The following (except my comments between in italics) are excerpts from Jim Palmer’s book, Wide Open Spaces (Thomas Nelson, 2007). Definitely worth reading.
There was a time when I would have said that only twice had someone been born with a perfect min, never to repeat itself again: the first being Adam and the last, Jesus of Nazareth. Now I see that Adam and Jesus are meant to represent two choices. Adam set into motion the process that corrupted the mind, and we all see where that led and what that looks like. But Jesus cam and initiated a new way. Jesus demonstrated a new kind of human, a God-kind of human, a human being rewired with the neural pathways of Truth. Jesus was offering the possibility of a new way when he said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
We’ve all seen the unsettling antidrug commercials, “This is your brain on drugs,” showing teens doing something destructive to themselves or others while high. Adam’s message is, “This is your brain on lies.” A look back through human history reveals the destructive things the “brain on lies” has led us to do to others and ourselves. Jesus is born into the world and says, “This is a brain on truth.” Then he demonstrates what it looks like with his life.
(68-69)
The cross of Jesus Christ was meant to drive the following message into the heart of humankind: God loves you and you are forgiven. We know this is our heads, but it still doesn’t change us. Why? Because knowing about it isn’t enough. The love and forgiveness of God has to get inside of us; we must deeply internalize the love and forgiveness of God in order for there to be any true change. This is one reason “Christ in us” is our hope; the experience of God’s love and forgiveness become real inside through Christ.
(73)
I used to think the key for living the Christian life was transferring what I knew up in my head down to my heart. Now I see it’s the reverse: getting what has been deposited into my heart up into my head. The Spirit of Christ inside tells me I am forgiven, loved, and a precious child of God. I’ve got to allow this truth to transform and renew my mind. God’s love progressively sets me free to function with the mind of Christ.
(74)
Jesus taught that metanoia (repent) was necessary for entering the kingdom of God. In fact, Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). In other words, the kingdom of God is God and everything that derives from him – life, love, joy, peace, grace, goodness, compassion, and freedom. When you repent – change your mind and switch over to the Christ operating system – you become aware of those spiritual realities inside you as well. As you experience these within you, they progressively become what you are in the world, and the kingdom of God becomes a reality “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
(75)
There’s this river. For years I walked its banks and from time to time I would go to the edge and peer into the water to see a reflection of myself. A stupid, ugly, worthless little kid looked back at me and I walked away from the water hurting inside. That useless kid was never going to invent, imagine, heal, explore, create, or inspire. I said to myself, “Yes, I am stupid, ugly, and worthless.”
One day Christ took my hand and led me back to the water’s edge. He said, Look, Jim. I gazed into the water and surprisingly saw someone different: a magnificent, loved, accepted, and powerful man. I said to myself, “This can’t be me.” Then suddenly I realized I was not looking into that same old river. I was now looking into the eyes of God and seeing a reflection of myself in the pupil of his eye. The reflection was the “me” God was seeing in his mind.
At some point you’ve just got to grow up and become who you really are. It’s not a matter of figuring out “what would Jesus do?” but living your identity in and as Christ. Now I know the truth. I have become crazy enough to think I can change the world. What’s stopping me? I’ve been reprogrammed as Christ. That rebel from Nazareth is now me.
(77-78)
I also enjoyed Palmer’s insights into how his perspectives are changing. Consider the following statements. Compare the pairs. Which is true for you?
God is up in the sky.
God dwells within me.
I go to church to meet with God.
God’s presence is inside of me.
Christianity is me trying to be like Christ.
Christianity is Christ’s life in and as me.
The benefit of knowing God is the love, joy, and peace God brings into the circumstances of my life.
God inside me is my love, joy, and peace.
Pastors, leaders, teachers guide, teach and train me.
The indwelling Spirit is my primary teacher.
Changing my behavior is the goal.
A new mind and heart is what God provides.
People are as they appear in their physical human identity.
What’s most true about a person is his or her invisible spiritual identity.
The kingdom of God will one day come down onto earth.
The kingdom of God exists now within me.
(adapted from pages 81-82)
One other list of comparison statements for you to consider. Which holds true for you? As you read, do not allow the world’s definition of love (self-centered, based on feelings alone) to hinder you from wrestling with these statements. See love defined as how God has defined it – most clearly seen in the gift and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
God is synonymous with religion.
God is synonymous with love.
Christianity is a belief system.
Christianity is a school of love carried out in apprenticeship to Christ.
God hates sin because it disgusts him.
God’s motive for hating sin is love. Sin causes hurt and suffering for me and others.
I primarily experience God through religious rituals and acts of obedience.
When I am experiencing love, I am experiencing God.
Christian living is trying harder to be more and do more.
Christian living is an overflow of God’s love in me.
My source of love is outside myself and I’m dependent on others to supply it.
My source of love is within me, and while I enjoy the love of others, I’m not dependent on it and can freely love others without expectation of receiving love in return.
I am created in God’s image, which means I have the capacity to make rational choices and exercise my free will.
I am created in the image of perfect love, which means love is the core of my identity and I can choose love.
The main thing is getting people to adopt my beliefs about God.
Loving people creates desire within them to know God.
Somewhere out there is God’s purpose for my life, and I must find it.
At every moment, God’s purpose for me is to be love.
Being “in love” is some temporary euphoric guy-meets-girl experience.
Being “in love” is walking in the conscious awareness of and being dependent on God’s love in me and as me.
Tough love is withholding love from others as a means of disapproval or attempt to bring change.
Tough love is loving others without condition, regardless of the result.
The most powerful force on earth is hate.
The most powerful force on earth is love.
(adapted from pages 181-183)
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Subtle Opposition
The Israelites faced immediate opposition when they laid the foundation of the temple. It was immediate and it was ongoing throughout the construction of the temple and the walls of Jerusalem. Opposition is inevitable. But often opposition comes in our lives in such subtle ways. We often don’t see it as opposition.
Oppose means to offer resistance to – to get in the way.
Opposition will always exist when we follow Jesus. The Bible says in Ephesians 6:12 that
. . . our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
We in the Reformed tradition don’t often spend time talking about spiritual warfare or even acknowledging the powers of darkness. But they are real and they are seeking to oppose your pursuit of Jesus Christ. They will do anything they can to keep you off track and focused on anything else.
And often they are very subtle yet very effective. Here are a few examples of subtle opposition.
- You are “drawn” to the TV to be entertained and distracted from what is really important in life.
- Your alarm goes off so you can get up and pray, but your mind tells you to get your sleep instead.
- Your marriage is struggling and you dwell on the faults of the other person. “It’s his/her fault.”
- You make the purchase of something you don’t need because your desire is so strong.
- You judge others to avoid honestly assessing yourself.
- You don’t join a small group or are unwilling to meet new people because you are uncomfortable.
- You lie because it’s easier to tell the truth.
- You exaggerate because you care too much about what other’s think.
- You don’t pray because you haven’t prayed.
- You don’t invite a friend or co-worker to church or over to your house because you care more about what they might think of you than you do about their place with God.
Think for a moment about the power behind your desires/wants. Think about the control they so often have in your life. The force and power are real. They impact you in significant ways. Who or what is behind them? Why do they hold so much power over you? (The easy answer is they tell us to do what we want to do.)
That’s why the text in Ephesians continues with important words of encouragement. The battle is real. Our enemy is strong and crafty. The darkness knows your weaknesses and will do everything it can to keep you from following God.
Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.
Ephesians 6:13-18
The attacks of the darkness often come from the back. They come in unexpected places and in subtle ways. But know they are attacks. They seek to keep you distracted, complacent, and self-focused.
Stand firm on the foundation and power of Jesus Christ. There is no darkness in Him.
Oppose means to offer resistance to – to get in the way.
Opposition will always exist when we follow Jesus. The Bible says in Ephesians 6:12 that
. . . our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
We in the Reformed tradition don’t often spend time talking about spiritual warfare or even acknowledging the powers of darkness. But they are real and they are seeking to oppose your pursuit of Jesus Christ. They will do anything they can to keep you off track and focused on anything else.
And often they are very subtle yet very effective. Here are a few examples of subtle opposition.
- You are “drawn” to the TV to be entertained and distracted from what is really important in life.
- Your alarm goes off so you can get up and pray, but your mind tells you to get your sleep instead.
- Your marriage is struggling and you dwell on the faults of the other person. “It’s his/her fault.”
- You make the purchase of something you don’t need because your desire is so strong.
- You judge others to avoid honestly assessing yourself.
- You don’t join a small group or are unwilling to meet new people because you are uncomfortable.
- You lie because it’s easier to tell the truth.
- You exaggerate because you care too much about what other’s think.
- You don’t pray because you haven’t prayed.
- You don’t invite a friend or co-worker to church or over to your house because you care more about what they might think of you than you do about their place with God.
Think for a moment about the power behind your desires/wants. Think about the control they so often have in your life. The force and power are real. They impact you in significant ways. Who or what is behind them? Why do they hold so much power over you? (The easy answer is they tell us to do what we want to do.)
That’s why the text in Ephesians continues with important words of encouragement. The battle is real. Our enemy is strong and crafty. The darkness knows your weaknesses and will do everything it can to keep you from following God.
Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.
Ephesians 6:13-18
The attacks of the darkness often come from the back. They come in unexpected places and in subtle ways. But know they are attacks. They seek to keep you distracted, complacent, and self-focused.
Stand firm on the foundation and power of Jesus Christ. There is no darkness in Him.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Foundations
Do you remember Lincoln Logs? Did they offer hours of enjoyment to you, too?
We have some. It’s part of the blessing of having a child – toys. We have toys. And sometimes the classics are classics for a reason. They are fun to play with. They let you create. There are more possibilities than you can imagine when you have a big pile of Lincoln Logs before you.
John received Lincoln Logs last year for Christmas. But they were different than the big box of Lincoln Logs I remember as a child. These had diagrams and instructions. There were people and train tracks. It wasn’t just a free for all. Every piece had a place and was well-diagramed on helpful instructions with pictures.
I was a little disappointed. I just had to follow the instructions. It wasn’t a blank slate. There were pictures on the container, and I was requested (a kind term for John’s input) to build exactly what I saw on the pictures. So I did. And WA – LA, we had four buildings, a train track – our own little dusty town of the west. The instructions worked. When I followed them, I ended up with the picture on the box.
It’s tempting to make this simple analogy to Scripture. It’s tempting to say if we just follow God’s simple instructions, WA – LA, life is good and everything turns out for the best. I think in general, the analogy holds true, but I want to focus on something a little more specific in helping our lives turn out as God desires. Note, I did not say how you or I desire. I said how God desires.
The instructions were helpful because they helped me establish a solid base for each of the different buildings I was instructed to build. The foundations were solid. I was able to put the right amount of little pieces on top of the big pieces, which enabled doorways and windows to be formed and not compromise the building’s structural support. I know I’m using big terms for some not near as handy as me, but I’ll keep it simple in the future.
The foundation matters. If you have no foundation or your foundation is weak, you are in trouble. It’s true for Lincoln Logs. It’s true for homes. It’s true for life.
What are the foundations of your life? What have you based your life on? How have they helped you (or not) weather the storms of life and the successes? (By the way, no Lincoln Log structure can weather the storm of a determined four-year old longing for destruction.)
Storms inevitably reveal the foundations. We see what matters. We see a lot about ourselves when the storms come. So do successes – how we handle success also reveals our foundations.
Someone you love dies unexpectedly – where do you turn?
You lose your job – where do you turn?
You are asked to lie to help someone out – where do you turn?
Someone praises you for a job well done – where do you turn?
You receive an unexpected financial gain – where do you turn?
You are experiencing a struggle with self-worth – where do you turn?
You are treated poorly by someone you love – where do you turn?
You are complimented for your caring personality and generosity – where do you turn?
You see again the incredible pain and suffering of others – where do you turn?
What have you based your life on? Dig deep. What are the foundations of your life? What is really holding you up?
We have some. It’s part of the blessing of having a child – toys. We have toys. And sometimes the classics are classics for a reason. They are fun to play with. They let you create. There are more possibilities than you can imagine when you have a big pile of Lincoln Logs before you.
John received Lincoln Logs last year for Christmas. But they were different than the big box of Lincoln Logs I remember as a child. These had diagrams and instructions. There were people and train tracks. It wasn’t just a free for all. Every piece had a place and was well-diagramed on helpful instructions with pictures.
I was a little disappointed. I just had to follow the instructions. It wasn’t a blank slate. There were pictures on the container, and I was requested (a kind term for John’s input) to build exactly what I saw on the pictures. So I did. And WA – LA, we had four buildings, a train track – our own little dusty town of the west. The instructions worked. When I followed them, I ended up with the picture on the box.
