Author: Rev. Bob Ragan | Regeneration

Advent Reflection #3: There were Shepherds in the Field

The angel announcing the birth of Jesus could have visited any number of people. However, the angel specifically spoke to a group of shepherds who were tending their sheep. The shepherds were terrified upon seeing the angel. Not only did they see this angel shining with God’s glorious light, but then, many more angels appeared. The shepherd’s uneventful night became an experience which forever changed their lives.

Generically speaking, shepherds were typically single men. Their homespun clothes were soiled due to contact with the sheep and the difficult tasks they performed. They were often isolated and at the lower end of society. Their lives followed a set pattern of daily responsibilities.

Shepherds keep their flocks intact. Sheep tend to wander so sharp eyes are needed to watch for any who stray from the flock. Shepherds are familiar with all of the ways of the sheep under their care. He knows his sheep.

Shepherds lead their flocks to verdant pastures. Shepherds are familiar with the surrounding terrain. They are well acquainted with the dietary necessities of their sheep and seek the best pastures available to provide nourishment. A shepherd is well acquainted with the physical needs of his sheep.

Shepherds provide protection. Besides knowing the environment, shepherds also know what predators wait in ambush. Some of these predators are vicious and strong. The shepherds put their lives on the line to protect their sheep and made many sacrifices.

What an interesting occurrence, the first humans invited to worship the One who would become the Good Shepherd were shepherds. Their routine responsibilities reflected the future ministry of Jesus. These men were invited just as they were to visit the newborn Messiah. After the initial terrifying encounter with the angels, what were they expecting to find? How did these simple men, process the spiritual reality unfolding right before their very eyes?

If you were with these shepherds, how would you have approached the baby Jesus? What thoughts would occupy your mind as you drew near to Him? What would it be like to look upon the face of Jesus in those humble, stark surroundings? As you read the nativity story this Christmas, stop for a moment and place yourself in the sandals of the shepherds. How would you have worshiped Him?

Advent Reflection #2: The Sacrificial Gifts of the Magi

I believe nothing mentioned in the Scriptures is by chance. Each example or story contains meaningful or hidden truths. The story of the three wise men: Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, as written in Matthew 2:1-12, I feel is one worthy of deeper contemplation.

To make this journey, these three men were deeply motivated and inspired. Each of them made incredible sacrifices to search for an unknown baby! Each also carried sacrificial gifts of great value for their time. Gaspar is attributed for the gift of gold, Melchior for the gift of myrrh, and Balthasar the gift of frankincense.

The gift of gold. Gold is a symbol associated with kingship but also with virtue. What an extremely valued possession, to give to a lowly, Jewish baby. The gold was a sacrificial offering of direct financial worth. Of the three gifts, gold had the most immediate value. The recipient of this gold was an unknown Jewish family in an impoverished setting.

The gift of myrrh. Myrrh is a fragrant resin used for medicines, rare perfumes, and incense. Myrrh was also a component of oil used to anoint the tabernacle, high priests and kings. Cyril of Jerusalem, a theologian of the early Church, indicated anointing oil containing myrrh was a physical representation of having the Holy Spirit. Today, myrrh is often a component of oil for the purpose of anointing and healing.

The gift of frankincense. Frankincense is an aromatic resin used in perfumes and incense and is a symbol of deity. The word frankincense is from an Old French word which identifies an incense of distinguished quality which is noble or pure. The use of frankincense is important use during temple ceremonies. The use of incense symbolizes prayers lifted to heaven.

These three wise men made many sacrifices. Were they possibly ridiculed for making this journey to search for a baby based on studying the stars? Did they question the financial and physical cost needed? Was there a concern for their safety, carrying such valuable gifts? There was something deeper within each of them, allowing them to rise above these concerns.

Would you make such a journey? Would the many costs of this journey weaken your inspiration? The gifts of the Magi were of significant value. What gift would you bring if you could have joined the Magi? Many other gifts could have been brought to Jesus. What significance does each gift carry as it applies to Jesus? I pray the Holy Spirit inspires you in this reflection. I pray when you see a crèche noting the Magi, it will be a new experience.

