tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66873842024-02-27T21:49:54.789-08:00Scribbler WorksMusings on life, Christianity, writing and art, entertainment and general brain clutter.Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.comBlogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-16503017114123707832015-07-13T11:34:00.000-07:002015-07-13T11:34:03.136-07:00FOR THE SAKE OF THE NAME<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>I am writing to you,
little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(1 John 2: 12 NIV)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John has spent
considerable time talking about how crucial love is between fellow believers.
He had spent considerable time making it clear that any belittling of our
siblings in faith slides toward a failure of love for them, which leads to the
darkness of hate. The consequences of letting even slivers of hatred into our
lives can be serious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So suddenly, John
stops and puts forward this reassurance. He gives it in a very loving voice,
addressing the readers as “little children.” It is the warm voice of a gentle,
beloved grandparent reaching out to scampering youngsters, drawing the lively,
wiggling little bodies in to a sheltering hug. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“I am writing to
<i>you</i>, little children....”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is personal.
This is loving. This is not generic, directed to just anyone who might be
hearing. This reassurance is intended for the loved ones he has been speaking
to, the loved ones who are listening to his words. He is speaking to all of us
who have chosen to follow the Lord, for we are all of one family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many of us forget
what it is to be loved in that warm, unconditional, sheltering way. For some,
there was the misfortune of never having had that kind of love in their lives,
due to abandonment, or abuse, or loss of family for whatever reason. For some,
they have been struggling with survival on their own for so long, such
blessings in the past have become frozen, static memories, gilded postcards
locked away in storage, no longer conveying any sense of present love. Many of
us get caught up in just getting through our lives, getting tangled in
relationships where every exchange becomes registered in a Quid Pro Quo balance
book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John brings us back
to this starting point.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We have a Father who
loves us, unconditionally. We have fellow believers who love us as well. We
have the assurance of that place. We can climb into the lap of that loving
grandfather, and feel comfortable and safe in that haven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But John doesn’t
stop there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“I am writing to you
because your sins have been forgiven for His name’s sake.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After spending so
much time reminding us of the discomforts of being trapped outside community,
of being cast into the outer darkness by our own dreadful negative attitudes
and behaviors, John brings us the assurance that our sins have been forgiven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even though we can
fall into the darkness of hating our brother, we need not stay there. Those
errors <i>have been</i> forgiven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He doesn’t say they
<i>will be</i> forgiven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He doesn’t say they
<i>can be</i> forgiven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He doesn’t say that
there are conditions for us to receive forgiveness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He says, our sins
<i>have been forgiven</i>. That task is done, completed. It is sitting there, waiting
for us. All we need do is claim it, accept it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John even tells us
why it is there for us, ready and waiting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are forgiven “for
His name’s sake.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God Almighty, the
Creator of the Universe, the Most Holy One, whose purity is so intense that we
cannot approach it on our own because our own impurities, which are so deeply
woven into our being, would be destroyed by that refining fire. We simply cannot
come near to God on our own. We cannot remove our sins on our own, not well
enough to get us into the presence of God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And yet, we are
allowed to climb into that loving, sheltering lap of divinity, for the sake of
the name of Jesus. Because Christ has taken all the burden of sin upon Himself
and has purged it by His suffering, we who have become His followers, who have
taken up His name, we are given forgiveness and access to the full love of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For the sake of His
name.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know there are
times when people feel this is too easy, and that the gift is abused. There are
people who lay claim to the name of Jesus, and yet still continue to indulge
their sins and hatreds. But John has already spoken to the matter of those who
do not in reality let go of their inner darknesses. God is not fooled by our
simply “claiming the name of Jesus.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But there are also
those who are serious about turning away from the sins and errors of their
past, who yet feel that they have not earned that forgiveness. They feel that
there should be some tasks they must do, so pains to suffer, in order to be
given that free access to God’s love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But none of us can
earn it. We haven’t the capacity to earn it by right. There is nothing we can
do that can wipe out a lifetime of small, petty evils done to those around us,
as well as the bigger, more spectacular sins we all recognize. And when we face
that and understand it, we realize what a tremendous gift God’s forgiveness is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was already
earned for our sake, it was already paid for by Christ’s suffering, it was
already accomplished by the One whom God the Father loves before all else:
Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Little children,
draw near. Climb into the lap of the Almighty God, for you will not be
destroyed by His holiness. You have taken on the name of Jesus, and His blood
gives you the protection. For the sake of the name of the Beloved of God, you
are already forgiven. Know this. Believe this.</span><span style="font-family: Courier New;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-82290690313750319552014-08-03T16:25:00.000-07:002015-07-13T10:39:26.202-07:00BLINDED BY HATE<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>But the one who
hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not
know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(1 John 2:11 NIV)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John keeps bringing
out the contrasts between those who love and those who hate. He chooses as many
ways as possible to remind us of the extremes, while staying close to his
principal imagery of the Light of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For those who let
hatred into their hearts, particularly hatred for those they ought to, by all
standards, be loving, he says they walk in darkness. But it is a state that is
more than simply being in darkness, it is compounded by blindness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Earlier, he had
talked about walking in darkness, saying that those who do not know Christ move
in such conditions. Those who do not believe in the Lord, those who have not
heard and learned the Gospel, they walk in darkness. But, they can stop walking
in darkness when they come to know the Lord. They will see the Light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But here, he speaks
of those who ought to know better. Here, he is talking about those who have
been taught about Jesus, who might otherwise be trying to follow the Lord’s
teachings, but who have this one “little” problem: they hate a brother.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To have heard the
word of the Lord, to know the teachings of Christ, and yet to harbor a hatred
against one we should love, that to John is worse than the state of the
non-believer. For we have been in the Light, we have known the Light, but our
hatred does more than just drive us back out into the darkness, it <i>blinds</i> us,
so that we cannot even see.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When we “merely”
have not heard and accepted the Word, we are in darkness. But we can still see.
There is still the possibility that we will see the flash of Christ’s Light
cutting through our life. There is still the possibility that we will step into
the Light, and learn of God’s Love. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But when we hate
where we should love, we do something worse than walk out of the Light of the
Lord. We do something worse than walk into the outer darkness. When we hate, we
blind ourselves <i>and</i> step into the darkness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not only do we
venture out into the territory of the lost, where those who do not know of
Christ wander, we venture out among them blindly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Imagine what that
would be like.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Someone who has
known the Light and lived in it has let hatred of a sibling in Christ enter
their heart. This person has walked out of the Light and into the darkness
where people who do not know Christ wander. But our former friend not only
cannot see these wanderers, he cannot see the Light in the distance any longer,
because he is also blind. A wanderer might see the Light in the distance and
start moving toward it, but the one who is blinded by hate does not have that
possibility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was once at a
retreat for college students, and there was to be an evening campfire. I
happened to leave the cabin I was in without my flashlight, and unfortunately
there was no pathway through the trees to the campfire. From the walkway to the
fire, we would have to cross uneven ground, where stones and roots lay waiting
to trip us up. But ahead of me, I <i>could</i> see the light of the campfire. So I
kept my eyes on that, and tread evenly and carefully, and made it across the
whole distance without stumbling and falling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That real, physical
experience taught me much about what it is like to see the Light of Christ in
the distance. If the non-believer who truly seeks Light sees it, even from a
far distance, Christ will bring them closer, in spite of stumbling stones and
tripping roots. All they need do is keep their eyes on the Light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But when hatred
enters our hearts, the effect becomes both internal and external. Not only do
we lose our sight, we bring the external darkness with us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Is this really what
we want in our lives?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What can cause us to
hate our brother? This is someone we should be loving. Someone who shares love
with us and others, someone who has learned to love Christ, learned to live in
the Light of the Lord. What could possibly create hatred of such a person?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well, the truth is
that even at the best of times, we all are broken creatures. We are all
imperfect. We all still have much to learn about following Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Being imperfect, we
can easily fall into envy of a sibling in Christ. Suppose we see a fellow
believer who has had some worldly success in their profession. It is easy to
envy that success and the seeming benefits that come with it. If we let that
envy fester, we can grow from liking the person but resenting the success into
hating the person for having what we lack. We have ceased to love the brother
because we look at the worldly things they “got” and we forget that what the
Lord gives <i>each</i> of us is special to <i>us</i>, and sufficient.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That is one way we
can come to hate a brother.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another is when
misunderstandings grow up between fellow believers. Our desire to always be
right can deafen us to what the other person has to say. Our desire to be right
can cause us to dismiss any overture toward restoring balance and
understanding. By refusing to even listen, we harden our hearts, creating a
shell that keeps others out – not just the person we disagree with, but others
as well. Once we shut someone out, we behave as if they are an enemy, someone
to be defended against, no matter what they do or say. And feeling follows
behavior. When we start to behave as if we hate someone, we do in fact <i>come</i> to
hate that person.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When hatred enters
the heart, by whatever means, it brings darkness and blindness to those who had
been in the Light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The one who hates
his brother does not know where he is going. The one who hates his brother has
lost the capacity to even see the Light in the distance. The one who hates his
brother has brought darkness around him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Isolation will inevitably
result from this, because for those who love the Lord, the Light is where they
want to be. They don’t want to be drawn back into darkness. Choosing Christ may
mean letting go of the one who harbors a hatred of a sibling in Christ.