It’s tempting to make this simple analogy to Scripture. It’s tempting to say if we just follow God’s simple instructions, WA – LA, life is good and everything turns out for the best. I think in general, the analogy holds true, but I want to focus on something a little more specific in helping our lives turn out as God desires. Note, I did not say how you or I desire. I said how God desires.
The instructions were helpful because they helped me establish a solid base for each of the different buildings I was instructed to build. The foundations were solid. I was able to put the right amount of little pieces on top of the big pieces, which enabled doorways and windows to be formed and not compromise the building’s structural support. I know I’m using big terms for some not near as handy as me, but I’ll keep it simple in the future.
The foundation matters. If you have no foundation or your foundation is weak, you are in trouble. It’s true for Lincoln Logs. It’s true for homes. It’s true for life.
What are the foundations of your life? What have you based your life on? How have they helped you (or not) weather the storms of life and the successes? (By the way, no Lincoln Log structure can weather the storm of a determined four-year old longing for destruction.)
Storms inevitably reveal the foundations. We see what matters. We see a lot about ourselves when the storms come. So do successes – how we handle success also reveals our foundations.
Someone you love dies unexpectedly – where do you turn?
You lose your job – where do you turn?
You are asked to lie to help someone out – where do you turn?
Someone praises you for a job well done – where do you turn?
You receive an unexpected financial gain – where do you turn?
You are experiencing a struggle with self-worth – where do you turn?
You are treated poorly by someone you love – where do you turn?
You are complimented for your caring personality and generosity – where do you turn?
You see again the incredible pain and suffering of others – where do you turn?
What have you based your life on? Dig deep. What are the foundations of your life? What is really holding you up?
Relationship with Creation - Berry & Wirzba
I thought it would be helpful to share a few words from Norman Wirzba & Wendell Berry’s book, The Art of Commonplace (Shoemaker & Hoard, 2003), as we consider the gift of creation and our role within it. All of the following quotes come from this book.
Though more of us than ever before live a life of luxury and ease, fewer of us can claim that our lives are permeated with peace and joy. The frantic, stressful striving going on all around us indicates that we are profoundly lost. We seem unable to ask with any seriousness or depth the question of what all our striving is ultimately for. . . the source of help cannot come from within ourselves for “it is not from ourselves that we will learn to be better than we are” . . . Our fundamental mission is that we have presumed to be the authors of ourselves and our destinies, and thus have forgotten or denied that we are a part of “a great coauthorship in which we are all collaborating with God and with nature in the making of ourselves and one another.” We can only become what we truly are by acknowledging that we do not exist by, from, and for ourselves. . . Once we have forgotten or denied our biological kinship with the earth and its inhabitants, it is hardly an accident that so much of human spiritual life is premised on an escape from rather than an affirmation of this life.” (ix)
We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. And this has been based on the even flimsier assumption that we could know with any certainty what was good even for us. We have fulfilled the danger of this by making our personal pride and greed the standard of our behavior toward the world – to the incalculable disadvantage of the world and every living thing in it. And now, perhaps very close to too late, our great error has become clear. It is not only our own creativity – our own capacity for life – that is stifled by our arrogant assumption; the creation itself is stifled. . . We must change our lives, so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. . . we must learn to acknowledge that the creation is full of mystery; we will never entirely understand it. We must abandon arrogance and stand in awe. We must recover the sense of the majesty of creation, and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. For I do not doubt that it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it. (20)
The divine mandate to use the world justly and charitably, then, defines every person’s moral predicament as that of a steward. But this predicament is hopeless and meaningless unless it produces an appropriate discipline: stewardship. And stewardship is hopeless and meaningless unless it involves long-term courage, perseverance, devotion, and skill. This skill is not to be confused with any accomplishment or grace of spirit or of intellect. It has to do with everyday proprieties in the practical use and care of created things – with “right livelihood.” (299)
To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of Creation. When we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament. When we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration. In such desecration we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness, and others to want. (304)
Though more of us than ever before live a life of luxury and ease, fewer of us can claim that our lives are permeated with peace and joy. The frantic, stressful striving going on all around us indicates that we are profoundly lost. We seem unable to ask with any seriousness or depth the question of what all our striving is ultimately for. . . the source of help cannot come from within ourselves for “it is not from ourselves that we will learn to be better than we are” . . . Our fundamental mission is that we have presumed to be the authors of ourselves and our destinies, and thus have forgotten or denied that we are a part of “a great coauthorship in which we are all collaborating with God and with nature in the making of ourselves and one another.” We can only become what we truly are by acknowledging that we do not exist by, from, and for ourselves. . . Once we have forgotten or denied our biological kinship with the earth and its inhabitants, it is hardly an accident that so much of human spiritual life is premised on an escape from rather than an affirmation of this life.” (ix)
We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. And this has been based on the even flimsier assumption that we could know with any certainty what was good even for us. We have fulfilled the danger of this by making our personal pride and greed the standard of our behavior toward the world – to the incalculable disadvantage of the world and every living thing in it. And now, perhaps very close to too late, our great error has become clear. It is not only our own creativity – our own capacity for life – that is stifled by our arrogant assumption; the creation itself is stifled. . . We must change our lives, so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. . . we must learn to acknowledge that the creation is full of mystery; we will never entirely understand it. We must abandon arrogance and stand in awe. We must recover the sense of the majesty of creation, and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. For I do not doubt that it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it. (20)
The divine mandate to use the world justly and charitably, then, defines every person’s moral predicament as that of a steward. But this predicament is hopeless and meaningless unless it produces an appropriate discipline: stewardship. And stewardship is hopeless and meaningless unless it involves long-term courage, perseverance, devotion, and skill. This skill is not to be confused with any accomplishment or grace of spirit or of intellect. It has to do with everyday proprieties in the practical use and care of created things – with “right livelihood.” (299)
To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of Creation. When we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament. When we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration. In such desecration we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness, and others to want. (304)
The Will of God part 2 - Sittser
Here are a few more excerpts from Jerry Sittser’s book, The Will of God as a Way of Life: How to Make Every Decision With Peace and Confidence. (Zondervan, 2004). This book was formerly called, Discovering God’s Will.
Facing a Past We Cannot Change
Regret usually involves our own bad choices; bitterness usually results from other people’s bad choices. It arises when we become acutely aware that we have been wronged. (116)
Bitter people have a certain logic on their side – the logic of victimization. Victims are quick to draw attention to the hurt done to them . . . But being right does not make a person happy. Bitter people might be right, but they are also lonely. (117-118)
What is done is done. Regret, bitterness, revenge – none of these can alter what has already happened. No matter how many times we say “if only,” regret cannot alter our past. No matter how bitterly we brood, blame, and accuse, the wrong done to us will remain as it is. (119)
The one who suffers the most from bitterness is the one who is bitter. What infection does to the human body, bitterness does to the soul. It consumes and destroys. The antibiotic used to treat the disease of bitterness is forgiveness.
Forgiveness never happens in a moment; sometimes it takes a lifetime. Yet it begins with a decision. We must want to forgive and then choose to forgive, even if we do not feel like forgiving.
. . . forgiving manifests a willingness to give up to God the right to judge and punish an offender, to see that person as a real human being, and to begin to wish him or her well. (122)
Thus, even when the relationship is not restored, because the offender doesn’t care, or continues to offend, or disappears, or even dies, forgiveness works redemption into the heart of the person who does the forgiving. The act of forgiveness becomes a conduit for God’s grace to work in that person. (123)
Preparing for the Future
There are at least two unhealthy ways to respond to a lack of certainty about our future: fear and worry. (132)
The secret to overcoming fear is not to deny or dismiss it but to order it properly. In other words, we should fear the right things. . .
As we fear God more, we will fear everything else less. . . Blaise Pascal wrote, “There is a virtuous fear which is the effect of faith, and a vicious fear which is the product of doubt and mistrust. The former leads to hope as relying on God, in whom we believe; the latter inclines to despair . . . Persons of the one character fear to lose God; those of the other character fear to find him.” (134)
Worry is different than fear. If fear is like a raging fever, worry is like a low-grade temperature. It nags us, simmers in our souls, hovers in the back of our minds like a faint memory. . . Worry distracts us more than paralyzes us. It is like a leaky faucet we never get around to fixing. (135)
Worry divides us against ourselves. When we worry about what is beyond our control, we devote less of ourselves to what we can control. Ironically, worry keeps us from exercising the one power we do have over our future – the power to prepare for it by how we live in the present. (137)
Facing a Past We Cannot Change
Regret usually involves our own bad choices; bitterness usually results from other people’s bad choices. It arises when we become acutely aware that we have been wronged. (116)
Bitter people have a certain logic on their side – the logic of victimization. Victims are quick to draw attention to the hurt done to them . . . But being right does not make a person happy. Bitter people might be right, but they are also lonely. (117-118)
What is done is done. Regret, bitterness, revenge – none of these can alter what has already happened. No matter how many times we say “if only,” regret cannot alter our past. No matter how bitterly we brood, blame, and accuse, the wrong done to us will remain as it is. (119)
The one who suffers the most from bitterness is the one who is bitter. What infection does to the human body, bitterness does to the soul. It consumes and destroys. The antibiotic used to treat the disease of bitterness is forgiveness.
Forgiveness never happens in a moment; sometimes it takes a lifetime. Yet it begins with a decision. We must want to forgive and then choose to forgive, even if we do not feel like forgiving.
. . . forgiving manifests a willingness to give up to God the right to judge and punish an offender, to see that person as a real human being, and to begin to wish him or her well. (122)
Thus, even when the relationship is not restored, because the offender doesn’t care, or continues to offend, or disappears, or even dies, forgiveness works redemption into the heart of the person who does the forgiving. The act of forgiveness becomes a conduit for God’s grace to work in that person. (123)
Preparing for the Future
There are at least two unhealthy ways to respond to a lack of certainty about our future: fear and worry. (132)
The secret to overcoming fear is not to deny or dismiss it but to order it properly. In other words, we should fear the right things. . .
As we fear God more, we will fear everything else less. . . Blaise Pascal wrote, “There is a virtuous fear which is the effect of faith, and a vicious fear which is the product of doubt and mistrust. The former leads to hope as relying on God, in whom we believe; the latter inclines to despair . . . Persons of the one character fear to lose God; those of the other character fear to find him.” (134)
Worry is different than fear. If fear is like a raging fever, worry is like a low-grade temperature. It nags us, simmers in our souls, hovers in the back of our minds like a faint memory. . . Worry distracts us more than paralyzes us. It is like a leaky faucet we never get around to fixing. (135)
Worry divides us against ourselves. When we worry about what is beyond our control, we devote less of ourselves to what we can control. Ironically, worry keeps us from exercising the one power we do have over our future – the power to prepare for it by how we live in the present. (137)
Monday, May 19, 2008
The Will of God - Sittser
I enjoyed Jerry Sittser’s book When God Doesn't Answer Your Prayer so much, I decided to read another. The following are excerpts from his book, The Will of God as a Way of Life: How to Make Every Decision With Peace and Confidence. (Zondervan, 2000). This book was formerly called, Discovering God’s Will.
I discovered that the Bible says very little about the will of God as a future pathway. Instead, the Bible warns us about anxiety and presumption concerning the future, assures us that God is in control, and commands us to do the will of God we already know in the present. (22)
Is God’s will something he hides? Does it consist primarily of what we don’t know? I assume, rightly or wrongly, that God is always clear when he needs to be. He does not play a celestial game to frustrate us. He cares about us much more than we care about our children. He delights in us. He wants us to do his will because he knows this will bring us true happiness. God has enough trouble persuading us to do that will. Why would he make it more difficult on him and on us by hiding it? (26)
Our preoccupation with what lies ahead betrays a desire to control a future that simply cannot be controlled. We want the security of knowing what the future will bring rather than risk trusting God as the unknown future gradually unfolds before us. (26-27)
The will of God concerns the present more than the future; it deals with our motives as well as our actions; it focuses on the little decisions we make every day even more than the big decisions we make about the future. The only time we really have both to know and to do God’s will is the present moment. . .
. . . We already know the will of God for our daily lives, however cloudy the future appears to be. That we do not know what God wants for tomorrow does not excuse us from doing his will today.
This perspective on the will of God gives us astonishing freedom. If we seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness, which is the will of God for our lives, then whatever choices we make concerning the future become the will of God for our lives. There are many pathways we could follow, many options we could pursue. As long as we are seeking God, all of them can be God’s will for our lives, although only one – the path we choose – actually becomes his will.
