Yesterday morning at this time was definitely a low in my parenting experience. Ar’Mircle and Jade sleep in the same room and our goal is for them to sleep from 7pm to 7am. When I’m home, my job is to get them going in the morning so Casey has some extra sleep. If I’m not up by 6, then I can kiss my Quiet Time goodbye, which for some reason makes me grumpier than it ought to!
Two days ago, Ar’Mircle was not on a great schedule and did not eat as much as she really needed. Thus, she woke up around 5am, making her needs known with her usual loud cries. I decided to follow our suboptimal protocol in hopes that we could salvage some sleep, so I gave her a bottle and changed her diaper. She actually went down pretty well. Jade usually sleeps through this, but had some sort of earache or tummyache, and so she woke up and things went south from there.
I can’t say we handled the situation well and we will need to get a lot of advice on what to do in the future. It’s always hard when you know your kids are exasperated or very close to it. Jade basically got herself so worked up she couldn’t breathe properly. Looking back, it was a very long fit that lasted over an hour. We knew she needed a lot more sleep and we had a huge day ahead of us so we were trying to get her back to sleep. However, we eventually let her up. I prayed a nice long prayer in the bright lights of the kitchen with her about happy thoughts and good things from God and asked him to comfort her. That did the trick and she was able to do a “mind change” and revert back to being the happy, joyful, delightful little girl that I know.
Throughout this episode, I just wanted Jade to let us comfort her. I even told her that her job was not to talk, but to sit still and snuggle with us and let us calm her down. Instead, she kept trying to fidget, complain about her physical discomforts, and negotiate about HOW she wanted to get comforted (see Ps. 77:1-2).
This really got me thinking about the topic of “comfort” and whether or not I let God comfort me. I also felt very convicted that I ought to have prayed way sooner with her and as long as it took for her to get her mind on God and off of her problems. I’m determined to handle such situations differently in the future. This morning, I decided to look at some scriptures on “comfort” and “hope” and what God wants in my relationship with him.
What God Wants to Do
Is 40:1-2 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
Isaiah 51:12 "I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass,
Isaiah 66:13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem."
Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
False Sources of Comfort and Wrong Attitudes
I’m particularly tempted to turn to extra sleep if I have a bad day or am feeling depressed. But it’s definitely not the answer—Jesus is… On the other hand, the story of 1 Kings 19:1-9 tells us that God understands our physical needs.
Job 7:13-15
When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint, even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine.
Another temptation for me is to solve my problems myself and in my own way. Being self-sufficient and responsible isn’t a bad thing. However, I love to be able to be of assistance to my daughters and I know God feels the same about me. It’s always more fun and relationally satisfying to accomplish something together rather than showing of what you did by yourself.
Jeremiah 17:5 This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
Psalm 33:17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save.
Here’s the scripture that reminded me of Jade refusing to be comforted. At least this guy is going to God and being honest about his feelings, but he is too agitated to receive the gift of comfort that God wants to offer him.
Ps 77:1-2
I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted.
Having the right attitude toward God
When I’m in the right spiritual “zone,” I am simply one of the sheep in God’s flock. I have no concerns or worries because the Good Shepherd is watching after me.
Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 119:76 May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant.
Isaiah 52:9 Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
Here is a key scripture for my parenting. Jesus asked his disciples to trust him and in that trust they were trusting God. In the same way, I am asking my kids to first put their trust in God overall, but then to trust Casey and me in the everyday and in so doing they will be trusting God.
John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
As part of the body of Christ, we can receive comfort from one another. Of course, we first want to turn to God, but oftentimes God puts people in our lives to meet our needs.
2 Corinthians 7:6-7 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever.
Psalm 25:5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
Sometimes you just have to tell yourself what is the right attitude to have. I love the Psalms and their total honesty and openness about feelings and attitudes.
Psalm 42:5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and
The Bible is where I gain a great deal of comfort and hope. Sometimes we have to search the scriptures to find the right one for a particular situation. Asking other disciples for a scripture is also beneficial.
Psalm 119:82 My eyes fail, looking for your promise; I say, "When will you comfort me?"
Psalm 119:52 I remember your ancient laws, O LORD, and I find comfort in them.
Psalm 119:114 You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
The Coming Messiah
Christ-mas is nearly upon us (less so when I started writing this entry 2 weeks ago ;-). Dec. 25 is the traditional date where the world acknowledges the importance of the birth of Jesus Christ. Beyond a single day, Catholics celebrate Advent (the coming of the Lord) for a full 12 days. In quickly browsing the Catholic Advent website http://www.catholic.org/clife/advent/advent.php?id=37, I clearly have a lot to learn. As best I can gather, Catholics celebrate Advent for 12 days starting Dec. 26--and the popularized song is indeed talking about this period of time (for the mathematical among us, the number of each type of gift (e.g., 1 partridge x 12 days = 12) is a 2nd-order polynomial with a zenith at 6.5).
My personal tradition is to counter the holiday frenzy of spending with reflections on Jesus Christ. Jesus is a variant of Yeshua, meaning "the Lord saves," i.e., from our sins (Matt. 1:21). Christ is the Greek word for "Messiah." Depending on your criteria, there are well over 100 prophecies and references to the Messiah in the Old Testament of the Bible. Over the next several days I want to reflect on a few of my favorites that mean a lot to me.
At the top of my list is Isaiah 52:13-53:12. This famous scripture is perhaps the most eloquent of any in the Bible in describing what Jesus did in dying to save each individual from their sins by bearing them himself. The core teaching of Christianity is literally found in the Old Testament! Two or three years ago I had the privilege of seeing an ancient manuscript with this passage in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls are very important because they can be definitively dated to the era before Jesus of Nazareth. The parallels between his death and that of the suffering servant in Is. 53 are very striking. The carbon dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls proves that the parallels were not manufactured textually by Christians after the fact.
Is 52:14. "14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness." Mel Gibson's "The Passion" does an excellent job of helping me visualize the torture Jesus experienced before he died (i.e., the crown of thorns, getting whipped, being struck with fists and hands). In all likelihood, this abuse left him unrecognizable.
Is 53:4. "4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted." Jesus' death had no spiritual significance to anyone on the day he died. His grief-struck disciples followed at a distance and Matt. 27:39-44 records how the crowd mocked him as he died, matching Is. 53:4 very well.
39Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" 41In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42"He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.' " 44In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
Is. 53:5. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Here is the eloquent paradox that one person’s suffering can heal the wounds of another. Matthew 8:17 quotes this scripture to explain how Jesus healed people during his lifetime.
My personal tradition is to counter the holiday frenzy of spending with reflections on Jesus Christ. Jesus is a variant of Yeshua, meaning "the Lord saves," i.e., from our sins (Matt. 1:21). Christ is the Greek word for "Messiah." Depending on your criteria, there are well over 100 prophecies and references to the Messiah in the Old Testament of the Bible. Over the next several days I want to reflect on a few of my favorites that mean a lot to me.
At the top of my list is Isaiah 52:13-53:12. This famous scripture is perhaps the most eloquent of any in the Bible in describing what Jesus did in dying to save each individual from their sins by bearing them himself. The core teaching of Christianity is literally found in the Old Testament! Two or three years ago I had the privilege of seeing an ancient manuscript with this passage in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls are very important because they can be definitively dated to the era before Jesus of Nazareth. The parallels between his death and that of the suffering servant in Is. 53 are very striking. The carbon dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls proves that the parallels were not manufactured textually by Christians after the fact.
Is 52:14. "14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness." Mel Gibson's "The Passion" does an excellent job of helping me visualize the torture Jesus experienced before he died (i.e., the crown of thorns, getting whipped, being struck with fists and hands). In all likelihood, this abuse left him unrecognizable.
Is 53:4. "4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted." Jesus' death had no spiritual significance to anyone on the day he died. His grief-struck disciples followed at a distance and Matt. 27:39-44 records how the crowd mocked him as he died, matching Is. 53:4 very well.
39Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" 41In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42"He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.' " 44In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
Is. 53:5. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Here is the eloquent paradox that one person’s suffering can heal the wounds of another. Matthew 8:17 quotes this scripture to explain how Jesus healed people during his lifetime.
Is. 53:7. “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” Jesus’ entire trial was a complete mockery of justice. Clearly he did not lack for words or clever retorts given his earlier dialogues with the Pharisees. Why did he hold back? His self-control certainly distinguished him from common criminals and gave glory to God. He knew he was innocent and his silence simply made the false accusations more blatantly obvious. Jesus demonstrated total humility in allowing the people he had created to judge him. However, I also wonder if part of his prayer in Gethsemane was wrestling with the decision to fulfill this scripture.
Is. 53:9. “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.” Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus combined their wealth to give Jesus a very rich burial with 75 pounds of spices in a new, unused tomb. They took a very faithful and public stand for their teacher at a very unpopular and inconvenient time. In their grief, I highly doubt they realized the significance of their actions, so I wonder how they felt when they understood how they had helped fulfill this prophecy! Jesus only stayed in the grave across portions of three days before he put the costly linens and spices aside and rejoined the ranks of the living.
I cannot help thinking about Jesus’ birth without thinking about his death. I always wonder how things occurred to Mary. She was in the stable that night and gave birth to a healthy baby boy. She was also at the foot of the cross (John 19:25-27) and watched her son die an agonizing death. Most mothers hope to never see the latter. But once she understood its spiritual significance (and saw her son alive again!), I'm sure Mary wouldn't trade her experience for any other mother's.
That the God of the universe would send his son as a helpless little baby with diaper needs is shocking enough. That Mary's little baby would grow up and undergo such intense suffering to become the Savior of the world--it changes how I treat every baby.
I hope you have a wonderful, glorious Christmas season filled with awe over the Messiah baby.
That the God of the universe would send his son as a helpless little baby with diaper needs is shocking enough. That Mary's little baby would grow up and undergo such intense suffering to become the Savior of the world--it changes how I treat every baby.
I hope you have a wonderful, glorious Christmas season filled with awe over the Messiah baby.
Monday, December 7, 2009
The Concept of Acknowledgement
As many of you know, I have been taking the Self-Expression and Leadership Program at Landmark Education. This blog will explore the spiritual aspects of one of the key concepts in the program: acknowledgement.
When I first became a Christian, good news sharing was a strong part of our church culture. Most leaders meetings and midweeks started out with people sharing how God had opened people’s hearts to be receptive to the gospel. In the fellowship, people often shared good news from their own lives. I remember my girlfriend (now wife :-) sharing her day with me and how excited she was about the numerous new friends and phone numbers she had gotten that day. Rather than feeling excited for her and rejoicing with her, I remember feeling convicted (“I need to be out there sharing like that too”). That episode was actually the exception more than the rule--I usually walked away from church very inspired and encouraged by the good news that I heard.
In recent months, Jay Kelly has attempted a couple of good news sharing times at midweek, but there were several "hear the crickets" moments. It can be discouraging to sit in a room where no one raises their hand to offer good news. Here are some reasons why I don’t share good news, especially evangelistically. 1) I think I don’t have any because I believe I haven’t been living a life of action. 2) Out of supposed consideration for my listener, I hold back since I don’t want to come across as boasting or convicting them that they should do the same. 3) I minimize the significance of I what have to share.
At the SELP, we are required to fill out “acknowledgement forms” on a weekly basis. The stated purpose is that every acknowledgement is a direct blow to our “act. ” What on earth is an “act?” Mine is “Fine! I don’t need that!” The act is the default message of the voice in our head. Its purpose is to keep us from failing (and it works really well). However, the “act” prevents us from taking risks and from realizing our potential. It generally sabotages our efforts to change and ultimately keeps us from truly succeeding! For example, my act nearly convinced me not to take the SELP (I was doing just fine without this course). I’m very grateful I made a different choice.
Spiritually speaking, I believe the “act” is really the voice of Satan, the accuser. Since the garden of Eden, Satan has been tempting people to do wrong. However, he understands that a direct attack won’t work most of the time. Instead, he makes accusations against us that become so normal that we believe they come from ourselves. The effect of these accusations can be rather crippling for any spiritual growth, as I just described above. The Bible describes the struggle in the following declaration of Revelation 12:10-11, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”
Everyone experiences Satan’s attacks (see 1 Peter 5:8-9). The Christians in the Revelation scripture overcome Satan in two ways. First, in humility they acknowledge their sinfulness yet claim the blood of the Lamb as sufficient to eradicate it and leave them clean before God. Satan wants to tell us we’re not good enough and never can be. The Bible states, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor 5:17). When I focus on the cross and Jesus’ incredible sacrifice for me as an individual, there is no room to undervalue or downgrade myself.
