Sunday, August 29, 2010

Provocation

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, IS NOT PROVOKED, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).

Provocation

The root word translated "provoked" means to sharpen, as with a blade, to keep it ready for use, so that it cuts easily and handily.

Oh man, do I know people like that, always looking and eager to slice and dice the opposition at the slightest perceived offense.

Most drunks are easily provoked, as are those who are insecure, or not being worshipped sufficiently, or those who feel a deep, abiding hatred for someone or something. Frustrated entitlement is also a catalyst that sets off those sharp, bristly individuals, who at bottom are really nothing more than spoiled brats who have never grown up, or been told no enough times to understand what it means.

Agape love looks provocation in the eye and says you have no power over me. I choose not to take offense, not because of weakness, but because of strength, and because my rights are NOT more important than your well-being.

It is so EASY to be provoked and act on it today in our modern info-saturated society. We have venting networks all around us, available for spewing our venom into cyber space at the speed of light. And we can remain safely anonymous or at least safely far enough away from our targets that prudence, restraint and better judgment are three common casualties.

But that is not the agape way. Those who claim Christ as Lord and Savior are to behave differently. Radically differently. Paul says it this way in another place: "And we labor, working with our own hands. Being REVILED, we bless; being persecuted, we endure;" (1 Corinthians 4:12, NKJV).

And Peter confirms this, pointing to Christ:

"For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 'Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth'; who, when He was REVILED, did NOT REVILE in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;" (1 Peter 2:21-23, NKJV).

If anyone could have reacted effectively to provocation, replying in kind, it was Jesus, who had all power and wisdom. But instead, through Isaiah, He prophesied "I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting." (Isaiah 50:6, NKJV).

In fact, Isaiah goes on to predict about Jesus, "Just as many were astonished at you, So His visage was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men;" (Isaiah 52:14, NKJV).

God does not just command us how to be, but sent His Son to show us how to be, and gives us His Spirit to empower us how to be.

Living life as He did, loving as He did, changes everything.

Try it.


Saturday, August 28, 2010

Seekers

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, DOES NOT SEEK ITS OWN, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).

Seekers

There are only two kinds of people in this world. Those who divide people into two groups, and those who don't. No, seriously. In certain Biblical contexts, there ARE only two kinds of people in the world, and these two groups are described variously as Children of God versus Children of the Devil, Children of Light versus Sons of Disobedience, Lovers of God versus Lovers of Themselves, and God-seekers versus Self-seekers.

It is not that God-seekers hate themselves, but it is that unrepentant Self-seekers hate God and cannot love. There is a war going on, ancient and bloody, with the stakes being the highest in the Universe: eternal life versus eternal death and torment. This war takes on many guises, and the most prevalent these days reveals itself as a War of Worship. Humans who worship God versus Humans who worship themselves. In technical terms, Theists versus Humanists.

The propaganda surrounding this current battle is interesting and diabolical in its deceptiveness, It has been said that the first casualty of war is truth, but not so in this conflict. On the contrary, it is the conquest or defeat of truth that is the very essence of the battle. Know this: there cannot be any love without truth, simply because love based on lies is a betrayal from start to finish.

Humanists seek to worship themselves. They couch this blatant self-worship as regard for Mankind as a whole, but it is not. It is a childish ploy to hate God so that they can seek and worship Self. Remove God and Self is on the throne. All external restrictions melt away, and what remains is what is right or wrong in the Humanist's own eyes. The freedom to do, say or think whatever FEELS correct is the goal, and it is achieved through a determined, gritted-teeth, breath-holding, foot-stamping denial of objective reality in favor of subjective reality.

Humanists cannot practice agape love because they deny its source. They can only practice self-love, and clothe it as nobly and fashionably as possible so the selfishness that it really is is covered up in layers of presentability. True agape love is raw, and naked, and sacrificial and others-centered. It is portrayed popularly as foolishness, or tragedy, or delusion, or too good to be true. What it really is, God's love, can never, ever be acknowledged else the whole inelegant edifice of Humanism comes crashing down in the mud puddle of its origin.

The epitome of self-worship is self-seeking. It is the ultimate "what's in it for me" equation that fuels every frustrating and evil thing that occurs in human history from child sacrifice to unemployment. Self-seeking is the Darwinian survival-of-the-fittest that justifies anything in the name of expedience. Self-seeking is what is wrong in this world.