Advent Reflection #1: Making Himself Nothing

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Philippians 2:5-7 (NIV)

I remain in awe of how Jesus made Himself nothing. It is beyond my comprehension to fully grasp the reality of this sacrifice. Other biblical versions indicate that Jesus emptied Himself. What incredible humility, centered in a core of self-sacrificing love.

This Advent season, I am pondering the reality of Jesus emptying, and making Himself nothing on behalf of humankind. What Jesus gave up allowed us to increase our intimacy with the Father. Jesus increased our ability to return to the Garden of Eden where walls and barriers did not exist between God and humankind. Consider the ways Jesus accomplished the will of the Father through humility.

Jesus humbled Himself by changing the very form of His existence. Before the creation of time, Jesus existed as Spirit. There were no physical boundaries to His existence. But then, the Lord created time. Within time, the moment occurred when Jesus took on flesh. He went from existing as spirit to have a body, He identified with us, His creation. With a body, we identify our humanity in Him, as our Savior, Beloved, friend, and brother.

Jesus humbled Himself by changing the place of His existence. Before time, Jesus existed in the heavenly realm of the universe itself. He went from being surrounded by majesty and glory, to the confines and limitations of a womb for nine months. He was flesh, surrounded by flesh. Although I do not know what His cognitive capacities were, Jesus’ cells, skin, organs, and bones developed as any other human baby in utero. Mary’s womb encompassed the One who would change the destiny for humankind.

Jesus humbled Himself by changing His independence. Consider that Jesus did not need to depend on anyone before the moment of His conception in the womb. Angelic beings surrounded Him. They worshipped and adored Jesus. Then, on that first Christmas, Jesus was born into a world where He was utterly dependent on Joseph and Mary. Jesus depended on nourishment from Mary. Jesus depended on the protection provided by Joseph. Jesus experienced the need for diapers. Ponder what had been before and the new reality for Jesus as a helpless baby.

As we approach Christmas, consider all the incredible changes Jesus embraced so we can call Him Beloved; so we can call the Father, Abba; so we can call the Holy Spirit comforter and friend. This Advent season, reflect on the three changes which Jesus experienced. How has Jesus changed the way you exist, where you exist, and your independence? Our Creator became a vulnerable baby so we could become the adult sons and daughters as intended by the Father from the beginning of time.

Sense of Well-Being

We make resolutions every New Year to exercise more, and some of us do. We try the new diets, and foods with organic or all-natural labels fly off the shelves. People love to care about health. But unfortunately, what falls to the wayside in that quest to be physically healthy is spiritual and emotional well-being. Too often we forget about our sense of being, or we believe there isn’t anything that can be done to change it.

Our sense of being radiates from an inner core of warmth, acceptance and connection. The child intuitively senses they are cherished and welcomed, creating a sense of peace. I am simply loved for who I am, not for what I do.

The sense of being thus develops through rootedness in the life of another. In this early stage of life, I cannot differentiate myself from Mother. Mother and I are one; Mother is my life. Intuitively I gain an inner sense of security through her love.

Your sense of being is the foundation on which your capacity to relate to others is built. Well-being – your capacity to know you are okay – grows from this foundation as well. A good sense of well-being is one where I find contentment, peace and rest derived simply from knowing I am God’s daughter or son.

How secure and loved did you feel early in your life? Healthy relationship and connection with our mothers increased our capacity for later separation from her. Confidence built on the security we experience with her increases our capacity to become independent and trust others.

In this same way, our early experiences also build confidence in who we are – our growing healthy sense of self.

A solid, inner sense of self influences how we later receive and extend love. Having a good sense of being and well-being enables us to enter into community.

Question for you: What are some moments from your childhood, whether good or bad, which you know helped to form your confidence and sense of well-being?

Note: This post is an excerpt from Bob Ragan’s Path Through the Wilderness, a program which began on October 4th in Northern VA and will begin on October 18th in the Greater Baltimore area. This program is intended for all men and women seeking healing and restoration from relational or sexual brokenness.

