Thursday, June 19, 2014

Is It Because

06.19.14

2 Kings 1.3 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’ (NIV)

There are times when the question is worse than the answer – is it because…?? And to have God ask the question, Is It Because… makes it worse than any answer we can dream up. And it is because of such questions that we are taught about the Object of our faith and the Source of our faith. Improper or misplaced faith is a bad, bad thing.

Many today either don’t understand or don’t believe that God is God, and with God, all of life (in its varying forms) is complete. There isn’t a thing in our lives that God hasn’t thought of or made allowance for. All of the circumstances which we face (past, present, and future) are all part of God’s grand design for our lives. Life and death are held in the will of God. Our days are numbered, our hairs are numbered and nothing in all of creation (us included) escapes His notice, care, or involvement.

Well, Paul, does that also include our willful sin? Well, friend, in a way, yes it does. God can even use the sin in our lives to teach us how much we need Him and how much He loves us. (I don’t think it’s His preferred method, but He isn’t daunted or foiled by it either, no matter the havoc we wreak with it…)

But if we were to ask ourselves the question: Is it because there is no God in our lives that we rely on ourselves?, would that get our attention? Is it because there is no God in my life that I harbor such ill-will against certain people? Is it because there is no God in my life that I scheme, dream, and scream for things to be different because of the choices I’ve made? Is it because there is no God in my life that I am so afraid, so confused, and so scared of things like death, terrorism, politics, the economy, and, and, and ??? Is it because?

The Bible seems to assume we’re making some kind of godly progress in our lives. The Bible seems to assume we are willingly God’s ambassadors, representatives, and emissaries in this world to share His love, His truth and mission for mankind. Is it because there is no God that we ignore His calling upon us and allow ourselves to be caught up in distraction after distraction, after distraction? Is it because? Is it because we’re Americans?

Ahaziah (ah-hah-zeeah) was king over Israel. Israel as we recall is the nation of God’s chosen people with a direct line of access to God. Kings as we recall can pretty much do whatever they want. The rules, we may recall, may not apply to everyone, but the consequences do. Ahaziah decided to ignore God and seek assistance from Baal-zebub the detestable God of Ekron. Ekron as we recall was a principle city in the land of the Philistines. The Philistines as we recall were the perennial enemies of God’s people; and enemies of God’s people, as we recall, are enemies of God. Yikes! He did what!? Ahaziah forgot God and decided to go elsewhere for help.

I’m not sure when he wrote it, but Asaph the composer once wrote:
“The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing.
    They walk about in darkness;
    all the foundations of the earth are shaken.” (Psalm 83:5)

Asaph got it – Ahaziah didn’t. Ahaziah eventually died and faced God for his actions. So did Asap. One got it, the other one didn’t. (Think about it.)


Father, Help me to get it – I have no one other than You. Help me in every area of life to avoid the question: Is it because there is no God that you do what you do? Lord, help me to depend always and only upon You. Amen.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Completion

06.18.14

Colossians 4.17 Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.” NIV

When’s the last time someone said to you, “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.”? How are you doing in your ministry? What victories have you experienced; what lessons have you learned? Have your gifts grown?

Paul knew Archippus (ark – hee – poos); he knew him from a previous visit. He knew him well enough to mention him by name and call out his ministry efforts. God knew Archippus as well. Perhaps Archippus wasn’t taking his ministry seriously. Perhaps he’d suffered some setbacks and felt like giving up. Of all the people Paul knew in Colossae, he called out and challenged Archippus to complete his ministry – Paul knew more than he let us onto, but Archippus knew. And God knew.

What is our ministry (not ours together, but ours individually. And maybe ours collectively)? Do we have one? If not, why not? Are there times we don’t take our ministry seriously? Are there times we suffer setbacks? Are there times when our commitment is called into question? What do we do or how do we react when that happens?

