And Those Others

Michael speaks to one of the most interesting passages in all of Scripture.  Many Christians face what God talks about in Hebrews 11:36-40, and “why?” they wonder.  Let’s see what Michael says…

And Those Others

---and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated ({men} of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect. --Hebrews 11:36-40

  

Are you one of the “others” who has trusted God for a restored relationship, the health of a child, a godly home, the salvation of a relative, or just the simple stirring of God within that brings assurance? If you have trusted and not given into despair, then you are one of the “others” who give something to God that no angel in heaven can give Him, and that is faith. The “others” may walk in darkness, seeing nothing their whole lives, and yet stand fast, believing in a God they cannot see. Can you imagine how pleased He is? You are pulled on all sides to give up, and yet you have chosen to believe without seeing! You have stood fast in the midst of the reversals! The world is not worthy of you, and to it you simply do not belong! Your place is above, seated with the Father and judging angels! If you have believed and not received, count yourself blessed.

- Mike Wells

Demystifying the Lord’s Voice: Part 2

 If you missed the first part of this two-part series, you can read Demystifying the Lord’s Voice: Part 1.

As promised, I’m going to share a few practical handles I’ve discovered that will help you to recognize the Lord’s voice in your own life. There are many more that I cover elsewhere, but here are five:

* The Lord’s voice most always comes through your own thoughts, desires, and impressions. This is because Christ dwells in you by the Holy Spirit and He is completely united to your own spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). Therefore, give attention to your thoughts, desires, feelings, and impressions. Under the New Covenant, every bush is burning. So pay attention.

* If it’s the Lord speaking, the thought/desire/impression will stay with you. If it’s not the Lord, it will leave rather quickly.

* If it’s the Lord speaking, it will be marked by love — the very nature of Jesus. Specifically, the thought/desire/impression will benefit others at the expense of yourself. The Lord will also empower you to carry out what He says, which will often involve the denial of your flesh.

* If you fail to respond to the Lord’s leading, it will be difficult to recognize His voice in the future. So if you are having trouble “hearing,” go back and respond to the last thing He revealed to you. “If any one shall do my will, He will know . . .”

* On the other hand, we often don’t “hear” because we already know the answer. The Lord’s will is also discerned through wisdom. Jesus is Wisdom incarnate, so wisdom is one of the ways in which He speaks to us.

And of course, as I stated in Part 1, the Lord will never contradict what He’s previously said (i.e., through the Scriptures).

Again, there are many more practicals, and one of them is that the Lord speaks to us mostly through spiritual instincts.

- Frank Viola

Why solitude is actually important.

Solitude is often avoided at all costs in contemporary culture, despite its biblical and historical precedent as an integral part of communion with God.

The Bible records occasions when Jesus, Himself, withdrew into a solitary place. (See Mark 1:35; Luke 4:42)

If Jesus thought it necessary to withdraw from the demands on his time and ministry, how much more important must it be to us?

Jesus said to His disciples, “Rest.” Do you hear that word resonating somewhere deep inside you?

For many, it is easier to be busy with activity than to patiently wait on the Lord in solitude.

It is a lesson some of us learn and relearn all of our lives. It is a lesson I am just beginning to learn.

If there are to be times of conscious intimacy with Him, there must be times of silence and solitude. God will not shout over the clamor of our cluttered lives.

Do you really want to explore the depths of intimacy with God? Do you hear an inner voice calling you to a simpler, quieter place?

The Divine Lover is calling you to your own secret place, shared by you two alone.

The fire of God’s love burns brightly in the stillness.

It is in that stillness that the distractions and cares of the world fade away like outside noises are muted when we make love to our beloved.

It is in that stillness that we are able to give our thoughts, our feelings, and our will completely to Him in uninhibited abandon.

It is in that stillness that we are able to meditate — to muse on the Person and loving words of the One whose passion burns for us until we are irreparably and eternally ignited by the Flame.

It is in that stillness that we gasp with delight along with the Psalmist,

“My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned” (Psalm 39:3, emphasis added).

- Steve McVey

Three Practical Ways to Resist the Tyranny of Tolerance

Is it OK to disagree with other peoples’ deeply held beliefs anymore? You’ve heard the buzzwords: Coexist. Hate speech. Discrimination. Micro-aggressions. Trigger warnings. Speech codes. It’s becoming obvious to anyone paying attention to the media these days that certain moral and religious viewpoints are simply no longer allowed in our classrooms or broader culture. They are either dismissed without argument as “irrational” or the people who hold these views are publically shamed or even shouted down. I call this new cultural reality the Tyranny of Tolerance.
As Christians who care about truth and want to love our neighbors well as people made in the image of God, what are we to do? Here are three practical steps you can take to resist the Tyranny of Tolerance.