Second, these Christians overcame Satan by the word of their testimony. I interpret this to mean “good news” and “acknowledgement.” During the SELP, I have had a couple breakthroughs in acknowledging myself that I want to share to illustrate this point.
In October, I attended Rambo Weekend with many of the guys from church. As I committed to going, one friend shared that he had a visitor coming. I realized that this was a great opportunity to get my friends and family into a situation that could have a major positive spiritual impact. However, I did not take any actions or make any phone calls. When I arrived at the retreat and met the visitors who came out, I saw that I had two choices. 1) Continue my old pattern and feel jealous and beat myself up for not taking more actions to get people there. 2) Acknowledge the fact that in some way, I was responsible for making Rambo Weekend happen. Without me and others like me, the brothers with visitors would not have had an amazing event for their friends to attend. Taking responsibility enabled me to participate in this victory (rather than feeling defeated for not having a visitor). I ended up having several great spiritual conversations to bond with and encourage our new friends as they learned more about God.
This past Thanksgiving weekend, Darin Ford baptized his second friend in the past three months. Again, Satan tempted me with sinful feelings of jealousy, defeat, competition, and that my efforts don’t make a difference. However, I thought about the fact that we had an encouraging spiritual conversation together at Rambo Weekend and that I have prayed for him in his ministry. This enabled me to acknowledge the part I played in that victory and rejoice with him and be inspired by his example to take more action (not less!).
You may thinking, “That’s quite a stretch, bro. Aren’t you making stuff up with this acknowledgement thing?” There’s actually a very strong Biblical basis for it in 1 Cor 12:25-27. “There should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” As part of the body of Christ, I participate in every victory!
We usually focus on the importance of our connection to the Body since it is our only connection to the head (Christ). We also discuss how the Bible mentions the different roles of the various body parts. Imagine the body needing to brush its teeth. How can the feet acknowledge themselves for this activity? On the surface, only the arms, hands, and mouth are involved. But how did the body make it to the bathroom in the first place? And don’t we usually brush our teeth standing up? The feet play a very important role even though we don’t hold the toothbrush with our toes!
These acknowledgement victories have mostly been for my benefit. But through the SELP, I have learned how I need to communicate good news so that it benefits my listener. The purpose of the acknowledgement is to literally enable the other person to take responsibility for causing the result that I share. For example, let’s suppose I share my faith on the bus. There are several key elements that I need to communicate. First, I must give glory to God for the opportunity, vision, and strength to take action (compare Acts 12:19-23 and 14:8-18). Second, I need to acknowledge the listener for the result in a way that enables them to take responsibility for causing the good news/result. This is not about me pumping up my ego even further—I already have been blessed by acknowledging myself for the result. It is about helping the other person “get” that they made a difference in this world.
My Bible Talk has been sharing gratitude lists over email ever since Jay’s sermon two months ago. It has had a powerful effect on all of us. I am taking this to a new level by starting a new “acknowledgement thread” that will benefit our group in many ways. 1) Reveal that God is at work in gazillions of tiny ways every moment of every day. 2) Give everyone a deeper understanding of the powerful positive impact they are making on this world every day as God uses them. 3) Encourage us to keep praying for one another since it really does make a difference. 4) Remind each of us that a tiny seed of faith coupled with a small action can have a big result. 5) Give each of us ideas on how ordinary people can make a big difference by daily living a life that imitates Jesus. 6) Help each of us understand how powerful we really are through Christ (John 14:12-14, Mark 11:22-24). Ultimately, I believe bringing back good news sharing will grow our faith and lead to some incredible results.
As we look forward to 2010, let’s hit the “mute” button on Satan’s accusations and focus on all the results that arise from imitating Jesus. We truly are new creations through Christ! Second, let’s give God glory by talking about the myriad ways that the body of Christ is in action. Lastly, I encourage you, my reader, to develop the right “listening” so that any good news that others share with you is not lost, but that you take responsibility for how God used you to make a difference. Let’s take 1 Cor 12:27 to a whole new level: “if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”
When I first became a Christian, good news sharing was a strong part of our church culture. Most leaders meetings and midweeks started out with people sharing how God had opened people’s hearts to be receptive to the gospel. In the fellowship, people often shared good news from their own lives. I remember my girlfriend (now wife :-) sharing her day with me and how excited she was about the numerous new friends and phone numbers she had gotten that day. Rather than feeling excited for her and rejoicing with her, I remember feeling convicted (“I need to be out there sharing like that too”). That episode was actually the exception more than the rule--I usually walked away from church very inspired and encouraged by the good news that I heard.
In recent months, Jay Kelly has attempted a couple of good news sharing times at midweek, but there were several "hear the crickets" moments. It can be discouraging to sit in a room where no one raises their hand to offer good news. Here are some reasons why I don’t share good news, especially evangelistically. 1) I think I don’t have any because I believe I haven’t been living a life of action. 2) Out of supposed consideration for my listener, I hold back since I don’t want to come across as boasting or convicting them that they should do the same. 3) I minimize the significance of I what have to share.
At the SELP, we are required to fill out “acknowledgement forms” on a weekly basis. The stated purpose is that every acknowledgement is a direct blow to our “act. ” What on earth is an “act?” Mine is “Fine! I don’t need that!” The act is the default message of the voice in our head. Its purpose is to keep us from failing (and it works really well). However, the “act” prevents us from taking risks and from realizing our potential. It generally sabotages our efforts to change and ultimately keeps us from truly succeeding! For example, my act nearly convinced me not to take the SELP (I was doing just fine without this course). I’m very grateful I made a different choice.
Spiritually speaking, I believe the “act” is really the voice of Satan, the accuser. Since the garden of Eden, Satan has been tempting people to do wrong. However, he understands that a direct attack won’t work most of the time. Instead, he makes accusations against us that become so normal that we believe they come from ourselves. The effect of these accusations can be rather crippling for any spiritual growth, as I just described above. The Bible describes the struggle in the following declaration of Revelation 12:10-11, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”
Everyone experiences Satan’s attacks (see 1 Peter 5:8-9). The Christians in the Revelation scripture overcome Satan in two ways. First, in humility they acknowledge their sinfulness yet claim the blood of the Lamb as sufficient to eradicate it and leave them clean before God. Satan wants to tell us we’re not good enough and never can be. The Bible states, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor 5:17). When I focus on the cross and Jesus’ incredible sacrifice for me as an individual, there is no room to undervalue or downgrade myself.
Second, these Christians overcame Satan by the word of their testimony. I interpret this to mean “good news” and “acknowledgement.” During the SELP, I have had a couple breakthroughs in acknowledging myself that I want to share to illustrate this point.
In October, I attended Rambo Weekend with many of the guys from church. As I committed to going, one friend shared that he had a visitor coming. I realized that this was a great opportunity to get my friends and family into a situation that could have a major positive spiritual impact. However, I did not take any actions or make any phone calls. When I arrived at the retreat and met the visitors who came out, I saw that I had two choices. 1) Continue my old pattern and feel jealous and beat myself up for not taking more actions to get people there. 2) Acknowledge the fact that in some way, I was responsible for making Rambo Weekend happen. Without me and others like me, the brothers with visitors would not have had an amazing event for their friends to attend. Taking responsibility enabled me to participate in this victory (rather than feeling defeated for not having a visitor). I ended up having several great spiritual conversations to bond with and encourage our new friends as they learned more about God.
This past Thanksgiving weekend, Darin Ford baptized his second friend in the past three months. Again, Satan tempted me with sinful feelings of jealousy, defeat, competition, and that my efforts don’t make a difference. However, I thought about the fact that we had an encouraging spiritual conversation together at Rambo Weekend and that I have prayed for him in his ministry. This enabled me to acknowledge the part I played in that victory and rejoice with him and be inspired by his example to take more action (not less!).
You may thinking, “That’s quite a stretch, bro. Aren’t you making stuff up with this acknowledgement thing?” There’s actually a very strong Biblical basis for it in 1 Cor 12:25-27. “There should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” As part of the body of Christ, I participate in every victory!
We usually focus on the importance of our connection to the Body since it is our only connection to the head (Christ). We also discuss how the Bible mentions the different roles of the various body parts. Imagine the body needing to brush its teeth. How can the feet acknowledge themselves for this activity? On the surface, only the arms, hands, and mouth are involved. But how did the body make it to the bathroom in the first place? And don’t we usually brush our teeth standing up? The feet play a very important role even though we don’t hold the toothbrush with our toes!
These acknowledgement victories have mostly been for my benefit. But through the SELP, I have learned how I need to communicate good news so that it benefits my listener. The purpose of the acknowledgement is to literally enable the other person to take responsibility for causing the result that I share. For example, let’s suppose I share my faith on the bus. There are several key elements that I need to communicate. First, I must give glory to God for the opportunity, vision, and strength to take action (compare Acts 12:19-23 and 14:8-18). Second, I need to acknowledge the listener for the result in a way that enables them to take responsibility for causing the good news/result. This is not about me pumping up my ego even further—I already have been blessed by acknowledging myself for the result. It is about helping the other person “get” that they made a difference in this world.
My Bible Talk has been sharing gratitude lists over email ever since Jay’s sermon two months ago. It has had a powerful effect on all of us. I am taking this to a new level by starting a new “acknowledgement thread” that will benefit our group in many ways. 1) Reveal that God is at work in gazillions of tiny ways every moment of every day. 2) Give everyone a deeper understanding of the powerful positive impact they are making on this world every day as God uses them. 3) Encourage us to keep praying for one another since it really does make a difference. 4) Remind each of us that a tiny seed of faith coupled with a small action can have a big result. 5) Give each of us ideas on how ordinary people can make a big difference by daily living a life that imitates Jesus. 6) Help each of us understand how powerful we really are through Christ (John 14:12-14, Mark 11:22-24). Ultimately, I believe bringing back good news sharing will grow our faith and lead to some incredible results.
As we look forward to 2010, let’s hit the “mute” button on Satan’s accusations and focus on all the results that arise from imitating Jesus. We truly are new creations through Christ! Second, let’s give God glory by talking about the myriad ways that the body of Christ is in action. Lastly, I encourage you, my reader, to develop the right “listening” so that any good news that others share with you is not lost, but that you take responsibility for how God used you to make a difference. Let’s take 1 Cor 12:27 to a whole new level: “if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Death part 3: "Choose Your Death"
In my previous two blogs I have explored the concepts of the fear of death and death as a blessing. This last installment discusses the opportunity each of us possesses to make a choice about our spiritual death.
Obviously, each of us will physically die. We have no choice about that. But how we die is somewhat up to us. Some choose to live a lifestyle of risky behavior that puts them at risk of an early death (e.g., mountain climbing, joining a gang, driving drunk, hang gliding, signing up for active military service, etc.). In addition, people have committed suicide in a wide variety of ways (I’m sure a macabre list exists somewhere on the Internet).
Spiritually speaking, each of us also has a choice regarding how we die. If we die unreconciled to God, then the Bible explains that each of us will be destroyed as God removes all sin and death from the universe in the lake of fire (Rev 20:11-15). This is the outcome I chose when I first sinned, and it is exactly what I deserve (and you do too), for “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). I would be outraged if Microsoft did not pay me my wages for I worked hard for them! Similarly, we’ve all earned death by our deeds against God, our friends, and our family.
Fortunately, there is another option and God does offer us a second chance to choose how and when we die spiritually. Jesus came to provide the option of spiritual death now, followed by eternal life (both spiritually and physically). His admonition on the prudence of giving up your life pervades the Gospels: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man gain in exchange for his soul?” (Matt 16:24-26, Mark 8:34-37, Luke 9:23-25, John 12:24-25).