One day, God will call us all into question: What did you do with all I gave You? It isn’t a threat; it isn’t a stern warning – it’s just a question we will all have to answer. Now it doesn’t mean we’re to run right out and do something either; it just means if we’re not ministering, then perhaps a conversation with God is in order and perhaps a step of faith to follow that conversation. We’re all to minister in the Lord and we’re all to be involved in the lives of others for His sake. It’s who we are; it’s what we do.

Church is a 'team sport' and it’s also an active one. Inactivity means something is wrong. Either we don’t know, or we don’t believe – one or the other; something is wrong if we’re not ministering to someone somehow sometime.

Ministry is as simple as having a cup of coffee regularly with a group of peers. I’ve been doing that on Thursday mornings for the last 8 years. I hear and I am heard. There is no right or wrong – no win or lose; it’s just five or six guys who love each other and who love the Lord, who get together and talk about the Lord, the Church, and Kingdom issues. The coffee is always great and the conversation is always insightful and helpful. I think we love each other.

And those conversations lead to other ministry activity and the blossoming of love for God’s people. I know it’s helped me and challenged me to “…complete the ministry I have received in the Lord: the ministry of encouragement. I’m called by God to serve in His Church. It isn’t a win or lose thing: it’s a called to choose thing; I’m called to choose God’s Kingdom and to help His people over all the other things in my life.

Father, help me to fulfill and complete the ministry I have in You. Help me to stay focused on the goal and to bless people with encouragement along the path on which we all travel: You!

Thank You for calling and equipping this saint. May his work result in Your glory – amen.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

The Credit or the Blame

06.17.14

2 Chronicles 17.3-6 3 The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the ways of his father David before him. He did not consult the Baals 4 but sought the God of his father and followed his commands rather than the practices of Israel. 5 The Lord established the kingdom under his control; and all Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat, so that he had great wealth and honor. 6 His heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord; furthermore, he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah. (NIV)

What makes a person do what he does? Why is one person driven to succeed and another is content to coast? Why is one super-spiritual and another is clueless? What does one do when one is king? What would you do if you were?

It seems Jehoshaphat understood who he was and what he was anointed to do. As king he could’ve done just about anything and nobody would’ve been able to stop him – he had a pen and a phone, he could make things happen. And he did, but here’s the difference: he followed the ways of his father David before him. He did not consult the Baals  but sought the God of his father and followed his commands rather than the practices of Israel. I think, on Jehoshaphat’s tomb might’ve been these words: He Sought the God of His Father.

After Solomon, the kingdom in Judah sorta fell into disarray. But Jehoshaphat came along and restored a lot of what had been before. He tore down the high places, he got rid of the Asherah poles. He set the tone for his kingdom that: God was God and we all ought to heed Him because we need Him. What makes a person do what he does?

A person does what a person does because of God. (Yes, I realize there is such a thing as “free will”, but we don’t seem to mind when God gifts us with abilities and talents we didn’t ask for). God is sovereign and does what He does with us because He is God. He is uniquely able to influence our lives in ways no one else on earth can. Jehoshaphat it seems was uniquely gifted to remember the majesty of David’s unique relationship with God.

Why are you who you are and why do you do what you do? And for whom do you do? What will they put on your headstone? Recently I received this note from my daughter: “…In addition to us, the Fam, I know you’ve touched so many people just by being who you are: a loving, caring, hard-working man of God who just wants to leave a mark on this world, and we love you for it! Happy Father’s Day!” I wonder what she’ll want on my headstone…

We do what we do because we are uniquely gifted by God to do it. We are no different than Jehoshaphat of old – he was loved because of who he was and what he did and his love for God. Jehoshaphat is a breath of fresh air to me!


Father in Heaven, You alone have made me who I am and I am grateful for it. In this life we can either credit or blame; but when it’s all over, we only are who You’ve uniquely gifted us to be. And so, may my life be used to restore others back to Your original intention; the one You’ve always had for them. And may Your gifts and influence be obvious in this world where You often don’t get the credit You deserve, and suffer the blame You do. Amen

Monday, June 16, 2014

Ninety-Nine Cent Karma

06.16.14

Colossians 2.6-7 6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

It appears the Church in the first century was as plagued with conflicting philosophies and the usual mis, and dis-information as we are today. Here on the planet, nothing really ever changes except the times and the players. And man, as usual, has always been pretty darn good at coming up with enslaving and useless systems in the name of religion. Sigh. We just don’t learn.