A practitioner of true agape love cannot seek his or her own because the real fire at the center of the Universe, Christ's love for the Father and for us, operates in a way destined to bring about the restoration of all things, not through self-seeking but through self-sacrifice.

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3, 4, NKJV).

Friday, August 27, 2010

Shut Up!

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; DOES NOT BEHAVE RUDELY, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).

Shut Up!

The root word translated "rudely" here means deformed, indecent, unseemly; conduct unbecoming, well, anyone.

Deformed, indecent, and unseemly conduct has no place in agape love. Neither rudeness nor crudeness is loving.

As a loving, spiritual and Christian man, I am NEVER rude, and just Shut Up! if you think otherwise. And stop scraping your spoon on that bowl. I can't THINK! How do expect me to concentrate and write this devotional if everyone is being so DISRUPTIVE and INCONSIDERATE!

Don't you just hate it when other people are rude! It drives me up a wall and makes me feel superior simultaneously. "Were they fetched up in a barn?" my father would say, which was ironic because based on the stories he told of his childhood, he pretty much spent his formative years in a barn.

I know being rude is wrong, but it is so easy. It's one of the easiest sins around. And it's satisfying.

I am sighing now because one of the most obvious, most readily recognizable proofs that I am failing the tests of agape love is being rude. And successful rudeness relies on failing all the other hallmarks of love in this verse, as well. In fact, rudeness is utterly dependent on being impatient, unkind, feeling entitled, being the most important, and putting oneself first. Without those bedrock components serving as a foundation layer, rudeness collapses on itself like a balloon whose air has suddenly been let out.

And make no mistake, it is PRIVATE rudeness that is the true signpost. Being polite in public is a piece of cake, especially when you realize the potential for unintended consequences, like the driver in front of you stopping the car, getting out and walking toward you with a tire iron in his thigh-sized arm. Domestic rudeness is safe and comfortable in comparison. I find that most cowards are publicly polite while privately rude.

And don't think it stops at actions. Don't think you've accomplished much by NOT actually saying something, or being moderately effective at keeping that look of contempt and irritation off your face. Or by saying polite words that float on wrong feelings. God is not mocked and was not born yesterday. Thoughts and attitudes can and will be held against you.

The only way to combat rudeness is to be thankful. To live your life as if every moment were your last. To remember all that has been forgiven you, and then to fall on your face in humility and shame for thinking that you deserve anything but death.

The diametric opposite of rudeness is not politeness. It is graciousness.

And once more, Jesus is THE example we are given to emulate.

Being reviled, He blessed. Being tortured and humiliated and crucified, He forgave.

Hold your own behavior up against His and weep at your unbridled selfishness and offense.

Then maybe, just maybe, graciousness will seep into your heart and wash away that rudeness.

…as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in ALL YOUR CONDUCT, (1 Peter 1:14, 15, NKJV).

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Puffed Up

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, IS NOT PUFFED UP; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).

Pride

Most uncooked things that puff up are bad. This has been true for ages, and throughout history puffing is a precursor to putrescence. Decomposing bodies puff just before they burst. It's a rule.

Prideful love is an oxymoron of sorts, like dry wetness, or brilliant darkness, or clear mud, but it's possible to experience prideful love. In fact, it happens all the time among humans. The most glaring symptom is the uneven couple, also called loving down, or pity love. One of the pair is (or believes him/herself to be) better looking or smarter or more powerful or more moral or more spiritual or more whatever, as long as the "whatever" is something deemed valuable. It happens among and within families, too, biological as well as church families, social circles, work cadres, you name it. Wherever humans relate there be pride. It's a rule. And just as in the physical world, pride is a precursor to ugly things.

The thing about pride and true agape love is that they cannot coexist. In the context of this verse, I believe Paul is referring to someone who thinks from the human standpoint that the mere fact that he or she bestows love is something to be proud of, and that's ridiculous. Secondarily, the apostle may also be describing someone who believes that the mere fact of their loving someone elevates the value of that someone, which is equally ridiculous. These are preposterous delusions for one simple reason, agape love is not possible without the Spirit of God pouring out His love in our hearts, and what is ours by gifting can never be something about which we can boast, or feel proud. And by its very nature, God's love is without pride. It is the essence of humility.

Love that is puffed up is not love of the other at all. It is love of self. We humans excel at self-love, despite popular wisdom to the contrary. We do not lack self-esteem, we are filled with it to the point of bursting (see first sentence). Everything we do in our natural state is tainted, infected really, with pride. And like a red and swollen lesion, unchecked and untreated, soon that site of infection can spread and ultimately kill.