1. Recognize the new moral code being imposed in our culture today. Denial is not a strategy; we must live in reality. According to a recent Barna study, 91% of Americans agreed with the statement “To find yourself you must look within yourself.” What this shows is that selective relativism is alive and well and has become the dominant view in our culture. In other words, truth depends on what the individual comes to believe. But our radically individualistic culture has also agreed upon some new moral absolutes—namely “People should not criticize someone else’s life’s choices” (89% of Americans affirm this). These two beliefs are obviously in competition with each other and form the basis of the Tyranny of Tolerance we are experiencing today. The rules of the game have changed and if we fail to recognize this fact then we will not engage well.

2. Prepare today for the conversations that are coming tomorrow. It’s not a matter of if, but when the challenges will come. As Christians we are committed to certain truths that flow from our worldview grounded in the Bible. Here are just a few of the culturally controversial beliefs we hold:

• that Jesus rose bodily from the dead and is the only way to God,
• that objective right and wrong exist,
• that unborn human beings are worthy of life and protection,
• that all people regardless of their ethnicity should be treated with dignity, respect, and justice,
• and that God, as the personal creator of the universe, has designed sex to be experienced only within the context of one man and one woman in marriage.

Peter reminds us to always be ready to give a reason for the hope within us and to do so with gentleness and respect (cf. 1 Peter 3:15). Are you ready? The questions are coming: How can Jesus be the only way to God when so many sincere people disagree? Are you saying that what I feel in my heart is right is actually wrong in God’s eyes? Who are you to say that someone can’t marry the person they love regardless of their gender? What will you say when you experience the Tyranny of Tolerance? There are reasonable answers to these questions.

3. Stand up when you have the opportunity to graciously push back when your Christian convictions are challenged. First, when what you believe is challenged, don’t get defensive. Stay calm and ask questions to clarify where the disagreement really is. Next, resist being dismissed by slogans and be careful to define your terms (by the way, this is a lot easier to do if you have already spent time thinking about and preparing what you might say when challenged). Be encouraged, the truth is on our side and we can trust that God is at work in our conversations. But make no mistake, other people are looking to you to see if you will stand or crumble. Will you show conviction and compassion? Or will you cave and accommodate? Have the courage to as Chuck Colson used to say Break the Spiral of Silence. When I see you standing for the truth I will be encouraged to do the same.
Our culture desperately needs to hit the reset button when it comes to larger conversation about truth and tolerance. If we will recognize our new cultural reality, prepare ourselves for the conversations that are certainly coming, and stand up when we have the opportunity to graciously push back when our Christian convictions are challenged, then we will be well on our way to resisting the tyranny of tolerance.
***
Jonathan Morrow (D.Min, M.Div., M.A.)

Why doesn’t God rescue us from pain?

Jesus once said,

“You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32).

What is the truth about how God’s love for us is related to the personal pain we will experience in our lives? There are several strands in the cord of divine truth concerning suffering which offer a lifeline of hope for ongoing intimacy with God in the midst life’s unavoidable adversities.

The seed of sin planted in this world in the garden of Eden continues to bear fruit until now. In the general sense, human suffering is a result of the fall of man. When we get home to heaven there won’t be any more pain, (see Revelation 21:4) but for the time being we still live on foreign soil, where pain goes with the territory.

The fact that one may be a Christian doesn’t exempt him from problems.

Jesus, Himself, said,

“In the world, you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Faith in Christ doesn’t insulate us from the stinging experiences of life. It does, however, equip us to face our problems with confidence that His loving attention will guide us through those difficult circumstances. Faith seldom answers the “why” of our problems, but instead offers the answer to “how” when we wonder about surviving our circumstances.

God loves you so much that He will always work in your circumstances when you suffer.

Don’t think that because He doesn’t eliminate the problem, help isn’t being given. Sometimes His most helpful acts in our lives occur when He goes with us through our circumstances instead of delivering us out of them.

I have sometimes prayed about various circumstances, saying, “Father, this hurts too much for it to be wasted. Please accomplish the maximum good in this situation that can be done.”

When you hurt, Jesus Christ grieves with you in your pain.