God does have a will for our lives – that we seek first his kingdom. But God allows us to follow many possible pathways to live that will out. . . (34-35)
The hidden assumption behind the conventional approach to the will of God is that having many options is a good thing, but only one option is God’s will for us. The burden then falls on us to figure out which is the right and true one. God’s will is like the one present under the Christmas tree intended for us, though there are many other presents there, all of which could be ours. We must somehow discern which is ours, in spite of the fact that none of the packages has our name on it. We are therefore absolutely confounded in our search for which on is God’s will for us. (58)
What if the freedom we value so much – the freedom to have anything we want – keeps us from experiencing the freedom we really need – to choose what God wills for us?
The will of God has to do with what we already know, not what we must figure out. It is contained in Jesus’ command that we seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness. The will of God, then, consists of one clear mandate – that we make God the absolute center of our lives. Ironically, it is exactly in making this choice that we find true freedom. It is the freedom of obedience. That is the will of God for all of us. (59)
His (Jesus) way is narrow because it squeezes all selfishness out of us. It deprives us of the right to live for ourselves. Jesus demands everything from us, not because he wants to make life miserable for us but because he wants to give us purpose and joy. He knows that real life is gained by giving our lives up to God.
Token obedience betrays an errant theology. We think that real life is gained by what we keep to ourselves, not by what we give to God. So we do the minimum in terms of obedience – just enough to get by – so that we have plenty of choices left over for ourselves. In our way of thinking, God’s commands are like paying taxes. They are part of the deal of being a Christian, but hardly a welcomed part. So we fulfill our obligation to God and, once that is finished, start to enjoy life again.
But Jesus will have none of that. He rejects all token obedience. (61-62)
. . . in the end the will of God has nothing to do with us – the direction we take, the priorities we choose, the decisions we make. It is not about us at all; it is about God. God will go with us wherever we go because he is God. He is more committed to us than we will ever be committed to him, more eager to guide us than we will ever be open to his guidance. If anything, we can know and do the will of God because of God’s prior disposition and action. God chooses us, gives us grace, and redeems the story of our lives. That is ultimately his will for us. Only then does he call us to do his will in the ordinariness of life. The assurance that our choices are in fact God’s will has nothing to do with the wisdom of our choices, though we ought to make wise choices – for our own sake and for God’s glory. Rather, it has everything to do with the bounty of God’s grace. He is the reason why we can march through life with bold confidence. (105)
Therefore do not worry, saying, "What will we eat?' or "What will we drink?' or "What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:31-34 (NRSV)
I discovered that the Bible says very little about the will of God as a future pathway. Instead, the Bible warns us about anxiety and presumption concerning the future, assures us that God is in control, and commands us to do the will of God we already know in the present. (22)
Is God’s will something he hides? Does it consist primarily of what we don’t know? I assume, rightly or wrongly, that God is always clear when he needs to be. He does not play a celestial game to frustrate us. He cares about us much more than we care about our children. He delights in us. He wants us to do his will because he knows this will bring us true happiness. God has enough trouble persuading us to do that will. Why would he make it more difficult on him and on us by hiding it? (26)
Our preoccupation with what lies ahead betrays a desire to control a future that simply cannot be controlled. We want the security of knowing what the future will bring rather than risk trusting God as the unknown future gradually unfolds before us. (26-27)
The will of God concerns the present more than the future; it deals with our motives as well as our actions; it focuses on the little decisions we make every day even more than the big decisions we make about the future. The only time we really have both to know and to do God’s will is the present moment. . .
. . . We already know the will of God for our daily lives, however cloudy the future appears to be. That we do not know what God wants for tomorrow does not excuse us from doing his will today.
This perspective on the will of God gives us astonishing freedom. If we seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness, which is the will of God for our lives, then whatever choices we make concerning the future become the will of God for our lives. There are many pathways we could follow, many options we could pursue. As long as we are seeking God, all of them can be God’s will for our lives, although only one – the path we choose – actually becomes his will.
God does have a will for our lives – that we seek first his kingdom. But God allows us to follow many possible pathways to live that will out. . . (34-35)
The hidden assumption behind the conventional approach to the will of God is that having many options is a good thing, but only one option is God’s will for us. The burden then falls on us to figure out which is the right and true one. God’s will is like the one present under the Christmas tree intended for us, though there are many other presents there, all of which could be ours. We must somehow discern which is ours, in spite of the fact that none of the packages has our name on it. We are therefore absolutely confounded in our search for which on is God’s will for us. (58)
What if the freedom we value so much – the freedom to have anything we want – keeps us from experiencing the freedom we really need – to choose what God wills for us?
The will of God has to do with what we already know, not what we must figure out. It is contained in Jesus’ command that we seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness. The will of God, then, consists of one clear mandate – that we make God the absolute center of our lives. Ironically, it is exactly in making this choice that we find true freedom. It is the freedom of obedience. That is the will of God for all of us. (59)
His (Jesus) way is narrow because it squeezes all selfishness out of us. It deprives us of the right to live for ourselves. Jesus demands everything from us, not because he wants to make life miserable for us but because he wants to give us purpose and joy. He knows that real life is gained by giving our lives up to God.
Token obedience betrays an errant theology. We think that real life is gained by what we keep to ourselves, not by what we give to God. So we do the minimum in terms of obedience – just enough to get by – so that we have plenty of choices left over for ourselves. In our way of thinking, God’s commands are like paying taxes. They are part of the deal of being a Christian, but hardly a welcomed part. So we fulfill our obligation to God and, once that is finished, start to enjoy life again.
But Jesus will have none of that. He rejects all token obedience. (61-62)
. . . in the end the will of God has nothing to do with us – the direction we take, the priorities we choose, the decisions we make. It is not about us at all; it is about God. God will go with us wherever we go because he is God. He is more committed to us than we will ever be committed to him, more eager to guide us than we will ever be open to his guidance. If anything, we can know and do the will of God because of God’s prior disposition and action. God chooses us, gives us grace, and redeems the story of our lives. That is ultimately his will for us. Only then does he call us to do his will in the ordinariness of life. The assurance that our choices are in fact God’s will has nothing to do with the wisdom of our choices, though we ought to make wise choices – for our own sake and for God’s glory. Rather, it has everything to do with the bounty of God’s grace. He is the reason why we can march through life with bold confidence. (105)
Therefore do not worry, saying, "What will we eat?' or "What will we drink?' or "What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:31-34 (NRSV)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Sub-merge - Hayes
I just finished a book, Sub-merge,(Regal, 2006) by John Hayes (founder of InnerChange) that reminded me of the experience the Shaw’s (missionaries in Manila - developing the street paper, Jeepney) are having. Sub-merge is a book about people who are seeking to live WITH the poor. It is worth reading and very challenging. Here are a few excerpts:
Nearly 1 billion people in the world, one-third of urban residents, live in slums. Even more alarming, slum populations are growing faster than any other demographic sector. . .
The new ground does not have a church building and its ministries at its center. In the developed and developing worlds, the unreached poor dwell in places that are increasingly inaccessible to traditional Christian outreach efforts. (15-16)
Although two-thirds of the world’s human beings live in poverty or hover close to it, only a small fraction of Christian workers actually go to live and work among them. Piecing statistics together, only about 6 percent of mission workers actually minister as poor to the poor, and that figure may be generous. We have a math problem. Either God is not calling many to do this, or we are not hearing him. (18)
Someone said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” (42)
We have to understand that the world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is more important than the eye . . . The hand is the cutting edge of the mind. (Jacob Bronowski, 49)
American Christians began the new millennium giving only about 2.6 percent of their incomes to charity, just a percentage point above non-Christians, who averaged 1.6 percent. (61)
Wealth . . . is not a sin. God is a God of abundance, who delights in seeing His children live abundantly. Riches are, however, a heavy responsibility to steward, given that Jesus says it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle (see Luke 18:25). Paul spoke unambiguously when he wrote, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” (I Timothy 6:17-18) (87)
The important thing is that God meant for there to be no poor in the land, and we have no reason to believe He has changed His mind today. We often hear people submit Jesus’ statement, “the poor you will always have with you” (Matthew 26:11), as evidence that God is somehow resigned to the fact of, or willing to tolerate, poverty. We believe that as the people of God’s new covenant, we should be just as concerned today, both individually and systemically, to work toward God’s intention of having no poor.
. . . Essentially, God clarifies that we will never win the war on poverty. But He goes on to command that we should pursue the battle vigorously. (92)
Most people applaud and admire works of mercy. When it comes to speaking against systemic injustice in a way that might entail changing life-styles or sharing power and influence, there comes an awkward silence. (102)
We live in an age of information, of mass messages. It is an era with an uncanny ability to multiply words. Yet an increasing number of the world’s people live lives without real change and without Christ. The world doesn’t need more words, not even more “right” words. The world needs more words made flesh. The world needs more people to live the good news incarnationally, in a way that can be seen, heard, and handled. (113)
The world needs more “words made flesh.” What does that mean for your life? How are you the Word made flesh?
Nearly 1 billion people in the world, one-third of urban residents, live in slums. Even more alarming, slum populations are growing faster than any other demographic sector. . .
The new ground does not have a church building and its ministries at its center. In the developed and developing worlds, the unreached poor dwell in places that are increasingly inaccessible to traditional Christian outreach efforts. (15-16)
Although two-thirds of the world’s human beings live in poverty or hover close to it, only a small fraction of Christian workers actually go to live and work among them. Piecing statistics together, only about 6 percent of mission workers actually minister as poor to the poor, and that figure may be generous. We have a math problem. Either God is not calling many to do this, or we are not hearing him. (18)
Someone said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” (42)
We have to understand that the world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is more important than the eye . . . The hand is the cutting edge of the mind. (Jacob Bronowski, 49)
American Christians began the new millennium giving only about 2.6 percent of their incomes to charity, just a percentage point above non-Christians, who averaged 1.6 percent. (61)
Wealth . . . is not a sin. God is a God of abundance, who delights in seeing His children live abundantly. Riches are, however, a heavy responsibility to steward, given that Jesus says it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle (see Luke 18:25). Paul spoke unambiguously when he wrote, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” (I Timothy 6:17-18) (87)
The important thing is that God meant for there to be no poor in the land, and we have no reason to believe He has changed His mind today. We often hear people submit Jesus’ statement, “the poor you will always have with you” (Matthew 26:11), as evidence that God is somehow resigned to the fact of, or willing to tolerate, poverty. We believe that as the people of God’s new covenant, we should be just as concerned today, both individually and systemically, to work toward God’s intention of having no poor.
. . . Essentially, God clarifies that we will never win the war on poverty. But He goes on to command that we should pursue the battle vigorously. (92)
Most people applaud and admire works of mercy. When it comes to speaking against systemic injustice in a way that might entail changing life-styles or sharing power and influence, there comes an awkward silence. (102)
We live in an age of information, of mass messages. It is an era with an uncanny ability to multiply words. Yet an increasing number of the world’s people live lives without real change and without Christ. The world doesn’t need more words, not even more “right” words. The world needs more words made flesh. The world needs more people to live the good news incarnationally, in a way that can be seen, heard, and handled. (113)
The world needs more “words made flesh.” What does that mean for your life? How are you the Word made flesh?
Running: Why?
We spent the bulk of our vacation in Nags Head, North Carolina – a city in the Outer Banks.
We ate. We slept (kinda – John is an early riser). We ate some more. We sat on the beach. We mini-golfed. We then ate again. We read. We watched NBA games. We surfed the internet. We then had to eat again. It was good. It was relaxing. It was fun to see a bunch of Alisa’s family. John had a ball.
Due to the consistent eating, I faced a dilemma. I depend on morning basketball for my exercise. That option no longer existed so I did something I am not so fond of. I ran. Yep, no ball, no real chance to “win”, but just me and a sidewalk, and my new mp3 player loaded with all my favorite songs.
Every time I run, I ask myself the same question, “Why are you doing this?” The question usually becomes most clear about 2 miles into the run when my breathing is labored, my legs ache, and I am generally not happy about this decision. Why run? There is no easy answer to this question, especially mid-way through the run. But my perspective changes when I’m done. It is a much easier question to answer AFTER the run is over. My body is recovering. I’m sweating a lot. I feel great. The run is behind me. “I made it!”
It is so interesting to evaluate my thought process from the beginning of the run to the end. The first mile, I’m looking around, enjoying the sights, feeling good. The second mile, I begin to ask the prominent question discussed above. The third and fourth miles seem to last forever. My head is down. I’m focused solely on wishing this was over. But when it’s over, I am elated. I feel alive, healthy, and glad that I did this “hard work” to experience this feeling which includes recognizing that what I just did was good for me.