I pondered these scriptures a lot during my college years. It was self-evident to me (and those around me) that I was living for myself. I spared no effort to get the best possible grades, yet my life lacked real meaning and “I” was literally unhealthy for myself. My self ambition sabotaged my desires for a great social life. I experienced a great deal of angst in my attempted relationships with women simply because my life was so self-focused. I kept losing my life despite all my efforts to save it. I knew I needed to give it up, but I could not figure out how to do it (a guy in a hole can’t rescue himself!) and there were no disciples around me to offer real help.
Thankfully, I met true Christians ten years ago. Knowing that I had not yet given up my life for God, they took the time to teach me how to be a disciple. Suddenly all the scriptures started to make sense to me! In Luke 14:31-33, Jesus explains that it will cost you everything to become his disciple. “Or suppose a king is about to go to war aginst another king. Will he not first sit down and consider wehther he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”
God has 20,000 men and each of us has only 10,000 men. None of us can hope to win against God. The only terms of peace are unconditional surrender. As I counted the cost and wrestled with my decision to become a disciple, it literally felt like I was dying. It stands alone as the biggest decision I have ever made. I gave up various sins, treasured beliefs, philosophies, & practices, changed the nature of my relationships, and left the security of my social system behind. I lost my life, but gained so much more in the promise of Mark 10:29-30, “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.”
Nicodemus was a well-studied Jewish teacher in Jesus’ day who struggled to understand how a man could possibly die and live a new life. John 3:4-6 records, “’How can a man be born when he is old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.’”
Romans 6:1-14 is the key scripture for understanding this spiritual death and rebirth. Verse 7 explains the need to die: “anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” God must annihilate our sin one way or another. If we wait for him to do it at the second death of Rev. 20, then our physical bodies will die along with the sin. At the end of the Lord of the Rings, Gollum is so taken by the ring that he bites off Frodo’s finger, ring and all, but in so doing falls into the lava pit at Mount Doom, finally destroying the ring. The question we all must ask is, "Is my sin really worth it?"
The alternative is to connect ourselves with Christ’s death and let him take our sin to the grave. It’s as if I was walking around with a bunch of static electricity (sin) my whole life and not being able to find an electrical ground to get rid of it. I just kept shocking people. Baptism was the “grounding moment” where (according to Romans 6:1-6) I participated in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Miraculously, my sins were washed away without me having to physically dying myself! It’s not that I’m perfect now and I know I still zap people, but I’m not enslaved by my sin anymore.
“All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death…. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin” (Romans 6:2-6).
Of course, this only works if we have faith while we’re being baptized (Col. 2:12) and if we’ve first repented of our sins (Acts 2:38). Before I had really sinned, my minister Grandpa gave me a very emotional bath and rite of passage in front of hundreds of people at age 11, but it wasn’t a Biblical baptism. If you’ve had a different baptismal experience than Romans 6, I beg you to not give into the temptation to rewrite your life history to make it Biblical. Instead, take the time to inquire, reexamine your faith, and read what the Bible has to say.
Once we have died and been reborn, God gives us a fresh start to live a new life! “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17). But what sort of life ought we to live? Here are some scriptures that I love because they help me stay on track.
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again (2 Cor 5:14-15).
Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness (Rom 6:12).
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20).
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:1-3).
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:15-17).
I have yet to die physically, but praise God that I have died spiritually and have the chance to start a new spiritual life. Of course, I must follow Jesus’ teaching and put myself to death daily so that Christ can live through me. Here are some things where I am tempted to take back over in my life: work, schedule/time, finances, leadership, and home improvement. None of them are bad in and of themselves. In fact, they are gifts from God as long as my old self stays in the grave with Jesus!
I urge you to consider your choice about when you will die spiritually. Will you put it off until you die physically in the second death of Revelation 20? Or will you choose to accept the spiritual death of your self that God offers in this life through baptism into Christ? (Acts 2:38, 22:16) The choice is entirely yours. It is the biggest choice you will ever make and therefore it deserves your greatest consideration.
If you have already died and been reborn with Christ, I urge you not to let your self resurrect itself. Keep crucifying it daily. The paradox is absolutely true: by losing your life, you really will save it for eternity!
Obviously, each of us will physically die. We have no choice about that. But how we die is somewhat up to us. Some choose to live a lifestyle of risky behavior that puts them at risk of an early death (e.g., mountain climbing, joining a gang, driving drunk, hang gliding, signing up for active military service, etc.). In addition, people have committed suicide in a wide variety of ways (I’m sure a macabre list exists somewhere on the Internet).
Spiritually speaking, each of us also has a choice regarding how we die. If we die unreconciled to God, then the Bible explains that each of us will be destroyed as God removes all sin and death from the universe in the lake of fire (Rev 20:11-15). This is the outcome I chose when I first sinned, and it is exactly what I deserve (and you do too), for “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). I would be outraged if Microsoft did not pay me my wages for I worked hard for them! Similarly, we’ve all earned death by our deeds against God, our friends, and our family.
Fortunately, there is another option and God does offer us a second chance to choose how and when we die spiritually. Jesus came to provide the option of spiritual death now, followed by eternal life (both spiritually and physically). His admonition on the prudence of giving up your life pervades the Gospels: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man gain in exchange for his soul?” (Matt 16:24-26, Mark 8:34-37, Luke 9:23-25, John 12:24-25).
I pondered these scriptures a lot during my college years. It was self-evident to me (and those around me) that I was living for myself. I spared no effort to get the best possible grades, yet my life lacked real meaning and “I” was literally unhealthy for myself. My self ambition sabotaged my desires for a great social life. I experienced a great deal of angst in my attempted relationships with women simply because my life was so self-focused. I kept losing my life despite all my efforts to save it. I knew I needed to give it up, but I could not figure out how to do it (a guy in a hole can’t rescue himself!) and there were no disciples around me to offer real help.
Thankfully, I met true Christians ten years ago. Knowing that I had not yet given up my life for God, they took the time to teach me how to be a disciple. Suddenly all the scriptures started to make sense to me! In Luke 14:31-33, Jesus explains that it will cost you everything to become his disciple. “Or suppose a king is about to go to war aginst another king. Will he not first sit down and consider wehther he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”
God has 20,000 men and each of us has only 10,000 men. None of us can hope to win against God. The only terms of peace are unconditional surrender. As I counted the cost and wrestled with my decision to become a disciple, it literally felt like I was dying. It stands alone as the biggest decision I have ever made. I gave up various sins, treasured beliefs, philosophies, & practices, changed the nature of my relationships, and left the security of my social system behind. I lost my life, but gained so much more in the promise of Mark 10:29-30, “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.”
Nicodemus was a well-studied Jewish teacher in Jesus’ day who struggled to understand how a man could possibly die and live a new life. John 3:4-6 records, “’How can a man be born when he is old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.’”
Romans 6:1-14 is the key scripture for understanding this spiritual death and rebirth. Verse 7 explains the need to die: “anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” God must annihilate our sin one way or another. If we wait for him to do it at the second death of Rev. 20, then our physical bodies will die along with the sin. At the end of the Lord of the Rings, Gollum is so taken by the ring that he bites off Frodo’s finger, ring and all, but in so doing falls into the lava pit at Mount Doom, finally destroying the ring. The question we all must ask is, "Is my sin really worth it?"
The alternative is to connect ourselves with Christ’s death and let him take our sin to the grave. It’s as if I was walking around with a bunch of static electricity (sin) my whole life and not being able to find an electrical ground to get rid of it. I just kept shocking people. Baptism was the “grounding moment” where (according to Romans 6:1-6) I participated in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Miraculously, my sins were washed away without me having to physically dying myself! It’s not that I’m perfect now and I know I still zap people, but I’m not enslaved by my sin anymore.
“All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death…. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin” (Romans 6:2-6).
Of course, this only works if we have faith while we’re being baptized (Col. 2:12) and if we’ve first repented of our sins (Acts 2:38). Before I had really sinned, my minister Grandpa gave me a very emotional bath and rite of passage in front of hundreds of people at age 11, but it wasn’t a Biblical baptism. If you’ve had a different baptismal experience than Romans 6, I beg you to not give into the temptation to rewrite your life history to make it Biblical. Instead, take the time to inquire, reexamine your faith, and read what the Bible has to say.
Once we have died and been reborn, God gives us a fresh start to live a new life! “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17). But what sort of life ought we to live? Here are some scriptures that I love because they help me stay on track.
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again (2 Cor 5:14-15).
Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness (Rom 6:12).
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20).
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:1-3).
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:15-17).
I have yet to die physically, but praise God that I have died spiritually and have the chance to start a new spiritual life. Of course, I must follow Jesus’ teaching and put myself to death daily so that Christ can live through me. Here are some things where I am tempted to take back over in my life: work, schedule/time, finances, leadership, and home improvement. None of them are bad in and of themselves. In fact, they are gifts from God as long as my old self stays in the grave with Jesus!
I urge you to consider your choice about when you will die spiritually. Will you put it off until you die physically in the second death of Revelation 20? Or will you choose to accept the spiritual death of your self that God offers in this life through baptism into Christ? (Acts 2:38, 22:16) The choice is entirely yours. It is the biggest choice you will ever make and therefore it deserves your greatest consideration.
If you have already died and been reborn with Christ, I urge you not to let your self resurrect itself. Keep crucifying it daily. The paradox is absolutely true: by losing your life, you really will save it for eternity!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Death Part 2: Friendly Death?
In my last blog, I built a case for Death as an enemy. This time I will examine the flip side and thus the title has a question mark in it.
Purpose from Death
Life has a natural rhythm to it. We are born and we start growing physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. By the time we are 20, we have finished growing physically and have a period of time where we have seemingly boundless energy. What if that period never ended?
Workaholics and overachievers might imagine that they would push themselves indefinitely, enjoying their relative invincibility (but isn't that a self-made hell?). But for anyone with even one lazy bone in their body, having forever to accomplish things is actually a curse. Prov. 20:4 states, "A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing."
The truth is that all of us procrastinate to one degree or another. Knowing we have a finite time in which to accomplish the things that matter most to us benefits us in two ways. 1) We accomplish more than we otherwise would. 2) We experience a feeling of purpose in working toward our goals that might be absent if we had an infinite amount of time.
Job 14:5-12 summarizes our mortality nicely:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.
Purpose from Death
Life has a natural rhythm to it. We are born and we start growing physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. By the time we are 20, we have finished growing physically and have a period of time where we have seemingly boundless energy. What if that period never ended?
Workaholics and overachievers might imagine that they would push themselves indefinitely, enjoying their relative invincibility (but isn't that a self-made hell?). But for anyone with even one lazy bone in their body, having forever to accomplish things is actually a curse. Prov. 20:4 states, "A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing."
The truth is that all of us procrastinate to one degree or another. Knowing we have a finite time in which to accomplish the things that matter most to us benefits us in two ways. 1) We accomplish more than we otherwise would. 2) We experience a feeling of purpose in working toward our goals that might be absent if we had an infinite amount of time.
Job 14:5-12 summarizes our mortality nicely:
5 Man's days are determined;
you have decreed the number of his months
and have set limits he cannot exceed....
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.
8 Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.
10 But man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.
11 As water disappears from the sea or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,
12 so man lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep.
In summary, many human beings accomplish far more and experience a sense of purpose during their years of finite life than they otherwise might if they lived on this earth forever.
Death as a Friend for the Suffering
This blog would be incomplete without acknowledging the relief that death can bring to those who are suffering with a terminal illness. Jack Kevorkian became a poster-child for the issue with his "death machine." Recently, Oregon, Washington, and Montana have constitutionally-verified laws that legalize assisted suicide.
Death Removes the Bad People
Let's expand our thinking beyond ourselves and consider the implications to this world if the evil people never died. Is that a world that you want to see? What if the world continued to accumulate the Hitlers, Stalins, Pol Pots, Osama bin Ladens, and Saddam Husseins?
Justice is a huge theme in the Bible. David and many of the prophets cried out for God to judge the wicked. In general, the reality is that evil rulers have rarely held sway for more than a decade or two at most.
2 Peter 2:4-9 summarizes God's ability to judge and hold people accountable. "4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; 5if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment."
Most of us have experienced an unruly, combattive, incorrigible, rebellious child. Such children can make my blood boil in anger and yet when I stop to reflect, I also get depressed. This is because such children become teenagers, and eventually adults. However challenging they might be, problems in children are more manageable than in adults. Yet this scripture tells us that God is fully capable of dealing with even the most determined, rebellious, and defiant adult.