Revealing Shame

On the surface, shame can be seen as a tool which can keep us aware of our manners, our surroundings, our volume levels. There are those who will say that shameless people are the people who are brash, hasty, impulsive, or loud, and that a healthy dose of shame is what keeps each person a diplomatic member of our society. Any disobedient child who ran across the street without looking or said something inappropriate at the dinner table heard “shame on you!” – not as an ill wish, but because the parent knows that his or her child must grow to be more mindful and polite.

This is all well and good on a superficial level, but when it is cultivated and nurtured in our spiritual life, shame can be detrimental to both our hearts and our souls.

Shame is a uniquely personal experience. Our temperaments and life experiences result in varying reactions to shame. For one individual, a particular event may result in only momentary concern. For another, the same event has a deeper impact, due to internalization, and becomes toxic over time.

Having lived for many years with internalized shame, we may be unaware of its influence. It can be subtle and unconscious. Other emotions like anger, self-hatred, or envy can keep shame hidden, covering it in our depths. We need the presence of the Holy Spirit to reveal our core of shame, bringing it out of the shadows into His marvelous light.

How aware are you of shame in your life?

Shame gives my experiences the power and authority to define my self-worth. In these situations, feelings of inadequacy and not having what it takes, shift my focus inward, with condemnation reinforcing my core of shame.

Shame hinders our capacity to develop healthy attachments with God and others. Our masks keep God and others at a distance. The greater that distance, the more we are alone. As relational beings, shame sabotages our capacity for being known. Shame limits and destroys community. It imprisons us in isolation.

God wants us to bring our shame and deficits into His light. He searched for Adam and Eve, fully aware of their disobedience and where they were hiding. He asked the first recorded question spoken to mankind, “Where are you?” Likewise, God searches for us, wanting us to welcome Him into the very places we keep hidden from Him. However, we wear many identity labels, based on our faulty beliefs and brokenness, and we avoid His healing presence and touch.

God longs to inhabit us with His truth wherever the lies of shame limit and constrain us. But we must deal with shame directly and not merely try to manage it. Forgiveness is a necessary component, therefore, in processing those wounds. We must also address the faulty beliefs and attitudes of the heart that keep us locked in the grip of shame.

Question for you: What or who do you need to forgive this week to process what shame you may have in your heart?

Regeneration is here to help you work through your shame, as God searches for you to bring your shame into his healing light.

This post is an excerpt from Bob Ragan’s Path Through the Wilderness, a program beginning on October 4th in Northern VA and on October 18th in the Greater Baltimore area. This program is intended for all men and women seeking healing and restoration from relational or sexual brokenness.

The Reality Of Desire

“Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, ‘What are you seeking?'” ~John 1:38

Do you know what you want? For what do you wish? What do you seek? Each human being, every day of their life, wrestles in some way, shape or form with desire. As human beings, made in the image of God, the pull of desire is built into us, it is part of our DNA. Because desire is God-given, we can know that intrinsically, desire is good.

At our core is the desire for true intimacy. God, Himself, imparted this ever-present, inmost desire: to know and be known by God and by others. I want to delve more deeply into desire itself, how sin has distorted it, and more importantly, how God is redeeming it.

The Latin root word for desire—meaning love, wish, longing, passion—is the word “cupido.” Picture that winged, cherub looking, arrow shooting Roman god that we see on Valentine’s Day. It’s an archer’s term which implies to aim at something. Our desire always has a focal point, a target where we aim our arrows.

In his book The Awakened Heart, author Gerald May well articulates human desire. “There is a desire within each of us, in the deep center of ourselves that we call our heart. We are born with it, it is never completely satisfied, and it never dies. We are often unaware of it, but it is always awake…our true identity, our reason for being, is to be found in this desire.”

Our desires matter because we matter to God! Unfortunately, as broken people, we often aim at the wrong target. We, through active disobedience or mistaken belief, will pursue something we think will help us fulfill our desire. It is a practiced behavior many of us repeat multiple times as we move from target to target. These targets can be anything be it a relationship, education, success, reputation, or work. Superimpose anything which might bring you fulfillment or make you feel complete.

Going back to our Roman friend Cupid, we learn that the Greek counterpart was the god Eros. The word eros is one of four Greek words that can be rendered into the English word “love” or “desire.” Our culture today often associates eros with sex. We have become a “sexualized culture,” being daily bombarded with various sexual messages and images. But eros is not merely associated with sexual activity–it also implies of being passionately alive, and the love of beauty.