No, I am not writing this so I can start a running club. My mp3 player makes the experience both bearable and somewhat anti-social. But running to Bruce Springsteen, Honeymoon Suite, and Asia sure makes the task easier.
So what, you may be asking yourself.
I’m finding following Jesus to be similar to my running experience. I am especially experiencing the 2-4 miles at this point. I’m not finding it easy. I’m not finding it very enjoyable at times. It takes discipline. It is just plain hard work. My mind often yells at me to stop and to take a break and to do what I want. And so consistently, I face that reality. Will I stop and do what I want or will I keep running – keep following – keep trying – keep serving? Sometimes I stop. Some places in my life it is all too easy to stop running. I see them and know that I need help. My natural tendency is to laziness, selfishness, and lack of discipline. I see it at home. I see it a work. I see it in the day to day opportunities I have to be involved in people’s lives. Will I keep running?
But then, everyone once in a while, I see why I run. I experience the joy of a changed life. I experience the gift of peace in the midst of struggle. I am blessed. I actually see and experience the hand of God in my life or in the life of someone else. I talked with my friend, Ken (the one in the serious car accident in Grand Rapids), on the ride home from our trip. I saw the hand of God at work in his life. He cried. I cried. He celebrated. I celebrated. He pointed to God’s grace and protection, and I was reminded (in the experience) why I need to keep running.
Just like my body is blessed when I run – my heart gets stronger, my endurance increases, my muscles become more defined – so, too, am I blessed. I am transformed. I am changed. I am becoming more of who God calls me to be. One stride at a time. One word of encouragement. One prayer. One person I seek to love. I am transformed.
Pray that we’d keep running.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2
We ate. We slept (kinda – John is an early riser). We ate some more. We sat on the beach. We mini-golfed. We then ate again. We read. We watched NBA games. We surfed the internet. We then had to eat again. It was good. It was relaxing. It was fun to see a bunch of Alisa’s family. John had a ball.
Due to the consistent eating, I faced a dilemma. I depend on morning basketball for my exercise. That option no longer existed so I did something I am not so fond of. I ran. Yep, no ball, no real chance to “win”, but just me and a sidewalk, and my new mp3 player loaded with all my favorite songs.
Every time I run, I ask myself the same question, “Why are you doing this?” The question usually becomes most clear about 2 miles into the run when my breathing is labored, my legs ache, and I am generally not happy about this decision. Why run? There is no easy answer to this question, especially mid-way through the run. But my perspective changes when I’m done. It is a much easier question to answer AFTER the run is over. My body is recovering. I’m sweating a lot. I feel great. The run is behind me. “I made it!”
It is so interesting to evaluate my thought process from the beginning of the run to the end. The first mile, I’m looking around, enjoying the sights, feeling good. The second mile, I begin to ask the prominent question discussed above. The third and fourth miles seem to last forever. My head is down. I’m focused solely on wishing this was over. But when it’s over, I am elated. I feel alive, healthy, and glad that I did this “hard work” to experience this feeling which includes recognizing that what I just did was good for me.
No, I am not writing this so I can start a running club. My mp3 player makes the experience both bearable and somewhat anti-social. But running to Bruce Springsteen, Honeymoon Suite, and Asia sure makes the task easier.
So what, you may be asking yourself.
I’m finding following Jesus to be similar to my running experience. I am especially experiencing the 2-4 miles at this point. I’m not finding it easy. I’m not finding it very enjoyable at times. It takes discipline. It is just plain hard work. My mind often yells at me to stop and to take a break and to do what I want. And so consistently, I face that reality. Will I stop and do what I want or will I keep running – keep following – keep trying – keep serving? Sometimes I stop. Some places in my life it is all too easy to stop running. I see them and know that I need help. My natural tendency is to laziness, selfishness, and lack of discipline. I see it at home. I see it a work. I see it in the day to day opportunities I have to be involved in people’s lives. Will I keep running?
But then, everyone once in a while, I see why I run. I experience the joy of a changed life. I experience the gift of peace in the midst of struggle. I am blessed. I actually see and experience the hand of God in my life or in the life of someone else. I talked with my friend, Ken (the one in the serious car accident in Grand Rapids), on the ride home from our trip. I saw the hand of God at work in his life. He cried. I cried. He celebrated. I celebrated. He pointed to God’s grace and protection, and I was reminded (in the experience) why I need to keep running.
Just like my body is blessed when I run – my heart gets stronger, my endurance increases, my muscles become more defined – so, too, am I blessed. I am transformed. I am changed. I am becoming more of who God calls me to be. One stride at a time. One word of encouragement. One prayer. One person I seek to love. I am transformed.
Pray that we’d keep running.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2
Monday, May 5, 2008
Living the Sabbath - Wirzba
The following (except my comments between in italics) are excerpts from Norman Wirzba’s book, Living the Sabbath. (Brazos Press, 2006) Definitely worth reading.
Sabbath, being the climax of creation, is thus the goal toward which all our living should move. It is not merely an interlude within life, but rather its animating heart, suffusing every moment with the potential for joy and peace.
(33-34)
Sabbath rest is thus a call to Sabbath trust, a call to visibly demonstrate in our daily living that we know ourselves to be upheld and maintained by the grace of God rather than the strength and craftiness of our own hands. To enjoy a Sabbath day, we must give up our desire for total control. We must learn to live by the generosity of manna falling all around us. . .
The Sabbath asks us to notice. It compels us to reconsider and question with depth and seriousness what all our striving is ultimately for. . . Does our exertion bring honor to God, or is it at cross-purposes with the life-giving, life-celebrating ways of God?
(38)
Sabbath . . . teaching (combines) the profound theological truth that the world is best when it lives for God and God’s pleasure, and a concrete, practical vision that calls each of us to arrange our economic patters and priorities so that they enable all embers of creation to participate in the menuha (rest, tranquility, serenity and peace) of God. The Sabbath is not a break from life but rather a profound theological lens that enables us to get a better look at all of it. In its observance we commit ourselves to honor the presence of God in all things and to participate in the ways of life and health.
Keeping the Sabbath really is a matter of life and death. When we forsake the Sabbath, what we are finally doing is closing ourselves off from God’s life-giving and life-sustaining grace (see Ps. 104:27-30), demonstrating that we think we can live by ourselves and from our own might. Though we no longer physically kill those who violate Sabbath observance, we have to acknowledge that this path, because it is fraught with anxiety, fear, and worry, will inevitably lead to violence as we attempt to expand and make total the reach of our control and power. The security and comfort we think we are achieving will finally be hollow, because they come without the delight that follows from experiencing the world as God experienced it at the dawn of creation, and as God still yearns to find it today.
(41)
. . . we need to learn to feel God’s sorrow in our blindness and perversity in mishandling or abusing the relationships that make our lives meaningful and rich. When we scorn God’s blessing by greedily taking more when we already have enough, or by abusing gifts for our own glory rather than God’s, or by destroying the relationships that bind us to each other and to God, we bring sadness to God and ruin to ourselves.
(56)
Our culture would lead us to believe that joy is something we create and earn through our own effort. The teaching of the Sabbath offers us a strikingly different path, a way that begins and ends with the love of God as the foundation for any and all goodness in life. Joy and delight are not something we bring about. They follow from our grateful acceptance and affirmation of God’s gracious care. To practice delight we do not, indeed must not, rely on ourselves alone. Instead we learn the art of opening ourselves up and making ourselves available to the creative love that permeates and sustains us all. We all learn to look differently, with the eyes of God. The practice of delight is the life we perform under the inspiration and full acknowledgment of God’s gracious presence in the world, a presence that lets us know we are loved and that invites us to extend this love to others.
(63)
The attraction of many forms of entertainment, however, is that they give us release or an escape from life, whereas the experience of delight follows from a deeper immersion in and affirmation of it. . . . Rather than knowing the deep joy of relationships that are healthy, strong, and amply celebrated, and the happiness that follows from contributing to goals that are worthy and ennobling, we have settled for being amused.
(64)
Because we are ignorant about the true requirements of life and the wealth of memberships that nurture it along the way, we are readily convinced that products can substitute for relationships. In the absence of relationships that feed and inspire us, we turn to products to fill the void. When the void becomes large enough, there is simply no limit to the number of products we “need” to make our lives whole or a joy. Life becomes an endless shopping trip for happiness.
(73)
Hope is a rupture in the systems of violence and suffering: it holds before us possibilities that are genuinely new and welcoming of life. It lets us know that we are not condemned to repeat over and over again our destructive past. Hope makes it possible for us to sing and rejoice even in the midst of our pain, because hope opens our being and our imagination so that we can find comfort and support in the relationships that carry and sustain us through all of life’s trials and joys. Hope is not to be confused with an optimism we nurture in ourselves; rather it is strength and vision we draw from our dependence upon and celebration of others. This is our Sabbath discipline: to be trained in the strengthening and celebration of relationships – our life together.
(88)
The boundlessness of God’s goodness and grace is our most basic starting point for worship . . .
“We need worship deep enough to change us, strong enough to kill our self-absorption, awe-full enough to shatter the little boxes into which we try to fit God, and thorough enough to address the world’s needs because God is already at work to meet them.” (Marva Dawn)
Sabbath, being the climax of creation, is thus the goal toward which all our living should move. It is not merely an interlude within life, but rather its animating heart, suffusing every moment with the potential for joy and peace.
(33-34)
Sabbath rest is thus a call to Sabbath trust, a call to visibly demonstrate in our daily living that we know ourselves to be upheld and maintained by the grace of God rather than the strength and craftiness of our own hands. To enjoy a Sabbath day, we must give up our desire for total control. We must learn to live by the generosity of manna falling all around us. . .
The Sabbath asks us to notice. It compels us to reconsider and question with depth and seriousness what all our striving is ultimately for. . . Does our exertion bring honor to God, or is it at cross-purposes with the life-giving, life-celebrating ways of God?
(38)
Sabbath . . . teaching (combines) the profound theological truth that the world is best when it lives for God and God’s pleasure, and a concrete, practical vision that calls each of us to arrange our economic patters and priorities so that they enable all embers of creation to participate in the menuha (rest, tranquility, serenity and peace) of God. The Sabbath is not a break from life but rather a profound theological lens that enables us to get a better look at all of it. In its observance we commit ourselves to honor the presence of God in all things and to participate in the ways of life and health.
Keeping the Sabbath really is a matter of life and death. When we forsake the Sabbath, what we are finally doing is closing ourselves off from God’s life-giving and life-sustaining grace (see Ps. 104:27-30), demonstrating that we think we can live by ourselves and from our own might. Though we no longer physically kill those who violate Sabbath observance, we have to acknowledge that this path, because it is fraught with anxiety, fear, and worry, will inevitably lead to violence as we attempt to expand and make total the reach of our control and power. The security and comfort we think we are achieving will finally be hollow, because they come without the delight that follows from experiencing the world as God experienced it at the dawn of creation, and as God still yearns to find it today.
(41)
. . . we need to learn to feel God’s sorrow in our blindness and perversity in mishandling or abusing the relationships that make our lives meaningful and rich. When we scorn God’s blessing by greedily taking more when we already have enough, or by abusing gifts for our own glory rather than God’s, or by destroying the relationships that bind us to each other and to God, we bring sadness to God and ruin to ourselves.
(56)
Our culture would lead us to believe that joy is something we create and earn through our own effort. The teaching of the Sabbath offers us a strikingly different path, a way that begins and ends with the love of God as the foundation for any and all goodness in life. Joy and delight are not something we bring about. They follow from our grateful acceptance and affirmation of God’s gracious care. To practice delight we do not, indeed must not, rely on ourselves alone. Instead we learn the art of opening ourselves up and making ourselves available to the creative love that permeates and sustains us all. We all learn to look differently, with the eyes of God. The practice of delight is the life we perform under the inspiration and full acknowledgment of God’s gracious presence in the world, a presence that lets us know we are loved and that invites us to extend this love to others.
(63)
The attraction of many forms of entertainment, however, is that they give us release or an escape from life, whereas the experience of delight follows from a deeper immersion in and affirmation of it. . . . Rather than knowing the deep joy of relationships that are healthy, strong, and amply celebrated, and the happiness that follows from contributing to goals that are worthy and ennobling, we have settled for being amused.
(64)
Because we are ignorant about the true requirements of life and the wealth of memberships that nurture it along the way, we are readily convinced that products can substitute for relationships. In the absence of relationships that feed and inspire us, we turn to products to fill the void. When the void becomes large enough, there is simply no limit to the number of products we “need” to make our lives whole or a joy. Life becomes an endless shopping trip for happiness.