The amazing thing is that God even applies this justice righteously, with compassion and love. It is really difficult to take such an attitude toward someone you believe deserves tremendous punishment. How do I know God has this attitude? Jesus' example! After he rants at the Pharisees as a last-ditch effort to get them to repent in Matthew 23, Jesus mourns, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing."
I believe God keeps upping the ante in individuals' lives, trying to get their attention and get them to repent. After a certain point, he is left with no recourse but to end their life as a natural consequence for what they've done. This is perhaps the most merciful act that God could offer someone, and far from the concept of an everlasting hell. Rev. 20:11-15 clearly teaches that people will suffer a finite amount exactly commensurate with their sins.
In sum, Death is a tool in the hands of a just and righteous God to make life liveable and deal with those who choose an evil path and reject him.
Death Brings Humility
Every human being is susceptible to the sin of pride. We naturally get excited about our abilities and eventually grow overconfident in our ability to handle life. I've realized that I need to change the language with which I talk to my kids from "You did it yourself" to "We did it" or "You did it." But a change in language alone won't prevent pride. Humility must be learned. Over and over and over again.
"Meet Joe Black" is an intriguing movie where Death is embodied as Brad Pitt who comes as a visitor to an aging businessman who is not yet ready to let go of life. Death helps us develop humility because we have so little control over it. About the only thing we can do is choose to die early and possibly the manner in which we die. We have no choice about whether or not we die.
The reality is that our lives are very short-lived and we think of ourselves much more highly than we ought. The Psalmist reflected in Psalms 39:4-7,
4 Show me, O LORD, my life's end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting is my life.
5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Each man's life is but a breath.
6 Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro:
He bustles about, but only in vain;
he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.
7 "But now, Lord, what do I look for?
My hope is in you.
When we consider the duration of our lives and those who have gone before us, we turn to God as our only source of hope. The wisest man ever (Solomon) gained humility in the realization that his destiny is no different than the animals. Ecclesiastes 3 states, "18 I also thought, 'As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath'; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return."
In Ecclesiastes 9, Solomon exposes the pointless struggle to achieve and accumulate wealth. We certainly cannot take it with us after we die so why go to such bother? Furthermore, living life for yourself will most certainly disqualify you for any afterlife.
3 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. 4 "Anyone who is among the living has hope"—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing;
they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.
Solomon's warning is clear: figure things out with God while you're still alive! Death is a gift that grants us a measure of humility and shows us our need for God. It reveals who is really in charge, and it ain't me!
Conclusion
I hope this blog has challenged your traditional viewpoint of Death. Death can give purpose and urgency to our lives because we know we have only a limited time. At a deeper level, however, we must realize that this life is simply a test. A finite life grants us a measure of humility that is enough to show us our need for God. Knowing someone who has recently died causes each of us to reconsider our mortality, and that is a good thing. Lastly, because of Death, we can be grateful that evil people inevitably eliminate one another. Thankfully, there are no 30 billion-year-old ugly grudges!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Death part 1: "Fear of Death"
One of my ministers (Scott Green) delivered yet another powerful sermon this past Sunday(11/15/2009). He spoke about the word “goal,” which only appears five times in the Bible. His final point addressed “the goal of faith” in 1 Peter 1:9, which is to dodge death and receive eternal life. I wanted to devote several blog entries to exploring the topic of death. I will attempt to hold to the following outline: 1) the Fear of Death, 2) Death as a Friend, and 3) Choices in Death.
My experience of death has generally not been filled with fear. Various church members died when I was a kid, but at that time as a Seventh-Day Adventist, I already knew that they would remain in the grave and then be resurrected once Jesus came back. Since the only people I knew were SDA’s, death occurred to me as an extra-long nap. However, I did have great fear of leaving the SDA denomination because then the magic formula would no longer work. As a child, I pondered how our neighbors could possibly live their lives without the absolute security that they would receive eternal life when they died.
A large number of my relatives passed away in my teens and twenties (1990-96) and my parents were very positive role models in how to face each situation without being in denial. The first was my 99-year-old Grandma Leiske who had literally experienced the horse and buggy days. Sadly, the second was her daughter, my great Auntie Myrna, who died in her 60’s having enjoyed her multiple grandchildren for only a few short years. The third was my second cousin Michael Wiggins, who was cut down at the age of 24, tragically leaving a grieving wife and his two parents who happened to teach at the same college that I attended. Fourth was my Aunt Carol, who contracted multiple myeloma in her early 50’s and thankfully made good use of the several years she had to bond with us and then say goodbye. Right before I graduated in 1997, my maternal grandmother died of liver disease caused by longstanding alcoholism. I viewed this as a mixed blessing for my mom, who fought to love an alcoholic woman who did not choose to love her back. After a five-year respite, my paternal grandmother died at 88, and my paternal grandfather a couple of years later at 93.
A final incident worth mentioning was the death of David Beale at age 18 or 19 the week before school started my sophomore year in college. He was an incoming freshman who had already become good friends with my roommate (and now brother-in-law) Brandon Sanders, who was also starting college that year. The entire campus was sobered by this tragic incident that occurred exactly as the school year started, but I had a unique vantage point from knowing Brandon and encountering his grief, sadness, and questions. Looking back, I’ve wondered if this was a spiritual watershed moment. That year Brandon and I had many talks about God and both embarked on a deep search for spiritual understanding.
An individual’s teens and twenties are often very formative for their belief system and personal growth, and mine was no exception. I struggled mightily to understand the meaning of life and experienced some very high highs and some low lows. In that period of life, I was unattached to a very large degree and I recall visiting a very large waterfall in eastern Washington. I started with fascination at the rushing water that fell hundreds of feet and felt like I just wanted to get swept away with it and be one with it. There was no fear of death for me at that moment because it was irrelevant to the feeling. Such bravado! But to what end? I do not think it is coincidental that we send our 18 to 25-year-olds to fight our wars.
Depression affected me rather strongly in 1999-2000. God used it to help me develop humility and see my need for him. But I’ll never forget counting the cost with the brothers. Scott Green asked me, “If you were to die today, where would you go?” At that moment, I felt very depressed and didn’t really care where I went—I just knew that I wanted to live for God. Looking back, my answer showed that I was in denial of my mortality. It was along the lines of, “It’s really up to God, I’m in his hands. If he sends me to hell, then I accept that.” That was a huge step for me because having grown up going to church, I had never honestly considered being truly “lost” and separated from God. At the same time, you can see the shreds of denial to which I still clung. After getting baptized in order to be saved and forgiven from my sins, I’ve gotten more in touch with how I do deserve to be separated from God. It is indeed a scary thought, but it keeps things real.
On a daily basis, I do not emotionally fear death—I’m focused on living a life for God! But at a survival level, I wonder how I would react if my life were truly endangered. I nearly drowned when I was five years old. When I took swimming lessons at 10 years old, I could not stand to do the “survival float” because it felt so claustrophobic. My near-drowning clearly made a deep impact on me. There have been many instances since then where I could have died: flipping my VW Rabbit on an icy road at age 16, getting hit by a car while riding a bike with poor brakes at the UW at age 24, and even an SUV narrowly missing me the other morning as I crossed the street at 6:15 am in the rain wearing a black coat.
My greatest fear in death right now centers around what would happen to my wife and kids, who would experience the rest of their lives without a husband and father. They are certainly my greatest vulnerability, the softest part of me. I think especially of my daughters—who would play that irreplaceable safe male role in their lives to give them confidence, security, and love? They each have the potential to become an incredible individual, but what sorts of choices would they make without a dad? I fear that they will turn to men in their teenage years for their security instead of to God. I fear that without a spiritual male role model, they will miss out on fully understanding God, who has both fatherly and motherly characteristics.
It is in this context of my real fears surrounding death that I share Heb 2:14-15. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he [Jesus] too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” I have to be careful that my life is not lived in slavery to my fear of death. Jesus came in real flesh and blood, sharing not only our mortality but also our fears that arise out of our vulnerabilities. By facing his fears and dying on the cross, Jesus dealt a death-blow to Satan. It was a paradoxical and unprecedented act. Jesus showed us how to live life full tilt, even in the face of death (see Luke 13:31-35).
American society has taken the fear of death to entirely new levels with Halloween, Hollywood’s scary movies, and the like. Ironically, our society has embraced and glorified death and the fears it engenders. However, if each of us gets real with what we really want, I think it lines up pretty closely with the following scriptures.
“Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death” (Rev 20:14). The Bible describes that death itself will be consumed by the lake of fire and for eternity forward, it will no longer exist. What a radical concept to break the life/death duality!
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Rev 21:4). Isn’t this what we all want? God knows us so well. The point that jumped out at me today was the phrase “every tear,” which implies that God knows the reason and source for every pain and tear we have cried. He knows, he understands, and he can’t wait to comfort us and make it all better.
My experience of death has generally not been filled with fear. Various church members died when I was a kid, but at that time as a Seventh-Day Adventist, I already knew that they would remain in the grave and then be resurrected once Jesus came back. Since the only people I knew were SDA’s, death occurred to me as an extra-long nap. However, I did have great fear of leaving the SDA denomination because then the magic formula would no longer work. As a child, I pondered how our neighbors could possibly live their lives without the absolute security that they would receive eternal life when they died.
A large number of my relatives passed away in my teens and twenties (1990-96) and my parents were very positive role models in how to face each situation without being in denial. The first was my 99-year-old Grandma Leiske who had literally experienced the horse and buggy days. Sadly, the second was her daughter, my great Auntie Myrna, who died in her 60’s having enjoyed her multiple grandchildren for only a few short years. The third was my second cousin Michael Wiggins, who was cut down at the age of 24, tragically leaving a grieving wife and his two parents who happened to teach at the same college that I attended. Fourth was my Aunt Carol, who contracted multiple myeloma in her early 50’s and thankfully made good use of the several years she had to bond with us and then say goodbye. Right before I graduated in 1997, my maternal grandmother died of liver disease caused by longstanding alcoholism. I viewed this as a mixed blessing for my mom, who fought to love an alcoholic woman who did not choose to love her back. After a five-year respite, my paternal grandmother died at 88, and my paternal grandfather a couple of years later at 93.
A final incident worth mentioning was the death of David Beale at age 18 or 19 the week before school started my sophomore year in college. He was an incoming freshman who had already become good friends with my roommate (and now brother-in-law) Brandon Sanders, who was also starting college that year. The entire campus was sobered by this tragic incident that occurred exactly as the school year started, but I had a unique vantage point from knowing Brandon and encountering his grief, sadness, and questions. Looking back, I’ve wondered if this was a spiritual watershed moment. That year Brandon and I had many talks about God and both embarked on a deep search for spiritual understanding.
An individual’s teens and twenties are often very formative for their belief system and personal growth, and mine was no exception. I struggled mightily to understand the meaning of life and experienced some very high highs and some low lows. In that period of life, I was unattached to a very large degree and I recall visiting a very large waterfall in eastern Washington. I started with fascination at the rushing water that fell hundreds of feet and felt like I just wanted to get swept away with it and be one with it. There was no fear of death for me at that moment because it was irrelevant to the feeling. Such bravado! But to what end? I do not think it is coincidental that we send our 18 to 25-year-olds to fight our wars.
Depression affected me rather strongly in 1999-2000. God used it to help me develop humility and see my need for him. But I’ll never forget counting the cost with the brothers. Scott Green asked me, “If you were to die today, where would you go?” At that moment, I felt very depressed and didn’t really care where I went—I just knew that I wanted to live for God. Looking back, my answer showed that I was in denial of my mortality. It was along the lines of, “It’s really up to God, I’m in his hands. If he sends me to hell, then I accept that.” That was a huge step for me because having grown up going to church, I had never honestly considered being truly “lost” and separated from God. At the same time, you can see the shreds of denial to which I still clung. After getting baptized in order to be saved and forgiven from my sins, I’ve gotten more in touch with how I do deserve to be separated from God. It is indeed a scary thought, but it keeps things real.