As always, the remedy is Jesus, knowing of Him and knowing Him. He is the perfect example of love without pride, the love that nurtures and restores, that brings to bear all goodness and no darkness at all. The love that sacrifices everything, including pride, for the good of the loved.

Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having LOVED His own who were in the world, He LOVED them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. (John 13:1-5, NKJV).

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Parades

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; LOVES DOES NOT PARADE ITSELF, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).

Parades

"I love a good parade." I don't know when or where I first heard that, but it was years ago and far away, and the TV was probably Black & White.

I have NEVER liked parades. They are LOUD and BORING, and you have to stand up and WAIT for something even remotely exciting. And the jostling, annoying crowd is always pushing and positioning itself for a better view, which never comes and is never worth it even if by some bizarre happenstance it does.

Parades are the epitome of self-promotion. "Look at us, all loud and blary and costumed in ridiculousness! Here we are! Come see!"

Thankfully, agape love and self-parading are mutually exclusive. True godly love NEVER draws attention to itself. It just IS, like rock solid earth under your feet; there and sure.

In this world, however, self-promotion itself is touted as a necessary survival skill. "Branding is key," we are told by the worldly gurus of success. Publicity, no matter what sphere it is aimed at is good. Publicity, even BAD publicity is better than obscurity. I'm not convinced this is true even in commerce or entertainment, but I KNOW it is dead wrong in the realm of relationships.

I have seen the ruinous consequences of relationships comprised of self-seeking. It ALWAYS involves some kind of ongoing betrayal of trust. A mother, for instance, who "loves" her children only to the extent that they serve her needs or make her look good or keep her from feeling alone. The children become emotionally enslaved, with the mother as queen and tyrant, the children as serfs, always striving to please her majesty or face exile or banishment. Horrible.

I have seen life-long relationships blown apart because one or the other partner no longer feels sufficiently worshipped. It is tragic and painful to behold, like a parade inevitably, unstoppably, walking off the edge of a cliff, with the spectators standing in dumbstruck surprise.

Marching bands of self-promotion are antithetical to the kind of love described in this passage. And someone who practices agape love does not parade him or herself in any way, shape or form. Agape love always puts the other first. Always. Pride or dignity or reputation does not matter in the slightest. Keeping score does not matter. Being on top does not matter. Winning does not matter. The ONLY thing that matters is the good of the object of that agape love.

Jesus exemplifies this in so many ways. Being God, He lowered Himself to become a Man, a poor bondservant with no power nor status nor prestige. He washed the feet of His disciples, a task reserved for the lowliest household servant. Oftentimes He healed and purposely drew no attention to Himself. He had no place to lay His head. He was born in a cave, and laid in a food trough. He partnered with sinners and foolish men, and eschewed anything that the world thought of value.

And He loved so much that He gave His life as a ransom for others.

 

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Envy and Love

Love suffers long and is kind; LOVE DOES NOT ENVY; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).

Envy and Love

Strong's defines the word translated envy in this verse this way: to burn with zeal; to be heated or to boil with envy, hatred, anger; to desire earnestly, pursue.

In the sense that love does NOT do this, the focus here is on the obviously painful negative connotations of burning, heated, boil, hatred, anger. I KNOW people like this, and to the extent that they allow the intensity of their covetousness to reign, they are either scary or mean or vindictive or unpleasant or annoying. Given the depth and volume of this word, envy, I can well understand why it, and agape love, are mutually exclusive. Both are comprehensive and all-consuming. Both fill the available real estate of human will and emotion. To have one means there is no room to have the other.

Agape love does not envy because this kind of love focuses not on self, but on other. Instead of envying or coveting something someone else has but you don't, there is joy and rejoicing on their behalf.

Frankly, I experience this most clearly with my daughters. They have youth and vitality and a view of life unfettered by decades of sin and of living without Christ. They radiate hope. They have their entire lives ahead of them while mine is more that statistically half over. And I honestly rejoice that they are the recipients of God's gracious goodness, and Lord willing, their lives will be more fruitful, joyful, meaningful, and godly than my own. I thank God for this.

On the other hand, I find that I do not love, and therefore have room, to envy certain other people. Especially those who seem to have unlimited time and resources to enjoy those things that I myself enjoy. Health, wealth, strength, a different past, you name it. I can, if I surrender to my flesh, drown in such envy. Drowning is never, ever pleasant, particularly in the initial desperate reflexive phases where nothing is more important than taking that next breath of air. Where every other priority or knowledge or perspective is subsumed in a burning, boiling, desire for that thing which I do not have. Everything else blurs into triviality and insignificance. In the case of physically being unable to breathe, the adrenalin-soaked horror and desperation serves a survival purpose.