(73)
Hope is a rupture in the systems of violence and suffering: it holds before us possibilities that are genuinely new and welcoming of life. It lets us know that we are not condemned to repeat over and over again our destructive past. Hope makes it possible for us to sing and rejoice even in the midst of our pain, because hope opens our being and our imagination so that we can find comfort and support in the relationships that carry and sustain us through all of life’s trials and joys. Hope is not to be confused with an optimism we nurture in ourselves; rather it is strength and vision we draw from our dependence upon and celebration of others. This is our Sabbath discipline: to be trained in the strengthening and celebration of relationships – our life together.
(88)
The boundlessness of God’s goodness and grace is our most basic starting point for worship . . .
“We need worship deep enough to change us, strong enough to kill our self-absorption, awe-full enough to shatter the little boxes into which we try to fit God, and thorough enough to address the world’s needs because God is already at work to meet them.” (Marva Dawn)
Shame
And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed. Genesis 1:25
. . . God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” The man said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."
Genesis 3:9-10
A lot sure changed in a few verses. With the coming of sin came the opportunity for shame. We are no longer comfortable being “naked and not ashamed.” Even the use of these words makes us uncomfortable because we get hung up with the word “naked.” The fact that we get hung up with this world reminds of how much life has changed since Genesis 1 & 2. Even the gift of sexuality has been distorted due to our choice to sin.
We hide from God. We do what we know to be impossible. We are so uncomfortable in our own skin, we actually believe we can go somewhere where God cannot see us. And as we stand before our Creator, the one who breathed life into us, we feel shame.
What is shame? David Wilkinson defines it this way, shame is “that sense of unease with yourself at the heart of your being. Not being able to be comfortable with yourself as you are, and therefore not being comfortable in the presence of another.” (The Message of Genesis 1-11, p. 87)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer says it like this,
When one accepts the other as the companion given to him by God, where he is content with understanding himself as beginning from and ending in the other and in belonging to him, man is not unashamed. In the unity of unbroken obedience man is naked in the presence of man, uncovered, revealing both body and soul, and yet is not ashamed. Shame
only comes into existence in the world of division. (Creation and Fall, Augsburg Fortress, 2007, p. 63)
Shame was never God’s intent. This was an experience He did not desire us to have. But we do as a result of sin.
Think of all the ways we try and cover ourselves so that others do not see us. We close the door to new relationships, to growing in our current relationships. We act like someone we think others want us to be. We are hesitant to really “be ourselves,” because we fear rejection. We hide.
You are sinful BUT you are forgiven.
You are ugly, but God has made you beautiful.
You are far from perfect, but God sees you through Christ as perfect.
You deserve condemnation, but you receive a party thrown by God.
You are hopeless, but through Christ we can be filled with hope.
You are broken but Christ has made you new.
You walked away from home and took the inheritance, but God the Father has come and brought you back and thrown a welcome home party.
You are not you until you are in Christ.
Do not hide from God. Do not hide from others. Be naked and not ashamed for your identity is found in Him.
. . . God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” The man said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."
Genesis 3:9-10
A lot sure changed in a few verses. With the coming of sin came the opportunity for shame. We are no longer comfortable being “naked and not ashamed.” Even the use of these words makes us uncomfortable because we get hung up with the word “naked.” The fact that we get hung up with this world reminds of how much life has changed since Genesis 1 & 2. Even the gift of sexuality has been distorted due to our choice to sin.
We hide from God. We do what we know to be impossible. We are so uncomfortable in our own skin, we actually believe we can go somewhere where God cannot see us. And as we stand before our Creator, the one who breathed life into us, we feel shame.
What is shame? David Wilkinson defines it this way, shame is “that sense of unease with yourself at the heart of your being. Not being able to be comfortable with yourself as you are, and therefore not being comfortable in the presence of another.” (The Message of Genesis 1-11, p. 87)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer says it like this,
When one accepts the other as the companion given to him by God, where he is content with understanding himself as beginning from and ending in the other and in belonging to him, man is not unashamed. In the unity of unbroken obedience man is naked in the presence of man, uncovered, revealing both body and soul, and yet is not ashamed. Shame
only comes into existence in the world of division. (Creation and Fall, Augsburg Fortress, 2007, p. 63)
Shame was never God’s intent. This was an experience He did not desire us to have. But we do as a result of sin.
Think of all the ways we try and cover ourselves so that others do not see us. We close the door to new relationships, to growing in our current relationships. We act like someone we think others want us to be. We are hesitant to really “be ourselves,” because we fear rejection. We hide.
You are sinful BUT you are forgiven.
You are ugly, but God has made you beautiful.
You are far from perfect, but God sees you through Christ as perfect.
You deserve condemnation, but you receive a party thrown by God.
You are hopeless, but through Christ we can be filled with hope.
You are broken but Christ has made you new.
You walked away from home and took the inheritance, but God the Father has come and brought you back and thrown a welcome home party.
You are not you until you are in Christ.
Do not hide from God. Do not hide from others. Be naked and not ashamed for your identity is found in Him.
Power Over Sin - Whitall Smith
I strongly recommend you pick up a copy of Hannah Whitall Smith’s book A Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life(Revell, 1985 - paperback). If you question this recommendation, here is a taste of what you will find.
Would you believe that it is impossible that anyone should be free from sin because the devil has such power over them that God cannot cast him out? . . . This kind of teaching say that although God’s power is available, it is impossible to get rid of sin because the devil has rooted sin deeply in man’s nature. Isn’t man God’s creature, and can’t God make man new and cast sin out of him? . . . Must I be a believer and yet have not faith that I can be sanctified and live a holy life? Can I never have mastery, can I never have victory over sin? Must it prevail over me as long as I live? What sort of a Redeemer then, is this, or what benefit do I have in this life of redemption?
Ask God to open the eyes of your understanding by His Spirit, that you may know, “what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His might power, which he wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:19,20). And when you have begun to have some faint glimpses of this power, learn to look completely away from your own weakness. Put your case into His hands and trust Him to deliver you. (19)
. . . suppose I were to describe to a person, who was entirely ignorant of the subject (sanctification), the way in which a lump of clay is made into a beautiful vessel. I first tell him about the role of the clay in the matter. All I can say is that the clay is put into the potter’s hands and then lies passive there, submitting itself to all the turnings and overturnings of the potter’s hand upon it. There is really nothing else to be said about the clay’s part. If he is an intelligent listener he would say, “I understand. That is what the clay must do. But what must the potter do?” “Ah,” I answer, “now we come to the important part. The potter takes the clay and begins to mold and fashion it according to his own will. He kneads and works it. He tears it apart and presses it together again. He wets it and then lets it dry. Sometimes he works at it for hours. Sometimes he lays it aside for days and doesn’t touch it. And then, when he has made it perfectly pliable in his hands, he proceeds to make it into the vessel he has designed. He turns it upon the wheel, planes it and smooths it, dries it in the sun, bakes it in the oven, and finally turns it out of his workshop, a vessel to his honor, and fit for use.” (25)
Before I was speaking of the clay’s part in the matter. I am now speaking of the potter’s part. These two are necessarily contrasted, but are not the least contradictory. The clay is not expected to do the potter’s work. It only yields itself to his working. It seems to me that nothing could be clearer than the perfect harmony between these two apparently contradictory sorts of teaching.
What can be said about man’s part in this great work is that he must continually surrender himself and continually trust. But when we come to God’s side of the question, much can be said about the many wonderful ways in which He accomplishes the work entrusted to Him.
Having therefore taken the step of faith by which you put yourself completely and absolutely into His hands, you must now expect Him to begin work. (26)
From the moment the lump of clay comes under the transforming hand of the potter, it is during each day and hour of the process, just what the potter wants it to be at that hour or on that day. Therefore, it pleases him, but it is far from being the vessel he intends it to be in the future. (28)
Our part is the trusting. His part is to accomplish the results. When we do our part He never fails to do His. No one ever trusted in the Lord and was confounded. (29)
The potter, however skillful, cannot make a beautiful vessel out of a lump of clay that is never put in His hands. Neither can God make out of me a vessel unto His honor, unless I put myself into His hands. (30)
Would you believe that it is impossible that anyone should be free from sin because the devil has such power over them that God cannot cast him out? . . . This kind of teaching say that although God’s power is available, it is impossible to get rid of sin because the devil has rooted sin deeply in man’s nature. Isn’t man God’s creature, and can’t God make man new and cast sin out of him? . . . Must I be a believer and yet have not faith that I can be sanctified and live a holy life? Can I never have mastery, can I never have victory over sin? Must it prevail over me as long as I live? What sort of a Redeemer then, is this, or what benefit do I have in this life of redemption?
Ask God to open the eyes of your understanding by His Spirit, that you may know, “what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His might power, which he wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:19,20). And when you have begun to have some faint glimpses of this power, learn to look completely away from your own weakness. Put your case into His hands and trust Him to deliver you. (19)
. . . suppose I were to describe to a person, who was entirely ignorant of the subject (sanctification), the way in which a lump of clay is made into a beautiful vessel. I first tell him about the role of the clay in the matter. All I can say is that the clay is put into the potter’s hands and then lies passive there, submitting itself to all the turnings and overturnings of the potter’s hand upon it. There is really nothing else to be said about the clay’s part. If he is an intelligent listener he would say, “I understand. That is what the clay must do. But what must the potter do?” “Ah,” I answer, “now we come to the important part. The potter takes the clay and begins to mold and fashion it according to his own will. He kneads and works it. He tears it apart and presses it together again. He wets it and then lets it dry. Sometimes he works at it for hours. Sometimes he lays it aside for days and doesn’t touch it. And then, when he has made it perfectly pliable in his hands, he proceeds to make it into the vessel he has designed. He turns it upon the wheel, planes it and smooths it, dries it in the sun, bakes it in the oven, and finally turns it out of his workshop, a vessel to his honor, and fit for use.” (25)
Before I was speaking of the clay’s part in the matter. I am now speaking of the potter’s part. These two are necessarily contrasted, but are not the least contradictory. The clay is not expected to do the potter’s work. It only yields itself to his working. It seems to me that nothing could be clearer than the perfect harmony between these two apparently contradictory sorts of teaching.
What can be said about man’s part in this great work is that he must continually surrender himself and continually trust. But when we come to God’s side of the question, much can be said about the many wonderful ways in which He accomplishes the work entrusted to Him.
Having therefore taken the step of faith by which you put yourself completely and absolutely into His hands, you must now expect Him to begin work. (26)
From the moment the lump of clay comes under the transforming hand of the potter, it is during each day and hour of the process, just what the potter wants it to be at that hour or on that day. Therefore, it pleases him, but it is far from being the vessel he intends it to be in the future. (28)
Our part is the trusting. His part is to accomplish the results. When we do our part He never fails to do His. No one ever trusted in the Lord and was confounded. (29)
The potter, however skillful, cannot make a beautiful vessel out of a lump of clay that is never put in His hands. Neither can God make out of me a vessel unto His honor, unless I put myself into His hands. (30)
Grumbling
I recently finished a book that I really enjoyed. It is called Seismic Shifts (Zondervan, 2005) and its author is Kevin Harney.
He talks in his book about grumbling.
What is grumbling? Grumbling is complaining. Grumbling is destructive not constructive. Grumbling hurts relationships. Grumbling is self-centered. Grumbling is what toddlers do when they don’t like something or don’t want to do something. Grumbling, sadly, is also a problem for adults – even adults in the church – even adults in Community Reformed Church. Grumbling is sin, at least that’s what Kevin stated, and after reading and listening, I concur.
So Kevin and his church have made a commitment to not allow grumbling within their church. If someone is struggling, they are encouraged to handle their struggle appropriately by saying what is constructive not destructive and by saying it to the right person (or people). One big problem with grumbling is we are attracted to it. Someone is complaining about something and we have this tendency to want to know. It is an attraction, a sick one, but an attraction nonetheless. When people are unhappy about something, we like to know what it is about and too often we give them space to make their complaints known to us. This is grumbling and it is sin. If they are speaking about someone to you who is not there, it is grumbling. If they are complaining about something but unwilling to talk with those who can do something about it, it is grumbling.
But here’s where I was really challenged. Kevin’s church isn’t satisfied to simply say it can’t happen. They go after those people who do it and confront the sin. They do the hard work of calling people to account when they grumble. Grumbling is not allowed in the culture of their church and they are willing to do the hard work of instilling and developing this value.
Let’s stop grumbling. Let’s not handle our struggles in an unhealthy and immature way. Let’s do the hard work of caring for each other enough to talk to those we have a struggle with. If you are unwilling to talk to the people involved in the area you are grumbling about, don’t talk to anyone. Or talk with God. Ask Him for help and direction in dealing with your struggle.