Choosing Christ means to stay <i>in</i> the Light, to learn to love others no matter
what.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Who wants to be lost
in the darkness <i>and</i> blind to even the glimmer of the Light of the Lord?</span><span style="font-family: Courier New;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-43694940435278841772014-07-31T20:12:00.001-07:002014-08-03T16:26:28.397-07:00NO CAUSE FOR STUMBLING<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>The one who loves
his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(1 John 2:10 – NAS)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John wants to make it
very clear that love is the key to living in the Light. So he says it
repeatedly through several formulations. Each time, he touches on some variant
perspective. He does not want to leave any crack unlit and unexplored.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Previously, he had
addressed the matter of those who <i>claim</i> to follow the Lord or to love their
brother or to abide in the Light. But now he speaks of those who actually <i>do</i>
love their brothers, their fellow-believers. After all, they do exist. We may
carry hidden resentments and angers toward others, but that does not mean that
love is impossible. We do also manage to love at least a few people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So... “the one who
loves his brother abides in the Light.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Isn’t that a good
thing to know?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, Jesus called us
to love all others, even our enemies. That is a true challenge to our natures,
and a very difficult thing to achieve. And it is certainly what we should be
striving for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But John, for the
moment, brings us this more immediate and seemingly simpler task. “Love your
brother, your sibling in Christ.” How hard is that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We tend to make it
harder than it ought to be. We fall into dividing the Body by criteria other
than being followers of Christ. We start separating ourselves with all sorts of
barriers: how scripture is interpreted, what type of music is performed in
worship, how the worship service is conducted, which translation of the Bible
is used, which congregational structure our communities operate under. We are
ready to separate ourselves from other lovers of Jesus on the basis of far too
many reasons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We let those
distinctions cause us to go stumbling about. <i>We</i> as individuals stumble over
them. But we also let our own divisions cause others to stumble. We witness to
new believers that we personally think the style of worship is more important
than loving our brothers. Or maybe the type of music used. Or the scriptural
translation relied upon. We do a poor job of letting our lives testify that it
is <i>love</i> which is most important in the Body of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, once again, John
reminds us that it is in loving our fellows that causes us to abide in Light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wouldn’t we all
rather live in the Light? Do we really want darkness around us as we try to
live our lives according to Jesus’ teachings?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But that’s not the
end of it with John. It’s not just that if we love our siblings in Christ we
shall live in the Light. It is also that in doing so, <i>we will not stumble</i>. Or
as he puts it, there is <i>no cause for stumbling</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why does he put it
that way? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think it is
because he is talking about something more than just keeping our own feet from
tripping up. That is, of course a good thing. Nobody likes tripping over their
own feet. But I think John is going beyond that. I think he means also that
when we live in the Light, we also do not trip up others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When we love other
people, we want them to stay upright as well. We don’t really want to see those
we love tripping up all around us. We reach out and help those we love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We never think of
the possibility that <i>we</i> might be a cause for the stumbling of others, especially
not those we care about. And yet, that possibility does exist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How can that be? In
what way can we cause others to stumble?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the most
obvious ways that can occur in the community of Christ is when two people who
are friends, but who are married to others, become romantically involved with
each other. It is so easy to make excuses for the breaking of fidelity when
powerful emotions and desires are involved. Do we even <i>think</i> of this as causing
another to stumble? It is <i>love</i> after all, right? But what of the others around
the erring couple? Anger on the part of the betrayed spouse, discomfort and
distress for the family and friends of both parties, all these negative
emotions pushing several people into stumbling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are other ways
in which we can cause others to stumble. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When a fellow
believer who has looked toward us for spiritual leadership sees us behaving in
a less than ideal way, might that person not feel excused about similar
behavior in their own life? “My mentor does this, so maybe it’s not such a bad
thing after all.” It is easy enough for us to disavow responsibility for other
people’s choices. We ought to be conscious of the power that love for our
fellow believers has, whether we are the giver or the receiver. Do we think to
warn our friends? Do we actually say, “Don’t do this. It’s my besetting sin,
and I should be handling it better. It isn’t justified.” Isn’t that what a
loving sibling <i>ought</i> to do? Shouldn’t we warn our sister or brother that there
are times they should <i>not</i> follow in our footsteps?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>The one who loves
his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We do not travel
alone, in our lives as believers in Jesus. We travel with our loved ones, our
siblings in the Lord. We need the Light so that we can see where we are going.
And we need to make sure that we ourselves do not stumble, nor cause others to
stumble because we have taken a misstep. Our love for those around us causes us
to help each other stay upright, without stumbling. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let us remember to
love each other, and so help keep each other from stumbling.</span><span style="font-family: Courier New;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-47945099423649459332013-09-01T06:41:00.000-07:002013-09-01T06:42:00.955-07:00ON THE OTHER HAND<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>On the other hand, I
am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because
the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. The one who
says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.<o:p></o:p></em></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1 John 2: 8-9 –
NAS)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John has earnestly
tried to remind his readers that what he has been telling them in this letter
is not really anything new to them as disciples. But as a way of shaking up
their perceptions of what is expected of them as followers of Jesus, he now
adds some thoughts, “On the other hand....”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So often, when we
want to offer seemingly contrary perspectives, we like to turn to constructions
like “on the other hand.” Most of the time what we are presenting are not
flat-out opposite options, such as “Kill that man” or “Don’t kill that man.”
More often, what we are considering when we use that phrase is that we want to
put forward a secondary course that heads in much the same direction as the
first. After all, when we physically extend both our hands at the same time,
they generally point in the same direction. It is just that the specifics
provide different outlooks and experiences.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This then is what
John means when he tells us that he has a “new” commandment for us.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But what is it that
makes it “new” compared to the commandments Jesus gave us? John has an answer
for that as well.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He says, “the
darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Jesus came to
teach His disciples, those who listened to Him were living in a darkness. Jesus
is the True Light of God, shining into our lives. His presence among people,
living as one of us, brought an entirely new context to the matter of our
relationship with God. Before Jesus came, we did not have an advocate who would
redeem us in the eyes of the Lord. But after Jesus came, we were given this new
option, this new way to approach the holiness of God. After Jesus came, those
who joined the body of believers lived in a world where the redemption of our
unfitness was already accomplished – all we had to do as new believers was
accept it and put our new life into action. We, as believers who have come to
the Lord after the Resurrection, walk a path where the True Light already
shines before us. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what is this new
perspective that John wants to bring us to about our walk as followers of
Jesus? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He says that anyone
“who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until
now.” </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a slightly
different angle from what John has said before, about claiming to be walking in
the Light while still sinning. He wants us to reconsider all the things that we
think of as sin, because there are actions and choices that we can gloss over –
such as how we treat those closest to us. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John puts it
bluntly: someone who says he belongs to Jesus “and yet hates his brother is in
the darkness until now.” </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Does he mean our
literal flesh and blood siblings? No, he does not. He means those who have been
bonded to us spiritually by our shared commitment to the Lord. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the Lord’s eyes,
when we become believers in Christ we are joined together in one family, as
children of the Living God. We are given the status of His heirs. In God’s
eyes, we are made closer than blood siblings. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, is it possible
then to “hate our brothers”? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Human nature is very
fragile and weak. Yes, it is quite possible to fill our relationship with a
particular person with negativity. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What does it mean,
after all, to “hate one’s brother”? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Certainly, when we
find ourselves actively disliking another believer, we have fallen into “hating
our brother.” If we cannot question that person’s commitment to Christ, what
are our grounds for “hating” them? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is true that
there are plenty of committed believers who are less-than-perfect when it comes
to living out the commandments of our Lord. There are those who have fallen
into dubious interpretations of the ordinances of scripture. There are some whose
personalities will always rub us the wrong way for any number of reasons. But
if at rock bottom we know that they are followers of Jesus (no matter how poor
their understanding or thorough their application of scripture), they are our
siblings in Christ – and we cannot hate them. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we claim to be
standing in the Light of Christ, the only criteria we may use to evaluate “kinship
in Christ” is whether the other person claims Jesus as their Lord. Paul says
elsewhere that that is all that is required to gain Christ in our lives. And it
is that which makes the other person our “brother.” Not method of baptism, not
the procedure for confessing of sins, not shared approach to worship. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Jesus is Lord.” </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we allow
ourselves to hate <em>anyone </em>who says that with all their heart -- if we allow
distaste for their personal habits, their lapses in judgment, their poor
understanding, or <em>any</em> such cause – then we have fallen into hating our brother.