Perhaps it is somewhat similar with the initial deafening stages of unrestrained envy. Perhaps it is meant to serve as an irresistible impulse to rise above the suffocating covetousness into the pure life-sustaining air of thankfulness to God. But the difference is that, while it is impossible to live in a state of drowning, one can learn to survive immersed in envy. It is a horrible way to live, because it is a life devoid of room for anything else.

In describing these characteristics of agape love, the Apostle Paul provides not only divinely inspired revelation but a dire warning, as well. To envy is to burn. I believe it is a precursor, a faint shadow, of the everlasting torment of Hell.

The antidote, as always, is Christ…


Sunday, August 22, 2010

Love is Kind

Love suffers long and is KIND; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).

Love is Kind

Kindness is the second of 16 agape love characteristics. Like long-suffering, kindness is expressed positively, as in love IS kind as opposed to love IS NOT unkind.

Sincere kindness is one of the most comforting things human beings can do and be to one another. This is not the superficial sort of kindness that is so prevalent in the world. You know, professional kindness, the interpersonal product certain people are paid to produce. That's not really comforting because there is nothing real but money or reputation or pride behind it. It's too brittle, and is too easily dispensed with when the thin veneer of civility gets ripped away by circumstances or strong emotions.

True kindness that transcends circumstances can ONLY come from agape love, because it is the kindness that is not dependent on anything else but itself. It, like agape love as a whole, is a firm decision of the will, not a byproduct of good digestion, momentary good-will, sufficient sleep, or a hundred other ephemeral things that can blow away like a dried leaf.

True kindness, like true long-suffering, is supernatural. We can only live this way through the free reign and ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is, and should be, a supernatural byproduct of a new heart and a regenerated spirit in Christ. And make no mistake, this is what we Christians are expected to be. It is Christ in us, the hope of glory. For the unregenerate, the best that can be achieved is that professional sort that is really nothing more than a facade that can be ripped away when the rains descend, the floods come and wind blows. The benchmark of this real kind of kindness, like this real kind of long-suffering, is most accurately measured when nobody else is looking.

The question then arises, how do we mere human beings live our lives in this non-professional, down-to-the-bone, sincere long-suffering and kindness. The two part answer is this: dependence and knowledge.

Dependence on the One who is the transcendent source of these characteristics. The One who perfectly demonstrated these very things in His life and ministry as the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53. The One whose long-suffering and kindness leads us to repentance. WE cannot be this way WITHOUT Christ. As I age, I find it easier to depend on things. Part of it is sheer repetition. I fully depend, for instance, on that other driver stopping at his red light so that my green light means something because it has happened that way so reliably in the past. And part of it is a growing sense of my own growing weakness. Go on a run with your athletic 16-year old daughter and you'll see what I mean. Try as I might, I cannot close the gap of speed, distance or years.

Knowledge is the other crucial ingredient in living and being this way. True knowledge that comes by revelation from God in His word, not the so-called wisdom and knowledge of this world. I spent most of my life steeped in worldly knowledge, immersed in it like a cucumber in vinegar, and the contrast between worldly wisdom and godly wisdom is like the contrast between dark and light, despair and hope, death and life.

The knowledge of WHAT we are supposed to be is revealed in Scripture by God in countless places, and depicted in diamond clarity by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. But it goes beyond that, because in addition to the WHAT, that same divine, authoritative source of knowledge tells us HOW to be that way. The key: surround and surrender. Surround yourself in the Word of God. His truth is sufficient for all things pertaining to life and godliness. Then surrender to His revealed will for you, which is to be conformed into the image of His Son.

Of course, if you don't hold that the Bible is the Word of God, then none of this will be really helpful, or matter, or mean anything. You can dismiss it as just another magical incantation of one of those fundamentalist Christians. But if you know Christ and believe in His Word, then take this promise to heart, and follow peacefully rather than kicking and screaming to that destiny He has in store for you, knowing -

"…that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6, NKJV).











Saturday, August 21, 2010

Love Suffers Long

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).