The fact is grumbling almost never helps the situation. Grumbling almost never takes care of your struggle. Grumbling almost always bring hurt and brokenness and unhealth to relationships. There is probably no less effective way of dealing with a struggle than grumbling. So let’s stop. Here are a few keys:
1) We need God’s help. Some of us are VERY attracted to grumbling.
2) When someone starts to complain, point them toward a person who can help.
3) When someone starts talking about someone else, point them toward that person NOT you.
4) Call grumbling what it is – sin.
5) Embrace the truth that health and growth in relationships comes from
hard work. It is never behind the back or judgmental; it is always face-to-face with a foundation of love.
6) This is who God calls you to be – an anti-grumbler.
In fact, we are called to be encouragers not grumblers.
He talks in his book about grumbling.
What is grumbling? Grumbling is complaining. Grumbling is destructive not constructive. Grumbling hurts relationships. Grumbling is self-centered. Grumbling is what toddlers do when they don’t like something or don’t want to do something. Grumbling, sadly, is also a problem for adults – even adults in the church – even adults in Community Reformed Church. Grumbling is sin, at least that’s what Kevin stated, and after reading and listening, I concur.
So Kevin and his church have made a commitment to not allow grumbling within their church. If someone is struggling, they are encouraged to handle their struggle appropriately by saying what is constructive not destructive and by saying it to the right person (or people). One big problem with grumbling is we are attracted to it. Someone is complaining about something and we have this tendency to want to know. It is an attraction, a sick one, but an attraction nonetheless. When people are unhappy about something, we like to know what it is about and too often we give them space to make their complaints known to us. This is grumbling and it is sin. If they are speaking about someone to you who is not there, it is grumbling. If they are complaining about something but unwilling to talk with those who can do something about it, it is grumbling.
But here’s where I was really challenged. Kevin’s church isn’t satisfied to simply say it can’t happen. They go after those people who do it and confront the sin. They do the hard work of calling people to account when they grumble. Grumbling is not allowed in the culture of their church and they are willing to do the hard work of instilling and developing this value.
Let’s stop grumbling. Let’s not handle our struggles in an unhealthy and immature way. Let’s do the hard work of caring for each other enough to talk to those we have a struggle with. If you are unwilling to talk to the people involved in the area you are grumbling about, don’t talk to anyone. Or talk with God. Ask Him for help and direction in dealing with your struggle.
The fact is grumbling almost never helps the situation. Grumbling almost never takes care of your struggle. Grumbling almost always bring hurt and brokenness and unhealth to relationships. There is probably no less effective way of dealing with a struggle than grumbling. So let’s stop. Here are a few keys:
1) We need God’s help. Some of us are VERY attracted to grumbling.
2) When someone starts to complain, point them toward a person who can help.
3) When someone starts talking about someone else, point them toward that person NOT you.
4) Call grumbling what it is – sin.
5) Embrace the truth that health and growth in relationships comes from
hard work. It is never behind the back or judgmental; it is always face-to-face with a foundation of love.
6) This is who God calls you to be – an anti-grumbler.
In fact, we are called to be encouragers not grumblers.
Multiplication
No, I’m not about to embark on a math lesson. I used to love math until I ran into this ugly term – calculus. That ended my math career.
Multiplication is understood to be a foundational mandate to our existence. It says in Genesis 1:28, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it . . .” and in Matthew 28:19, “go therefore and make disciples of all nations . . .” or in Acts 2:47, “and day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”
Multiplication is part of our experience with Christ. We are called to allow God to multiply through us. As Acts indicates, it is God who is in charge of the fruit. If He does not call someone to Him, they do not come.
How do we evaluate our Christian witness when there is no fruit? How do we look at the thousands of churches around the United States and see the majority bearing little if any fruit? I acknowledge we need to be careful in asking this question. It is not our place to be judge. But we also have to evaluate ourselves and our church in the way Jesus indicates in John 15:5-6,
I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them
bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does
not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches
are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
I know our knee jerk response is to get a little defensive. “Who are you to judge my fruit bearing? Isn’t that God’s job?” Of course, it is God’s job. But how are we to feel and how are we to respond when we look at our own lives and our own church and see little in the way of multiplication? Maybe our response should be a little less defensive and a little more humble.
Here is the kicker for me. I do not have a track record of leading many to Christ. I do not have a track record of having and seizing many opportunities to share the good news of Jesus in a personal way. I think that needs to change. I think God has offered me opportunities and I have turned them down. Instead of being overly concerned with how others view my fruit, I need to confess my selfishness and pray for fruit-bearing opportunities to come.
Let us pray that God would bear fruit in and through us and our churches. Let us celebrate in the ways we have seen that happen already, but we cannot be content with what has happened in the past. For today, God will put before you and He will put before me opportunities to live in obedience to the call to go and bear fruit.
If my life and the way I’m living it is not bearing fruit, it needs to change. If the church and the way we are doing church is not bearing fruit, it needs to change as well. What is the most important way we can do this? We can pray. Will you pray for fruit-bearing opportunities to come in your life? Will you pray for fruit-bearing opportunities to come at your church? If we pray, they will come.
Multiplication is understood to be a foundational mandate to our existence. It says in Genesis 1:28, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it . . .” and in Matthew 28:19, “go therefore and make disciples of all nations . . .” or in Acts 2:47, “and day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”
Multiplication is part of our experience with Christ. We are called to allow God to multiply through us. As Acts indicates, it is God who is in charge of the fruit. If He does not call someone to Him, they do not come.
How do we evaluate our Christian witness when there is no fruit? How do we look at the thousands of churches around the United States and see the majority bearing little if any fruit? I acknowledge we need to be careful in asking this question. It is not our place to be judge. But we also have to evaluate ourselves and our church in the way Jesus indicates in John 15:5-6,
I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them
bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does
not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches
are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
I know our knee jerk response is to get a little defensive. “Who are you to judge my fruit bearing? Isn’t that God’s job?” Of course, it is God’s job. But how are we to feel and how are we to respond when we look at our own lives and our own church and see little in the way of multiplication? Maybe our response should be a little less defensive and a little more humble.
Here is the kicker for me. I do not have a track record of leading many to Christ. I do not have a track record of having and seizing many opportunities to share the good news of Jesus in a personal way. I think that needs to change. I think God has offered me opportunities and I have turned them down. Instead of being overly concerned with how others view my fruit, I need to confess my selfishness and pray for fruit-bearing opportunities to come.
Let us pray that God would bear fruit in and through us and our churches. Let us celebrate in the ways we have seen that happen already, but we cannot be content with what has happened in the past. For today, God will put before you and He will put before me opportunities to live in obedience to the call to go and bear fruit.
If my life and the way I’m living it is not bearing fruit, it needs to change. If the church and the way we are doing church is not bearing fruit, it needs to change as well. What is the most important way we can do this? We can pray. Will you pray for fruit-bearing opportunities to come in your life? Will you pray for fruit-bearing opportunities to come at your church? If we pray, they will come.
Jet Lag (from Feb. 06)
Every once in a while, I get it in my head that life on the road would be glamorous and exciting. I become jealous of those who get to travel all over the country. They live in hotels, fly on planes, and eat out all the time. I think to myself what a wonderful life.
I don’t anymore. I traveled to San Diego on Thursday and returned home Saturday. I flew on a few planes, spent my nights in a hotel, and ate out every meal. It was not exciting. It was not glamorous.
By the time I came home, I was exhausted. Thursday never ended. I arrived there at 11:30 am (2:30pm my time). So by 7:00pm (10:00pm my time), I was ready for bed but the night was just beginning. Friday, I awoke at 5:00am (8:00am my time) not by choice. I couldn’t sleep. My roommate couldn’t either so he got up at 4:00am. On Saturday, I left San Diego at 12:00pm and arrived in Charlevoix at 12:00am.
This is not the life for me. I ended up staying home from work on Monday to recover.
What did I learn? I am not meant for the road. It is not a glamorous life. I need my rest. I like being home.
I am amazed at my ability to see things through colored glasses. I am amazed at my ability to think “the grass is greener” on the sides of life I am not experiencing. Don’t we all face this challenge? We look at how others live and we think their lives are so much better than ours. But more often than not, this is not true. The grass is not greener.
You can see this misperception raise its ugly head in all facets of our lives. We think . . .
a relationship with a different spouse would be better.
a new car will really fulfill me.
going in more debt to get what I want will be worth it.
most people are happier and live better than me.
life on the road is better than staying home.
a flat screen tv is better than a regular one.
eating out is better than eating in.
their family is happier than mine.
his job is better than mine.
. . . . . . . . and on and on it goes. You fill in your blanks.
It is not true. The grass is not greener. The life God offers to you is just that – the life God has given to you. And His offer is an amazing one.
One other piece I realized again is how much I miss being home. And home isn’t a building; it is being with Alisa and John. I missed home. Home is where I need to be. Home is where I want to be. When we think our home is someplace other than where God has placed us, we are living a lie. Home is where God has placed us. Home is with the people God has put in our lives. There is no better place to be.
I don’t anymore. I traveled to San Diego on Thursday and returned home Saturday. I flew on a few planes, spent my nights in a hotel, and ate out every meal. It was not exciting. It was not glamorous.
By the time I came home, I was exhausted. Thursday never ended. I arrived there at 11:30 am (2:30pm my time). So by 7:00pm (10:00pm my time), I was ready for bed but the night was just beginning. Friday, I awoke at 5:00am (8:00am my time) not by choice. I couldn’t sleep. My roommate couldn’t either so he got up at 4:00am. On Saturday, I left San Diego at 12:00pm and arrived in Charlevoix at 12:00am.
This is not the life for me. I ended up staying home from work on Monday to recover.
What did I learn? I am not meant for the road. It is not a glamorous life. I need my rest. I like being home.
I am amazed at my ability to see things through colored glasses. I am amazed at my ability to think “the grass is greener” on the sides of life I am not experiencing. Don’t we all face this challenge? We look at how others live and we think their lives are so much better than ours. But more often than not, this is not true. The grass is not greener.
You can see this misperception raise its ugly head in all facets of our lives. We think . . .
a relationship with a different spouse would be better.
a new car will really fulfill me.
going in more debt to get what I want will be worth it.
most people are happier and live better than me.
life on the road is better than staying home.
a flat screen tv is better than a regular one.
eating out is better than eating in.
their family is happier than mine.
his job is better than mine.
. . . . . . . . and on and on it goes. You fill in your blanks.
It is not true. The grass is not greener. The life God offers to you is just that – the life God has given to you. And His offer is an amazing one.
One other piece I realized again is how much I miss being home. And home isn’t a building; it is being with Alisa and John. I missed home. Home is where I need to be. Home is where I want to be. When we think our home is someplace other than where God has placed us, we are living a lie. Home is where God has placed us. Home is with the people God has put in our lives. There is no better place to be.
Repentance - Edwards
I found the following excerpts from The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards: A Reader ed. by Kimnach, Minkenma, & Sweeney (Yale University Press, 1999) enlightening and challenging with regard to our understanding of sin and repentance. This sermon was given in 1723 and is titled, “The Pleasantness of Religion.” The language is old, but the content is excellent. Enjoy.
When the wicked man pursues sensual delights in a wicked manner, he doth it against his reason and conscience; his flesh drives him on against his mind, his understanding consents not but opposes him in it. So that he enjoys his pleasures with war with himself, his own reason, and conscience opposing him, which takes away the sweetness of the pleasure, and his body only is partaker of the pleasure and not his mind. He enjoys pleasures, but there is a sting in them, and conscience roars the while and will not give him peace. His own reason will not let him alone to enjoy them peaceably. . . (16)
All the pleasures of sin for the most part do bring more of sorrow than of pleasure in this life, whether the pleasures of sloth, of luxury, or drunkenness, or rioting, or fornication. . . (18)
There is repentance of sin: though it be a deep sorrow for sin that God requires as necessary to salvation, yet the very nature of it necessarily implies delight. Repentance of sin is a sorrow arising from the sight of God’s excellency and mercy, but the apprehension of excellency or mercy must necessarily and unavoidably beget pleasure in the mind of the beholder. ‘Tis impossible that anyone should see anything that appears to him excellent and not behold it with pleasure, and it’s impossible to be affected with the mercy and love of God, and his willingness to be merciful to use and love us, and not be affected with pleasure at the thoughts of [it]; but this is the very affection that begets true repentance. How much soever of a paradox it may seem, it is true that repentance is a sweet sorrow, so that the more of this sorrow, the more pleasure.