On a daily basis, I do not emotionally fear death—I’m focused on living a life for God! But at a survival level, I wonder how I would react if my life were truly endangered. I nearly drowned when I was five years old. When I took swimming lessons at 10 years old, I could not stand to do the “survival float” because it felt so claustrophobic. My near-drowning clearly made a deep impact on me. There have been many instances since then where I could have died: flipping my VW Rabbit on an icy road at age 16, getting hit by a car while riding a bike with poor brakes at the UW at age 24, and even an SUV narrowly missing me the other morning as I crossed the street at 6:15 am in the rain wearing a black coat.
My greatest fear in death right now centers around what would happen to my wife and kids, who would experience the rest of their lives without a husband and father. They are certainly my greatest vulnerability, the softest part of me. I think especially of my daughters—who would play that irreplaceable safe male role in their lives to give them confidence, security, and love? They each have the potential to become an incredible individual, but what sorts of choices would they make without a dad? I fear that they will turn to men in their teenage years for their security instead of to God. I fear that without a spiritual male role model, they will miss out on fully understanding God, who has both fatherly and motherly characteristics.
It is in this context of my real fears surrounding death that I share Heb 2:14-15. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he [Jesus] too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” I have to be careful that my life is not lived in slavery to my fear of death. Jesus came in real flesh and blood, sharing not only our mortality but also our fears that arise out of our vulnerabilities. By facing his fears and dying on the cross, Jesus dealt a death-blow to Satan. It was a paradoxical and unprecedented act. Jesus showed us how to live life full tilt, even in the face of death (see Luke 13:31-35).
American society has taken the fear of death to entirely new levels with Halloween, Hollywood’s scary movies, and the like. Ironically, our society has embraced and glorified death and the fears it engenders. However, if each of us gets real with what we really want, I think it lines up pretty closely with the following scriptures.
“Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death” (Rev 20:14). The Bible describes that death itself will be consumed by the lake of fire and for eternity forward, it will no longer exist. What a radical concept to break the life/death duality!
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Rev 21:4). Isn’t this what we all want? God knows us so well. The point that jumped out at me today was the phrase “every tear,” which implies that God knows the reason and source for every pain and tear we have cried. He knows, he understands, and he can’t wait to comfort us and make it all better.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Freedom From Religion (part 2)
In my previous blog, I introduced the Freedom From Religion (FFRF) organization and their polarizing ad campaign. Today I will explore the concept of freedom that the Bible offers and contrast this with what FFRF appears to be offering.
John 8:31-34 describes what I believe to be the real issue of freedom.
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”
After his preaching in the synagogue earlier in John 8, some Jews had indeed believed in him, but Jesus called them to actually do something about it and obey his teaching. Instead of following his direction, they proudly claim, “We’re Americans, we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave!” In response, Jesus basically says, “You guys don’t get it. You are a slave to your own sinful nature just like every other human on the planet.”
This is the fundamental human predicament: each of us has voluntarily enslaved ourselves to sin. It might be overeating, pornography, pride, greed, keeping a record of wrongs, drugs, alcohol, selfishness, bitterness, hate, gossip, or any number of things. If we were to take the time to be truly honest with ourselves, we find that each of us could have written Romans 7:14-20.
“We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”
Later on in the same chapter, the Bible says that I am “a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.”
When Jesus was speaking to the Jews, they were pretty oblivious to their real spiritual need. Surely this new prophet Jesus had something more exciting to offer than rehashing the concept of sin, the “red thread” of their scriptures. Instead, according to Matthew 1:21, Jesus came to “save his people from their sins” (his name Yeshua means “the LORD saves”).
Today, the FFRF would have us believe that religion is oppressing us and keeping us from being fully self-expressed and living powerful lives. In a sense, I fully agree! The Jews who believed Jesus were tempted to leave it at just that: belief. Religion in America today is pathetic and can be summarized as, “Pray Jesus into your brain and then do whatever you want.” Statistically, divorce among believers (true Christ-ians would follow Matt 19:1-12) is just as high in America as for non-believers. If we could eliminate the powerless religion that holds sway over so many, that would be awesome! Imagine if people either completely disobeyed Jesus or obeyed him wholeheartedly. There would then be a very clear connection between Jesus’ teaching and freedom from sin.
I find it very sad that Dan Barker of the FFRF experienced a powerless religion that could not save its hearers in this world. He rightly rejected it. No one in the church in which I grew up helped me with my sin either. Unfortunately, Dan threw the baby out with the bathwater and rejected God along with the religion. Instead, he made himself into his own god by declaring and inventing his own beliefs as truth. Without anything ultimate, he is proverbially up a creek without a paddle:
- What happens when you die? If you go into nothingness, what was the point of life in this world? I began, I lived, I ended. What a tiny game to play for individuals who are literally geniuses!
- Yes, you can set people free from religion, but how are you going to help them deal with sin and the real problems in their lives?
- Without a “common ultimate” or accountability at the end of our lives, where is the grounds for living a moral life and condemning the Hitlers of this world?
- How do I impress values and morals on my children yet avoid being “god” to them when they come of age? What prevents them from inventing their own morality and becoming the next Hitler?
As an intellectual, I have wrestled with each of these questions. I have also looked down on those who were not “broadminded” enough to even ask these questions. At the end of the day, I’ve realized I just need to humble out and admit I need something beyond myself. I have found that my intellectual ability can be an asset, but it can also be a tremendous liability. 1 Cor 1:18-25 explains that intellectualism most certainly can prevent us from being free.
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.' Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? There is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength."
For myself, I know I have experienced my limits. Like Nietzsche, I chose to destroy myself and rise again, but it was on God's terms and not my own to become an "ubermensch" of my little Todd-world. On 12/15/1999 my sin and my old life were obliterated in the waters of baptism and I rose with Christ to live a new life as a slave to God rather than a slave to myself. I have learned (the hard way :-) that there is victory in surrender, that God's apparent foolishness is exactly what my "enlightened" intellectual mind actually needs.
You know, I think I’ve convinced myself that I appreciate the FFRF’s advertisements. Let’s get rid of the religion and the powerless Santa-Clausy God that they mock. Those things deserve to be mocked. Like Israel on Mount Carmel, let us slay the false ideas that have led us astray and return to the true God who really can save us from our sin and grant us true freedom from our sin.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Freedom From Religion (part 1)
This entry is inspired by the bus advertisements I have seen recently on my commute sponsored by the "Freedom From Religion Foundation." It has a picture of Santa Claus saying, "Yes Virginia, there is no God." While I had to acknowledge the cleverness of the idea, I found myself emotionally incensed as well, to a degree I found surprising.
The sign mocks the idea of a belief in God as childish. It implies that it is more foolish than a belief in Santa Claus (since Santa is delivering the "truth" that has been repressed for so many years).
After calming myself, I took the time this morning to read about the FFRF on wikipedia. The organization is based in Wisconsin but also has a stronghold in Washington. Coincidentally, the FFRF's annual conference for its 13,000 members will be held soon and so apparently the ads serve double-duty as publicity for this, too.
Everyone has a story and I was intrigued to learn about the people behind this ad. Turns out that a talented married couple (Dan Barker and Anne Gaylor) head up this organization. Gaylor helped start the organization in 1978, but at that time Barker was a "Christian" minister believer who did not disavow his belief in God until 1984. Barker has written tons of materials, largely aimed to help people make atheism a normal way of life in a society that still believes. As a member of the Prometheus society, his IQ is at least in the 99.997 percentile.
But I wonder what Dan and Anne's real story is? Humans are emotional creatures. What did they experience in their church? How did Dan's relationship with God evolve over the years before he drew this intellectual conclusion? My hunch is that this information would be very telling.
Personally, 10 years ago, I was headed in a direction where I had already stopped believing the Bible was true. My conclusions were a wild mix of life and political and relational experiences in the church I attended along with my own decisions on what topics I wanted to explore as well as being in relationships and having dialogue with people who had already made similar decisions. We are inevitably impacted by our interactions with others, though ultimately we are all free agents.
Of course, this advertisement is rather polarizing. It is highly unlikely to cause any person to change their convictions because convictions arise from deep thought, research, and conscious decision. At a certain level, I too want America to be free from the powerless, impoverished version of "Christianity" that is far from what Jesus taught and more closely resembles the Phariseeism that he preached against. Though 2 Tim 3:5 was written 2000 years ago, it is very descriptive of what we see today in American religion: "having a form of godliness but denying its power."
I will post now and tomorrow discuss what I consider true freedom and true power from the Bible's perspective. I will also contrast this freedom with the enslavement offered by the FFRF despite its surface claim to the contrary.
The sign mocks the idea of a belief in God as childish. It implies that it is more foolish than a belief in Santa Claus (since Santa is delivering the "truth" that has been repressed for so many years).
After calming myself, I took the time this morning to read about the FFRF on wikipedia. The organization is based in Wisconsin but also has a stronghold in Washington. Coincidentally, the FFRF's annual conference for its 13,000 members will be held soon and so apparently the ads serve double-duty as publicity for this, too.
Everyone has a story and I was intrigued to learn about the people behind this ad. Turns out that a talented married couple (Dan Barker and Anne Gaylor) head up this organization. Gaylor helped start the organization in 1978, but at that time Barker was a "Christian" minister believer who did not disavow his belief in God until 1984. Barker has written tons of materials, largely aimed to help people make atheism a normal way of life in a society that still believes. As a member of the Prometheus society, his IQ is at least in the 99.997 percentile.
But I wonder what Dan and Anne's real story is? Humans are emotional creatures. What did they experience in their church? How did Dan's relationship with God evolve over the years before he drew this intellectual conclusion? My hunch is that this information would be very telling.
Personally, 10 years ago, I was headed in a direction where I had already stopped believing the Bible was true. My conclusions were a wild mix of life and political and relational experiences in the church I attended along with my own decisions on what topics I wanted to explore as well as being in relationships and having dialogue with people who had already made similar decisions. We are inevitably impacted by our interactions with others, though ultimately we are all free agents.
Of course, this advertisement is rather polarizing. It is highly unlikely to cause any person to change their convictions because convictions arise from deep thought, research, and conscious decision. At a certain level, I too want America to be free from the powerless, impoverished version of "Christianity" that is far from what Jesus taught and more closely resembles the Phariseeism that he preached against. Though 2 Tim 3:5 was written 2000 years ago, it is very descriptive of what we see today in American religion: "having a form of godliness but denying its power."
I will post now and tomorrow discuss what I consider true freedom and true power from the Bible's perspective. I will also contrast this freedom with the enslavement offered by the FFRF despite its surface claim to the contrary.
Monday, November 9, 2009
The full armor
Scott Green preached a great sermon last week. I was reflecting on it this morning and had some thoughts. The key passage for me was Eph 6:10-20, the classic treatise on the spiritual battle. The first thing Paul addressed was the fact that the struggle is not against the people in our lives (e.g., workmates or family members), but rather against dark spiritual forces. This is the reality. Therefore, we need protection. I did some deeper reflections on each of the armor elements based on my limited knowledge of war as well as my 1.5 years training in kung fu.
Taking your stand
The Bible says, "when the day of evil comes", not IF. All of us will be tested and go through challenges. This is a spiritual reality. I want to work really hard so I can get to an easy point and from then on can relax. But this is not how God set up this life! Days of evil will come my way, often evil of my own making due to my sin, and sometimes others' sin. It is at those moments that I must take my stand.
I want you to reflect with me on the battle and what happens when you stop taking your stand. The Roman army was legendary for having very large shields that formed a nearly impenetrable wall as they advanced. Attackers typically shot the arrows first. With the shields in place and an "advancing" mentality, the soldiers were relatively safe. But think about what happens if everyone gets afraid and turns and runs. Suddenly everyone is vulnerable to the attack of the arrows.
In kung fu, if we could get someone to turn their back to us, then this placed them at a disadvantage and in a vulnerable position. Arms were made to work forwards, not backwards! If I have someone's back to me, suddenly I can do whatever I want to their head and neck and they can do relatively nothing. It's a matter of time before they are on the ground in a submission hold (not that I advanced that far to learn all those techniques :-).
Spiritually speaking, we have to be ready to take our stand. If we flee, we give up ground and eventually the enemy will overtake us. Think about how Europe kept giving up land to Hitler trying to pacify him until Hitler had literally run the opposing armies into the ocean, necessitating D-Day to reestablish that key beachhead!