Love Suffers Long

I love lists in Scripture, though they are often quite hard for me to memorize (Ga 5:16-26 comes to mind). I love them because they are simultaneously both rich and succinct. Needless to say the Spirit of God chooses His words very carefully, and each inspired list is comprised of precisely the thoughts and concepts God intends to convey. Here we are presented in almost PowerPoint format a comprehensive definition of love, that which we have come to call agape love, after the Greek word which is used.

Firstly, in English, I can love lists, love my children, love peanut butter and love God, all with the same word. Not so in Ancient Greek. In that language I would use different words that would more accurately reflect the variety and intensity of the emotion involved. Of the six Greek words I am aware of, the one here, agape, is by far the most noble, the most pure, the most comprehensive, and the most other-centered word for love ever invented. It is the kind of love that God has for the fallen world. It is the kind of love that drove Jesus to the Cross. It is the kind of love that purchased our redemption.

And the first characteristic of agape is long-suffering. One of the only two components of this list that are expressed in the positive, what love DOES and IS, versus the rest describing what love DOES NOT and IS NOT.

I don't like the other modern translations here, some of which substitute "love is patient" for "love suffers long", and here's why. I can be patient oftentimes without suffering anything, except perhaps impending impatience. Long-suffering on the other hand, is far more profound than mere patience in this context. It is a guarantee that the bestower of agape love will still love, and not change the intensity or commitment of that love, despite the fact that pain, even agony may be involved in that loving. To render that as simple "patience", is like saying that the sun is "kinda hot".

Long-suffering is exactly what God's love toward us is. It has to be because we are the source of perhaps His greatest pain. We are the cause of His sending His beloved Son to live as a Man and die an excruciating death on the Cross so that we could live.

There was no reason for Him to do that except agape love. There was no way He could have done that except for agape love. So please, no more trivializing of that kind of love by describing it as merely patient. It is so much more.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His GREAT LOVE with which He LOVED us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7, NKJV).

Friday, August 20, 2010

Vengeance

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. (Romans 12:19, NKJV).

Some days this is a very comforting verse.

When I was a child we moved from neighborhood to neighborhood far too frequently for my tastes or security, I would often get picked on as the dreaded "new kid", and I would wish for an avenger, a big powerful older brother who was kind to me, but devastating to those who persecuted me. Rescues were few and far between in those days; mostly never.

As an old crotchety adult, I find two things interesting about that experience. One, I vowed to BE that protector to those in my care; and two, I sometimes still wish for an avenger.

I am not nearly clever enough, or powerful enough or knowledgeable enough to exact good vengeance, but that has not stopped me from wasting a lot of mental and emotional energy wishing for it. Even as I type that sentence, superhero images of devastating justice flash through my mind like a graphic novel. Oh the futility! It would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic and didn't invoke such longing to right the wrongs done to me and my loved ones (mostly to me, I suppose).

This verse by Paul is the perfect remedy. Peel it apart and see what delicious goodness is inside.

"Beloved…" he says. Not idiot, or imbecile.

"…do not avenge yourselves…" Why? Because we're not really in a position to do so justly or effectively.

"…but rather give place to wrath…" Don't waste your time, beloved, frothing and fretting. Move your own wrath out of the picture, it's a paltry, gossamer thing in the long run, and cannot produce anything good, and because…

"…it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord." Think about it for just half a second, like when you're behind the wheel of a car and are wishing for a Bradley Fighting Vehicle or an Armored-plated HumVee or a Front-loader so you could just get those people out of your way! Or when someone offends you to the core, or accuses you unjustly. God Himself promises to exact vengeance perfectly, justly, effectively on your behalf. Move your wrath out of the way so His perfect and just wrath can act on your behalf. What a relief! What an escape from folly!

He promises to be that supernatural rescuer, and one day His justice will fill the earth. Until then, relax and do not waste precious time and energy being offended.

Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret--it only causes harm. (Psalms 37:8, NKJV).

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Reward

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” (Genesis 15:1, NKJV).
Rewards

Abram had not yet become 'Abraham', the "father of many nations". He was still merely "exalted father". He had just been victorious against 5 kings in battle, and then been blessed by the mysterious Melchizedek ("King of Salem", "Priest of the Most High God"), and Abram was afraid.

I find that interesting. Abram's victory and blessing was followed by fear. When I first became Christian I didn't understand that, but I do now. It is the proverbial mountaintop experience. Unless you can camp out on the summit, the only direction to go is down. It happened to Elijah after he and the LORD humiliated Jezebel's 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah, and destroyed the 450 prophets of Baal. After victory, fear.

