I spent the weekend with people who have recently left the 2×2 congregation*. I met people of amazing courage, some who have suffered much and others who are having their eyes opened to the fact that the religious group that provided their foundation in faith wasn’t all it claimed to be. But such moments of disillusionment open some wonderful doors into the life Jesus meant us to live inside his reality instead of following the dictates of those who pretend to be leaders. And, that’s not just true of their group; that’s true for all of us. The life of Jesus comes from within us as we engage his presence and learn to live settled in his love.
One of the Scriptures we talked about on Sunday is the poetic descriptions of the life I want to live. In Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible, called The Message, is a magnificent phrase. Matthew 11:28-30, he has Jesus saying, “Walk with me… (and) learn the unforced rhythms of grace.” The arc of my journey over the last thirty years has increasingly led me into how restful and powerful his work is. I notice it most significantly in my prayer life. When I beg God out of anguish and desperation, my anxieties don’t diminish. I’m instead feeding them. The same is true when I beg God to take something away or to make me strong enough to overcome a challenge before me. Why? I may appear to be giving them to God, but instead I’m focusing on my need and my own weakness, and will grow in frustration as God doesn’t answer the way I want him to.
However, when I pray out of my affection for God, and lean into my trust that he is bigger than anything I face, my heart comes to rest. I know he will have a way for me through it, even if it’s not the answer I want or think I need. In that space, my heart settles, and I find it easier to recognize what he is saying to me and how he wants to work in my circumstances. There, I find the unforced rhythms of grace. I don’t need the answer I want in the timeframe in which I think I need it. When I’m at rest in his work, trusting in his care for me, my heart opens to whatever Jesus might want to show me, and however he might want to lead me.
I now gauge so much by whether how I am responding to him leads me to greater fear or anxiety, or if it leads me to greater trust. This is where grace does its best work. It allows me to lean into him where anxieties fade, instead of focusing more on myself and what I should be able to do. The “unforced rhythms of grace” is more than a fancy phrase; it’s a way to live restfully and fruitfully in his care.
Before I go, a lot is going on around here that I’d like to share with you:
The interview I did for Reader’s House is getting some exposure in some interesting places, like on the National Law Review and Associated Press websites, as well as others.
Sara’s ongoing recovery has opened the door for me to do a bit more travel. In two weeks, I’ll be in Bradenton, FL, for an all-day conversation on It’s Time: Letters to the Bride of Christ at the End of the Age. As excited as I am about my new book, Just Love, which should be out in a month or so, this one holds a tender place in my heart, encouraging the Bride as she prepares herself for his appearing, whenever that might be. And it isn’t about end-time stuff as much as it is how we can live in him now in whatever challenges we face. Space is limited, so if you’d like to attend in person, please sign up here: If you’re not in the area but would like to watch the Zoom broadcast online, you can register here to watch it online.
I’ll also be in Minneapolis in April, and seeing where else God might lead in the future.
Finally, my son-in-law has organized a Super Bowl Squares game to help benefit Luis’s Kids through Fighting Chance. If you’d like to join in, you can select squares here and then send $40 to the Venmo Lifestream account—@lifestreamMinistries. Half of the proceeds will go to Luis’s kids, and half will pay out the winning scores at the end of each quarter. We’re trying to fill out the whole board, so come join us. If you’d rather just give money to Luis’s kids and not play the game, you can send it to that same Venmo account. Just designate it for Luis, and it will go to help his kids.
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*2×2 is a designation of a religious movement that began in the 1850s in Ireland and spread worldwide. They hold to many things common to cultic groups—the only group that is saved and knows the truth, they live by oppressive rules and enforce them with shame and separation from the group, they repress women in the way they dress and how they’re treated, and the leadership must be obeyed without question. This group began to unravel in recent years do to an FBI investigation and the discovery of significant sexual abuse of children by the workers who traveled about to encourage the congregations. Because the leadership couldn’t handle those revelations with repentance, honesty, and concern for the victims, many began to question the group as a whole and how Jesus works in the world today.