Don’t make the mistake of believing that if God really cared, He would deliver you out of your painful situation. Remember that He didn’t even rescue Jesus from the cross as He suffered, because He knew its ultimate centrality in salvation.

God loves you so much that He won’t take away the pain if it serves a greater purpose in your life. Instead, He will walk the path of pain with you, and in the person of the Comforter (see John 14:16) will sustain you each step of the way.

When we honestly believe that God knows and cares about every detail of our lives; when we understand that He is deeply touched by our weaknesses (see Hebrews 4:15); when we are convinced that He hurts when we hurt; when we know these things, intimate fellowship with Him will be the natural experience in our pain.

Jesus Christ longs for you to feel His love at the darkest times of your life.

- Steve McVey

God’s Ways Are Higher Than Ours

A frequently quoted passage from the Old Testament comes from Isaiah 55. It reads:

…my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways… As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (vss. 8-9).

I’ve often heard this passage used to justify people embracing incoherent beliefs or to explain why we can trust God when we don’t understand what God is doing. But this passage is not talking about embracing the mystery of God. It’s about something much more profound and challenging in light of the tension around racial division that we are experiencing in our world today. To explain this, let me provide a little background.  

God called Abraham to be a unique covenant partner with him and to eventually form a unique nation through which “all peoples on earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:1-3). This calling follows immediately after God’s judgment on Babel where people had to be scattered because they were trying to reach heaven on their own. (See post on Reversing Babel.) God, who always starts new projects with a “mustard seed” and who is always incredibly patient, began selectively carving out a distinct nation from among the descendants of Abraham.

For his own sovereign reasons, God decided to work with Isaac’s lineage instead of Ishmael’s and with Jacob’s rather than Esau’s. He then steered the descendants of Jacob down into Egypt to incubate them as a distinct tribe for four centuries. When they had grown to a sufficient size, and when the destructive sin of the Canaanites had become intolerable (Gen. 15:16), God delivered them out of Egypt, and planted his people in “the promised land.”

In doing all this, God was raising up a distinct people for himself who would know him and walk in his ways. But the ultimate goal, we must always remember, was to use this chosen nation to bless the whole world. Indeed, God wanted Israel to be a nation of servant priests whom he would use to reverse Babel—that is to reunify humans by graciously bringing heaven down to us—and bring the whole world back together under his loving Lordship.

This vision of a reunited and reconciled humanity is hammered home with increasingly clarity and strength throughout the Old Testament. For example, Jeremiah looks forward to the time when “all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord” (Jer. 3:17; 27:7). Zechariah prophesies of a time when the Lord will “be king over the whole earth” so that he will be the only Lord confessed among all people (Zech 14:9). And Joel prophesies of a time when God’s Spirit would be poured out “on all people” (Joel 2: 28).

But the prophet who most forcefully captures God’s vision of a reunited and reconciled humanity is Isaiah. From the start the Israelites (like so much of the church today!) had a tendency to define themselves over and against other people rather than as the servants of other people. They were guilty of their own form of ethnic idolatry. Through Isaiah the Lord confronts this idolatry and reiterates his age-long goal of reaching all people.

In chapter 55, for example, the Lord announced that anyone who was thirsty or hungry was invited to come and feast at his banquet table for free (vss. 1-2). He promised all who came to his feast that he would bring them into the “everlasting covenant” that he “promised to David” (vs. 3). For, the Lord says, David was raised up not just to be the earthly king of the Jews but to be a “witness” and “ruler” for all people (vs. 4). It’s clear from this that God’s goal was always to incorporate all people into his covenant with Israel. This universal goal, as well as God’s promise to have a king like David rule all people, is in principal fulfilled in Christ.

The Lord reiterates his universal goal further when he goes on to say that his chosen people will “summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you” because the Lord “has endowed you with splendor” (vs. 5). And he called on all the “wicked” of the world to “forsake their ways” while promising to “freely pardon” them if they would do so (vs. 7).

Inviting all to the banquet table of Yahweh was, in fact, the job of the Israelites all along. But, as I said above, many had unfortunately forgotten this. At this point we read about the thoughts of God. Let me quote it again:

…my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways… As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (vss. 8-9).

He’s talking about his vision to reach all humans! He is in effect saying to his chosen people; Your way of thinking is narrow, ethnically centered, and idolatrous.

But my way of thinking has always been universal. As high as the heavens are above the earth is how much broader is my heart for humanity than yours.

While people since Babel have always had a tendency to exalt their own tribe over others, God’s heart has always been to eventually reverse Babel and reunite humanity under him.