I think it's caused in part by vision problems. We lose sight of the fact that the battle is the Lord's. We start to give ourselves credit and then subtle overconfidence leads to the realization that we just can't sustain the effort.

In this particular instance, the LORD graciously provides Abram with a corrective prescription - a merciful divine vision to replace his faulty human viewpoint. Not only does He literally 'en-courage' Abram by promising to be his protection ("I AM your shield"), but He reveals something unexpected, that He Himself is Abram's reward, his "exceedingly great reward". Think about that for a second and be astonished. The LORD is offering Himself to a human being, a mere creature. He is giving Himself to a man. And a sinful man at that.

Condescension has become a word with negative connotations in our day, but in its purest form it really means simply something greater voluntarily providing access to something less. In this case, far less. In gracious condescension fueled by unconditional love, the LORD, the greatest of all, condescended to give Abram, the least, access to Himself.

Jesus did the same,

“No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. (John 15:15, 16, NKJV).

And the greatest condescension of all is this:

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21, NKJV).


Saturday, August 14, 2010

This is So Me

Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, (Philippians 2:14, 15, NKJV).

This is so me. Ask anybody, especially my closest family members.

Never complaining (belly-aching) and disputing (mindlessly questioning what is right). Always blameless (without spot or blemish), harmless (pure and uncontaminated), and faultless. In short, just a shining light of unadulterated goodness, beaming my goodness out into the world; my especially good goodness.

Well, maybe not. In fact, mostly not, because even if on the outside or audibly I might not be failing in these things, inside where it really counts, I stink at this stuff. The truth is though, that in failing in this I hurt myself and those around me and grieve the Spirit of God within me.

Like most of the exhortations in Scripture, Paul's entreaties here for decent behavior are for our own good, not for mere appearances or public relations. And, if it is true that the thing which we despise most in someone else is the very thing that is most like us, then complaining and disputing are my strongest points. When other people complain it sets my teeth on edge, makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and makes me cringe like a finger nail being scraped on a chalkboard. Whiny self-pity, blatant or subtle, drives me up a wall. Whambulance drivers. Pity partiers. Skinned-knee sirens. Ugh. Yuk. Ew. Man-up and do something already. Unless of course you're not a man, then woman-up and do something.

Ok, I'm done complaining about complainers, and whining about whiners (for now). But let me be clear, when I say complaining I don't mean expressing true hurt or disappointment. That's not complaining. That's being real and honest. And when I say disputing, I don't mean making a rational, reasoned argument against something. That's being real and honest, too. What I mean is that certain, unmistakable, manipulative, self-justifying, attention-grabbing, pity-invoking, rash-inducing behavior that makes you just want to gag.

The thing is, that kind of behavior is just deadly and sickening. And it's pretty common. It's deadly because its all deception. It's sickening because it's like eating plastic food, and forcing those around you to partake whether they want to or not. Paul is saying, "Stop whining and and blathering and start thinking. Be real and begin caring about someone other than your own precious self for a nanosecond". And when you do, when you do, you will be like a flash of lightening across a dark and dreary night sky. Or like a welcome street light illuminating the way.

That's how children of God should be, because when they are they stand out. They get noticed for the right reasons, and in so doing they point others to God, because we all know what we're really like underneath all the disguises, so when someone is really, truly, simply, different, well, it's hard to ignore, and people know deep inside it's supernatural.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16, NKJV).


Freedom

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31, 32, NKJV).

Freedom.

Lots of popular ideas about what freedom is and isn't. Most of them are wrong. Well, maybe not entirely, but mostly wrong.

There are also lots of ideas about what makes someone free and what doesn't. I am really surprised at some of these. Lately, I hear a lot of blather about bigger, more intrusive government making us free. I guess the idea is that the more rules and regulations there are the more everyone's freedoms are guaranteed. That's just plain silly. More laws may make for more security, but security is not freedom. I also hear a lot about less rules and regulations making us more free, and at least that makes some kind of logical sense. But taken to the extreme, anarchy is not freedom either.

If you think about it for half a second, freedom is as much about having the choice not to to something, as it is about choosing to do something.

In any event, one thing that most thinking people will agree upon is that enslavement of any kind is not freedom.

Make no mistake about it, we are all born slaves; every belly-aching one of us. And this slavery goes much deeper than you might think. It resides at the very essence of our existence. It is our inevitable human inheritance.

I don't care how rich, or privileged, or beautiful, or powerful you are. I don't care how much you love or hate yourself, or your life.  Unless you know the truth you're imprisoned.