A signal sentence in Colossians 2 seems to cut through the crap (of the then times) of all of man, and his incessant insistence of how we’re all supposed to live: BY THE RULES!!! And here is what Paul said: So then, just as you received Christ (not on your own) as Lord, continue to live your lives (not on your own) in Him. And here’s how (not on your own): rooted and built up in Him; strengthened in the faith as you were taught; and overflowing with thankfulness.

We cannot live on our own. We cannot live as an island and combat all the crapola that comes at us because, frankly, some of it seems to really make sense and sound pretty darn good.

Two nights ago I’m working at my (former) cashier’s job at the local supermarket and I’m ringing up groceries and chatting with a customer. It’s funny, I can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, but I can be chatty and charming whilst helping a customer. Well, in the midst of my charming chattiness, I forget to ring up a ninety-nine cent loaf of bread, and as girls (who are pretty darn sharp I’ve found) are wont to do, she tells me I’ve forgotten to charge her for the bread. I ring up the bread I’ve forgotten and she says: I just don’t want to get ninety-nine cent karma. And I say to myself: Oh, here’s another one that believes in the superstitious power of what goes around, comes around.  

Does that really work!? Seems many think it does. Competing philosophy?

I can live my life according to the folksy wisdom that surrounds me. I can live my life according to Ninety-Nine Cent karma. Or I can live my life just as I received Christ, no on my own, but in Him rooted and grounded and thankful and all that. Ninety-Nine Cent Karma sounds reasonable but even so, who’s behind it? What’s behind it? And what’s wrong with just being honest and forthright without fear of some karma-n, cosmic retribution: Oops! Ya done done it now, and now ya gots ta pay…sorry suckah!

I am to live my life, not as the world turns, but as I received Jesus Christ as my own: not on my own. And I am to pay attention to Him as I live my life, not in my strength, not in my wisdom, not on my own, but as He has called me to live: rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.


Lord Jesus, in the midst of the endless and conflicting philosophies of the day, help me to live in You; not fearing karma, but simply living honestly, humbly and holy. Thank You I am in You and not just flopping around in the breeze somewhere else. Amen.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Something to Eat

06.15.14

Colossians 1.10 …so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God… (NIV)

Jesus said something like this: “I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more.” (John 15.1-2 MSG) His disciples looked back at Him and nodded their heads, “Yes, Lord, You are. And we will do whatever you say…” They understood farming and grapes; they just didn’t quite grasp what Jesus was saying to them.

Paul echoed the Lord’s words in Colossians 1 where he said: “…so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work…” Fruit is good stuff!

My life in Christ has been hammered with the concept that fruit, in Christianese, only ever means making disciples. I suppose there is some measure of truth to that but in the context above, it means so much more! Fruit, is what we need to survive: the fruit of plants, the fruit of water and minerals, and the fruit of meaning. Life without meaning is just hopelessly putting one foot in front of the other, until one day the stepping stops. Life with meaning however is living within and up to the potential God has for each one of us: never-ending, joy-filled adventure.

Everyone gets hungry, lonely, or sad. Everyone suffers loss of some kind or another. Fruit heals this. The hungry may hunger for food but there are usually other hungers therewith. The lonely may be in in the midst of a crowd and feel, no one knows, no one cares. Those who’ve lost may feel they’ll never be refilled. Fruit solves that. Fruitbearing is having the right thing at the right time to release the presence of God in what appears to be an unsolvable life situation. Fruit is not only making disciples – fruit is what attracts a person to God. The hungry crave substance.

And life with God is an intangible, invisible, yet very real substance – it is the God provided ability (power) to pierce the darkness of a person’s soul which says there is no hope. Everyone needs to be cared for but they won’t care how much I know until they know how much I care. Bearing fruit for God in every good work proves how much I care. It’s like something to eat but with vastly different results: the life of God is shared.