There’s no way around it. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this day and age,
we frequently see “leaders” in the Body of Christ take very narrow-minded
stances. We see just prominent figures make declarations that are everything
<em>but</em> pronouncements of the Love of Jesus. And we can condemn the foolishness of
their behavior, and wonder about the depth of their so-called commitment to the
Lord. But it is not our place to judge the reality of that commitment. We do
not need to follow <em>them</em>, only the Lord. We should pray for them as straying
siblings, but leave the evaluation of the reality of their commitment to our
Ultimate Judge. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our calling is to
act in love toward our siblings in Christ – no matter how challenging that may
be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-21054542029074405562013-02-08T12:37:00.000-08:002013-02-08T12:37:45.936-08:00NOTHING NEW<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1 John 2:7 – NAS)<br /><br /> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John makes a point of telling his readers that what he is speaking of should not be anything new to them: they have heard these lessons before. In fact, he points out that what he is talking about were the first things they encountered as they began their fellowship with Christ.<br /><br />It’s part of our human nature to crave something new. We want something fresh to excite us, something different to add variety to the regular routines of life. But we also have a tendency to treat older things with less respect, perhaps because we think age makes them useless. We look at the limitations that descend upon the human body with increased age and we assume that the same is true of all things under the sun, including the standards and laws by which we shape our lives.<br /><br />But this isn’t want God originally designed, nor does He change the basics of His intentions.<br /><br />John wants to be clear that the foundation of what he is saying in this letter is the nature of God’s love, and His commandment that we love one another. There is nothing new in this, for it is part of the fabric of the Lord’s creativity from the very beginning of the world. And it is the beginning point of anyone’s walk as a believer in Christ.<br /><br />We have become believers because (in whatever fashion it came to us) we heard and accepted that Jesus manifested God’s love for us. We have become believers because we know that without God we make a mess of our lives to such a degree we could not possibly come near to the holiness of the Lord, even though that is our deepest rooted desire. We understand that Jesus became the sacrifice that clears the way for us to run directly into the heart of God without having our flaws destroy us.<br /><br />However it is that we begin our lives in fellowship with Jesus, we know it beings with love. This is nothing new to us. It is the oldest thing in belief, the rock bottom foundation we stand on.<br /><br />And that is perhaps the strongest metaphor for what John says here.<br /><br />There is nothing new in the message he seeks to convey. The foundations of our faith and understanding have been there since the beginning of our commitment to following Christ. The love of God is the rock beneath our feet.<br /><br />What “new thing” could give us a greater, more reliable foundation? What “new thing” would be so secure and certain that we barely think about it?<br /><br />There is nothing that can be so unendingly certain as the love of Christ. And there is nothing that can be so unendingly live-giving as acting on His commandments.<br /><br />There’s nothing new in His commandment that we love the Lord and love one another. It is the starting point for all other acts of faith.<br /><br />Why does John <em>make</em> this point, though?<br /><br />He was writing at a time when Gnosticism had attempted to invade the practice of the faith. Gnostics enticed people off the path with promises of new, special knowledge that only “the In Crowd” could access. The old lessons were for simpletons: the new lessons they had would give them the world.<br /><br />John reminds his readers that the reality is they were given the key to God’s kingdom from the very beginning. It was nothing hidden, nothing secret. It was the first thing they learned.<br /><br />There is nothing deeper, stronger, more lasting and durable than the love of God. And He proved it by dwelling with us as Jesus, sacrificing Himself for us in order to let us draw near to the Most Holy. And when we accept this sacrifice, we accept His commandment to love each other.<br /><br />What “new lesson” or “new commandment” can be greater than that?<br /><br />Nothing “new” can supersede that first lesson. Why would we look for such? We knew how great it was from the beginning. <br /><br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-55525710340846369292013-01-18T09:43:00.000-08:002013-01-18T09:43:32.398-08:00MORE THAN LIP SERVICE<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1 John 2: 3-6 – NAS)<br /><br /><br />John makes his point so earnestly in these verses that it seems clear that even in <em>his</em> time – within the lifespan of someone who had actually <em>walked </em> with Jesus – there came to be “followers” who were declaring that they “knew the Lord,” but whose actions certainly did not show that to be the case. How heart-wrenching that must have been for John, to see that there were people who wanted to be “in with the In Crowd,” as it were, but who were not really interested in doing those things Jesus had taught and commanded.<br /><br />And it still happens, of course.<br /><br />Why is that? Why would people declare themselves Christians and yet not live according to the guidelines Jesus gave His followers?<br /><br />It’s human nature to want to be well-thought-of. We do crave the respect of others, the admiring and appreciating regard. And certainly, the type of person who follows the commandments of Jesus would be a very admirable person: peacemaker, merciful, generous, caring, attentive. Who would <em>not</em> want to have such a cloak around their shoulders?<br /><br />And to gain that respect and admiration, why, all one has to do is <em>claim </em> to be a follower of Jesus. Right?<br /><br />We walk the fine line between the issue of salvation by declaration of faith and salvation by works. Arguments had been made, even in the days of the Apostles, that all that was needed to gain salvation was a confession that Jesus is Lord. Because Jesus died for our sins, all our erroneous actions were paid for by Him, and we are allowed into the presence of God. But the expectation is that gaining that salvation would change us so much that we would now live according to the commandments of Jesus (or at least try to do so).<br /><br />But even in John’s time, apparently there were plenty who merely gave lip service to being followers of Christ.<br /><br />“Lip service” is one of those phrases we use a lot without thinking much of it. It means to vow adherence or allegiance to something, saying the words but not following through with the actions that would actually show the allegiance. The only thing “serving the cause” are the words of the declarer.<br /><br />John makes it clear that when it comes to following Christ, that’s not good enough. “Talk is cheap,” we like to say. It’s very easy to <em>say </em>we follow the Lord, to <em>say</em> we believe in His sacrifice. But John says that if we <em>say</em> these things, and yet do not act according to the commandments of Jesus, we’re lying about our faith.<br /><br />For John, who had been in the living presence of Jesus, who had walked the dusty roads with the Lord, sat in fields while Jesus spoke to crowds, been squashed into corners of houses packed with people who wanted to see Jesus, it must have seemed sad and strange that there would be “followers” who would claim to love the Lord and yet not be so transformed by that love that they did not start trying to act like Jesus. Their love, it seems, went no further than saying words.<br /><br />Even now it is very easy to say we are “in the Lord” to mean that we have a certain circle of friends who share a certain outlook. And that that circle can include people we’ve only just met, but who we allow in because they make the same declaration. It becomes just a social designation, and we don’t think about what John <em>really</em> was saying about “abiding in the Lord.”<br /><br />After all, what does “abiding in the Lord” really mean?<br /><br />I think it means that Jesus has taken each of us into His heart -- deep into His heart, to that place where no defenses are raised, where love is unconditional and always available. He allows us into that place to dwell forever.<br /><br />How can we <em>not</em> be changed by such an experience? How can we <em>not</em> grow in a desire to become more and more like that which surrounds us, there in the heart of the Lord?<br /><br />But we don’t, not always. Because it is not such a visible, tangible thing to us as we want. We have only the assurance of the words left to us and the presence of the Holy Spirit. And the presence of the Holy Spirit is (usually) something invisible, and thus easy to dismiss if not exactly ignore.<br /><br />John wants to shake us up, to wake us up. He knows that if we are not reflecting the nature of Christ in our actions, we aren’t really inside His being: we are not <em>abiding</em> in Jesus.<br /><br />He’s not claiming that we have to be following the commandments of Jesus <em>perfectly</em>. Of course we’re going to stumble, and fumble, and get some things wrong. But if our intention truly is to be like Christ, the Lord will handle our missteps (as noted previously, He<em> is </em>the propitiation for our sins and errors). The Lord’s love becomes perfect <em>in us</em>. It’s something <em>He </em>does because we have opened our own hearts to the experience of being inside <em>His</em> heart.<br /><br />But inevitably, there should be some evidence of it. The transformation that God’s love works on us should show up in our actions, not just our words. And it’s not like we don’t know what the Lord’s commandments are: there’s a whole Sermon of the basics of what our live should look like.<br /><br /> What it comes down to, in a popular phrasing, is – Don’t just talk the talk: walk the walk.<br /> <br /> We should give the Lord much more than lip service.</span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-72404681468226561922013-01-15T08:31:00.000-08:002013-01-15T08:31:21.920-08:00PROPITIATION<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1 John 2: 2 – NAS)<br /><br /><br />John has just told us that Christ is our Advocate before the Lord, our representative who will argue in the Ultimate Court in our defense when we face God’s justice for our sins. Now he takes that description a step further, and tells us that Christ is also “the propitiation for our sins.”<br /><br />“Propitiation” is not a word we use much these days. It means to gain or regain the favor of someone, to appease or conciliate. It implies that the person being appeased has some authority over the person offering the propitiation.<br /><br /> Why would propitiation be needed?<br /><br />It is needed because the holiness of the Lord is such that anything that is stained cannot endure in His presence. And we stumbling humans cannot help but be very stained by our lives; our sins of choice, our sins of error, our sins of omission permeate our being. On our own, we have no hope of being able to approach God because we cannot rid ourselves of these effects, at least not by our own efforts.<br /><br /> But Jesus Christ our Advocate also absorbs the consequence of our sins. However you want to look at it – that Jesus stands between us and a just punishment, or that He takes into Himself <em>our</em> sins so that we would then stand free and clear and pure in the presence of God – Jesus is the one who “makes things right” between us and God the Father.<br /><br /> It is not that the consequence of our sins is brushed aside and forgotten. No, instead, Jesus takes it all upon himself. The consequence is still the consequence and it must play out. But because of His sacrifice upon the cross, Jesus is the one that takes on those consequences.<br /><br /> I think that sometimes we undervalue what it means to have Christ as the propitiation of our sins. And we take it for granted. We walk through our lives as followers of Jesus, and discount the effects of our less-than-perfect actions. After all, our intentions were <em>good</em>, and that should be enough, shouldn’t it? We hardly consider the possibility that something we said or did with good intentions might in fact have had evil consequences.<br /><br /> God does not <em>un-make </em>any of the consequences of any action. He set the Universe to work in a certain way, and one of those ways is that consequences follow actions. He does not change that.<br /><br />But what He does do is let His Son Jesus take on all those negative consequences. Instead of letting them fall upon us (the fate we deserve), Jesus has taken them on to Himself. And not just the negative consequences before God of the actions of believers, but of the whole world. Jesus stands between everyone and the divine judgment leveled against them, and all anyone has to do is accept Him as Lord in order to gain the benefit of that.<br /><br />The whole world.<br /><br /> We like to say of extreme consequences that they are “a whole world of pain.” But for Jesus, that is the literal truth. By taking on the role of propitiation for our sins, He has taken on all the pain we would justly receive as a consequence for our actions. No matter what.<br /><br />It occurs to me that when outraged believers ardently desire heavy punishment to fall on sinners, whether the sinners are repentant or not, the believers are desiring to see others suffer. Humans have a strong impulse for vengeance. We desire to return all ills that we receive. And when we can cloak that desire as the delivery of a just punishment, we feel a sense of satisfaction. So we willingly acquiesce to harsh punishments.<br /><br />But Jesus is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. Every divine punishment we could wish upon other sinners, Jesus has taken onto Himself. Because God <em>so</em> loved the whole world that He sent His only Son.<br /><br /> And whatever we do to others, we do to Jesus.<br /><br /> I am certainly grateful for Jesus taking on the consequences of my own sins. I am capable of thoughtlessly or carelessly injuring others, capable of any number of “small sins.” And I know I am not shut away from the presence of God as I deserve because Jesus has absorbed the consequences of those actions.