God’s “higher ways” are found throughout Isaiah. For example, Isaiah prophesies of a day when “the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains” so that “all nations will stream to it” (Isa 2:2). He foresees a time when “all people” will behold “the glory of the Lord” (Isa 40:5) as they gather together at God’s “holy mountain” (Isa 56:7). This will be a time when “the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations” (Is. 61:11) as he gathers “the people of all nations and languages” to “come and see my glory” and as he inspires “all people” to “come and bow down before” him (Isa 66:18, 23).

God’s ways are not our ways, for our ways tend to be in line with Babel. It was true of ancient Israel, and it tends to be true of the Church today. But, fortunately, God’s ways always ultimately triumph. And the one in whom they triumph is Jesus Christ. – Greg Boyd

Demystifying the Lord’s Voice: Part 1

In today’s post, I want to discuss the thorny issue of hearing the voice of Jesus.

First, I grew up in a movement where it was common for people to say, “The Lord told me this,” and “God showed me that.” They said it so confidently, with such assurance, projecting the image that God talked to them as unmistakably as when a solicitor calls you on the phone.

Interestingly, whenever I’ve said to such people, “We really need a practical book that shows people how to practically recognize the Lord’s voice,” they became animated saying something like, “Oh, I really want to read a book like that!”

The only conclusion I can draw from this reaction is that these same people aren’t absolutely sure they are hearing from God (despite their confident claim that God speaks to them every time they blink).

Second, ever since I began following the Lord at age 16, I’ve found the whole issue of hearing the Lord clouded in mystery. Mostly because when I’ve heard people announce that God told them such and such (with absolute confidence), they made it sound like His voice is so different from their own thoughts that there’s no way they could mistake His for theirs.

Third, while there’s still a very small percentage of Christians roaming Planet Earth who’ve swallowed the unbiblical idea that God no longer speaks to His people today, the overwhelming majority of Jesus-followers are convinced that the Lord still speaks to His people today. And the New Testament stands with them.

Fourth, all told, there’s a tremendous hunger among God’s people to hear directly from their Lord. This is why the book Jesus Calling has sold over 10 million copies. Whatever you may think about that book, its success in sales sends one unmistakable message: God’s people are hungry to hear their Lord speak to them.

So let me press a few questions:

* What if the whole process of hearing the voice of Jesus could be demystified in a way that any believer could learn to recognize His voice? Not just pastors and Charismatics?

* What if you could have your own “Jesus calling” experience if someone simply showed you how? This, opposed to having to read someone’s book where Jesus allegedly spoke to them?

* What would happen if God’s people – even a small percentage of them – starting hearing the Lord’s voice regularly and began responding to what He was telling them? What sort of effect would this have on their own personal lives, on the body of Christ, and on the world?

Consider those questions for a moment.

Let me end this update with seven points that I’ve come to conclude over many years of experimenting, exploring, studying, and learning about the way the Lord speaks to us today:

1.      Jesus is alive and well. No has put duct tape around His mouth; He’s not mute. He still speaks to His people today. And not just when they read their Bibles.

2.      What Jesus says to His people will never contradict what He’s said previously (in the Scriptures).

3.      When Jesus spoke to people in the New Testament after His ascension, it was usually internal, not audible.

4.      The Lord’s voice comes to us mostly through our own thoughts, feelings, desires, and impressions.

5.      Scriptures gives us some very definite clues as to how to recognize the Lord’s voice from our own.

6.      You can sharpen your spiritual senses to hear His voice. You simply need some practical help on how to do so.

7.      Up until the 1800s, the vast majority of people were illiterate. Even today, 15% of the world still cannot read. While the ability to read is wonderful, it’s not a requirement to hear the Lord speak.

In Part 2, I’ll share a few practical handles I’ve discovered that will help you to recognize the Lord’s voice in your own life.

  - Frank Viola

Claiming Your Heart

Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. –Hebrews 3:12

Problems are common to mankind. Jesus Himself, having the body of a man, living in a man's world, and relating to others, makes an obvious statement, "In the world you have trouble." Yes, problems do exist. However, we must remain mindful that problems can never become our primary focus.

In Matthew 17:1-9, the writer relates to us that Jesus took with Him to the high mountain Peter, James, and John. When Moses and Elijah appeared, Peter exclaimed, "I will build three tabernacles!" Of course it made sense to Peter to build one for each of the three, for Moses represented the law, Elijah the prophets, and Jesus grace and the new covenant. Peter made the mistake of equating the three. Immediately a cloud overshadowed them and the voice proclaimed, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; hear Him!" The disciples fell on their faces, Jesus touched them, the cloud departed, and only Jesus remained.