The great thing about a relationship with God is that he always has our back. Ecclesiastes 4:12 states, "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." In the body of Christ, we have so many resources to confess, get advice, and get help so that we can take our stand. Individually, we have to take our daily stand against sin. Evangelistically, it is a huge challenge to consistently take a stand alone. That's why Jesus sent us two by two (Mark 6:7).
Evangelistic Feet
Paul urges the Ephesians to possess "feet fitted with the readiness that ocmes from the gospel of peace." Despite multiple attempts, I've really never made a lot of sense of this element until today. My first realization was that the apostles were commissioned and literally sent out on foot to "go make disciples of all nations" (Mt 28:18). Their feet had to be ready to carry them. Location was the biggest barrier between people and the gospel.
Today, we have no such barriers. The world is relatively small. 4 out of 6 billion people on this planet own a cell phone. What needs to be ready is my tongue and mouth. What holds me back? Not being, thinking, & speaking on my feet! Think about it: if you're sitting or lying down, it takes time to get on your feet before you can take action. I was in the grocery store on Friday Nov 6. I ran into a guy I know. It had been a long time since I'd seen him and he'd gone through a lot. I gave him a hug and was warm and loving, which I hope made a difference. But I didn't take any actions that could multiply that love I had for him. Fortunately, God gave me an idea that I should invite him to our Family Group dinner after church on Sunday. 2 minutes later he wheeled his kids around the aisle again past me and I stopped him and we exchanged phone numbers and he expressed an interest. Sometimes we're not ready the first time, but God gives us a second chance if we want to be ready!
Fear holds me back too. But there's a solution: prayer! Paul himself requested prayer in v19-20 that he could proclaim the gospel fearlessly as he should. We all feel fear when we think about whether or not we'll share our faith. But courage is action in the face of fear. At Landmark we did a great exercise that helped me understand that people are just as much or more afraid of me than I of them! If you feel fear, tell yourself and Satan, "I acknowledge my fear and thanks for sharing, now I'm going to obey God and act to make a difference in this world!"
The Importance of Readiness
In kung fu, we worked on our footwork all the time. Why? You stand on your feet. Duh. But what can you do while you're on your feet? Fight. If you're off your feet, it's a grappling battle on the ground and you are much more likely to get hurt. Ultimate Fighting is all about taking out the other guys' legs. In Paul's day, anyone whose leg was injured suddenly became a liability and his buddies had to protect him and get him off the battlefield. It literally took someone out of the attack and the battle in order to help the guy who was off his feet.
This is why evangelism is so key. If we're not on our feet advancing the gospel on a daily basis, we are way more vulnerable to Satan's attacks. Satan wants us to get us off our feet and then it can take a tremendous amount of effort for the Christians around us to get us back on our feet, fighting the fight for others' souls.
When I'm not being evangelistic, I am playing a game that is way too small. Christianity becomes merely a game of church attendance and attempting to stay consistent in reading my Bible and praying. When I considered myself in "top fighting form" is when I was studying the Bible with several guys at the UW. Quiet Times and prayer times and times with brothers were absolutely essential to get strength and get training and stay close to God. I was in touch with the power of sin and Satan's ability to take me out.
I have already confessed to many that I was out of the game, but praise God that I have recently gotten back in the game and in the fight. If you're battling discouragement like I was, if you're not having Quiet Times 7 days a week, if getting to midweek and church early is a constant struggle, then getting back in the evangelistic fight is exactly what you need! Wading back in gradually isn't going to work for you! God wants us to play a much bigger game than simply staying saved ourselves. God is a genius--he knows that we do much better spiritually when we're unconcerned for ourselves and concerned for others. I naturally do way better spiritually when I am considering and meeting others' needs above my own.
Let's stay on our feet so that we can fight with our sword, which is the word of God!
The Shield of Faith
Faith is an amazing tool. The Bible explicitly says that it can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. I naturally think of this applying to myself. My faith helps me overcome the evil thoughts and insecurities and fears that come to my mind throughout the day.
But this morning I considered how my faith can be a shield for others. Jesus acknowledged the faith of the paralytic's friends in Mark 2:5. Galatians 6 states, "carry each other's burdens" (v2) but also that "each one should carry his own load" (v5). I realized that my faith can literally be a shield for someone who is off their feet, who is being attacked by Satan's arrows. I cannot shield them indefinitely, but for a time I can certainly lend a hand. When I'm in a conversation with someone and I see a flaming arrow Satan has put into their minds, I can literally say something based on my faith and extinguish it for them. God can use our little faith the size of a mustard seed to disarm powerful weapons Satan is trying to use against others!
Shields can also be used as weapons. In particular, fight scenes from "Gladiator" come to mind for some reason, but also from Prince Caspian when Peter fights the evil Miraz. Sometimes we may not know the perfect scripture that applies to a situation. Sometimes we're literally out of practice in our use of the "sWord of God." However, our faith can still be an effective weapon. I love Tom Jones' mind change formula, which goes: "Situation blah, blah, blah and excuse blah blah blah--but God." He acknowledges the situation and then by faith brings God into the picture, which totally changes everything.
Conclusion
May we all enter our days fitted with the full armor of God. If you're not on your feet, then call someone and get help getting back up so you can fight the good fight of faith and finish the race!
Taking your stand
The Bible says, "when the day of evil comes", not IF. All of us will be tested and go through challenges. This is a spiritual reality. I want to work really hard so I can get to an easy point and from then on can relax. But this is not how God set up this life! Days of evil will come my way, often evil of my own making due to my sin, and sometimes others' sin. It is at those moments that I must take my stand.
I want you to reflect with me on the battle and what happens when you stop taking your stand. The Roman army was legendary for having very large shields that formed a nearly impenetrable wall as they advanced. Attackers typically shot the arrows first. With the shields in place and an "advancing" mentality, the soldiers were relatively safe. But think about what happens if everyone gets afraid and turns and runs. Suddenly everyone is vulnerable to the attack of the arrows.
In kung fu, if we could get someone to turn their back to us, then this placed them at a disadvantage and in a vulnerable position. Arms were made to work forwards, not backwards! If I have someone's back to me, suddenly I can do whatever I want to their head and neck and they can do relatively nothing. It's a matter of time before they are on the ground in a submission hold (not that I advanced that far to learn all those techniques :-).
Spiritually speaking, we have to be ready to take our stand. If we flee, we give up ground and eventually the enemy will overtake us. Think about how Europe kept giving up land to Hitler trying to pacify him until Hitler had literally run the opposing armies into the ocean, necessitating D-Day to reestablish that key beachhead!
The great thing about a relationship with God is that he always has our back. Ecclesiastes 4:12 states, "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." In the body of Christ, we have so many resources to confess, get advice, and get help so that we can take our stand. Individually, we have to take our daily stand against sin. Evangelistically, it is a huge challenge to consistently take a stand alone. That's why Jesus sent us two by two (Mark 6:7).
Evangelistic Feet
Paul urges the Ephesians to possess "feet fitted with the readiness that ocmes from the gospel of peace." Despite multiple attempts, I've really never made a lot of sense of this element until today. My first realization was that the apostles were commissioned and literally sent out on foot to "go make disciples of all nations" (Mt 28:18). Their feet had to be ready to carry them. Location was the biggest barrier between people and the gospel.
Today, we have no such barriers. The world is relatively small. 4 out of 6 billion people on this planet own a cell phone. What needs to be ready is my tongue and mouth. What holds me back? Not being, thinking, & speaking on my feet! Think about it: if you're sitting or lying down, it takes time to get on your feet before you can take action. I was in the grocery store on Friday Nov 6. I ran into a guy I know. It had been a long time since I'd seen him and he'd gone through a lot. I gave him a hug and was warm and loving, which I hope made a difference. But I didn't take any actions that could multiply that love I had for him. Fortunately, God gave me an idea that I should invite him to our Family Group dinner after church on Sunday. 2 minutes later he wheeled his kids around the aisle again past me and I stopped him and we exchanged phone numbers and he expressed an interest. Sometimes we're not ready the first time, but God gives us a second chance if we want to be ready!
Fear holds me back too. But there's a solution: prayer! Paul himself requested prayer in v19-20 that he could proclaim the gospel fearlessly as he should. We all feel fear when we think about whether or not we'll share our faith. But courage is action in the face of fear. At Landmark we did a great exercise that helped me understand that people are just as much or more afraid of me than I of them! If you feel fear, tell yourself and Satan, "I acknowledge my fear and thanks for sharing, now I'm going to obey God and act to make a difference in this world!"
The Importance of Readiness
In kung fu, we worked on our footwork all the time. Why? You stand on your feet. Duh. But what can you do while you're on your feet? Fight. If you're off your feet, it's a grappling battle on the ground and you are much more likely to get hurt. Ultimate Fighting is all about taking out the other guys' legs. In Paul's day, anyone whose leg was injured suddenly became a liability and his buddies had to protect him and get him off the battlefield. It literally took someone out of the attack and the battle in order to help the guy who was off his feet.
This is why evangelism is so key. If we're not on our feet advancing the gospel on a daily basis, we are way more vulnerable to Satan's attacks. Satan wants us to get us off our feet and then it can take a tremendous amount of effort for the Christians around us to get us back on our feet, fighting the fight for others' souls.
When I'm not being evangelistic, I am playing a game that is way too small. Christianity becomes merely a game of church attendance and attempting to stay consistent in reading my Bible and praying. When I considered myself in "top fighting form" is when I was studying the Bible with several guys at the UW. Quiet Times and prayer times and times with brothers were absolutely essential to get strength and get training and stay close to God. I was in touch with the power of sin and Satan's ability to take me out.
I have already confessed to many that I was out of the game, but praise God that I have recently gotten back in the game and in the fight. If you're battling discouragement like I was, if you're not having Quiet Times 7 days a week, if getting to midweek and church early is a constant struggle, then getting back in the evangelistic fight is exactly what you need! Wading back in gradually isn't going to work for you! God wants us to play a much bigger game than simply staying saved ourselves. God is a genius--he knows that we do much better spiritually when we're unconcerned for ourselves and concerned for others. I naturally do way better spiritually when I am considering and meeting others' needs above my own.
Let's stay on our feet so that we can fight with our sword, which is the word of God!
The Shield of Faith
Faith is an amazing tool. The Bible explicitly says that it can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. I naturally think of this applying to myself. My faith helps me overcome the evil thoughts and insecurities and fears that come to my mind throughout the day.
But this morning I considered how my faith can be a shield for others. Jesus acknowledged the faith of the paralytic's friends in Mark 2:5. Galatians 6 states, "carry each other's burdens" (v2) but also that "each one should carry his own load" (v5). I realized that my faith can literally be a shield for someone who is off their feet, who is being attacked by Satan's arrows. I cannot shield them indefinitely, but for a time I can certainly lend a hand. When I'm in a conversation with someone and I see a flaming arrow Satan has put into their minds, I can literally say something based on my faith and extinguish it for them. God can use our little faith the size of a mustard seed to disarm powerful weapons Satan is trying to use against others!
Shields can also be used as weapons. In particular, fight scenes from "Gladiator" come to mind for some reason, but also from Prince Caspian when Peter fights the evil Miraz. Sometimes we may not know the perfect scripture that applies to a situation. Sometimes we're literally out of practice in our use of the "sWord of God." However, our faith can still be an effective weapon. I love Tom Jones' mind change formula, which goes: "Situation blah, blah, blah and excuse blah blah blah--but God." He acknowledges the situation and then by faith brings God into the picture, which totally changes everything.
Conclusion
May we all enter our days fitted with the full armor of God. If you're not on your feet, then call someone and get help getting back up so you can fight the good fight of faith and finish the race!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Jealousy
A new situation in my life has sparked feelings of jealousy in a way I have not experienced before. From dictionary.com:
This blog will explore the concept of jealousy from a Biblical perspective. I see these new feelings as an opportunity to feel some of the things I know that God feels. Yet I also know that while his emotions are completely appropriate, I must necessarily work through my emotions and get over them.
God is a Jealous God
As part of the 10 commandments, Exodus 20:4-7 summarizes how God's rule and what he feels about our loyalty to him.