And the most effective, maximum security prison has this sign above the steel-barred door: "Relativism. All Who Enter Here are Doomed"

The poor miserable inmates of this facility live out their entire pitiful lives in dank, dreary hopelessness. They are moral pretzels, trying to maintain comfort and safety by contorting themselves into mutually exclusive ideas and philosophies, being twisted and pulled every which way by the fickle pressures of political correctness, situational ethics, and personal expediency. At the end of their lusterless existence, they blow about like weightless husks, twisting in the wind, wondering why nothing ever really makes sense, and crushed under inconsolable regrets about what could have been.

There is an escape. There is a way out of your misery, or addiction, or insecurity, or pain or loneliness. There is a way for your life to have purpose and meaning. It is truth; absolute truth. Furthermore, a profound and universe-shattering means has been provided for you to become intimately acquainted with that truth.

"What is truth?" you might ask. Lots of famous people have. Or you could voice this thought, "What is true for you may not be true for me." If you do though, say it quietly so you don't advertise how unthinking you are, because if something is true for me, and not true for you, then it is simply not true. Don't confuse truth with preference. Otherwise you'll come across as an idiot.

Jesus, who is God, came to light the world with truth. He is the way, the truth and the life. He died an excruciating death, and then rose from the dead to prove that what He declared was true. His coming to suffer and die in your place was so that you could be made free, but you need to believe what He said in order to walk out that prison door. The alternative is to lean on your own understanding. How's that working out for you? What about 80 years from now?

Abiding in Jesus' word is more than just agreeing with what He said. It is living it. Trusting in Him. Being like Him. The equation is brilliantly simple: abide in His word and you will follow Him. Follow Him and you will know the truth. Knowing the truth is the ONLY escape from the slavery of your life without God. No gray, squishy areas, just life or death.

“And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15, NKJV).


Saturday, August 07, 2010

Pressing On

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14, NKJV).

Pressing On

I'm figuring the Apostle Paul must have either exercised himself, or been a fan of the Olympic Games. I know he liked puns and word-plays. In his letters he uses a significant amount of sports analogies and speaks of Bema Seats of Judgment and trophy crowns (Ro 14:10; 2Co 5:10; Php 4:1). And in this passage, Paul indulges in some dancing with the Greek language with the words we translate in English as "lay hold", "laid hold" and "apprehended".

The key thought for me in these verses is this: our redemption through the death and resurrection of Christ provides us with the freedom to move forward; to forget our past life of sin, and press on toward our future destiny of eternal life in the coming Kingdom of God. Freedom to press on, like being released from prison and being given the wherewithal to make quest for a profound and noble goal.

It is no accident that humans are enchanted with the idea of quests and noble struggles, or that such things have shadowed and underpinned literature from the time scribe and parchment first met. But the only true and meaningful quest is this: to press on no matter what the cost to grasp that for which, through infinite cost, we have been grasped.

Christ has laid hold of His children, having done so by being nailed to the Cross in our place, making us free so that we can soar into the heavenlies and obtain the richness of our inheritance in Him. Like all noble quests, it is never without risk of loss, sometimes excruciatingly painful, and yet, because we are freed from our past, and our future destination is assured, and He is always with us in the present, the only thing we need to do is press on.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1, 2, NKJV).

Friday, August 06, 2010

Testify

Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. (Mark 1:40-42, NKJV).

This incident is recounted in all three synoptic Gospels, but Mark's version here, most likely dictated by the Apostle Peter, is my favorite.

In ancient Israel, those afflicted with leprosy (now called Hanson's Disease) were forced to separate from family, friends and society. By law, they were required to shout "Unclean! Unclean!" if they came near un-afflicted folks. They could only associate with other lepers while the disease inevitably killed their nerve endings and rotted their flesh. They became numb to physical sensation and were unemployable, forced into begging to merely survive. It was considered a righteous act by devout Jews of that time to give these miserable outcast alms, but it was also an offense of monumental, and sometimes murderous proportions for a leper to come in close contact with anyone else. There are accounts of stonings and mob-driven murder when these deep cultural prohibitions were violated. To the first century Middle Eastern mind, leprosy meant you were cursed by a righteous God for unforgivable sin. And if all this were not bad enough, leprosy is incurable.