<br /><br /> What I had not considered before is that He does that for others as well, even when I feel that they should at least have a <em>sense</em> of the lash or retribution. Someone did an injury to me: I want them to know what they did and be punished for it. But God’s love is such that even there, Jesus stands as the propitiation for sin. That consequence, that punishment that I want to see visited on another is instead visited on Jesus. It humbles me. Shall I then add to the wounds of the whip that tore apart the skin of the Lord? Shall I too drive the nails into His hands and feet? This He did for the sins of the <em>whole world</em>.<br /><br />Perhaps we should not be so eager to demand retribution. We all of us deserve it. But Jesus is the one who takes the eternal consequences upon Himself.<br /><br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-15443514227473795272013-01-07T09:25:00.000-08:002013-01-07T09:26:35.353-08:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OUR ADVOCATE</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1 John 2: 1 – NAS)<br /><br /><br />John again mentions the “why” of his letter. He had opened with the urgency of an eye-witness, reminding the readers that he had actually <em>seen</em> Jesus Christ alive, in action, in the flesh – had touched the Lord, spoken with Him. Now the old man (as he would have been at the time of this letter) uses “my little children” to convey his live and affection and his paternal concern that the followers of Christ understand their faith clearly. In particular, he is driven by the awareness that sin separates us from God, from the love of the Father and fellowship with the Son. And John does not want to see anyone so separated.<br /><br />Thus, “<em>I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.”</em>None of us care to be on the receiving end of scolding lectures. It doesn’t matter what our age is, we squirm and grimace when someone decides that “for your own good you need to hear this.” It may be true that we <em>do</em> need to hear it, but most such lectures end up being delivered in a manner that distances us from the lecturer. The person scolding us usually wants to be objective, but unfortunately only ends up coming across as disengaged, remote and judgmental. John, however, takes a different manner. “My little children” from a beloved old man carries such a stream of love that we stop and listen. He loves us. He is anxious for us. He sees us heading toward a door leading to disaster and has only his words to halt our progress through that portal.<br /><br /><em>“My little children.”</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />He wants us to listen to his words so that we will not sin. But he also immediately tells us that even if we do make that mistake, if we do trip up and commit errors, all is <em>not</em> lost.<br /><br />Sin separates us from the love of the Father, and with that separation the weight of judgment falls upon us. The consequences of our actions will follow us around, often with dire results. To be separated from God removes the only shield between ourselves and the harshest evaluation of our deeds. And this is particularly true for those believers who let go of their commitment to the Lord.<br /><br />But John says that even if we <em>do </em>sin, believers have an Advocate with the Most High, someone who will speak up for us, plead our case and gain mercy for us. And that Advocate is no one less that Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, who is one with God.<br /><br />John is not saying that believers can sin willfully and with impunity and still stand secure in the presence of God. I’m sure there are many who would like to think that. They want to believe that once they formally say “Jesus in Lord” they are absolved of all future sins, and can happily go about doing whatever they want. But that’s not what John means.<br /><br />Let us remember that he’s just spent a deal of time telling his readers that only genuine confession of sins can keep someone in fellowship with Christ. We all make mistakes, we all sin. “Anyone who says they do not sin is a liar.” It is crucial for us to confess the sin and repent of it because we <em>do</em> understand that such actions can separate us from the holy and loving presence of the Father.<br /><br />We’re not very good at being our own advocates. When we confess our sins, we’re admitting that we knew we were doing wrong and yet we still <em>did</em> the wrong thing. It’s rather difficult to be standing in front of a judge going “Yes, I knew it was wrong and I still did it. But I’m asking you to have mercy on me.” We need someone to speak up for us, as a character witness perhaps, but certainly as an advocate who will say that we are deserving of mercy, if only by way of the grace of love. We need that advocate, because our own actions have said that we made the mistake of not properly valuing the Grace and Love of God.<br /><br /><em>But</em>, our confession of our errors and mistakes, of our sins, does win us an Advocate before the Most Holy Judge. And that Advocate is Jesus Christ. John goes to the trouble of adding “the righteous” to the name of our Advocate (though you would think “Christ” would be enough).<br /><br />Jesus Christ the righteous will speak on our behalf. For all our sins, big and little.<br /><br />Jesus: that man who lived and walked and ate and slept among us in flesh and blood. The person John had talked with and walked with. They had traipsed the countryside of Judea during Jesus’ ministry. They had eaten meals together in the homes of friends. They and the rest of the company of the close disciples had been out on the Sea of Galilee fishing together, laughing as they hauled in nets filled with fish. This was not some abstract phantasm surrounded by a holy glow. It was someone who got dusty from walking, who got wet from splashing fish, who shared meals, who sat by wells and asked for drinks of water. It is someone who knows exactly what it is like to be alive as a human being. Our Advocate.<br /><br />Christ: the Holy One of the Almighty, the one who came to save us. Our Messiah, savior, shield. The one who went so far as to <em>die</em> in our place, to take our punishments upon Himself. Our Lord. The priest and sacrifice that was needed to allow us to even approach the presence of the Most High. Our Advocate.<br /><br />“The righteous”: the one who knows how to live rightly according to the desires of God the Father. The one who knows and chooses to do what is right in the eyes of God, who does those things with love and joy. Our Advocate.<br /><br />That is who will speak on our behalf before the Father. Not some fly-by-night lawyer who will look for every loophole possible. No, our Advocate is Jesus Christ the righteous.<br /><br /> “My little children” – you have stepped into the Royal Arena of Creation, you are out of your league, you don’t have a chance on your own. Except that Jesus Christ is on your side.</span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-45439551005878854142012-11-07T09:09:00.002-08:002012-11-07T09:14:10.657-08:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TO BE HONEST<br /><br /><br /><em>If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1 John 1: 9-10 – NAS)<br /><br /><br />John does love to make sure his point is getting across. We really need to be honest with the Lord, admitting our sins and not trying to avoid them. And that admission has to address everything. We can’t excuse things to ourselves, we need to admit where we’ve gotten things wrong.<br /><br />We are inclined to believe that if there has been no <em>intention </em>to do harm or to offend the laws and will of God there cannot be a sin against God. But I think we are mistaking the benefits of the forgiveness of God as a lack of offense against God. By that I mean that because God loves us and extends His grace to us in so many ways, even when we “innocently” get things wrong, we think that what we did was not, in fact, <em>wrong</em>.<br /><br />But that’s not the reality. There are, really, only two conditions: there is the perfection of the Lord God and then there is everything else.<br /><br />If something is “not perfect,” it is outside God and thus “wrong.” It doesn’t really matter<em> how </em>it came to be outside God, the point is that it <em>is </em>outside His perfection. That is the definition of sin.<br /><br />We excuse so much by saying “Nobody’s perfect.” Since we live in the world, we accept that people and things will be flawed, and we try and make the best of them, as best we can. Sometimes, we even revel in our lack of perception. We celebrate errors and misses (so long as we believe that nobody is hurt by them). We mock things that have attempted to be glorious and then fail miserably (we even bestow mocking awards for such failures).<br /><br /> Why are we so ready to celebrate such failure? Because we fear that perfection is impossible, and we want to “feel good” about something.<br /><br />We don’t want to admit to our sins of incompleteness, of failure of successful execution, of the frailties of our human nature. And so we protect ourselves by saying “I <em>meant</em> to do that! It’s perfectly the way I intended it to be!” (even when in our hearts we know very well it is not).<br /><br /> We want to believe that we are good people, that we are not doing things that would offend the nature of the Lord. We try to follow the teachings of Jesus. We do our best to be loving and caring to those around us, certainly to those close to us. We try to make choices that honor God in all things. We seek to avoid doing harm to others. And yet....<br /><br />Every day we get things wrong. Fatigue makes us careless toward the strangers we pass, and we can inadvertently leave a wake of small injuries behind us. Stress can make us blind to the need of someone near to us, and so we pass by moments when even a small word of love could bring healing to someone. Fear leads us to lash out at someone who irritates us briefly. And all this is wrong. All this is sin. All this is outside the perfection of God.<br /><br />These are the things about which we need to be honest to God. These are the things that John means we have to confess. These are the things that we lie about when we say that we are without sin. Because they happen every day of our lives, and we just sweep past them.<br /><br />But the Lord knows our doings. He sees all our actions. He knows when we have been inattentive.<br /><br />And He knows that, because we are imperfect we will indeed get things wrong. He does not fault us for that – that is why His forgiveness is so ready at hand when we seek it out.<br /><br /> But He <em>wants</em> us to admit to these failures. Not in the way of making a mockery of them, nor in celebrating the failure (which almost invites us to keep repeating the failure for the benefit of getting attention). Rather He just wants us to admit how badly we are at trying to emulate His perfection. When we admit that, we give Him an opening to clean it, straighten it out, bring it nearer to Him – to make it righteous.<br /><br />One of the many things I do in my life is make art. I have drawn pictures since I was a very small child. Give me a piece of paper and something to draw with, and I can amuse myself for any stretch of time. But when I am intentionally working on a piece, I don’t always “get it right” with every single stroke of my pen or pencil. Sometimes I lay down a line that just “doesn’t fit.” It’s wrong. There’s no way around it. It is not going to work. And so I have to adjust it – erase the parts that are out of place, smooth the edges, correct the errors. When I do that, you could say that I was making it “righteous.”<br /><br />This is what God does when we confess our sins to him. Not just our big sins, where we knowingly plunged into major error driven by our emotions, but also the small incidental wrongs that we leave behind us through inattention, self-centeredness, and carelessness. God will smooth out the edges, correct and straighten the lines, wipe away the stains and glitches. But we have to <em>confess</em> that they exist. We have to acknowledge that we have not done well. We have to bring it before the Lord, and admit that we’ve made a mess here.<br /><br />John makes the point that if we do not confess, <em>“we make Him [the Lord] a liar and His word is not in us.”</em><br />We know that the Lord is no liar. Why would we even try to make Him so? We want His word to be in us, to be alive and active in us. We want to be worthy of fellowship with Him.<br /><br />We excuse our sins by holding on to our imperfection – by holding on to our sins. “After all,” we say, “I’m not God.” We believe that we are being humble in admitting that. “I’m not God, I’ll never be God.” And we accept that, and so sail on in our imperfection, not bothering to confess all the small sins of our day.<br /><br />But Jesus came to teach us how to be the Children of God, how to be the heirs to God’s kingdom, how to become like Jesus Himself. Is that not a gift worth striving for? But we cannot get there if we do not submit our poor artwork to the Master Artist for correction. We cannot get there if we do not confess how easily we fail in even the small things. How can God correct and perfect the flaws if we insist that we got everything right and it is perfect, when He can see quite clearly that it is not?<br /><br />“Confession is good for the soul,” it is said. God can work with us when we admit that we got it wrong.<br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-80355173772936056992012-09-27T11:45:00.002-07:002012-09-27T11:46:49.590-07:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SELF DECEIT<br /><br /> <br /><em>If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1 John 1: 8 – NAS)<br /><br /> <br />John doesn’t really pull any punches in his letter. He has just praised the nature of fellowship – with each other and with Jesus Christ. He has indicated that a lack of love can keep us from fellowship. He has told us that we need to choose to walk in the Light of Christ.<br /><br />So we’re thinking, “Yay! I can do this, easy-peasey.”<br /><br />And then he brings us to this stop by pointing out that if we say we have no sin in us, we’re not telling the truth.<br /><br />This is not something we want to hear, not something we want to face. At any time.<br /><br />When we are working diligently to follow the Lord, to genuinely keep to his teachings, we don’t want to think about our small lapses, hidden resentments, suppressed angers. We <em>want </em>to believe that we have “let go” of all those things. But John knows human nature very well, and he knows that we are so often <em>not</em> honest with ourselves.