To be passionately alive, we need to use all of our senses. Through our senses, we have the opportunity to take in the incredible beauty and wonder of God’s creation. When we experience the world in this way, I believe we encounter deep yearnings for God Himself.

Eros exposes our inner ache and desire for connection, for completion. We know inherently that we are incomplete, that there is a deep hole within us that is longing to be filled. Augustine writes that “(the) whole life of the good Christian is a holy longing.” We long to know and be known. Augustine also wrote, “The single desire that dominated my search for delight was simply to love and to be loved.” We desire to be in relationship with our Creator. Our desire ultimately is for a person.

Our Desire is Broken

Have you noticed human beings are incredibly “I” focused? Our default setting is to look at ourselves rather than look to God. True relationship with God has been relegated to the side. It might be useful to us when we need help, but otherwise, we think we can do fine on our own.

Look around, and you will observe humanity’s pursuit towards things which meet immediate needs, whether they be physical, sexual, emotional or spiritual. People settle for instant gratification and are content with the earthly and finite, not recognizing the reality of their true desire within. There are those who even suppress the desire for true intimacy out of fear. The deep desire God has planted in our hearts is ever present and while we may settle for the temporal (which evokes feelings of being okay), soon the ache of desire surfaces again.

Aiming at wrong targets accentuates this ache and our inner sense of incompleteness. There are two broken ways to react when desire is unfulfilled. This can result in a person embracing what is known as stoicism or becoming a sensualist.

Author John Eldredge in his book The Journey of Desire, states, “The reason we don’t know what we want is that we are so unacquainted with our desire. We try to keep a safe distance between our daily lives and our heart’s desire because it causes us so much trouble. Often fearing what we might do if passions are allowed to arise, we clamp down, shutting them down. In so doing we kill our most precious possession, our hearts.” Desire is at the core of our humanity, and it cannot be ignored or eliminated through our efforts.

One reaction to desire is to bury it and become a stoic. I’m going to shut down all desire, the good with the bad. To embrace stoicism is to embrace legalism and control. The trajectory of our “arrow” is to repress all emotions and desires, believing they are destructive. Scripture is diminished into a set of do’s and don’ts, seek moral restraint and embrace religion. A stoic loses true intimacy with God and others because they seek to avoid the pain of desire. Ultimately, relationship with God, who is the Creator of desire, is lost.

The sensualist is one who does not avoid the pain of desire, but rather becomes abandoned to it. It is excessive. This condition begins the process of becoming enslaved to desire in the form of addictions. There is a rabid consumption of the immediate and the finite, which never results in complete satisfaction. Our inner ache now becomes exacerbated due to the lack of being fulfilled.

Jeremiah chapter 2 describes how we can become like a wild donkey in the desert running after our idols. Nothing can stop it because it is ravenous. This is an apt description of the sensualist. Initially, they think they can stop and reign in their desires, but there is no self-control, no stopping their lusts. In reality, satisfaction is never gained, just the mere momentary displacement of the inner ache of desire.

In both cases, we see the divinely-inspired desire for true intimacy completely lost. In his book Fill These Hearts, Christopher West states, “Behind every false god we discover our desire for the true God gone awry.” Escaping into false intimacy accentuates our longing and creates a constant trigger for addictive behaviors. These addictive attachments may even appear to be acceptable (e.g., perfectionism, workaholic, religious fervor) but they all are displacing the pain of desire.

Our Desire is Redeemed

“Thou has made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”

~St. Augustine, Confessions

I stated earlier while we have many desires, ultimately our chief desire is for a person. That person is Jesus. God knows us, and we know God ourselves through the person of Jesus. If we respond to the person of Jesus, we enter into holy communion with God Himself.

The Holy Spirit comes to live within us. As He works in us through the process of repentance and sanctification, we begin to experience transformation. Galatians 5:22-23 lists the fruits of the Spirit that begin to manifest in our lives. Love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…these attributes help keep us from becoming stoics, which kills the heart and also keeps us from becoming ensnared in sensuality.