We are all so vastly broken and yet we have hope that we are not broken beyond repair. The fruit of God transforms us from brokenness to newness in life that only comes by it; we all need it. We all need the fruit of God in our lives to transform us into something not just repaired, but something Brand. Spanking. New.


Father, I continually ask You to fill me with the knowledge of Your will through all the wisdom and understanding that Your Spirit gives, so that I may live a life worthy, and please You in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of You, being strengthened with all power according to Your glorious might so that I may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the You because You've qualified me to share in the inheritance of Your holy people in the Kingdom of Light. Amen

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

She

06.10.14

Song of Songs 1.2-4 2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— for your love is more delightful than wine. 3 Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the young women love you! 4 Take me away with you—let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers.

I’ve yet to see it, but I want to, the movie, you know: She. It intrigues me – at least what little of the story I’ve heard and with what little of the trailers I’ve seen. Intriguingly bizarre. The marriage of technology and emotion that is. The tragic confounding of man with machine.

In Solomon’s Song, there is peppered within it pericopes of She, He and Friends. That’s what you’d expect in romance and marriage and in life. You’d expect lovers and the friends of the lovers. You’d expect various levels of ‘in the know’ and circles of varying proximity to and from the lovers. But as a man, I am interested in, and attracted to She.

I married my She going on 36 years ago. When I found her, She was what I wanted. In the Proverbs, Agur son of Jakeh, is credited with: an inspired utterance. In it he said there were four things that that amazed and confounded him – one of which was: “…the way of a man with a young woman.” Go figure. Men are just that way around women. But they are way weird around the one by whom they are smitten. I think God knew exactly what He was doing.

What’s refreshing and counfounding to me is when a She likes a He. Love is one thing, romance another, but like is like acceptance and that is what matters to this Me. I am not always at my best; some days are certainly better than others, but when a She likes a He, then He’s more confident, assured, and well, better.

Now, scholar that I am not, I can’t put my finger on Song of Song’s theologically except that one of the major themes of the New Testament is the Marriage of the Bride (the Church) to the Christ. Talk about a She and a He! And the Marriage is consummated with Trust; the Bride awaits her Groom trusting that all her blots and blemishes will be overlooked and she will be to Him: radiant. And the Groom is like a man with a maiden: smitten. It’s kinda hard to see Jesus as smitten – but He is. He likes She. And She includes you and me.

We, in the Church of God, are the She. At times we are the friends– as in every good marriage there ought to be a high level of friendship – of God, but more than that we are the She of God, His Bride, radiant and pure; cleansed by His blood and His word. I could go on and on with metaphors but here it is: He likes She, and the She is comprised of the global We – those who are faithfully smitten by He.

Maybe it’s this: it’s been a while since I felt smitten and perhaps today would be a good time to renew some present and future vows by acknowledging just how much He loves She, and She includes me…fallen and fractured as I am, but hailed by Him as His own.

I Love You Lord
And I lift my voice
To worship You (o my soul, rejoice)
Take joy my King
In what You hear
May it be a sweet, sweet sound

In Your ear. Amen

Monday, June 9, 2014

The God of Payback?

06.09.14

Psalm 94.1-2 1 The Lord is a God who avenges. O God who avenges, shine forth. 2 Rise up, Judge of the earth; pay back to the proud what they deserve.

There are many times when I’ve sought revenge; I’ve wanted payback. I really wanted to see someone suffer because of what I felt they did to me. I don’t think there are too many times I actually got revenge, but there are times when my words were harsh or hurtful or hidden, at least from the person I was attempting to get back at…

Where does revenge come from? Why is it totally human in nature to seek payback, retribution, or to even the score? Why does someone write a song about payback and call God, the God of Payback? Well, I suppose it’s because God is the God of Payback, vengeance, and revenge.

It is difficult to see God for who He really is when others have described Him in other ways. When the Bible calls God, “The Lord is a God who avenges” it’s hard perhaps to see Him also as the God of Love. Perhaps. Unless we understand that Scripture was Authored by God through people. And people have a thing about vengeance.