<br /><br />As followers of Jesus, we try to shape our lives to what He wants us to be as Children of God. So we watch out for the Big Sins: murder, adultery, thieving. We keep an eye on ourselves for signs of sinful inclination: greed, lust, anger. We lecture ourselves on indulging in these things. And we restrain our <em>actions</em>.<br /><br />But we do not do such a good job on excising them from our hearts.<br /><br />Anger and resentment are easy things to keep around, treasured in our hearts. Oh, we vow never to <em>act</em> on them, because we do not want to sin. But we savor our angers as if they were fine wines. We cloak them in the fine garb of Righteous Indignation and refuse to acknowledge it as sin. We make a judgment on the actions and intentions of others and feel justified in our disdain and dislike. Because their actions and beliefs are wrong or even sinful, we shun them, despise them, ridicule them, pour vitriol on them – because they are unworthy.<br /><br />We forget that they also are beloved of God. We treat them as if they have already faced Christ on the Judgment Seat and have been cast off. We ignore the possibility of redemption.<br /><br />Is this not sin on our part? To deny that redemption is possible, even in those who are (in our eyes) so steeped in sin that we are greatly repelled by them?<br /><br />Occasionally, as a test of just how willing I am to trust the redemptive power of Jesus, I speculate on What Ifs that can challenge one’s faith. Let us suppose that we know as a certainty that anyone standing <em>within </em>the Gates of Heaven has been redeemed and accepted by the Lord, that such a person has indeed repented of all his or her sins, and has submitted themselves entirely to the sovereignty of God. Now then, suppose we are ourselves approaching the Gates of Heaven and the person standing there to greet us and lead us into the presence of God is the absolute <em>last</em> person we expected to see in Heaven. What is our reaction? Will we trust that God knows what He is doing by letting this person into Heaven?<br /><br />As an artist, I love to go for bold colors and high contrast. And so I often cast this What If with Hitler as the greeter. Yes, I think it is highly unlikely, since the very act of suicide is a slap at God’s gift of life. But <em>What If</em>...?<br /><br />As a believer, I am called to trust the Lord entirely. Not my own “wisdom” or “understanding.” I cannot possibly know what goes on deep in the heart of another person. I cannot possibly know what repentance they reach. And because I cannot know these things, what justification do I have for holding on to angers and resentments caused by the <em>actions</em> of another?<br /><br />Oh, many say, “Their works speak for them! See how they continue to support these ungodly causes! They <em>persist</em> in them! That puts them utterly outside the grace of God, and I need show no mercy to them.”<br /><br />Oh, really?<br /><br /><strong><em>BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL, FOR THEY SHALL OBTAIN MERCY.<br /><br />BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS, FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED THE SONS OF GOD. </em></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we do not believe in the ultimate redemptive power of Jesus Christ, what will happen to us if we come face to face with the Least Likely Person at the Gates of Heaven? <br /><br /> I have long since stopped holding to the pretty story idea that we are met at the Gates of Heaven by Saint Peter. Yes, he was given the <em>Keys</em> to Heaven, but Jesus never said he had to do Greeter duty. It is a challenge to myself to imagine the redemption of the least likely person I know in my own life.<br /><br />That, at least, keeps me from deceiving myself about God’s love for others, even those I consider unlikely. <br /><br /> But that is just one sin. What about others?<br /><br />As a storyteller, I have to create evil characters. It is an honest reflection of the world around us, that some people <em>choose</em> to do evil because they get a pleasure out of it. Not because they were misunderstood or abused or injured in some way along their life-path (though those things may have indeed happened). No, some people deliberately, knowingly, choose actions they know are destructive to others. And so I write such characters from time to time.<br /><br />As a creator, I have to love “my creatures” in order to give them life. Even though I know their choices, and their fates, and the dire things that will come from them, I love them as creations. But I take no pleasure in their actions.<br /><br />But there are some types of storytelling, very popular these days, where the storytellers invite the audience to identify <em>with</em> evil characters. The audience is drawn into enjoying the cleverness of a character’s cruelty, of reveling in the satisfaction of unfettered violence, without concern for the life or feelings of the victim. And I have heard people justify this type of storytelling as “Showing us the mess of this person’s life.” <br /><br /> What, I have to ask, is the audience member really enjoying in this type of story?<br /><br />The truth is, the enjoyment is the pleasure of sinning. The audience member can excuse him or herself by saying, “*I* would not choose to do these things!” But by returning to it, time after time, the audience member acquiesces to the cruelty and evil.<br /><br />We allow little indulgences into our lives, and pretend that because they are entertainments they do not affect us. But it does make us more tolerant of sin, not just in others but in ourselves.<br /><br />We resented the service we get in a restaurant, so we feel justified in being curt with the waiter. “This is what you gave me, so this is what you’re getting back!” How is THIS what Jesus taught us? Didn’t Jesus say, “Do onto others as you <em>would have them do </em>onto you”? He didn’t say, “Give as you get.”<br /><br />We were slighted by a friend, and though we do not know why, we harbor the hurt and nurse it along with vinegar in the wound. We extend less love and care to that friend because we feel we had been injured in some way. Where does mercy lie in this?<br /><br />These are little things we do every single day, even while we are endeavoring to follow Christ.<br /><br />John is quite right when he says that if we say we have no sin in us we are lying and deceiving ourselves. <br /><br /> It requires daily examination of our souls. It is a constant weeding process to keep the garden of our spirit free of the weeds of sin. And just because we seem to have gotten all the weeds yesterday, we still have to check the planting beds and look for the wayward shoots of new, young weeds sprouting up.<br /><br />But the reward for all this work is fellowship with Christ. Surely that is worth the pain of some self-honesty and weeding?<br /><br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-19014386233527086442012-09-19T08:57:00.000-07:002012-09-19T08:57:15.182-07:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TO WALK IN LIGHT<br /><br /><br /><em>but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1 John 1: 7 – NAS)<br /><br /><br />John gives us this simple setting for being in fellowship with each other – to walk in the Light.<br /><br />Yet, we know how easily we hold on to our secret darkness, and how difficult it is for us to let go of our petty sins. How can we possibly walk in the Light?<br /><br />John reminds us that the blood of Jesus was sacrificed on our behalf. It has swept over us and carried away the darkness of our sin. That is what allows us to walk in the Light.<br /><br />The thing about being in light is that we can see all that is around us. Darkness hides things, but light reveals them.<br /><br />It is a curious thing that one of the most powerful of human desires is the desire to be known by others. I don’t mean “being famous” – although that compulsion is a shadow of the real desire. We want to be known for who we really are, what we are really like. We want to be regarded fondly, with affection. We want to be understood, to have our thoughts understood and have our jokes laughed at. But this can only happen by revealing ourselves. And that cannot be done in darkness.<br /><br />Yet ....<br /><br />Revelation is a painful process. It requires vulnerability. And we tend to equate vulnerability with weakness. They are not the same thing, of course. But the weak frequently are vulnerable.<br /><br />To be vulnerable means being open to the possibility of being wounded. It does not mean that we <em>will</em> be wounded, though.<br /><br />When we walk in the Light, those around us can see us as we are. Our strengths and our vulnerabilities. If we wish to be known, if we wish to be loved, we have to allow this revelation to occur. We cannot hide parts of ourselves in darkness. If we want to be in fellowship with others, we need to be open.<br /><br />If we let the protection of Jesus cover us, we can walk in the Light. We don’t have to drag our personal darkness along with us. And by walking in the Light, we attract others to us. We gain fellowship with others who are also willing to walk the same way.<br /><br />The fellowship we gain is not just with each other, of course. We gain fellowship with Christ. We gain the companionship with the One who manifests the power of God. What a marvelous travelling companion!<br /><br /> Once, when I was a ninth grader, I wrote a short story that I titled “Dark Journey” (at least, I think that was the title I gave it). In it, my character maneuvers himself through a number of obstacles in darkness. I used indirect description and never specified what any of the obstacles were, just his physical sensations and movements. Until he reached his goal, that is. He opens a door, and “the little light went on as it always did.” There’s a note there from his parents that if he has another midnight snack, he’ll lose his allowance. So the boy goes back upstairs to bed.<br /><br /> It was written for a class assignment, and I was rather pleased with what I’d done. But even now, when I look back at this piece, I am struck by how much suspense can come from simply not knowing or not seeing what is around us. The moment I finally defined the setting, letting the light shine on it, it lost all its power to alarm the reader.<br /><br /> When it comes to navigating our physical surroundings, we definitely prefer to have light about us. Why then do we continue to “walk in darkness” when it comes to our emotional, intellectual, moral and spiritual lives? Sometimes, I think it is simply because those aspects of our being are not physical. Oh, they can have physical consequences. But they are not, by nature, physical themselves. If they were, I wonder if we would keep the darker aspects around. I don’t think they would be comfortable.<br /><br />That is just one reason I am thankful for the sacrifice of Jesus. That act, and my acceptance of it on my behalf, is the one thing that makes it possible for me to stay walking in the Light. As Christ is the Light, and His presence drives away the alarming aspects of darkness. It is the Light of Christ that lets me truly see my friends and be in fellowship with them, giving them understanding and love and receiving the same from them.<br /><br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-862171718182598812012-09-18T11:09:00.001-07:002012-09-18T11:11:49.925-07:00<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TO WALK IN DARKNESS<br /><br /> <br /><em>If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not practice the truth.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1 John 1: 6 – NAS)<br /><br /> <br />Why would anyone who announces that they are “in fellowship with Jesus” choose to still walk in darkness? It seems a silly proposition. And yet, it does happen. Should we just write it off to “human nature”?<br /><br />But the fact remains that in this fallen world, figurative darkness has its attractions, its temptations. Darkness can hide many things. When we wish to keep someone from knowledge of a particular event or activity, we “keep them in the dark.” <br /><br />Little children love to play peek-a-boo. The limited awareness of the world that such a child has leads him to believe that if he cannot see a thing, it is “out of existence.” If a thing is hidden from his sight or he closes his eyes, it is very easy for the child to think it is gone. That it comes back is always a delight to the child. Gone. Back. Gone. Back.<br /><br />Some of that outlook tends to persist in our hearts and minds as we grow older. We hide parts of our lives, our activities, our attitudes and beliefs, from others – for all sorts of reasons. It might not even be because we are lying about anything. It may simply be that we wish to keep something secret. It’s nobody else’s business, right?<br /><br />But what happens when we claim to be followers of Jesus, and we still hold on to such hidden things, such “dark secrets”? <br /><br /> John had previously said that “<em>God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><br /></em>If we claim to have fellowship with the Lord, what is it that we are bringing into the situation? It is said that as believers we are <em>in Him </em>as He is in us. Is it possible for us to bring our “little darknesses” into the Lord?<br /><br />John says that no, it is not possible. There is, in Him, no darkness at all.<br /><br />So, if we persist on keeping our dark secrets and choosing to “walk in darkness,” we cannot also claim to be in fellowship with the Lord. It just doesn’t work that way. We can’t be <em>in </em>the Lord and still hold on to our private darkness. There <em>is no </em>darkness in the Lord.<br /><br />John is quite bluntly truthful when he says that anyone who claims fellowship and yet walks in darkness is lying.<br /><br />There’s a phrase that people misquote a lot these days. People say, “He wants to have his cake and eat it too.” But the fact is, that is the ordinary sequence. You have to <em>have</em> a cake before you can eat it, after all. The original phrase is slightly different: “He wants to <em>eat</em> his cake and <em>have </em>it too.” It means that the person wants the pleasure of eating the cake, but that after eating it, he still also wants the pleasure of <em>having</em> the cake before him, enticing, promising yet more pleasures. It is the picture of greed. We want to consume and we want to have the prospect, the possibility, of <em>continued</em> consumption before us. We want no end of cake or the eating of cake.