The third option in response to desire is to become sojourners, strangers in a strange land. We learn how not to indulge in excess but how to experience joy derived from finding expressions of true intimacy. We do not objectify individuals nor view God’s creation as something solely for our consumption. Our view is elevated from the finite to the infinite.

As redeemed people, we become transfixed by the deep love of God. We enter an ever more intimate union with Jesus our Beloved. This occurs as our earthly desires line up with God’s desires. I know this sounds so “spiritual”, but we are spiritual beings! I am alive, living and enjoying life in this temporal world while living in the light of a divine and eternal reality.

Being Real

Early in my life, I sought every resource imaginable to help me control desire. I have been caught in the restless activism of the stoic. I also was the sensual addict and was ensnared for 17 years in pornography addiction. But today I am redeemed. I can still slip into the stoic behavior at times through perfectionism. I can also slide in the sensualist mode, being too emotionally self-aware or over delighting in food.

I intentionally pursue my beloved Savior, seeking His presence to assuage any loneliness and incompleteness. I pray for the Holy Spirit to line up my desires and my passions with those of the Father. I seek how I can be the Image bearer of Jesus in a world lost in sensuality and egotism. And I am ever mindful of God’s many promises and am confident of this—that He who begun a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

Rev. Bob Ragan is the full-time director of Regeneration of Northern Virginia. Bob provides spiritual direction, healing prayer, and coordinates support groups in the DC metro area. He has ministered on five continents and is an invited lecturer for the C.S. Lewis Institute and YWAM (Youth with a Mission). Bob is the published author of Path through the Wilderness and is an ordained deacon in the Anglican Church.

Sexual Sin and Self-Sufficiency

Overcoming life-dominating sinful behaviors often begin with a crisis of truth. Everyone who struggles with sexual sin or any other kind of pervasive sinful behavior will have such a moment in their lives when they will be faced with the truth of God’s word and the resulting decision(s) they make in the face of that truth.

When we choose to follow God through the saving grace of His son Jesus, we are making a choice to choose life in every challenge we face. His word provides the biblical principles on which we are to live our lives. Once we accept that truth, we then embark on the second part of our journey: the journey of sanctification. Sanctification is choosing to live radically by biblical principles rather than our broken preferences. Sanctification is an inward spiritual process whereby we die to all which is false, to that which limits our becoming the men and women we were created to be. This change is wrought by the deep working of the Holy Spirit.

The process of sanctification does not stop once we are saved, but it continues throughout a Christian’s life. Even though we are now children of God, we will continue to behave and struggle inwardly in ways that are contrary to His truth. Paul best describes this struggle in Galatians 5:17: “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish.”

Sin that dominates our lives may continue for a period because dying to it is not an easy or pain-free process. All too often we try to maintain control, so our journey is as pain-free as possible. We often still believe the lies of the enemy that we can be self-sufficient and in control; that we do not need to be dependent on anyone but ourselves.

The obstacle of self-sufficiency

Addressing these life-dominating issues requires the recognition that we cannot overcome them by self-sufficiency. Many individuals contact Regeneration NoVA because they have come to the end of their own resources. Coming to this realization doesn’t necessarily mean they have come to the end of their own self-sufficiency. In our own self-sufficiency, we often attempt to change through behavior modification, but true freedom can only be achieved by yielding our complete control and obedience to Jesus and making Him truly Lord, not just our Savior – there is a difference!

Achieving sexual integrity cannot be done apart from Jesus’ strength. Many attempt change through legalism and attempting to “clean up” their outward flesh patterns. At the end of Colossians chapter 2, Paul asks why since we have died with Christ, do we put ourselves under the law again. Behavioral change through a law of “do nots”lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence (Col 2:23). So often the initial goal is to stop addictive behaviors, but behavioral change is only an aspect of our process.

Lasting change ultimately requires focussing on the heart rather than mere behavioral change. In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees were the quintessential perfectionists of the flesh but missed the perfecting of their hearts. They were proud of their outward appearance and sobriety record, but inwardly they were like empty tombs. If our trust is placed in our sobriety and outward actions, at some point, we will fail, and when we fail, we often turned inward with self-hatred. If our trust has been in our attempts to be self-sufficient, when we turn inward we will only see an empty tomb.