Especially do great delights ensue and follow it. Repentance, it clears up the mind and makes it easy and serene, and brings the good comfort into the soul. (19)
Self-denial destroys the very root and foundation of sorrow, and is nothing else but the lancing of a grievous and painful sore that effects a cure and brings abundance of health as a recompense for the pain of the operation. (19)
We must conclude that the pleasures of the soul are far better than of the body, for that is most excellent and has the highest faculties . . . and is capable of the greatest delights and most excellent gratifications. (20)
In essence, sin brings pleasure grounded in sorrow whereas self-denial brings sorrow grounded in pleasure. Isn’t it true? When we pursue what feels best and know it to be sin, we experience, in the end, sorrow. When we pursue God’s way, we experience, in the end, pleasure – delight. Self-denial and repentance are the avenues to pleasure and delight. Chew on that one for a while. It’s true.
When the wicked man pursues sensual delights in a wicked manner, he doth it against his reason and conscience; his flesh drives him on against his mind, his understanding consents not but opposes him in it. So that he enjoys his pleasures with war with himself, his own reason, and conscience opposing him, which takes away the sweetness of the pleasure, and his body only is partaker of the pleasure and not his mind. He enjoys pleasures, but there is a sting in them, and conscience roars the while and will not give him peace. His own reason will not let him alone to enjoy them peaceably. . . (16)
All the pleasures of sin for the most part do bring more of sorrow than of pleasure in this life, whether the pleasures of sloth, of luxury, or drunkenness, or rioting, or fornication. . . (18)
There is repentance of sin: though it be a deep sorrow for sin that God requires as necessary to salvation, yet the very nature of it necessarily implies delight. Repentance of sin is a sorrow arising from the sight of God’s excellency and mercy, but the apprehension of excellency or mercy must necessarily and unavoidably beget pleasure in the mind of the beholder. ‘Tis impossible that anyone should see anything that appears to him excellent and not behold it with pleasure, and it’s impossible to be affected with the mercy and love of God, and his willingness to be merciful to use and love us, and not be affected with pleasure at the thoughts of [it]; but this is the very affection that begets true repentance. How much soever of a paradox it may seem, it is true that repentance is a sweet sorrow, so that the more of this sorrow, the more pleasure.
Especially do great delights ensue and follow it. Repentance, it clears up the mind and makes it easy and serene, and brings the good comfort into the soul. (19)
Self-denial destroys the very root and foundation of sorrow, and is nothing else but the lancing of a grievous and painful sore that effects a cure and brings abundance of health as a recompense for the pain of the operation. (19)
We must conclude that the pleasures of the soul are far better than of the body, for that is most excellent and has the highest faculties . . . and is capable of the greatest delights and most excellent gratifications. (20)
In essence, sin brings pleasure grounded in sorrow whereas self-denial brings sorrow grounded in pleasure. Isn’t it true? When we pursue what feels best and know it to be sin, we experience, in the end, sorrow. When we pursue God’s way, we experience, in the end, pleasure – delight. Self-denial and repentance are the avenues to pleasure and delight. Chew on that one for a while. It’s true.
Grace & Truth - Alcorn
The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
A few excerpts from Randy Alcorn’s book, The Grace and Truth Paradox (Multnomah, 2003).
Truth without grace breeds a self-righteous legalism that poisons the church and pushes the world away from Christ.
Grace without truth breeds moral indifference and keeps people from seeing their need for Christ.
Attempts to “soften” the gospel by minimizing truth keep people from Jesus. Attempts to “toughen” the gospel by minimizing grace keep people from Jesus. It’s not enough for us to offer grace or truth. We must offer both. (18)
_____________________________________________________
The cost of redemption cannot be overstated. The wonders of grace cannot be overemphasized. Christ took the hell He didn’t deserve so we could have the heaven we don’t deserve. (29)
Grace never ignores the awful truth of our depravity. In fact, it emphasizes it. The worse we realize we are, the greater we realize God’s grace is.
(31-32)
Humility isn’t pretending that we’re unworthy because it’s the spiritual thing to do; it’s recognizing that we’re unworthy because it’s true.
(32)
_____________________________________________________
Godly living centers not on what we avoid, but on whom we embrace. Anytime we talk more about dos and don’ts than about Jesus, something’s wrong.
Behavior modification that’s not empowered by God’s heart-changing grace is self-righteous, as repugnant to God as the worst sins people gossip about.
(37)
Truth . . . acts upon us. We cannot change the truth, but the truth can change us. It sanctifies (sets us apart) from the falsehoods woven into our sin nature and championed by the world.
He didn’t say He would show the truth or teach the truth or model the truth. He is the truth. . . He’s the source of truth, and the reference point for evaluating all truth-claims.
(38)
A few excerpts from Randy Alcorn’s book, The Grace and Truth Paradox (Multnomah, 2003).
Truth without grace breeds a self-righteous legalism that poisons the church and pushes the world away from Christ.
Grace without truth breeds moral indifference and keeps people from seeing their need for Christ.
Attempts to “soften” the gospel by minimizing truth keep people from Jesus. Attempts to “toughen” the gospel by minimizing grace keep people from Jesus. It’s not enough for us to offer grace or truth. We must offer both. (18)
_____________________________________________________
The cost of redemption cannot be overstated. The wonders of grace cannot be overemphasized. Christ took the hell He didn’t deserve so we could have the heaven we don’t deserve. (29)
Grace never ignores the awful truth of our depravity. In fact, it emphasizes it. The worse we realize we are, the greater we realize God’s grace is.
(31-32)
Humility isn’t pretending that we’re unworthy because it’s the spiritual thing to do; it’s recognizing that we’re unworthy because it’s true.
(32)
_____________________________________________________
Godly living centers not on what we avoid, but on whom we embrace. Anytime we talk more about dos and don’ts than about Jesus, something’s wrong.
Behavior modification that’s not empowered by God’s heart-changing grace is self-righteous, as repugnant to God as the worst sins people gossip about.
(37)
Truth . . . acts upon us. We cannot change the truth, but the truth can change us. It sanctifies (sets us apart) from the falsehoods woven into our sin nature and championed by the world.
He didn’t say He would show the truth or teach the truth or model the truth. He is the truth. . . He’s the source of truth, and the reference point for evaluating all truth-claims.
(38)
Thursday, May 1, 2008
A Heart for Those Who Suffer
Suffering is another one of those difficult questions we have for God. Why, God? Why allow it? Why not remove it? How can you call yourself loving, merciful, and compassionate when children die for lack of food, people live in deplorable conditions, and the rich just get richer?
I am not here to answer this question. We ought to wrestle with it. It is one to lay before God.
Maybe one reason why we point the finger at God and blame him, is because it gets us off the hook. But we can’t be off the hook when it comes to suffering. People suffer. That ought to matter to us and we ought to do what we can to help alleviate suffering.
A friend recently gave me an email he received from a family friend, Jessica. I don’t know the details of Jessica’s life and family. I don’t even know where she lives, but it is clear she lives in the midst of suffering. Here are a few of her words:
We all came down with typhoid and dysentery at the same time. It was a terrible time. As I struggled to get myself off the bathroom floor, I could hear my little ones getting sick and calling out to me. Not being able to help them was a form of torture . . . Thankfully, Kyle was well enough to drive us to the emergency room before dawn on Sunday morning. . . When we arrived we were able to get fluids, run tests and get good meds. Cipro is a wonder-drug as far as I’m concerned. We are now on the road to recovery.
When I was sick, I was thinking about what it must be like for those around me who get this sick all the time. I was thinking about our brothers and sisters who have no bed to rest the aching, cramping muscles that come with the fevers. I was thinking about how they had no toilets and no way to wash after being so, so sick. And I was thinking about how they have no access to medical care. This is too much for me to think about and it is keeping me up at night. I was thinking about even those who do have health care and a loving environment to help nurse us back to health. . . It makes me wonder why we as humans are too busy to notice what it is like to suffer. . . God has us go through things like this for a reason, of this I am sure. But I wonder if the reason has anything to do with the fact that we are to be a blessing to others around us when they suffer.
I guess this is the central theme of the New Testament, but I am afraid that even the message of Jesus has gotten lost in the ways of the world these days. We all know it is right and good to care for others. But I think we are missing the reason WHY we should. I think the reason is because we are all spiritually connected, whether we follow after the ways of Jesus or not. By being made human and in the likeness of God, we are all made to connect with humanity.
I don’t know that we’ll ever “make sense” of suffering, but we sure can step into the lives of those who suffer.
I am not here to answer this question. We ought to wrestle with it. It is one to lay before God.
Maybe one reason why we point the finger at God and blame him, is because it gets us off the hook. But we can’t be off the hook when it comes to suffering. People suffer. That ought to matter to us and we ought to do what we can to help alleviate suffering.
A friend recently gave me an email he received from a family friend, Jessica. I don’t know the details of Jessica’s life and family. I don’t even know where she lives, but it is clear she lives in the midst of suffering. Here are a few of her words:
We all came down with typhoid and dysentery at the same time. It was a terrible time. As I struggled to get myself off the bathroom floor, I could hear my little ones getting sick and calling out to me. Not being able to help them was a form of torture . . . Thankfully, Kyle was well enough to drive us to the emergency room before dawn on Sunday morning. . . When we arrived we were able to get fluids, run tests and get good meds. Cipro is a wonder-drug as far as I’m concerned. We are now on the road to recovery.
When I was sick, I was thinking about what it must be like for those around me who get this sick all the time. I was thinking about our brothers and sisters who have no bed to rest the aching, cramping muscles that come with the fevers. I was thinking about how they had no toilets and no way to wash after being so, so sick. And I was thinking about how they have no access to medical care. This is too much for me to think about and it is keeping me up at night. I was thinking about even those who do have health care and a loving environment to help nurse us back to health. . . It makes me wonder why we as humans are too busy to notice what it is like to suffer. . . God has us go through things like this for a reason, of this I am sure. But I wonder if the reason has anything to do with the fact that we are to be a blessing to others around us when they suffer.
I guess this is the central theme of the New Testament, but I am afraid that even the message of Jesus has gotten lost in the ways of the world these days. We all know it is right and good to care for others. But I think we are missing the reason WHY we should. I think the reason is because we are all spiritually connected, whether we follow after the ways of Jesus or not. By being made human and in the likeness of God, we are all made to connect with humanity.
I don’t know that we’ll ever “make sense” of suffering, but we sure can step into the lives of those who suffer.
Unanswered Prayer
One of the challenging questions on God is, “Why doesn’t God answer our prayers?” especially when our prayers are for the well-being of others. It would be good and helpful for people to be healed of cancer, for children to not die as children, for starvation to end, for oppression to cease, etc. If would be good if God would do these things. We’ve asked, why doesn’t he answer?
I’ll let Jerry Sittser speak from his book, "When God Doesn’t Answer Your Prayer" (Zondervan, 2003). These words are coming from a man who lost his mother, his wife, and his daughter in one tragic car accident.
The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer. F.B. Meyer (19)
Perhaps the question Why doesn’t God answer our prayers? is not even the best question to ask because there might not be a simple, convenient, and obvious answer. It might be too mysterious and lofty for us. Perhaps how we respond in the face of such mystery is more important than whether or not we ever find an answer to the question itself. (22)
Faith is not like a stack of bargaining chips we use in our relationship with God – if we have enough chips, we can pretty much force God to do whatever we want. Faith turns away from self and comes empty-handed to God. Faith doesn’t believe in itself; it believes in God. It doesn’t try to manufacture confidence in itself; instead, it turns to God. Faith implies that we bring nothing to God; it asks everything from God.
. . . When we approach God, we have nothing to use as capital, no commodities that we can trade, no sum of righteousness that we can use to buy answers to prayer. (41)
The heart of true prayer is this cry of desperation. It is the cry of those who, committed to seeing God’s kingdom come and God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, find themselves in circumstances that show little evidence that there even is a kingdom of God. . . But what is most fundamental is the spirit of our prayers, the cry of the heart to get help from the only one who can meet our deepest need. Desperation is the first and primary condition for true prayer. (48)
Our mission is to pray that God’s kingdom come, and God’s will be done. There is nothing particularly convenient and safe about that prayer. It is bound, sooner or later, to drive us from our places of security. We find ourselves continuing the journey, facing threat and danger and trouble, which has been the experience of God’s people from the day the church was born. We are thrust into action – striving (and thus praying) for the conversion of a neighbor, food for the hungry, justice to the poor, and comfort for the afflicted. Likewise, we feel the desperation that comes when the prayers we need answered, desperately, go unanswered.