The highest part of a man's being is his heart,made only for one to occupy, that one being Jesus! If Moses and Elijah were not allowed to tabernacle on an equal plane on the mountain with Jesus, then should He have to share space in our hearts with our failures, our past, our mates, our children, other church members, sickness, or our financial situation? Many suffer from a crowded mountaintop; too many things occupy the place that only Christ is to possess.  He is, in fact, King of the mountain, and once we give anything equal standing with Christ, no matter how good it appears or how great was its value in the past, a cloud will immediately overshadow our spirits. We will sense defeat, anger, frustration, and fear. The enemy will whisper that in order to get rid of the cloud, we must focus on all those things that bring the cloud; they must be resolved. However, the Holy Spirit whispers the opposite: Forget what brought the cloud, focus anew on Christ, and light and life will return. Not until we fall to our faces, yielding to the voice proclaiming, "This is my Son," will the cloud and our spirits lift.

- Mike Wells

Listen and Learn: A First Step Toward Reconciliation

Jesus Christ is not just the Lord, Savior and Messiah of the Jews: he is the Lord, Savior and Messiah of all people. Through Christ a kingdom is being established that tears down tribal walls between races and re-unites and reconciles people together in the love God.

Paul makes the point most forcefully. In Ephesians Paul writes that the Gentiles who were once outside the covenant of God “have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” He then continues,

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two [Jew and Gentile] one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through   the cross, by which he put to death their hostility (Eph 2:14-16).

This is a breathtaking teaching! The most fundamental ethnic divide in the ancient world, at least from a Jewish perspective, was the divide between Jews and Gentiles. But by his work on the cross, Paul is saying, Jesus has destroyed the “dividing wall of hostility” between these two groups—and by extension, all other hostile groups. Not only has Jesus brought peace to all previously hostile groups; he himself is the peace between all groups. For through his death Jesus has created “one new humanity.”

A key step in manifesting the “one new humanity” is for those in power to humbly acknowledge that they don’t know what they don’t know. In other words, the only way that whites can understand the systemic racism in our culture is to listen and learn from those who experience it. The only way that people like me can possibly learn about the privilege I experience as opposed to the lack of privilege that people of color experience is to actually listen to them.

So, for example, rather than normalizing our own (privileged) experience and thus denying that racial profiling exists—accusing all who claim otherwise of “playing the race card”—we who are white must humbly listen to and trust the experience of nonwhites whose experience suggest that it does.

We who are white need to cultivate relationships with nonwhites that are deep enough to allow us to “get on the inside” of a nonwhite experience of the world. Not only this, but where it is appropriate, we who are white need to submit to the leadership of nonwhites. Individuals, small groups, and predominately white churches must pursue these submitted relationships if we’re to make headway in manifesting “the one new humanity.”

This is frankly quite challenging for many whites, even for those who sincerely believe they want to be agents of reconciliation. Our privileged status has conditioned us to assume our perspectives are normative and to expect to have things our way. Because America was established by and for whites, nonwhites have to deal with our culture, but we don’t usually have to deal with theirs. The decision to listen, learn, and follow people of color requires whites to place themselves in a submitted position they aren’t accustomed to. But if the systematic racism that has characterized the American church throughout its history is going to be subverted, this is the first step that must be taken.

—Adapted from The Myth of a Christian Religion, pages 113-121 – Greg Boyd

What, Father, Do You Desire This Minute?

Frank Laubach, a 20th century missionary to Philippines, wrote about the challenge of being continually aware of the presence of God and learning to respond to God’s promptings. He wrote, “I feel simply carried along each hour, doing my part in a plan which is far beyond myself. This sense of cooperation with God in little things is what so astonishes me, for I never have felt it this way before.” Because of his conviction that God is present with him, Laubach trained himself to live in the question, What, Father, do you desire this minute?

A monk from the 17th century, Jean-Pierre de Caussade, wrote about being “responsive to the slightest promptings … almost imperceptible impulses.” Brother Lawrence, in his book Practicing the Presence, stated “My part is to live this hour in continuous inner conversation with God and in perfect responsiveness to his will, to make this hour gloriously rich.”

This is challenging for modern Western Christians, for we’ve been strongly influenced by a secular worldview that inclines us to live as though God was not present and as though he did not want to lead us each moment. We may intellectually believe God is present and wants to lead us, but it’s hard for us to actually experience this or live like this.