But if our righteousness is based solely on Jesus and not our record, when we turn inward we will see His face looking back at us. The overcoming of my 17-year addiction to pornography and masturbation finally occurred when I stopped keeping a record of my own perceived strength of will and shifted my focus to building intimacy with Jesus. Jesus was after my heart and not my behaviors. When He had my heart, my behaviors began to change.

Choosing not to engage in certain behaviors is only a precondition for becoming the men or women we were destined to be. If we use behavior as an indicator of success, we lose our focus (see Col 3:1-2) and set ourselves up for failure. Change based on performance is usually driven by the flesh rather than the heart. When we change our focus from outward to inward, our process becomes more intense. We will experience increased struggle as we stop avoiding or pacifying our pain through the use of our addictions. As it becomes more difficult, as we continually struggle with sin and our obedience to God, we experience sanctification at work. Dying to the flesh means we will have to choose between escape through the familiar or to stay present to our pain inviting Jesus into it. In choosing the more difficult path, we begin to experience the reality of the sanctification process in which the result will be a lasting change.

God is not after a morally restrained heart

There are many moral people in this world who do not know Jesus and His saving work on the cross. But the pursuit of merely having a morally restrained heart will ultimately fail and when failure happens it is easy to blame shift—either God, the Church, counselor, recovery group, or ministry where we went to for help has failed us. God desires our hearts and behaviors to be changed supernaturally by the work of His hand. This process requires perseverance and perseverance occurs after there has been a commitment to face our struggles and a calling upon the Holy Spirit to aid us. All too often we want the best results with the least amount of effort or struggle, and we want it now. However, God in His sovereignty has told us that His plans, purposes, and timing are perfect.

God does not guarantee that temptations will never return, but often this is an expectation. He does guarantee, however, that temptation will not have the power to overcome us. (I Cor. 10:13) The temptations Jesus experienced did not define Him nor does the “type” of temptation we experience define us.

Our brain may automatically turn to the drug of choice we used in our past to escape so that when we are at a point of vulnerability, we may be tempted to use old patterns. It can appear we have not “changed,” but in reality, this is a common reaction based upon years of repeated behaviors which have established neural pathways. Jesus can renew our minds which I firmly believe also applies to the cellular level (Mark 10:27) and is part of His healing work in us.

For some, to continue to struggle or face temptations over and over is equated as a failure. We need to understand that the process of sanctification has nothing to do with living in sinless perfection. The Bible tells us in 1 John 1:8 that we will never be sinless in this life: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Dying to sin is a slow process but one which will eventually produce perseverance with the Holy Spirit’s empowering.

There will always be struggles and a continued need for dependency on Godly inspired strength to persevere. Those who do not continue to grow in their dependency on God cannot make the long journey of sanctification. It is easy to believe the lie that we do not need God and can be self-sufficient. It is easy to point fingers of accusation toward others to justify our sinful choices. We must resolve to remain steadfast without placing demands on Him and trust that “He who began a good work in [us] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 1:6)

On more than one occasion in my life, the Lord has asked me, “Bob will you continue to follow me even if I do not bring desired changes in your life?” We see that St. Paul’s affliction, his thorn in the flesh, was never healed but this did not lessen his commitment to God. (2 Cor. 12:7-10) Rather, he rejoiced in his weakness because in it Christ’s power shone through. Our choice to follow Jesus must be without strings attached.

For me, I realized I had to yield up the right to be pure. This may sound strange, but as long as I was trying to achieve purity (i.e., track record) in my strength, I was not resting in the truth that Jesus alone is my purity. My part is to walk in obedience to His will. I know I am capable of slipping into sin as I continue in my walk. However, my personhood, my identity does not wear the label “sinner.” My spirit (the core of my identity) has been sanctified, and I am now a “saint,” a new creation, who has the capacity to sin rather than a “sinner” who occasionally can be a saint. My purity is the result of my identification with Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, not based on my performance.

Our struggles are all the same

My struggle is no different than anyone else’s. We live in a sinful and broken world. We all struggle with brokenness in our lives, with our desire to be self-sufficient and in control. Our root issues of sin are all the same. The outward expression of our brokenness may differ, but underneath it, we all have places of need. We all have unmet love needs, a deep longing for healthy intimacy (to know and be known) and wrestle with differing aspects of shame. However, being in need does not make one “needy.” This is just another label we can sometimes wear.