So what's up with this and how is it even relevant? I know so many of us struggle with bowing down before idols and worshipping Baal :-). In society today, we view jealousy as a negative emotion reserved for those whose lives and feelings are out of control. Marriages are by far the most common scenario for jealousy where the relationship has broken down to the point where one spouse accuses the other of disloyalty and unfaithfulness. Interestingly, scores of TV shows are based largely on emotions related to jealousy.
Relationship with God = Marriage
The truth is that God views our relationship with him precisely as a marriage. Hosea was an old testament prophet whom God commanded to take a wife (Gomer) who lived as a prostitute. God' intent was through Gomer's unfaithfulness, Hosea would understand a fraction of the emotions that God felt toward his people, the Jews.
Jealousy is a funny thing. A jealous spouse expresses great love and depth of feeling for the other. At the same time the jealous spouse also feels outrage, anger, animosity, and a desire to harm or hurt the object of their love. Jealousy is an extremely powerful emotion, as Proverbs 27:4 describes: " Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?."
Hosea 11 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible because it shows the complete range of God's emotions toward us. At first, God feels tenderness as he remembers raising Israel as a child. Next, there is sudden outrage and vindictive punishment in versus 6 & 7 because of their many sins. Lastly, in v8-11, God relents and decides to have mercy on his people after all.
Ezekiel 16 is a graphic and detailed depiction of how God viewed his relationship with his people. It describes how God found Israel as a pitiful, helpless female baby lying in a field having just been born. God raised this child, bestowing many gifts, and the child became a beautiful woman. God entered into an exclusive covenant relationship of marriage. Yet Israel chose to go after other lovers and use the very gifts God had given to attract new lovers. In fact, she got so bad that she was a "reverse prostitute" and paid others in order to have sex with them. God's jealousy is so aroused that he must punish her violently and then he promises (v42) to be calm and no longer angry. If you read the chapter, you will see that God feels both like a rejected father/benefactor and like a jilted lover--and rightly so!
At the end of the day, God still loves his people and wants to take them back. "So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD. Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign LORD" (Ezek 16:62-63). This is entirely consistent with the parable of the prodigal son that Jesus told in Luke 15. The son comes to his senses and returns, yet only through his complete humility and the amazing generosity of the father is he able to yet again enjoy the privileges of being a son.
What is an idol?
In Bible times, idols were easy to spot. They were figurines of various sizes manufactured from wood, stone, and precious metals. Isaiah 44:6-23 contains a humorous comparison between God and idols, outlining the many absurdities of idol worship.
People joke today about idols, golden calves, Baal, and the like. It seems funny and superficially appropriate because our enlightened minds could not possibly worship such objects. But now that we understand the deeper meanings involved, it is most certainly not a joking matter. Imagine that you know a couple whose marriage has gone through the drama of infidelity and has finally been restored. Suppose you knowingly joked that everyone should get together for dinner sometime at the hotel where the husband had often met his lover? Such a remark would show complete insensitivity to the situation and the depth of the wound that had been healed.
But what is an idol? Do they exist today? Ezek. 14:1-7 explains that we can set up idols in our hearts. An idol is anything in our lives that takes the #1 place of importance that God deserves. While we may not bow down to anything physical, we show what matters most to us by how we spend our time, what we talk about, and areas we would not be willing to sacrifice in order to follow Jesus as his disciple. The range of idols can be tremendous and society actually approves of many of these idols:
Conclusion
I know God wants all of me (Luke 14:25-34). All of me is all I have to give. It only seems fair since God gave his only son Jesus for me. God married me at my baptism into Christ on December 15, 1999. Now that I understand God's jealousy more deeply, I am even more determined to maintain a big difference between God and anything else that can arise in my heart.
Today, society likes to make fun and mock the jealous God of the Old Testament. I hope you can understand along with me how appropriate God's feeling of jealous emotion really is. Proverbs 1:7 explains, " The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." It is not a bad thing to fear a God who loves you so much that he is jealous and crazy and vengeful toward you when you are not putting him in that #1 spot!
Envy and jealousy are very close in meaning. Envy denotes a longing to possess something awarded to or achieved by another: to feel envy when a friend inherits a fortune. Jealousy, on the other hand, denotes a feeling of resentment that another has gained something that one more rightfully deserves: to feel jealousy when a coworker receives a promotion. Jealousy also refers to anguish caused by fear of unfaithfulness.Retrospectively, I have certainly experienced jealousy, but very seldom. Most of my feelings were really envy since there was not any self-justification involved. However, I'm realizing that the level of pain is definitely intensified by the closeness of the relationship involved.
This blog will explore the concept of jealousy from a Biblical perspective. I see these new feelings as an opportunity to feel some of the things I know that God feels. Yet I also know that while his emotions are completely appropriate, I must necessarily work through my emotions and get over them.
God is a Jealous God
As part of the 10 commandments, Exodus 20:4-7 summarizes how God's rule and what he feels about our loyalty to him.
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.Ex. 34:14 expresses a similar sentiment. "Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God."
So what's up with this and how is it even relevant? I know so many of us struggle with bowing down before idols and worshipping Baal :-). In society today, we view jealousy as a negative emotion reserved for those whose lives and feelings are out of control. Marriages are by far the most common scenario for jealousy where the relationship has broken down to the point where one spouse accuses the other of disloyalty and unfaithfulness. Interestingly, scores of TV shows are based largely on emotions related to jealousy.
Relationship with God = Marriage
The truth is that God views our relationship with him precisely as a marriage. Hosea was an old testament prophet whom God commanded to take a wife (Gomer) who lived as a prostitute. God' intent was through Gomer's unfaithfulness, Hosea would understand a fraction of the emotions that God felt toward his people, the Jews.
Jealousy is a funny thing. A jealous spouse expresses great love and depth of feeling for the other. At the same time the jealous spouse also feels outrage, anger, animosity, and a desire to harm or hurt the object of their love. Jealousy is an extremely powerful emotion, as Proverbs 27:4 describes: " Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?."
Hosea 11 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible because it shows the complete range of God's emotions toward us. At first, God feels tenderness as he remembers raising Israel as a child. Next, there is sudden outrage and vindictive punishment in versus 6 & 7 because of their many sins. Lastly, in v8-11, God relents and decides to have mercy on his people after all.
Ezekiel 16 is a graphic and detailed depiction of how God viewed his relationship with his people. It describes how God found Israel as a pitiful, helpless female baby lying in a field having just been born. God raised this child, bestowing many gifts, and the child became a beautiful woman. God entered into an exclusive covenant relationship of marriage. Yet Israel chose to go after other lovers and use the very gifts God had given to attract new lovers. In fact, she got so bad that she was a "reverse prostitute" and paid others in order to have sex with them. God's jealousy is so aroused that he must punish her violently and then he promises (v42) to be calm and no longer angry. If you read the chapter, you will see that God feels both like a rejected father/benefactor and like a jilted lover--and rightly so!
At the end of the day, God still loves his people and wants to take them back. "So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD. Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign LORD" (Ezek 16:62-63). This is entirely consistent with the parable of the prodigal son that Jesus told in Luke 15. The son comes to his senses and returns, yet only through his complete humility and the amazing generosity of the father is he able to yet again enjoy the privileges of being a son.
What is an idol?
In Bible times, idols were easy to spot. They were figurines of various sizes manufactured from wood, stone, and precious metals. Isaiah 44:6-23 contains a humorous comparison between God and idols, outlining the many absurdities of idol worship.
People joke today about idols, golden calves, Baal, and the like. It seems funny and superficially appropriate because our enlightened minds could not possibly worship such objects. But now that we understand the deeper meanings involved, it is most certainly not a joking matter. Imagine that you know a couple whose marriage has gone through the drama of infidelity and has finally been restored. Suppose you knowingly joked that everyone should get together for dinner sometime at the hotel where the husband had often met his lover? Such a remark would show complete insensitivity to the situation and the depth of the wound that had been healed.
But what is an idol? Do they exist today? Ezek. 14:1-7 explains that we can set up idols in our hearts. An idol is anything in our lives that takes the #1 place of importance that God deserves. While we may not bow down to anything physical, we show what matters most to us by how we spend our time, what we talk about, and areas we would not be willing to sacrifice in order to follow Jesus as his disciple. The range of idols can be tremendous and society actually approves of many of these idols:
- Our (grand)children, a relationship, or a spouse (always a challenge to avoid)
- Sports (football is notorously common)
- Our own beliefs and opinions and ideas about life and morality (this was a big one for me)
- Entertainment (actors, musicians, movies, video games, TV shows)
- Jobs
- Well-meaning projects to help others (e.g., ending pollution or homelessness)
- Our church or organization: events, special beliefs, special practices, etc.
Conclusion
I know God wants all of me (Luke 14:25-34). All of me is all I have to give. It only seems fair since God gave his only son Jesus for me. God married me at my baptism into Christ on December 15, 1999. Now that I understand God's jealousy more deeply, I am even more determined to maintain a big difference between God and anything else that can arise in my heart.
Today, society likes to make fun and mock the jealous God of the Old Testament. I hope you can understand along with me how appropriate God's feeling of jealous emotion really is. Proverbs 1:7 explains, " The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." It is not a bad thing to fear a God who loves you so much that he is jealous and crazy and vengeful toward you when you are not putting him in that #1 spot!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
The 11th Hour
We got licensed as foster parents with the intent to "foster to adopt" a child. Rather than go overseas, we wanted to help children in our backyard. When we brought Ar'Mircle home from the hospital on May 8, 2008, we had high hopes of adopting her within a year. Since then a lot has changed and her situation is much more complex. Her birth mother has made tremendous progress and has successfully fulfilled on her social programs for the last six months. In the coming months, she hopes to have overnight visitations with Ar'Mircle, leading up to reunification with Ar'Mircle.
Ar'Mircle's birth mother wants to reunify with all her children and so the family got into a special program. The new social worker will visit us on Monday 9/14/09. I will post a status update then for what is appropriate to disclose. However, our previous social worker had a "final chat" with us and impressed upon us the very strong likelihood that Ar'Mircle will return to her birth family and that we will not be able to adopt her. We have been aware of this possibility for about six months and have cried and prayed and gone through the emotional roller coaster.
God has always been in control of Ar'Mircle's situation, but this is particularly evident now as we try to surrender her daily into her true Father's hands who loves her more than we do. Tom Jones' weekly Mind Change email a few weeks ago pointed out that oftentimes God waits until the 11th hour to act. This idea seemed particularly applicable to our situation, so I wanted to explore this idea more deeply.
Abraham
The first obvious example in the Bible is Abraham, the father of faith. God promised Abraham a son in his old age (Genesis 15:1-6). Abraham took things into his own hands by siring Ishmael at age 86 with his slave girl (Gen 16:16). God's promise was not fulfilled until 14 years later with the birth of Isaac at age 100 (Gen 21:1-7). Over those 15-20 years, I wonder how often Abraham felt that God's promise was empty words? How often did he get frustrated with the age and decay in both Sarah and his own bodies? Yet at the last possible moment, God delivered on his promise.
Gen. 22:1-19 is one of the most challenging passages in the Bible. After Abraham waited so many years for Isaac, God audaciously commands Abraham to literally sacrifice his son, just like the pagans commonly sacrificed their children to false gods. Many struggle with this apparently callous, unreasonable, and cruel request (forgetting that God sacrificed his own Son 2000 years later). Yet Abraham did not waiver in his faith, for he explained to Isaac in v. 8, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering." Abraham made it into the "Faith Hall of Fame" of Hebrews 11, which explains that "Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead" (Heb 11:19). Abraham's faith carried him through the actions of trudging up the mountain with his son, preparing the altar, tying up his son, putting him on the altar, and getting out the knife. Again, at the last possible moment, God intervened and told him not to sacrifice his son. Instead, God provided a ram and commended Abraham for not withholding his son.
This story is gruesome to our 21st century minds, yet the lesson is clear. God expects us to put him as #1, even above our kids. By this example of Abraham's faith, I am able to put God above Jade, Ar'Mircle and River, even though I adore them. It puts children in an awkward situation of too much power when the children are a parent's top priority, even above the marriage. God's priority list of God, Spouse, Children has worked well for us as we discipline and train our kids.