The odd part of our faith is that it is comprised, in part, by the presence of God and the mixture of man. In other words, our faith is from God – that only makes sense; but faith only finds its expression in man; without man to exercise faith, who else will? Man needs faith because there are things in life like vengeance that man can’t quite comprehend and certainly can’t handle – but God can. Man isn’t the reason God exists but it sure is good for man’s sake that God does exist.

Vengeance is a thorny issue. Vengeance, to me, is the act of exacting payback to those who offend. Israel from her very inception, was prone to persecution: a nation formed in the midst of nations who really didn’t seek her presence, nor her values; especially not her God. The familial fallout of the ancients and the presence of sin made her especially vulnerable to the dysfunction of the then culture which was anything but pro-God.

And so, at some point, some writer wrote Psalm 94 and sought God’s vengeance upon the wicked; the unnamed wicked. Had the writer been afflicted and needed God to pay back his afflicters? Possibly. Was the writer so zealous – as was king David – for God’s holy sovereignty that he was just beside himself with angst over the wicked seeming to get over on everybody else? Perhaps. Or did the writer understand, that vengeance is only in the realm of God and off limits to everyone else (Deuteronomy 32.35)? Probably.

Whatever the case for the writing of Psalm 94, the reality is this: Only God can handle vengeance because only God knows how to exact vengeance; and my feeling is His exact-ation (if you will) will fit the offense demanding vengeance. In the meantime, I am to pray for my enemies and: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” (Romans 12.20 quoting Proverbs 25.21-22) If burning coals on his brow don’t get the job done, then I suppose only God’s vengeance will.


Father, give me strength this day to refrain from revenge. Help me, though I know, and feel, and experience all that causes me to want revenge, to know I cannot handle revenge. Only You can and I am to accept that. In the meantime, I’m to walk as Jesus did, accepting the world as it is, not as I want it to be. I’ll serve soup to the offender and swallow my own wickedness that only wants payback. Vengeance is Yours alone. I’ll trust in that! Amen.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

A Differing Opinion

06.04.14

29.1 Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy. NIV

I could not help, as I read Proverbs 29 today, but to think about the United States in it’s current condition: “…when the wicked rule, the people groan.” Not everybody in government today is wicked but there is mounting evidence that many who are, are. And people groan. Ain’t a day goes by I don’t hear someone bellyaching about government. On the other hand, there ain’t a day goes by that I don’t hear someone bellyaching about getting their due from the hand of the government. Sigh. We don’t know what we want. (Actually, we want what we want when we want it; and we want it all, and we want it now… as long as we get our slice of the pie.)

So, I suppose what crossed my mind as I read Proverbs 29 and specifically focused on verse 1 is this: the Proverbs are not law; Proverbs are not Rule. The Proverbs are general statements about specific things; and kind of a generalized opinion (as it were) of how things tend to be. Whoever remains stiff-necked (obnoxiously, willfully, stubborn and unchanged) after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed. (I think sometimes there are those around us that we wish destruction would come sooner than later…)

But experience tells us, that even though this statement is what it is, not everyone who remains stiff-necked gets it (whatever and whenever ‘it’ is). Now, in my pea-brain I ask, what does destroyed mean? Does that mean sudden judgment by God and the outpouring of His wrath? Or does that mean, some drops dead in their tracks? Or, does it mean they suddenly become ineffective and less of a nuisance in their stubbornness?

The ancients appeared to believe in payback. We moderns seem to believe karma sucks (a variant of payback). I think God believes in grace, but even God seems to realize: a sinkhole is a sinkhole. But one thing is for sure: those who choose to remain obnoxiously stubborn and resistant are going to have to give account for their choice at some point or other. And when they do it won’t be pleasant.

Our excuse these days is: well, it happens to some, but it won’t happen to me; not everyone who smokes cigarettes gets cancer. Yes, that is true. But overall, smoking isn’t really all that good for you. I don’t think there are many who would say, smoking has improved my life. The non(anti)-smokers in the crowd might voice a differing opinion. In the same way whether it is now or later, at some point we are going to have to account to God and tell Him why His way for us wasn’t satisfactory. He may have a differing opinion.