Not only this, but over the last hundred years we in the West have been conditioned by a naturalistic, psychotherapeutic culture that leads us to assume that everything that happens in our minds is our own doing. We’re thus inclined to automatically identify all thoughts and feelings as our own and thus habitually censor out anything that doesn’t line up with our own agendas. Most Western Christians aren’t aware that God is always speaking to us and trying to lead us.

We are sheep, but we rarely, if ever, actually hear the voice of the shepherd (John 10). We are his body, but we rarely, if ever, actually hear from the head (Eph 5:23, Col 1:18). Instead, we tend to live as functional atheists who are lords over our own life—despite our profession of faith that Jesus alone is Lord of our life.

To break this pattern, I encourage you to begin by following Laubach’s example and ask the Lord throughout each day, “What would you have me do?” At regular intervals face the palms of your hands toward heaven and open yourself up to whatever God may be trying to say to you in that moment. Remaining aware of his ever-present love, notice any promptings you sense within. If you sense something, don’t overanalyze it. As along as what you feel prompted to do is consistent with love, act on it.

Likely, the old way of thinking will cause you to wonder, “How do you know this is God and not just you?” I encourage you to simply observe the objection and then set it aside in order to act on your inner impression. The worst-case scenario is that you will end up performing a loving act that God didn’t specifically tell you to do. This, clearly, isn’t the worst thing that could happen. Conversely, if you restrain yourself from acting on an impression until you’re certain it’s from God, it’s unlikely you’ll ever cultivate a sensitivity to God’s voice that empowers you to obey God each moment.

To live in love as Christ loved us and gave his life for us requires that we become sensitive to what God wants to do moment by moment. When we are aware of God’s ever-present love and surrendered to God’s ever-present will, we will find opportunities to be used by God in those moments. Jesus said, that the “Father is always at his work,” (Jn 5:17) and he is inviting us to join him in what he is doing. —Adapted from Present Perfect, pages 142-145 -  Greg Boyd

Why Are We Always Against Something?

I am becoming increasingly aware of the fact that I do not want to be someone who is always against something. Seems so many christian people today speak out more about what they are against and who they are against.

Whatever that may be, against this sin or that sin, against particular lifestyles, against a particular denomination or Bible version, all the different subjects we Christians can think of that end up taking away our main focus….loving God and loving others. We will take the bible and twist interpretations and meanings or use verses out of context trying to prove our point.

WhatAreYouAgainst

Jesus told us in the New Covenant that His commands were to love God and love others. We do not have to agree with everyone to love them. We obviously all have our convictions of right and wrong and we are not going to agree on every one of them. We do not have to focus on those convictions or try to push our views on others. We are told to love others no matter what. We are not responsible for converting people, that is God’s job. We are told to love them.

When Jesus walked the earth He did not spend a lot of time with the religious people. He was out with the sick, poor, the neglected, and those the religious people did not want to be around.

I know I did it for a long time. I thought I was better than others because I went to church. I felt I had to stay away from those who did not believe because their sins would rub off on me. I would always hang out with my church friends and stay away from the “worldly” people.

I would spend more time trying to prove my points and my beliefs, telling people what was wrong and what to stay away from, rather than spend time with God and others.

Obviously God calls us to follow Him and that is going to be in different ways for each of us. Yet to spend more time arguing, condemning, trying to prove our views on the Bible, pointing out people’s mistakes and shortcomings does not do anything except turn people away from us.

When we begin to understand the freedom we have in Christ and start living through grace that Christ provided, we can be free to love and accept all those we come in contact with each day even in our differences. We can show the love of Christ to all by allowing the Spirit to live through us.

Do not worry so much about who is right and who is wrong. Do not always be against something. Be for Jesus. Be for love. Be for others. Follow Jesus and let him love through you. Let him be the central focus of your life and allow his love to flow out of you and touch those around you.

- Jim Gordon

Grandma’s Funeral

We’re lost. I think we took a wrong turn off I-95. We’re now in Norfolk instead of Richmond. But we should be there soon!” the hearse driver assured my mother on the phone. My mom hung up the phone, looked at her watch, and sighed, “I think we’re in for a long wait.”

We were standing at what was supposed to be my grandmother’s graveside service. For the last forty minutes, the minister, my relatives, and I had been standing around the grave, just sort of staring at each other, wondering what to do. None of us had ever been to a funeral without the casket!