<br /><br />That is what we are doing when we try to drag our personal darkness into fellowship with the Lord. Yes, we want that fellowship with Jesus, the closeness with God. But we also do not want to give up on our little sins and vices. We don’t really want to let go of all our angers (That guy really <em>deserves</em> my anger!) or pride or little greeds. “It’s a small thing. I’m just a flawed human – God loves me anyway, doesn’t He?” We try to use the great good nature of God against Him, in order to hold onto those things we <em>want</em>.<br /><br />Yes, God loves us in spite of those flaws and darknesses. But having God love us is not quite the same thing as being in fellowship with Him.<br /><br />Fellowship is so much more than just being in the presence of the other person. We can be in the midst of a huge crowd and not be in fellowship with a single person there. To be in fellowship with someone is to share an interest, to be engaged, to be a peer of the other person, an equal partner.<br /><br />And we are invited to be in fellowship with God through Jesus. What an astonishing thing! The Creator of the Universe is willing to connect and engage with<em> me,</em> this speck on the surface of a small planet circling a small star on the edge of one of a myriad of galaxies. <em>Fellowship</em>! <br /><br /> <em>B</em>ut....<br /><br /><strong><em>God is light and there is in Him no darkness at all.</em></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I cannot hold on to my private darkness and still claim to be walking in the Light of the Lord. It just doesn’t work.<br /><br />One year at Vacation Bible School, we whiled away the time learning the meaning of our given names. For some of the children, it made for an amusing game, because we wondered if their parents had known the meaning of the names (unlikely juxtapositions of personality and name-meaning seemed quite frequent). <br /><br /> Since I had been born into a church-going family, I of course knew the significance of my first name, Sarah. Much amusement was hand in my family, because of the Biblical story of the wife of Abraham. Originally, her name was Sarai, and I was taught that it meant “quarrelsome or contentious”. And I was contentious as a child, very much so. But the Lord changed Sarai’s name to Sarah, which means “princess.” (Many scholars do not hold that “Sarai” means “quarrelsome,” however, indicating that “Sarai” is not significantly different in meaning from “Sarah”.) To me, at that time, there seemed a particular responsibility in being designated a “princess.” I was not enveloped in visions of fairy tale princesses, being waiting on hand and foot. Somehow to me it had a weight of responsibility and authority, a weight I was not particularly eager to carry. What added to this weight, particularly for a child growing up in a Christian home, was learning that “Lucy,” my middle name, meant “light.” The combination of names, for a child of believers, had a haunting significance.<br /><br />There have certainly been times in my life when I have wanted to clutch my private darkness and hide away from God. But when one’s very name does not allow that sort of escape .... I became resigned to it. I cannot escape the Light of the Lord. It is impressed into my very identity. I might as well learn to “walk in the Light.”<br /><br />I am not so foolish as to claim that I have excised all my own inner darkness. I believe it is a life-long process, a life’s work, to reach that goal. But I do not want to lie, when I claim to be in fellowship with the Lord. I would much rather be in the Light than I would to walk in darkness.<br /><br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-50389524366773463842012-09-12T09:14:00.000-07:002012-09-12T09:24:27.562-07:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">REFLECTION OR TRANSLUCENCE</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1 John 1: 5 – NAS)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John gets down to his message swiftly now. He announces the basics of it and the authority of it. This message was heard from Jesus Christ Himself, who is God Made Manifest. And John puts it in terms even little children can grasp: God is Light and in Him there is no darkness at all.<br /><br />A few years ago, the blinds in my apartment were replaced. The old blinds were old when I moved in, and that had been many years previously. They were so ancient I never touched them as they threatened to fall apart. The slats themselves were metal, and so opaque entirely, letting neither vision nor light get by them when they were closed. And they were closed most of the time because I like my privacy, and I am light sensitive (meaning I respond to changes in light even when sleeping, which is annoying if you went to bed at 2:30 and first light starts sneaking in at 5:30).<br /><br />Then the management chose to do some major maintenance on all the apartments, minor repairs and such, and so I requested new blinds. I asked for vertical blinds for the living room, as they are more like curtains for allowing variances in light. The new blinds were installed, light-weight white plastic. And they seemed to be opaque, blocking vision. And they certainly block my interior lights from spilling out into the night, when they are drawn.<br /><br />But I discovered an interesting thing about the power of sunlight. Although these blinds are excellent at blocking artificial light (you can only tell if my interior lights are on if there is leakage between the slats), they are translucent to sunlight. The first morning after their installation, I was wakened by a dim light filling the whole apartment.<br /><br />We all know that sunlight is powerful. But that was the first occasion in a long time that brought it home to me (so to speak). My blinds could block man-made artificial light, but sunlight was not hindered by it at all. It would still make its way into my living space. Oh, some of the effect was hampered, of course. But as soon as there was light outside in my world, as dawn began, there would be light inside my apartment to see by.<br /><br />We can chalk this effect up to modern technology, of course. Metal blinds or wood blinds would have blocked everything. But once I got used to the translucence, I rather liked it. And it became a daily reminder to me of how pervasive God can be in our lives, if we let Him shine through.<br /><br />John wants to make the point of the purity and holiness of God.<em> “God is light and there is no darkness in Him.” </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />There is darkness of all sorts in the world, of course. Visual darkness, that keeps us from seeing things around us. Mental darkness, that keeps us from understanding things. Emotional darkness, that interferes with our relationships. John knew this as well as the next person.<br /><br />But people had come, as it is human nature to do, to ask the question, “How can there be so much of this darkness, if it does not come from God Himself? Therefore there must be some darkness<em> in</em> God!” Human nature has not changed all that much at all, for people <em>still </em> ask that question. Living <em>within </em>Creation, we have a hard time grasping that God is much more than the boundaries of Creation.<br /><br /> So John states it plainly, up-front: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.<br /><br />When we talk about being followers of Jesus, we often say things like “I want to reflect the Light of God to others.” And it can be a useful way of talking about it. Reflected light can be a very pleasing thing: we often enjoy mirrored corridors when they are lit up, and the moon when high and full in a clear night sky can be so bright as to cast strong shadows. But since the translucent blinds came into my life, I have begun to wonder about the metaphor of reflection.<br /><br />Reflective surfaces are hard. The point of them is that they do not let light “get through” to whatever is behind that surface. We are all familiar with the one-way glass that gets used for police interrogation rooms. The way these function is that the treated glass acts as a mirror on one side, in a well-lit room filled with light. On the other side, the observation room is darker. This allows observers to see through the treated glass into the subject’s room. But the darkness on the other side, for the subject, keeps the glass only reflective, for no light from the other side is passing through it.<br /><br />Which would I rather be like? The translucent blinds, which allow true light – sunlight – to pass through and illuminate things on the other side? Or would I rather be like the one-way glass, that reflects back the brightness on the mirror side, but requires darkness on the other?<br /><br />John’s words come back to me: there is no darkness in God.<br /><br />I think we are called to be translucent, not reflective. God’s light should shine from within us, whether softly (as the daylight in my apartment does when the blinds are drawn) or brightly (like when the blinds are wide open to full sunlight). I don’t think we should be lurking inside the shell of our lives in darkness, letting our hard surfaces reflect back on others the bright light of God. For we need the light as much as the next person.<br /><br />This is what John learned from Jesus Himself. And surely those two are trustworthy witnesses.<br /><br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-65020791912265388512012-09-11T10:00:00.000-07:002012-09-11T10:00:15.663-07:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WE HAVE SEEN<br /><br /><br /><em>What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life -- and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us -- what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.</em> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1 John 1: 1-4 – NAS)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />I have always been struck by how earnestly John begins this letter. Biblical scholars place the time of the writing of this letter around A.D. 90. And assuming (as I do) that it was written by the Apostle John, he would by that time have been quite an old man. He had been a young man when he walked with Jesus (possibly even the youngest of the twelve disciples), so almost his entire life had been lived based on what he had seen and heard and experienced in those three momentous years with Jesus.<br /><br />Sixty years or so is a longish time between an historical event and people “now living” discussing what it was and what it meant. I’ve been recently doing some research on the beginnings of World War II in Europe, and it struck me how quickly something can slide backwards into “historical dust.” The artifacts of such a period become curiousities (although innovation moves much faster for us than it did in the ancient world), and there become fewer and fewer eye witnesses to events as participants age and die off.<br /><br />By the time this letter was written, such aspects were beginning to sneak in to the community of the followers of Jesus. What a joy it must have been to John to see that the teachings of Jesus could indeed be passed on to others, understood and followed. How exciting it must have been to realize these wonderful things would not pass away.<br /><br />But there is something about the way he opens this letter that indicates also that other reactions to the teachings of Jesus had begun to creep into the community of believers. I suspect that the distance of time had allowed newer believers to treat many aspects of the life and teaching of Jesus as something “open to interpretation.”<br /><br />Interpreting scripture was, after all, something that had a long tradition amongst the Jews. In Jesus’ time, it was, in fact, the past-time of the “scribes and Pharisees.” The students of one scholar could argue interpretation with the students of another scholar, and no one felt that they were imposing their <em>personal</em> interpretation on ancient events because there were not witnesses from the days of Moses to tell them otherwise.<br /><br /> It must have distressed John to see that beginning within the communities of believers. For at this time, Gnosticism was beginning to push its way into the church. According to my Ryrie Study Bible, Gnosticism held that (1) knowledge is superior to virtue, (2) the nonliteral sense of Scripture is correct and can be understood only by a select few, (3) evil in the world precludes God’s being the only Creator, (4) the Incarnation is incredible because deity cannot unite itself with anything material such as a body, (5) there is no resurrection of the flesh.<br /><br />For John, who had walked with Jesus, seen miracles performed by Jesus, watched Him die a horrible death on the cross, and then – wonder of wonders – saw Him again, in the flesh, alive and walking with His followers, even <em>touching</em> Him after the Resurrection, to have newer believers, younger believers coming along and dismissing the heart of John’s life, it must have been a challenge of pain.<br /><br />At the heart of Jesus’ teachings are the basic commandments “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul and mind, and you should love your neighbor as yourself.” All other commandments grow from that. John new this and heard this from Jesus Himself, so the idea that this core virtue was of less value than “knowledge” would be such a great error. The virtue and power of love greatly exceeds any security that can come from “knowledge.” This is not to say that there’s anything wrong with “knowledge” for it is as much a part of what God has given us as love is. But it is not superior.<br /><br />It follows then that the idea that the <em>real</em> meaning of scripture can be understood only by a select few would also be something that would disturb John. The idea that <em>everything</em> in scripture is <em>only </em>metaphor to be interpreted would seem silly to John. Imagine it: he hears some young believer influenced by Gnosticism spouting off about how the story of the loaves and fishes being multiplied is just a metaphor for the abundance of the Lord, and all he can remember is the desperation the disciples felt when they realized the huge crowd was hungry and could be a problem, and Jesus blessed five loaves and two fish and then told the Twelve to feed the hundreds, possibly thousands, who had come to hear Him teach. And at the end of the day the disciples had to pick up the left-overs, and there were baskets overflowing. Some metaphor! Lugging around baskets of left-over food in the dusk after a hot day in the sun.<br /><br /><em>“We have seen, we have heard, we have looked at, and we have touched.”