truly understand the outrageous grace gift that God offers to each one of us. All we have to do is open that gift in faith. Christmas is when the gift came to earth wrapped in swaddling clothes.

    I wish that everyone who hears the Gospel message would comprehend the one way love that God demonstrated. Instead of turning His back on sinners who deserved just that God chose to reach out to His creation with a radical plan for forgiveness. A plan that is unlike any other religion in history. Man made religion always demands something to earn salvation. God’s plan for redemption requires the lost to bring nothing to the table other than their sin and the need for salvation. Nothing.

    God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. (Ephesians 2:8-9, NLT)

    Not a single requirement other than believing. A gift of grace. The plan is so radical that it feels otherworldly. Salvation is complete and God’s gift shows His desire to know us as His beloved children.

    I wish that everyone who believes the Gospel would truly believe that they are a brand new creation. Recreated as a saint with complete freedom in Christ. Adopted as a child of God. Forgiven forever. And that all of those things are completely true because of Jesus.

    I wish I could give those things to everyone on my list. Life will give us sadness, loss and loneliness but trust in Jesus gives us hope in the darkest storm. It started with the baby we celebrate at Christmas. The gift of forgiveness and hope is available to everyone. Receiving that gift is my wish for you this Christmas.