After another hour of waiting, the minister was growing restless. He said he had to be somewhere else soon. “If the hearse doesn’t show up shortly, I’m not sure what we’re going to do.”

Rather than have a funeral without a casket or a minister, we decided to begin the service. The reverend made it all the way to the part where he was to commit my grandmother’s body to the grave. “Ashes to ashes . . . ,” he said, then stopped. “I can’t really go any further without her body actually being here!” he said. “I’m sorry.”

Just as he turned to leave, the hearse arrived. It screeched to a halt near the graveside, and out popped a bearded lady in a pin-striped, three-piece suit. It wasn’t a full beard, but it was the beginnings of a respectable one by any standard, complete with mustache.

“So sorry I’m late! I took a wrong turn and went north instead of south. But I’m ready to do the ceremony,” she said, brandishing a script she’d pulled from her coat pocket. “It’s my first time, but I’ve got notes here.”

“Do the ceremony?” my mother asked, her normally calm façade beginning to show a few cracks. “What are you talking about?”

The bearded lady looked puzzled. “That was part of the package—I transport the deceased, and I do the ceremony,” she insisted. “You’re going to have to pay for it anyway.”

My mother paused and struggled visibly for control. Then she informed the driver that our family would pay the fee but that my grandmother’s minister, who was standing right there, would be finishing the service.

The bearded lady hearse driver deflated a bit but delivered my grandmother’s casket to us and drove away.

And the funeral, from that point on, really went off without a hitch.

My grandmother had never been late a day of her life. But she was, as they say, late to her own funeral—literally. In the same way, many of us are late to our funerals. I’m not speaking of the physical, of course, but of the spiritual. Both Romans and Galatians tell us that we died with Christ:

grave

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—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. (Rom. 6:6–7)

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)

Spiritually speaking, we participated in a funeral—our own. But we need to “attend” that funeral, to witness it and be aware of its implications.

So are you late to your own funeral?

- Andrew Farley

The Unexpecteds

Christ in you, the hope of glory. – Colossians 1:27

My husband and I have been married almost 13 years. We never had children — perhaps that was a mistake. I don’t know. Maybe having a baby would have drawn us closer together.

It hasn’t been a good marriage, but we’ve not argued or been hateful to each other. We’ve both worked. He’s had his life; I’ve had mine. Oh, we’d go out for a meal every so often, it’s just that we didn’t seem to have time for each other; and we didn’t especially have anything in common.

Saturday was generally our only day together. (That’s a strange word — together.) I’d fix breakfast and then work around the house while he did different things. We still weren’t together I guess.

Last Saturday I was in the kitchen fixing breakfast. I had just looked at the clock — it was 9:30. When he came in I noticed that he wasn’t in his casual Saturday clothes, but was dressed to go out.

He said, “Laurie, I have filed for divorce and there’s nothing to discuss. I know this will upset you, so I’m leaving for the day.”

At 9:29 A.M., I had a husband — I was fixing his breakfast, remember? At 9:30 A.M., he was gone.

And an unexpected circumstance has come into Laurie’s life over which she has no control, a person she cannot control. Devastating! Oh, yes, she still has her job, sympathetic friends, and some material possessions. And, after all, she and her husband weren’t really that compatible. But you don’t casually wipe thirteen years off the blackboard. She’ll be starting a new lifestyle — a lonely, insecure, demanding, stressful, scary lifestyle.

What to do? She might choose to take the route of anger or self-pity, feel insecure, be plagued by thoughts of “what did I do wrong” and feel guilty, believe herself to be unlovely and undesirable, and struggle with every moment of the day, asking, “What can I do? Where can I go? What does life hold for me now?”

Or she might go to her therapist and — after cutting through all the big-sounding psychological phrases — be advised to do the same thing you used to do when your dog died — get a new puppy. “Build a new life. Find a group of people with similar experiences and attach yourself to certain ones who seem to fill the void. Indulge yourself. Stay busy.”

Practical steps, but not what Laurie needs.

You see, we “life out” certain identities, getting our security from them. Laurie’s identity just walked out the kitchen door. But then, she still has friends and an identity at her office, doesn’t she? Yes, but those identities are fragile, too, just like her identity as Mark’s wife — and they could be gone just as quickly.

The emotional stress won’t go away — we can’t control those slippery emotions. But we can certainly keep them from controlling us! How? By setting our minds on the truths God has given us for just such unexpected tragedies that come into our lives.