Focusing solely on our behavior keeps us on the surface, and will not result in lasting change. We must identify the deeper areas, naming what is killing us and holding us prisoners. We must allow God to heal our heart first and foremost and then we can progress on our journey of hope and transformation. It may be long, and it most assuredly will be fraught with struggle, but just as with the Israelites in the Old Testament, our God is always faithful and will never leave us nor forsake us. (Deut. 31:8)

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thess. 5:23

Reflecting Jesus to LGBT Friends

Bob Ragan and Kyle Bowman share their thoughts about reflecting Jesus’ grace and truth to LGBT friends and neighbors.

Be One Who Illuminates

Bob Ragan is the director of Regeneration’s Northern Virginia office and is an ordained deacon in the Anglican church. He graciously wrote this week’s post for us. If you live in the DC Metro Area, please consider joining Bob for Into His Marvelous Light, our annual Sweet and Savory Fundraiser. You can learn more or register here.

A few weeks ago, I had surgery performed in my left eye. There were two conditions needing correction, which obstructed my vision: a cataract and massive floaters. It felt like I was looking through a lightly fogged windshield with the presence of continually swirling objects. I could function normally except when I had to read. It was difficult to do so, especially in a dimly lit room.

When reading, I experienced a diminished capacity to absorb the content because I was distracted by the “fog” on the lens of my eye. My attention kept shifting from the content of the writing to simply attempting to identify the words. I needed the presence of a stronger light to illuminate the words, which then allowed my mind to freely absorb the content.

For decades, the vision of our culture has diminished. It has developed cataracts resulting in a continual loss of clarity regarding God’s design for His creation.

Like massive floaters, secular thinking obstructs an already clouded vision, further blocking the capacity to see and discern aright.

We know the world needs correction to see with clarity, but it is refusing the required surgery. It gets lost in attempting to identify words like gender, sexuality, and intimacy. Attention focuses on words, categories, and labels. In its dimly lit room, the world needs a bright light.

God has called us “out of darkness into His wonderful light” (2 Peter 2:9). He brought the light we needed to illuminate His word. Then, that light became part of who we are, because we received the Light, Jesus Himself. We are “children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:5). We can bring the light needed to free the world from trying to identify “words” and begin to embrace the content of God.

The world is starving for the truth of God’s intent for His creation. It is mired in false intimacy, believing it is satisfied. However, the original desire for true intimacy, to know and be known, remains as an unfulfilled ache. What it thinks is meeting its need is only further exacerbating it.

This is the message that consumes my calling. We are to be God’s light, which frees others to grasp the reality that only true intimacy, with God and community, will assuage the ache within. We are the vessels which God uses to bring others into His marvelous light.

In Christ’s name,
Bob

P.S. Last summer, we asked our college intern to write a few posts about her experience as a young woman wrestling with issues of identity and intimacy as a Christ-follower today. Here’s her third installment. Her voice is one of many among college-aged women longing for something more, deeper, and more life-giving. If you or someone you love is a college-aged woman, please join us for more on May 4 for One:One!

Path Through The Wilderness

Path Through The Wilderness, authored by Regeneration’s Northern Virgina Director, Rev. Bob Ragan, offers a fresh approach to help you experience the love, peace and freedom you desire.

We want to be loved and to love well. And we each experience competing and conflicting desires, some that move us toward the life we want, and some that point us away from that life. We can also face overwhelming challenges and painful experiences. Sometimes, all this is too much to sort through alone. We need the help of Christ working within a safe and sacred community of others on similar journeys.

Rev. Bob Ragan has over 25 years of experience helping men and women embrace Jesus where they need Him most. Bob and a team of seasoned associates in ministry have worked passionately to develop this new program to help you connect deeply with the Lord and experience the transformation you long for.

Click below for more information and to register…

Path Through The Wilderness
For men and women
Cost $475
Northern Virginia only
7:00 – 10:00 pm, Thursdays from October 20 through May 6 (26 weeks)