Whether I die sooner in stubbornness or die later, if I choose to remain willfully entrenched against God, it isn’t a smart move. But some will, and some do. Prayers can be lifted, but God will be God.


Father, if nothing else may I lead the parade of pray-ers for those around us who’ve hardened their hearts against You and against their fellow man that they would repent and turn from their agenda against You. Where sin abounds, so grace abounds all the more. O God! Be merciful. Amen.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

It Hasn’t Changed a Bit

06.03.14

Romans 15.16 ...to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

It hasn’t changed a bit since Paul wrote these words to people he’d never seen and had never seen him. Paul knew people in Rome but had never been there yet; his arrival would be sometime in the future.

Paul knew what he was about, as the Lord Jesus knew what He was about. It wasn’t a guessing game; it wasn’t hand-wringing or the agony of: O God! I’m so confused! I don’t know what to do! No, Paul knew God had given him the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, set apart by the Holy Spirit. It hasn’t changed a bit. That very work continues to this day. (Or at least the need for that work continues to this day.)

I remember sitting in church one Sunday evening as a youth listening to a man from a foreign country (somewhere in Africa or Asia, he wasn’t white) tell us in the audience that someday his people and others from around the world would come to America and do missions work. I thought: Yeah, right! When pigs fly! The skies are littered with airborne swine these days. I heard something on the radio just the other day about missionaries coming to America to proclaim the Gospel of God to people who’ve never heard it…and we are littered with churches across our land.

I don’t know what I’d say to a foreign missionary if I bumped into one on the street: Oh yeah, we got her done; we don’t really need your help! But thanks! I think I’d run in embarrassment and shame because much of what passes for Christianity in the West these days; which is an odd mixture of self-help, pop psychology, and utter and shameless self-promotion.

I’m leaving for Kenya in 17 days. I’ve never been on a foreign missions trip and have never been to a third-world country. (They just might get pissed at me for calling them: third-world. The arrogance of the west…sigh.) But in Kenya, I hope to find myself (I know, self-help, pop psychology, and shameless self-promotion) and find God. I know He’s there, and I know He wants me to go there. So, I’m going. But I’m going to learn, to help, and to encourage believers there that if they ever want to come to America and share their story, I’d welcome them.

Whatever happens, it is imperative to me, whether at home or abroad, that proclaiming the gospel of God is to be a top priority to me and the Christians here in our corner of the world. Our land needs it and so does the world. And resistance to the Gospel is fear dressed up in anger and persecution and men doing what they know how to do best when confronted with truth: kill the messengers. Paul did make it, eventually, to Rome…as a prisoner in chains for the gospel. It hasn’t changed a bit God still looks for those who will proclaim His gospel so the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to Him, sanctified by His Holy Spirit.

Lord God, use me! Amen.

Monday, June 2, 2014

Jigginess

06.02.14

Romans 14.19-21 19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall. NIV

Who’d a–thunkit that meat was once a source of contention between folk? I sure know drink is. I know that ever since Jesus turned water into wine the Church in America has been trying to change it back. It is just the way things are that someone will get their nose bent out of shape over food and drink. Just place bacon in front of a Muslim and watch what happens.

It sounds awfully petty. It sounds entirely human – whatever we can make an issue out of we will – and we do. But the word of God is pretty clear at this point: “…it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better no to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.” Hmmm. So I guess I’ll just find those who do what I want to do and hang out with them. Now it’s starting to sound really petty.

I’m pretty sure that those in the Church who drink wine or beer wish those who didn’t would just man-up and join the party. I’m pretty sure that those who don’t wish those who did would man-up and be leaders and set the example and do what Jesus did (Who as a member of His culture did what everyone else did: He drank wine. And don’t give me that lame excuse that Jesus drank Welch’s – He didn’t. He drank the real stuff.)