What are those truths? Well, Laurie has an identity that can never be taken away and will never walk away — it was given to her when Christ burst forth from that dismal tomb. She is a new creature in Christ Jesus. She is loved beyond her wildest expectations. She is altogether lovely and lovable. She is righteous. She will never, ever be alone. And she is forgiven.

And then, Laurie has a power living inside of her which cannot be defeated, which is undaunted by the world and its pain and which meets every moment with head held high, shoulders back and chin up. It’s the Holy Spirit and He’s ready to take over anytime she says, “After you, Friend.”

You have the very same set-up for the unexpecteds that come into your life uninvited — you just agree with these truths, accept them as your own, and walk in them, head held high, shoulders back, and chin up with a smile on your face. You see, the unexpected can never destroy you if you are secure in your new, true identity and have turned your every day over to the Power that lives inside of you, Jesus Christ.

SCRIPTURES: THE UNEXPECTED

II Cor. 5:1

Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature –

I John 3:1

See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are –

Eph. 3: 17-19

So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpassed knowledge, that you may be filed up to all the fullness of God.

II Cor. 5:21

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

II Peter 1:4

For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature –

Deut. 31:8

And the Lord is the one who goes ahead of you’ He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear, or be dismayed.

Col. 2:13-14

And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

- Annabel Gillham

Ah Life!

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”  Mark 10:45

Flora — the world of plants. There are myriad little blades of grasses and just as many plants! Their mission in life is to give — for nourishment, for strength, for comfort and for beauty. They make no demands — they exist for others. God created them for that purpose.

There are unnumbered wildflowers, giving forth beauty and sweetness and fragrance perhaps in places where no eye will ever see them — no onlooker ever appreciate them — ready to be trampled down and broken or to bloom their whole life without praise. They bloom where they are planted for the sheer joy of blooming.

Trees. They give without prejudice. They bear fruit. They shelter. They bring comfort and relief from the elements with their shade. They bring beauty to an otherwise barren earth. Could we say that they lift their “leafy” arms to praise God — living with purpose where He planted them? Giving as they were created to give?

Brooks, streams, waterfalls. They start at the heights and cascade carelessly, joyously down, ever going lower and lower, giving of themselves to refresh, to heal, to cause growth, to cleanse, to bring beauty.

Fauna — the world of animals. This is a higher form of life. They have the innate ability to respond to their world. God created them to portray His majesty, His creativity, His authority, and His love. Look at the dog. Oh, he does respond to love and has a fierce loyalty to his master. He loves unconditionally. He doesn’t care what his master looks like, his clothes, the color of his skin, or where he lives. He will protect his master and give his own life if necessary to stand between him and any evil. The greater the love that is given to that creature, the greater is his desire to give in return.

There is the sun. It sheds its light and its warmth freely on everyone — the just and the unjust — the evil and the good — lighting and warming dark places. It is the epitome of giving: Self-giving, self-sharing — in common bond with all who will open themselves to its light and warmth.

And then there is unregenerate man.

Where is the spontaneous self-giving of creation?

Where is the desire to bring loveliness to the world through giving?

Where are the unconditional love and the fierce loyalty that the dog gives?

Is it in there somewhere? Yes.

There is “regeneration” — the highest form of Life! And after the miracle of regeneration we begin to feel a stirring within, realizing that it is “so happy” to love, even if one is not loved in return. There is a loyalty that will suffer martyrdom. That Christ-love within the new man will express itself in compassion and giving just as He did when He walked the dirty paths of Galilee — giving, always giving. He gave of Himself to nourish, to comfort, to beautify for the joy of giving. He serves, unappreciated, with no praise, for the joy of serving. He exists to glorify God and has a common bond with all who will but receive — loving the just and the unjust, shedding light in the darkness.

As new creatures in Christ that self-giving Life is ours — it is within us! But we very often strangle that life — we tie the hands that want to reach out in love — we refuse to lift our arms to hug or to praise — we imprison Him in our selfish, lifeless clay cells — living in solitary confinement as we refuse to acknowledge His indwelling presence, His love, His power, and His compassion.

Lord, may we see that we exist to glorify You — we were created for that purpose — to glorify You!

Therefore, what will do that most effectively will be the path You will choose for me. It might be in unappreciated, unknown places, trampled on and broken or perhaps to bloom our entire life with no praise. May we give with no thought of return. May we make our part of the world lovely just because of Your presence living through us. Oh, but help us to remember, dear Lord, that You view our giving and You say, “You are doing a marvelous job, dear one. You are a wonderful servant.”

Servant (n): one employed by another; one devoted to another

- Annabel Gillham