Joseph
Joseph was the great-grandson of Abraham. As a young man (17?), Joseph's step-brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt. Rather than renouncing his faith in God in a strange country, Joseph served his master Potiphar with excellence, leading to his promotion to steward. His faith even enabled him to resist the sexual advances of his Potiphar's wife and then kept him going as he was thrown into prison. In prison, Joseph served with excellence and eventually God brought him out and made him second in command to Pharoah as he implented a plan to save all the people from an impending famine. We don't know exactly how long this process took, but could easily have been 15 or 20 years. I find Joseph's example of perseverance inspiring, and I take note that God acted at seemingly the last moment in Joseph's life.
The Israelites
Joseph moved his family down to Egypt to escape the famine. After they multiplied, the Egyptians enslaved them. 400 years after the move to Egypt, God explains, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.... So I have come down to rescue them... and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3:7-8). God raised up Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. I wonder how many Israelites even remembered God's promise after so many generations? How many of them wondered if God would really rescue them? Yet after 400 years, at the 11th hour, God brought the Israelites out of Egypt. He even arranged things with the 10 plagues so that the Egyptians wanted the Israelites to leave and gave them many gifts on their way out.
If that weren't dramatic enough, three after they left, the Egyptian army pursued the Israelites, trapping them against the Red Sea. God waited until the army was nearly upon them before opening the Red Sea for them to pass through, then closing it back over the Egyptians, destroying their entire army in the process. It was yet another last-minute deliverance by God!
Daniel
This is one of the most famous stories in the Bible. As one of the Jews in captivity in Babylon, Daniel rose up to prime minister, just under the king. The king's jealous advisers tricked him into creating a law that for 30 days, everyone must pray exclusively to the king. By faith, Daniel did not alter his practice of praying in his window facing Jerusalem. Consequently, the king regretfully ordered him thrown into the den of lions. The next morning after a sleepless night, the king asked, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?" to which Daniel responds, "O king, live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions" (Daniel 6:20-22).
Ar'Mircle's birth mother wants to reunify with all her children and so the family got into a special program. The new social worker will visit us on Monday 9/14/09. I will post a status update then for what is appropriate to disclose. However, our previous social worker had a "final chat" with us and impressed upon us the very strong likelihood that Ar'Mircle will return to her birth family and that we will not be able to adopt her. We have been aware of this possibility for about six months and have cried and prayed and gone through the emotional roller coaster.
God has always been in control of Ar'Mircle's situation, but this is particularly evident now as we try to surrender her daily into her true Father's hands who loves her more than we do. Tom Jones' weekly Mind Change email a few weeks ago pointed out that oftentimes God waits until the 11th hour to act. This idea seemed particularly applicable to our situation, so I wanted to explore this idea more deeply.
Abraham
The first obvious example in the Bible is Abraham, the father of faith. God promised Abraham a son in his old age (Genesis 15:1-6). Abraham took things into his own hands by siring Ishmael at age 86 with his slave girl (Gen 16:16). God's promise was not fulfilled until 14 years later with the birth of Isaac at age 100 (Gen 21:1-7). Over those 15-20 years, I wonder how often Abraham felt that God's promise was empty words? How often did he get frustrated with the age and decay in both Sarah and his own bodies? Yet at the last possible moment, God delivered on his promise.
Gen. 22:1-19 is one of the most challenging passages in the Bible. After Abraham waited so many years for Isaac, God audaciously commands Abraham to literally sacrifice his son, just like the pagans commonly sacrificed their children to false gods. Many struggle with this apparently callous, unreasonable, and cruel request (forgetting that God sacrificed his own Son 2000 years later). Yet Abraham did not waiver in his faith, for he explained to Isaac in v. 8, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering." Abraham made it into the "Faith Hall of Fame" of Hebrews 11, which explains that "Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead" (Heb 11:19). Abraham's faith carried him through the actions of trudging up the mountain with his son, preparing the altar, tying up his son, putting him on the altar, and getting out the knife. Again, at the last possible moment, God intervened and told him not to sacrifice his son. Instead, God provided a ram and commended Abraham for not withholding his son.
This story is gruesome to our 21st century minds, yet the lesson is clear. God expects us to put him as #1, even above our kids. By this example of Abraham's faith, I am able to put God above Jade, Ar'Mircle and River, even though I adore them. It puts children in an awkward situation of too much power when the children are a parent's top priority, even above the marriage. God's priority list of God, Spouse, Children has worked well for us as we discipline and train our kids.
Joseph
Joseph was the great-grandson of Abraham. As a young man (17?), Joseph's step-brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt. Rather than renouncing his faith in God in a strange country, Joseph served his master Potiphar with excellence, leading to his promotion to steward. His faith even enabled him to resist the sexual advances of his Potiphar's wife and then kept him going as he was thrown into prison. In prison, Joseph served with excellence and eventually God brought him out and made him second in command to Pharoah as he implented a plan to save all the people from an impending famine. We don't know exactly how long this process took, but could easily have been 15 or 20 years. I find Joseph's example of perseverance inspiring, and I take note that God acted at seemingly the last moment in Joseph's life.
The Israelites
Joseph moved his family down to Egypt to escape the famine. After they multiplied, the Egyptians enslaved them. 400 years after the move to Egypt, God explains, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.... So I have come down to rescue them... and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3:7-8). God raised up Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. I wonder how many Israelites even remembered God's promise after so many generations? How many of them wondered if God would really rescue them? Yet after 400 years, at the 11th hour, God brought the Israelites out of Egypt. He even arranged things with the 10 plagues so that the Egyptians wanted the Israelites to leave and gave them many gifts on their way out.
If that weren't dramatic enough, three after they left, the Egyptian army pursued the Israelites, trapping them against the Red Sea. God waited until the army was nearly upon them before opening the Red Sea for them to pass through, then closing it back over the Egyptians, destroying their entire army in the process. It was yet another last-minute deliverance by God!
Daniel
This is one of the most famous stories in the Bible. As one of the Jews in captivity in Babylon, Daniel rose up to prime minister, just under the king. The king's jealous advisers tricked him into creating a law that for 30 days, everyone must pray exclusively to the king. By faith, Daniel did not alter his practice of praying in his window facing Jerusalem. Consequently, the king regretfully ordered him thrown into the den of lions. The next morning after a sleepless night, the king asked, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?" to which Daniel responds, "O king, live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions" (Daniel 6:20-22).
Daniel certainly believed God would rescue him. But at what point and in what manner? By the king revoking the law? By the king sending Daniel away for 30 days on a special mission? By killing the lions? Yet God chose not to rescue Daniel until he was literally in the lions' den for 8-10 hours.
Peter
The rapid growth of the early Christian church caused the Jewish population to panic as many converted to follow Jesus. King Herod arrested Peter and put him in jail as a ringleader of this new cult. Acts 12:1-19 describes how the night before his trial, an angel rescues him from four squads of soldiers and leads him out of jail. Peter knocks on the door where the disciples are praying for him and there is a humorous exchange where the girl leaves him outside still knocking in order to tell the good news to the others (v.14-15). Again, God chose to rescue Peter at the last possible moment and apparently he never was brought to trial.
Jesus
The Jews anticipated the coming of the Messiah for centuries. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain the prophecies of Isaiah that describe the Messiah's roles of king and suffering servant in amazing detail. The Jews looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, and perhaps many had even given up hope. Galatians 4:4 explains that God waited until the right time: "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons."
The idea of the 11th Hour is not that God always does what we want at the last minute. Instead, by faith we are given the strength to persevere to the 11th hour and then by faith to make it to through the crisis, if that is what God wants. Nowhere is that more evident than the example of Jesus.
Jesus knew he must fulfill the prophecy to suffer for the sins of the world in Isaiah 53. He spent time educating his disciples that "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life" (Luke 9:22). Yet when the moment came for his suffering, Jesus said, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" (Matthew 26:38). At this point, he prayed this prayer many times, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
Jesus surrendered his life to God to the point that when Peter tried to fight off the soldiers coming to arrest him, Jesus told him, "Put your sword back.... Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?" (Matt 26:52-54) Jesus could have been rescued at the 11th Hour, but instead he chose to suffer for my sins so that I could be forgiven and have a relationship with God. Sometimes an 11th Hour rescue is too short-sighted. The Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11:39 states, "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." Sometimes God has a greater plan, a bigger game afoot that may require deep sacrifice for even greater gain.
The disciples were thoroughly disappointed and disillusioned when Jesus died. As they explained in Luke 24:17-24, "Jesus of Nazareth was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."
But it was not yet midnight on God's clock. Jesus had in fact risen from the dead, proving that even when it appears that the "fat lady has sung," God can do absolutely anything!
Conclusion
There are many more examples of God's last-minute rescues, including Samson (Judges 16:23-30) and Hezekiah (Isaiah 38). They remind me that not only can God act even at the 11th hour, he often (but not always) chooses to do it this way. Why? I'm not sure, but I know that last-minute rescues make it obvious that God has done it. When God averts a crisis that has almost occurred, it is clear to all that we need God, not only in crises, but every moment of every day.
I don't know how things will turn out with Ar'Mircle. I surrender her to God every day. He really does know best and he loves her most of anyone. And yet I maintain hope that God will pull out another 11th Hour rescue and our family will praise him because of it for the rest of our days.
Monday, August 24, 2009
21 Rules of this House (part 2)
The final installment covers some key rules. Rules 14-18 are very explicit in how to behave, spelling out the details of considerate living with others in the same household. They also are great principles for how to take care of the things entrusted us by God.
Rules 19-21 complete the loop, teaching the kids to ask rather than disobey, to assume the rules are in effect everywhere, and to accept discipline for disobeying the rules anytime anywhere.
14. We do not create unnecessary work for others.
Rules 19-21 complete the loop, teaching the kids to ask rather than disobey, to assume the rules are in effect everywhere, and to accept discipline for disobeying the rules anytime anywhere.
14. We do not create unnecessary work for others.
- Matt 7:12. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.
- Phil 2:4. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
- 2 Tim 4:14-15. Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.
- Acts 15:1. Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved."
- Eccl 3:1-8. There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity
under heaven.... a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to tear and a time to mend....
15. When we open something, we close it.
- Matt 7:12. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.
- Num 19:15. And every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.
- Isaiah 22:22. I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
- Rev 3:7. To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
16. When we turn something on, we turn it off.
- Matt 7:12. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.
- Phil 2:4. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
17. When we take something out, we put it away.
- Matt 7:12. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.
- Phil 2:4. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
18. When we make a mess, we clean it up.
- Phil 2:4. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
- Ezek 34:17-19. As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?
19. When we do not know what to do, we ask.
This is absolutely critical. I can't wait for my kids to be given an art project at Kids' Kingdom and ask the teacher what to do rather than marching ahead and making a mess of things!
- Prov 11:14. For lack of guidance a nation falls, but many advisors make victory sure.
- Prov 15:12. A mocker resents correction; he will not consult the wise.
- Prov 16:25. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
- Prov 19:20. Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.
- Prov 22:6. Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
- James 1:5. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
20. When we go out, we act just as if we were in this house.
This principle is absolutely essential. Kids are eager to assume that the rules can get nullified by moving around in space and time. Instead, God's principles are in effect 24/7. His Word is true everytime and everywhere, because he fills heaven and earth!
- Col 3:17. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
- Jer 23:23-24. "Am I only a God nearby," declares the LORD, "and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD.
- 1 John 2:6. Whoever claims to be in him must walk as Jesus did.
21. When we disobey or forget any of the 21 Rules of This House, we accept discipline and instruction.
It is Biblical and loving for me to discipline my children! To this day, I tend to get discouraged by discipline, but I hope my kids can learn to accept it as a form of love and to respond with a repentant heart rather than a despondent & disappointed & discouraged heart. The results of discipline are well worth it!
- Prov 10:17. He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.
- Prov 12:1. Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.
- Prov 13:1. A wise son heeds his father's instruction, but a mocker does not listen to rebuke.
- Prov 13:24. He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.
- Prov 15:31-32. He who listens to a life-giving rebuke will be at home among the wise. He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.
- Prov 22:15. Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.
- Prov 29:15. The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.
- Heb 12:5-6. My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.
- Heb 12:11. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
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