For most of my life before Christ, I felt like a leper; unloved and unlovable, stumbling through life disconnected and despairing, without hope, without remedy, an outcast. Mostly, I wore a disguise, but underneath I was clothed in the ragged, threadbare and filthy garments of emotional leprosy. As I got older, I came to the insane conclusion that the best thing I could do was cultivate that leprosy. I reasoned that if I were unfit for society, then I would reverse the approbation and deem normal society unfit for me. It didn't work, and the despair infiltrated deeper into my life like a leaking cesspool. (I'm being crude again, I know.)

But then something changed. I wrote the following about 15 years ago. The intensity of my gratitude has not lessened one iota.

"...I didn’t know why at the time, but during Rebecca’s first year I began to change, and my leprous self fought against those changes tooth and nail. I didn’t want to feel that deepening love for my baby. I didn’t want to be able to feel Jean’s grief when I insisted she go back to work.

Very quietly and out of the blue, Jean started praying and reading a Bible that she had bought that August. Very tenderly, very wisely, very persuasively, she started introducing me to God.

In February of 1995 we came to Calvary Chapel…in Old Bridge, and after the first service I stood in the aisle with my coat on, tears streaming down my face. A man named Jack came up to us and asked if he could help. Then he went and got Ed, [the Associate Pastor at the time] and the both of them brought us into the Prayer Room and prayed for me.

For the first time in my life, I voluntarily and publicly admitted that I was indeed a leper; helpless,...incapable of anything worthwhile in my own strength. And I asked Jesus into my life, the same Jesus who had spoken and galaxies leapt into existence, the same Jesus who had been watching out for me since the day I was conceived, even though I had not asked, or known, and did my best to desecrate all His gifts of grace.

And He was moved with compassion, and He stretched out His hand and touched me, and immediately I was cleansed."

Before I knew anything else about being a Christian, I knew JESUS. THAT is what changed me, and compelled me, out of love and thankfulness, to learn all that I can about the One who died to set me free.

Sunday, August 01, 2010

Chastening and Scourging

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the LORD loves He CHASTENS, And SCOURGES every son whom He receives.” (Hebrews 12:3-6, NKJV).

I really wish sometimes that I could use words like some photographers capture an image. I also often wish that my words did not reveal so much about how I think and feel, or rather, that they served as more of a disguise of who I really am underneath the public-facing facade. I am convinced that what I should REALLY desire in this vein is to BE different, but that is, sadly, a slow work in progress. I say all this as a prologue apology for what I am about to write.

What do you do when life hands you a dumpster of raw sewage? Or worse, pushes you in? Or worse yet, forces you to live in it for days? Or weeks? Or decades?

I once attended a funeral and was an overnight guest at a crowded family member's house afterward where everyone came down with food poisoning. Gastrointestinal sickness abounded in all its multitudinous forms. Then the septic system backed up.

Not long afterward, I single-handedly made presentable a room where a headshot suicide had taken place. The body was four days baking in an upstairs bedroom with no air conditioning during a hot summer weekend. The caliber of the weapon was large. The carnage wide-spread. It was about 10:00 PM when I started. I finished well after sunrise.

As bad as these things might seem, they are not nearly the worse things that have happened in my life. Or even the most messy. In fact, looking back, I view them as kind of heroic, or at least as an opportunity for manly stoicism. And that's my point. Sometimes, bad things, the Bible calls them trials and tribulations, make us grow, or give us much needed perspective, or make us thankful when they are all over and the smell is finally gone.

No, by far the worst things in my life have to do with soul-shredding anxiety over myself and my family, especially my children. Or with inconsolable regret over something I did or can't do. Or with being so terrified that my heart is about to explode. And sometimes the worse trials involve not what is actually happening, but what COULD happen.

So, back to the question: what do you do?

I can't answer that for someone outside the faith. Not really. Because the many things I could say to a follower of Christ, I could NOT say to an unbeliever.

To a child of God, I could assure them "…that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18, NKJV). I could, with quiet joy, remind them that "…we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28, NKJV).

But to someone who does not possess Christ as Lord and Savior, what can really be said? "However bad this is, it is nothing compared to an eternity in torment?" Not even I would be heartless enough to voice that thought out loud. The only hope for an unbeliever is to become a believer. And if the trial in view accomplishes that purpose, then praise the God of Heaven for His mercy. Otherwise, pain and suffering and fear and sorrow are without meaning. Better not to have been born (Mt 26:24).

Which brings me, a child of God by faith, to the main point of what I'm trying to convey. The one thought, the one truth, the one avenue of comfort from crushing loss, or fear, or pain for me is this: I am not in control. God is.