. . . There are few experiences more painful than having desperate prayers go unanswered. Hanging at the end of a rope over an abyss is bad enough; having someone cut the rope is even worse. But when God seems to cut the rope, it is worst of all. (53)
Ours is a culture of instant results, instant success, and instant gratification. But “instant” rarely applies to prayer, which is more like planting a tree than sowing a new lawn. It takes time to learn how to pray, to mature in prayer, to see the results of prayer. We can’t be in a hurry. It takes a long time for a seedling to become a sturdy tree. Lack of patience and persistence, so common in our popular culture, inhibits our growth in the art of prayer. Once again, prayer is an epic journey. It unfolds over a huge landscape and over a long period of time. (83)
The point of prayer, after all, is the relationship itself, not the things we get from the relationship. Whatever the reasons for unanswered prayer, surely our relationship with God should be bigger than whether or not God chooses to answer our prayers! (87)
Is the purpose of prayer to receive what we ask for? Well, yes and no. God wants to answer our prayers. But God wants us to know him, too. If anything, that is God’s best answer to prayer . . . Persistence leads to a more mature prayer life. We will begin to see God as worthy of our greatest love and affection, as if a relationship with God were the goals of our prayers and not merely the acquisition of things we want from God. We will stop talking all the time, and we will learn to listen.
I am learning that my natural inclination is to use God, not to love God. I am like a spiritual junkie. I want the quick fix that answered prayer can provide. Once I get what I want, I return to my normal state of spiritual indolence (laziness). Unanswered prayer can actually serve to fan the flame of spiritual desire to know God as the supreme end in life. (89-90)
. . . But, as C.S. Lewis put it, God does not want to make life nice for us, because he wants to make us new. That is his will. When we pray, we should keep that in mind. It is enough to make me think twice about praying at all. After all, God’s will concerns the coming of his kingdom, the doing of his will as he commands it in Scripture. That strikes me as exciting, but also slightly menacing.
I pray with greater caution than I used to. Or, if not with greater caution, then certainly with greater sobriety. I realize what I’m in for. (106)
. . . we can pray according to God’s will by studying the great prayers of Scripture.
It is startling to consider what they don’t say. They say nothing about long life, perfect health, or success in the popular sense – nothing, in short, that even hints of a desire for an ideal life on earth, free of problems and difficulties. Instead, these prayers ask God for a deeper experience of his love, for purity of life, for inner strength, and for knowledge to make good choices. (110-111)
I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:16-19
I’ll let Jerry Sittser speak from his book, "When God Doesn’t Answer Your Prayer" (Zondervan, 2003). These words are coming from a man who lost his mother, his wife, and his daughter in one tragic car accident.
The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer. F.B. Meyer (19)
Perhaps the question Why doesn’t God answer our prayers? is not even the best question to ask because there might not be a simple, convenient, and obvious answer. It might be too mysterious and lofty for us. Perhaps how we respond in the face of such mystery is more important than whether or not we ever find an answer to the question itself. (22)
Faith is not like a stack of bargaining chips we use in our relationship with God – if we have enough chips, we can pretty much force God to do whatever we want. Faith turns away from self and comes empty-handed to God. Faith doesn’t believe in itself; it believes in God. It doesn’t try to manufacture confidence in itself; instead, it turns to God. Faith implies that we bring nothing to God; it asks everything from God.
. . . When we approach God, we have nothing to use as capital, no commodities that we can trade, no sum of righteousness that we can use to buy answers to prayer. (41)
The heart of true prayer is this cry of desperation. It is the cry of those who, committed to seeing God’s kingdom come and God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, find themselves in circumstances that show little evidence that there even is a kingdom of God. . . But what is most fundamental is the spirit of our prayers, the cry of the heart to get help from the only one who can meet our deepest need. Desperation is the first and primary condition for true prayer. (48)
Our mission is to pray that God’s kingdom come, and God’s will be done. There is nothing particularly convenient and safe about that prayer. It is bound, sooner or later, to drive us from our places of security. We find ourselves continuing the journey, facing threat and danger and trouble, which has been the experience of God’s people from the day the church was born. We are thrust into action – striving (and thus praying) for the conversion of a neighbor, food for the hungry, justice to the poor, and comfort for the afflicted. Likewise, we feel the desperation that comes when the prayers we need answered, desperately, go unanswered.
. . . There are few experiences more painful than having desperate prayers go unanswered. Hanging at the end of a rope over an abyss is bad enough; having someone cut the rope is even worse. But when God seems to cut the rope, it is worst of all. (53)
Ours is a culture of instant results, instant success, and instant gratification. But “instant” rarely applies to prayer, which is more like planting a tree than sowing a new lawn. It takes time to learn how to pray, to mature in prayer, to see the results of prayer. We can’t be in a hurry. It takes a long time for a seedling to become a sturdy tree. Lack of patience and persistence, so common in our popular culture, inhibits our growth in the art of prayer. Once again, prayer is an epic journey. It unfolds over a huge landscape and over a long period of time. (83)
The point of prayer, after all, is the relationship itself, not the things we get from the relationship. Whatever the reasons for unanswered prayer, surely our relationship with God should be bigger than whether or not God chooses to answer our prayers! (87)
Is the purpose of prayer to receive what we ask for? Well, yes and no. God wants to answer our prayers. But God wants us to know him, too. If anything, that is God’s best answer to prayer . . . Persistence leads to a more mature prayer life. We will begin to see God as worthy of our greatest love and affection, as if a relationship with God were the goals of our prayers and not merely the acquisition of things we want from God. We will stop talking all the time, and we will learn to listen.
I am learning that my natural inclination is to use God, not to love God. I am like a spiritual junkie. I want the quick fix that answered prayer can provide. Once I get what I want, I return to my normal state of spiritual indolence (laziness). Unanswered prayer can actually serve to fan the flame of spiritual desire to know God as the supreme end in life. (89-90)
. . . But, as C.S. Lewis put it, God does not want to make life nice for us, because he wants to make us new. That is his will. When we pray, we should keep that in mind. It is enough to make me think twice about praying at all. After all, God’s will concerns the coming of his kingdom, the doing of his will as he commands it in Scripture. That strikes me as exciting, but also slightly menacing.
I pray with greater caution than I used to. Or, if not with greater caution, then certainly with greater sobriety. I realize what I’m in for. (106)
. . . we can pray according to God’s will by studying the great prayers of Scripture.
It is startling to consider what they don’t say. They say nothing about long life, perfect health, or success in the popular sense – nothing, in short, that even hints of a desire for an ideal life on earth, free of problems and difficulties. Instead, these prayers ask God for a deeper experience of his love, for purity of life, for inner strength, and for knowledge to make good choices. (110-111)
I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:16-19
Hard Work
I know, who am I to talk about hard work? I spend most of my time “working” behind a desk or in conversation with people. What is so hard about that? Well, it is true that I don’t get much dirt under my fingernails and my muscles aren’t usually sore at the end of the day, but it is hard in different ways, just normally not physically exhausting.
There is a part of me that loves hard manual labor. I am not saying I’m good at it or that making a living doing it would be easy for me, but I have experienced the satisfaction of a day of hard, physical work. I can see what I’ve accomplished. I can “feel” that I’ve worked that day. I see the dirt under the fingernails, the sweat on the brow, and the tired muscles.
It is hard work to follow Jesus Christ. There is no way to get around this truth. It is hard.
Following Jesus will involve rolling up our sleeves, getting dirt under our fingernails, and experiencing the soreness of overused muscles. We’ll get tired. We’ll need rest. We’ll get frustrated and discouraged. We’ll have days we won’t want to work at all, but we’ll do it. Our minds and bodies will be stretched and taxed. But the work won’t get done unless we do it. (I’m not saying we thwart God’s will and purposes, but we definitely hinder what He wants to see happen IN us.)
It will not come easy. Granted, we’ve all probably experienced times where following Jesus seemed easy. Whether on a mission trip or Emmaus walk or another life-changing experience, we’ve had moments, “spiritual highs,” where it seemed there was nothing better to do than to follow Jesus. We experienced in those times the joy and peace promised by Jesus. It was undeniable and it even seemed easy to follow Jesus.
This is good. These times in our lives are truly gifts. But if we expect following Jesus to be like this all the time – to be almost easy – we’ve been deceived. And if we live in pursuit of these “experiences” and expect our journey with Jesus to be like living constantly in the midst of the “experience,” we will be disappointed. Following Jesus is pursuing a relationship not hopping from one spiritual event to another. It is learning to live in relationship with God Himself.
It’s like being a parent. It is hard work. Taking nothing away from the love I have for John and the blessing it is to have him in my life, it is hard work. His needs are constant. His desire for attention is greater than my desire to give it. He wants to do a lot of things I don’t want to do. It involves sacrifice, patience, effort, perseverance, discipline, etc. I can’t just set John aside and take a break from my role as Dad. Yes, there is a need for respite, for babysitters, for time with just Alisa, but it does not end the ongoing calling to be his Dad. I am always that.
Yesterday, I was tired. I didn’t want to play trains. Mouse Trap was not the plans I had for my life. I wanted a break from the demands for attention. But there’s John, excited his dad is home. So, even though I didn’t want to, I got down on the floor, set aside my agenda (selfish one at that), and played Mouse Trap, then Uno, then whatever game John wanted to do, because what matters to him isn’t so much the activity, but the person whom he is with. He definitely has his plans of what he wants to do, but what’s most important to him is whom he is playing with.
Hard work. Following Jesus. Carrying our cross. Serving others. Letting go. Washing feet. Turning off the TV. Praying. Being still. Meeting needs. Giving away.
Hard work. Following Jesus. Now. Tomorrow. Every situation. Every relationship. When we’re tired. When we don’t want to. When we don’t feel like it. At home. At work. With people we don’t like. With people different from us.
Plain and simple, it is just hard work following Jesus. But it is work worth every ounce of effort and every drop of sweat.
There is a part of me that loves hard manual labor. I am not saying I’m good at it or that making a living doing it would be easy for me, but I have experienced the satisfaction of a day of hard, physical work. I can see what I’ve accomplished. I can “feel” that I’ve worked that day. I see the dirt under the fingernails, the sweat on the brow, and the tired muscles.
It is hard work to follow Jesus Christ. There is no way to get around this truth. It is hard.
Following Jesus will involve rolling up our sleeves, getting dirt under our fingernails, and experiencing the soreness of overused muscles. We’ll get tired. We’ll need rest. We’ll get frustrated and discouraged. We’ll have days we won’t want to work at all, but we’ll do it. Our minds and bodies will be stretched and taxed. But the work won’t get done unless we do it. (I’m not saying we thwart God’s will and purposes, but we definitely hinder what He wants to see happen IN us.)
It will not come easy. Granted, we’ve all probably experienced times where following Jesus seemed easy. Whether on a mission trip or Emmaus walk or another life-changing experience, we’ve had moments, “spiritual highs,” where it seemed there was nothing better to do than to follow Jesus. We experienced in those times the joy and peace promised by Jesus. It was undeniable and it even seemed easy to follow Jesus.
This is good. These times in our lives are truly gifts. But if we expect following Jesus to be like this all the time – to be almost easy – we’ve been deceived. And if we live in pursuit of these “experiences” and expect our journey with Jesus to be like living constantly in the midst of the “experience,” we will be disappointed. Following Jesus is pursuing a relationship not hopping from one spiritual event to another. It is learning to live in relationship with God Himself.
It’s like being a parent. It is hard work. Taking nothing away from the love I have for John and the blessing it is to have him in my life, it is hard work. His needs are constant. His desire for attention is greater than my desire to give it. He wants to do a lot of things I don’t want to do. It involves sacrifice, patience, effort, perseverance, discipline, etc. I can’t just set John aside and take a break from my role as Dad. Yes, there is a need for respite, for babysitters, for time with just Alisa, but it does not end the ongoing calling to be his Dad. I am always that.
Yesterday, I was tired. I didn’t want to play trains. Mouse Trap was not the plans I had for my life. I wanted a break from the demands for attention. But there’s John, excited his dad is home. So, even though I didn’t want to, I got down on the floor, set aside my agenda (selfish one at that), and played Mouse Trap, then Uno, then whatever game John wanted to do, because what matters to him isn’t so much the activity, but the person whom he is with. He definitely has his plans of what he wants to do, but what’s most important to him is whom he is playing with.
Hard work. Following Jesus. Carrying our cross. Serving others. Letting go. Washing feet. Turning off the TV. Praying. Being still. Meeting needs. Giving away.
Hard work. Following Jesus. Now. Tomorrow. Every situation. Every relationship. When we’re tired. When we don’t want to. When we don’t feel like it. At home. At work. With people we don’t like. With people different from us.
Plain and simple, it is just hard work following Jesus. But it is work worth every ounce of effort and every drop of sweat.
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