<br /></em>At the moment, let us skip over the issue of evil and God as the only Creator. For this moment, as John is making his declaration of being an <em>eye witness authority</em>, let us come to the matter of the Incarnation and the resurrection of the flesh.<br /><br />The denial that God would humble Himself to enter into flesh somehow offended the minds of Gnostics. “God wouldn’t do that!” “How could He be God and yet man?” It’s incredible, impossible. Therefore the entire concept is to be dismissed, in order to preserve the holiness and purity of God.<br /><br />“Jesus was just a good man. Perhaps THE Good Man. But he wasn’t God.”<br /><br />The seeming impossibility of divinity becoming human boggles the mind. So many people drop to a “more probable” interpretation. There was nothing divine about Jesus, he was just a human. (Of course, by saying the Incarnation is impossible, such "experts" are saying that there is something God cannot do, thus limiting the very nature of God.)<br /><br />Again:<em> “We have seen, we have heard, we have looked at, and we have touched.”<br /></em>There is nothing metaphorical about calling Jesus the Word of Life, nor yet again in calling Him the Son of God.<br /><br />With every fiber of his being, John knew that what he had seen and heard and touched in those three years when he was a young man was the Real Deal.<br /><br />God had chosen to become manifest among us, in the flesh and blood. Wonderful things had happened, and we were given something amazing in the life of Jesus. God Himself taught us how to come near to Him, as simply and directly as was possible. So simply and directly that even the littlest <em>child </em>could respond! No special knowledge that required levels of initiation and study. Love.<br /><br /> And John, bursting with the reality of that in his life, has to re-convince newer believers who were being affected by Gnosticism, that he had the authority of an eye witness, that he was not an old fool telling comforting stories, but who did not understand the implications of what “really happened.”<br /><br />He writes the letter to spill out the wonder and joy he has had all his life <em>because</em> of the things he heard and saw and touched. He knows this joy can be communicated to anyone, if they but listen. The fellowship with Christ Jesus and God the Father is available at all times, ever present for those who believe.<br /><br /> John was willing to stand as a witness and testify to the reality of what he had experienced. Not interpret it. Not present it as a useful metaphor for challenges. He was willing to state, flat-out, that he had witnessed the actions of Jesus Christ.<br /><br />How willing am I to witness like that? I do it a bit. But often, it feels like I’m just “stating the facts.” I look at what John says here, and am humbled and challenged. “These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.” Do I convey the JOY of knowing the Lord and His actions in my life? Or do I just tell people it is there, but make no effort to infect them with my joy?<br /><br /> These things I have seen, and they are marvelous and wonderful, and there is great joy in knowing that the Lord God is so close at hand! For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. Jesus came that we might have this Life, and have it abundantly.<br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-7361064152358221542012-09-04T11:36:00.000-07:002012-09-04T11:54:28.050-07:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SPENDING TIME IN THE WORD</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">So, after all these months of working my way through the Sermon on the Mount, I've finally finished that project. Well, at least the writing of it. The intention always was to collect the finished product in a volume (and probably an e-book as well). So there is still that work to be done - doing the editing and lay-out, for instance, as well as designing a cover for it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The discipline of sitting down, if not every day, than at least many days, and writing on a set subject for about 1,000 words was a good experience. I had certainly learned that last year during Advent, which is what led me to attempt the Sermon on the Mount. But it is very strange to have completed it! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Doing the study of the Sermon on the Mount has been on my "Writing To Do" list for quite some time. But I kept shunting it aside. But once I'd gone through the Advent to Epiphany writing, I had felt compelled to try something else. And the Sermon waited for my attention. So I began. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">There were days when it was a real challenge. This last year has been the roughest I have ever experienced. And there is much in the Sermon that admonishes us to trust entirely to God for provision for our needs. I admit that there were days when I resented that fact. There were days when it felt like everything was crashing down on me, but the verses for that day were about how God provides for small things like grasses, so how much more would He provide for His beloved children. I'd whine "But grasses don't have rent to pay!" I wasn't feeling particularly beloved at that moment, because I didn't know how God was going to address the matter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">But even on days like that, I could not really sink all the way into the muck of self-pity. Time after time, day after day, God would send help and assistance from odd directions. It doesn't mean that things have been comfortable, for they have not been. But then, I don't think that God worries too much about physical comfort for us, especially when there are things in our souls, in our hearts, that need work.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">One of the things that struck me early in working on the Sermon on the Mount, was the indication in the Beatitudes that as followers of Jesus, believers become heirs to the kingdom of heaven. But Jesus goes on to indicate that this new status for us is not just a promise of things to come, it is a mantle of power and authority that we are given in the here and now! That's both a bit scary and intimidating. But to claim it, to exercise that authority, we are obliged to try and be the person Jesus called us to be using the Beatitudes as a guideline.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I have been challenged on just how much I do trust the Lord and His providence. I have had my choices questioned. I have been asked why, if I am in so much need, I do not do literally <em>anything</em> to "get by." I'm not sure others understand the complex flow of things that brought me to this point. No matter how much I assure them that I have tried to find a job I knew I could do, without regard to what level position it was, I often have the feeling that the person questioning goes away thinking "She must be slacking off somehow. It must not be enough." When I explain that in spite of a flow of resume submissions for jobs of all sorts, in this last year, the <em>only</em> instances where I have actually <em>earned</em> money have all been connected with writing activity: sales of my book, learning SEO content writing, doing editing and writing consulting. I feel I can safely deduce that God is blessing one direction for me (writing and writing related activites) and not another (office work of any sort). I dutifully continue seeking the ordinary jobs I know I can do, including office work. But the evidence so far points that God's blessings for me are elsewhere -- and He has provided for my living needs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">One thing has been clear to me in this study, and that is that the Lord deals with us individually. The specific circumstances that one person has to deal with will not be the same as another person. Nor do all of God's People experience the same challenges at the same time. While one person may be lifted up in worldly prosperity, another may be obliged to let go of much they have possessed. And those circumstances do not reflect at all upon the quality of their faithfulness to the Lord. It is no more easy to stick to the line of God's guidence when our hands are full and flowing with money than it is when even a penny is precious wealth.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The Sermon has given me insight on what the Lord calls us to be and how we ought to respond to life. Jesus challenges us to a greater boldness. If we are God's servants, then it is His job to make sure we are maintained and ready to <em>do</em> service. He is reliable, especially when we trust Him. And that trust means more than just sitting and waiting for the divine delivery truck to pull up and meet our needs - it means that we trust Him enough to get up on our feet and step forward to do the job He gives us, even if the delivery truck hasn't arrived yet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I can't say I'm very good at that. I do it in fits and starts. Some days, anxiety slows me down. But the more I trust the Lord, the easier it becomes. And some days - today is one - even though I have concerns that need God's providence, I can rejoice in how faithful He has been to me through all these months of struggle. I can rejoice that I am still able to do the writing work I love, in spite of the situational challenges. I can rejoice at how God has unfolded to me how wonderful His people really are. God is very great, all the time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">All this I gained by spending time in the Word. But <em>not</em> simply the reading, meditating, and praying time that we usually consider to be "spending time in the Word." What began almost as a whim - "Why not <em>write</em> on something, some Bible verse or passage, every day?" has become something richer, even compelling. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">But I've finished that project. What now?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">As I was finishing the work on the Sermon on the Mount (which will be collected, under the title <em>The Measure</em> most likely), I begain to wonder, "What next?" I had initially thought of working my way through the book of James, since I consider that to be the second "operating manual" for Christians. But yesterday, I began to feel the tug of something else. I may get to James eventually, but right now, I've been taken over by the desire to study my way through the first letter of John. The study has even proclaimed its title to me: <em>Witness to Light.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">This particular blog has become given over almost entirely to my writing and thinking about religious matters, faith matters. It is only one corner of my life, one aspect of it. But it is the foundation I stand upon, that everything else rests upon. It reflects "where I'm coming from."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I have been blessed, and for that I am thankful. I don't know what the Lord will do for my life next. I do have my hopes and dreams that I want to achieve. But it is all in the Lord's hands. I'll just take the next step.</span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-85825543402274853892012-08-30T10:54:00.000-07:002012-08-30T10:55:39.800-07:00<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">TRUE AUTHORITY<br />
<br />
<br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When Jesus had finished
these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them
as one having authority, and not as their scribes.</span></em></span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">(Matthew
7: 28-29 – NAS)<br />
<br />
<br />
In the counter-culture era of the 1960s and ‘70s, the phrase “Question
Authority” took root and flourished. It covered everything from flat out
rebellion for the sake of rebellion to the sifting and judging of the worthiness
of anyone who stepped forward as an authority on any subject (“Prove it!” being
the usual response). The very contrariness of the “question authority” attitude
actually engendered a degree of respect for those who had achieved an expert
level of competence in many arenas. The amount of study, research, and
investigation into the sciences the feed oceanography gave explorer Jacques
Cousteau the mantle of Authority. He had without a doubt <em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">earned</span></em> the title. The
years of training that made for an astronaut – training as a pilot, as an
engineer (as many of them were in addition to being flyers), of the
preparations of their bodies to face the demands of space-flight – all earned
the astronauts respect as Authorities in that field, even from those who were not
in favor of the military. The act of questioning Authority, in the end, was the
testing of whether or not the so-called Authority was worthy of respect. <br />
<br />
But somewhere along the way, the by-word of “Question Authority” fell out of
use. These days, on every side, we find people putting themselves forward as
authorities on this subject or that matter, and until gross errors clash with
reality, nobody really questions such declarations. And even then, if the
person (such as a political pundit) has a popular following, the fact that the
so-called Authority is patently <em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">not</span></em>
an expert, nor even accurately knowledgeable about a point, has ceased to
matter. The followers continue following regardless.<br />
<br />
The result is a bizarre mixture of blind acceptance of anyone setting up as an
“Authority” with a great indifference toward the accuracy of what that person
puts forward.<br />
<br />
That is one aspect of dealing with “Authority” that we face in our lives these
days.<br />
<br />
Another aspect of dealing with “Authority” comes from our uncertainty of our
own knowledge. During my graduate studies, as I trained to be a literary
scholar, I came to appreciate the work of previous scholars in special areas of
study. The work of certain scholars has stood the test of time, in that their
insights into a specific body of literature have remained unequaled. They have
come to be considered Authorities. A newer scholar will measure his or her own
work against such previous Authorities as well as against the actual texts
under consideration, but rarely will the newer scholar presumptuously assume
the mantle of “Authority” by his or her own choosing. Scholars are a cautious
lot, by and large.<br />
<br />
It is that scholarly caution that the scribes who taught the people in Jesus
day exercised. They did not presume to teach from “their own authority.”