Most all of us know a drunk, or know someone who knows a drunk. There isn’t a place in leadership of the Church for a drunkard; nor is there an effective witness in the life of a drunkard. But let me share this story:

Last week I go to get my hair cut at a new Barber shop – not only new to me but new to our little berg. So, I’m in the chair and the barber is cutting my hair, and we’re talking music and he asks me what I “into”. Well, I’m into mountain bike riding. And pretty passionate about it. But I tell him I’m not currently riding because I sold my bike to go on a Mission’s trip. He spins the chair around and he says, “You’re a Christian and you listen to this kind of music!?” I say, “Sure!” And he says, “My, how times have changed.” (I didn’t have the heart to tell him I was also into craft beers and red wine… I might’ve had to call 911.)

But the point here is not pettiness, but strength, love, and courage. It takes strength – the Jesus kind – to put up with those who make issues out of food and drink and rock music and what the worship band plays on Sunday (there is my weakness and a source of issues for me).  It takes love to accept one who gets all jiggy over things and can’t/won’t come to understand. And it takes courage to let Jesus be Jesus in my life, my choices, and to rule over what I’m into. God doesn’t take anything from us. He will however, accept everything we’ll give Him. That’s what relationship is all about.

Jesus here is what I want from You today: Your strength, Your love, and courage. I need these things to deal with the thorny issues in life. But I also ask for wisdom in order to represent You well and to carefully guard and guide what I’m into lest it become hurtful to others and I wreck the whole thing. Don’t let me do that. Amen.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Properly Purely Permanently

06.01.14

Romans 13.10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (NIV)

It is pretty simple: Love does no harm to a neighbor. Love fulfills the other ‘Ten’ because love does no harm to the person next to you. It seems the answer to all of life’s temptations and trials is wrapped up very well: Love God, love people.

A friend of mine chants this mantra: nothing to gain, nothing to lose; nothing to hide, nothing to prove. I’m not sure where he got it but it fits in with the Love Theme. If I quit jockeying for position or possession or power or prestige then I’ve really nothing to gain. If I rest in Christ and all He has for me and all He is in me, then I’ve nothing to lose; I have it all in Him.

If I’ve learned to live sincerely and with purity then I’ve nothing to hide. Skulking around in undisciplined thoughts and evil desires brings the necessity to hide them and pretend they don’t exist. Pretenders have much to hide and especially much to lose if they are found out; and they will be found out – sooner or later. We cannot hide who we are inside forever – it is too much effort; it is beyond the strength of a man. The weight of insincerity it too much for any person to lift for too long; eventually their strength will fail.

And, nothing to prove. At the end of all things it will just be Jesus and me. I will have no defense to bring before the throne, and all of who I am (and was) will be laid bare. No excuses, no smoke and mirrors, nothing. Just Jesus asking: Son, what did you do with all I gave you?

I think that’s where and when love will be the covering. I think that is when all of what I hoped for in life will be will find its ultimate answer: Jesus, I learned to love You because I did what You asked me to do; and I learned to love my fellow man. And You Jesus, made it all possible.

You see I will be held accountable, and as my friend Matt Sand says, that will all hinge on my relationship with Christ and how His love changed my love from that of my ‘self’, to that of others. Loving ourselves is a given – we all do that! Loving others is the test and that is where we must succeed: in putting others in that place of love that we place our self. And when we do, we’ll find love is the fulfillment of the Law. Not the Mosaic Law, but the Law of the Kingdom because it will be the Law of our Loving King.

If I could only see at times how petty, evil, and impure my thoughts are toward others then I would quickly see how much I don’t want to be treated that way – that’s how much I love myself. But when I get to that place of nothing to gain, nothing to lose, nothing to hide, nothing to prove then I am freed to love others properly, purely, and permanently. I think that is what Jesus is asking me to do.

Lord, today Your word spoke powerfully to me. I must learn to shed the pettiness and evil in me that I entertain in my thoughts and replace them with unconditional love – the love that You have shown me; and then, Lord, I’ll find peace, pleasure, and permanence in Your presence – that is what I think You are working in me. Thank You. Amen.