Instead, they would cite either the text itself, “As it says in the First Book
of Moses,” or they would reference the wisdom and interpretation of a previous
scholar “For as the ancient scribe Gonebefore has taught us....”<br />
<br />
This is what the people of Jesus’ time were used to. They were used to their
teachers presenting knowledge, particularly knowledge of God, with these layers
of expertise between the listener and the knowledge. They were used to hearing
the knowledge imparted with the presumption that it took years of study to gain
even these insights they were about to learn. They were used to the formal
acknowledgement of the temple structure or the heritage of passing teaching
from Master to Student in giving weight and authority to the voice of a
particular teacher.<br />
<br />
But Jesus was not like that, and He shocked them by His boldness. Jesus came to
them “out of nowhere” (for Nazareth was an insignificant village in Galilee),
with no apparent credentials (no calling card that said “I studied with
Important-teacher”). No one knew where He had studied or with whom. Yet He
understood scripture better than their usual teachers. He could quote, <em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">from memory</span></em>, passages from
scripture that would address any point in hand. And He could do these things
without hours of preparation (other than in prayer), on any occasion, whether
people were formally gathered together for His teaching or whether it was a
conversation in passing on the street.<br />
<br />
From the viewpoint of His listeners, He was a most unusual teacher, for He did
not try and convince them that He was an authority by citing all His years of
study and a heritage of Master-to-Student learning. Nor did He speak in flashy
and flamboyant ways, overwhelming the listeners with His personality so that
they never put His words to the test.<br />
<br />
Instead, He spoke to them directly, delivering His message with immediacy.
Additionally, He put it to His listeners in simple, basic terms, not hedged
round with the “protections” of citing Moses and all the teachers who have
studied the words of Moses and have reached a consensus that <em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">this</span></em> interpretation is
what was meant and what we should do. Instead, He flatly says “This is what you
are to do, <em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">this</span></em>
is why, for <em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">these things</span></em>
will bring you closer to the Lord God.” Period. End of story. Take it or leave
it.<br />
<br />
I had finished reading the Sermon on the Mount on that summer afternoon back in
my youth. It had been a mild and pleasingly quiet time. I considered what I had
read and the vistas it opened up for me. Since I had been educated in the
scientific mindset, which brought a healthy degree of skepticism to matters
leading one to question and evaluate things, I weighed what I had read. <br />
<br />
If one followed the instructions in the Sermon on the Mount, what sort of
person would result? Would such a person be of worth, even if God were not part
of the picture? Looked at objectively, the person Jesus is calling us to be
would certainly be a kind, attentive person to be around: that was good. But
what would all that “trusting God even in dire circumstances” look like? <br />
<br />
The Person of the Beatitudes and Sermon would certainly look as if they were
blindly, perhaps even unreasonably, optimistic when they had little cause to be
so. I quickly realized that others have no way of seeing the assurances of God
that an individual receives, and so that individual was going to be challenged
and argued with, possibly even by fellow believers.<br />
<br />
But there is a reason “He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as
their scribes.” And that reason is that Jesus <em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">is </span></em>the Final Authority. As the Christ, being
one with God the Father, it is <em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">He</span></em>
that can best tell us how to draw near to God, how to be the Children of God.<br />
<br />
I had “questioned authority” and found the Person to be an expert worthy of
listening to, someone whose knowledge was valid and consistent and true. I had
weighed the nature of the teaching and found it worthy of attempting. I was not
going to find a better teacher on how to be the person God designed me to be than
Jesus here in the Sermon on the Mount.<br />
<br />
I closed my Bible and thought about it. This was my standard, then. This was to
be the measure I would gage my life by. This would be my “operating manual.”<br />
<br />
We are frail and prone to wavering. Our emotions over-run us and push us off
the sure path. We forget instructions, or we pay attention to only part of
them. As Jesus says, the Lord knows our secret hearts, He knows our thoughts
and prayers and needs long before we articulate them. And yet He loves us. So through
all the tests I face, I hold to the Love of the Lord. As a caring Father, the
Creator of the Universe gives attention to my petty needs and anxieties, and
waits for me to let go of those and simply trust Him. That’s a struggle. But on
the other side of the struggle, Jesus waits, expecting me, and every other
believer, to stand beside Him in the kingdom of God, holding the power of
heaven in our hands to share out with others. Isn’t that worth trying for? I
think so.</span></div>
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-43828397376227954822012-08-29T08:39:00.000-07:002012-08-29T08:39:28.117-07:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CHOOSING A FOUNDATION<br /><br /> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell ... and great was its fall.” </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Matthew 7: 24-27 – NAS)<br /><br /><br />Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount with the analogy of two men who have built houses; one built on the solid foundation of rock, while the other built his house on sand. And He indicates that those who hear His words and act on them are the ones who choose to build on the solid foundation.<br /><br />Some months before I moved to Los Angeles, a science magazine had done an article on the nature of earthquakes in the Los Angeles area. It was not just about the number of fault lines that ran through the region. It included a discussion of the difference the type of ground made in how buildings endured the effects of the shaking. The article explained the combinations of ground surfaces in the area: the hills and mountains were, by and large, bedrock. These areas are generally stable, even during quakes, in that unless the foundation was on top an actual fault (large or small), although the structure might shake or sway, the foundation was more likely to remain sound. In the flatter areas of the basin, however, the ground was sedimentary, the settling of particles eroded and then deposited in the flats. When the flatter regions experienced earthquakes, the shaking sets all the sand particles vibrating. They shift and move as if they had become saturated with water. It’s called liquefaction. It is more detrimental to foundations, because the sifting may not be consistent underneath a foundation. The foundation can break under the weight of the structure standing on it and the changed conditions of the ground upon which it was laid.<br /><br />This article fascinated me. And as I made my plans for my move, I studied which areas were on bedrock and which were regions of sedimentary basins. I ended up choosing to live in an area in the hills. The building I live in has endured quakes and shakes, and the motion of the swaying has occasionally introduced cracks in the wall. But thankfully, it has endured well all these years I have lived here.<br /><br />For me, the analogy of the houses built on rock or sand has had an everyday practical meaning. It has meant something very exact and consequential to the matter of keeping a roof over my head.<br /><br />But Jesus is talking about far more than practical geological studies before housing construction.<br /><br />Jesus is speaking to the choices we make in how we ground our lives, what we choose as the foundation for our decisions and behaviors. In particular, He wants us to pay attention to what we are basing our actions upon.<br /><br />He has just spent considerable time giving us instruction on how to truly be the Children of God. He has explained the attitudes and behaviors that belong to those who earnestly follow Him. And now He tells us that if we have heard and put into practice what He has explained, we shall stand secure. By becoming the person described positively in the Sermon, we will be able to withstand the rains, floods and shaking winds of life, because we are grounded on God.<br /><br />What foundation could give us greater security than that?<br /><br />None that I know of.<br /><br />Why then do we find it so difficult to hold to these guidelines?<br /><br />Sandy places are appealing. They are generally flat, wide open. This expansion of space invites us to settle in easily.<br /><br />On the television show <em>Survivor</em>, groups of people (usually two groups) are placed on the beach areas of an island, and they are expected to make their own camps. They often have to construct their shelters themselves, using very few tools. The difficulty of the task is such that frequently (especially in the earliest seasons) a “tribe” would select an area that was wide open and flat. They would overlook the fact that the site <em>was</em> wide open and flat because it was the open end of a dry wash, even though the flow marks of past water streams could easily be seen in the patterns of the sand. So, of course, when rainstorms came, many of these campsites suffered disasters of various sorts.<br /><br />The “house” had been built on sand. There was not a reliable foundation.<br /><br />Working with bedrock is not always easy. Neither is trying to stick to the guidelines that Jesus has given us. We become so focused on taking care of the responsibilities the world puts on us, that we give short attention to the things Jesus has told us are most important – how we interact with God Himself and how we care for those around us. We slide into a mindset that puts being a person of the Beatitudes second to earning the money for our rent and food. We let our anxieties lead us into willful servitude to the Master named Money.<br /><br />If we choose to be servants of the Almighty God, we gain a powerful Master, yes. But we also gain a Heavenly Father, who loves us dearly, watches over us, protects us and provides for us – so long as we trust Him. The rewards of being God’s Children require us to believe that He sees so much more of what we need now and what we will need in the future than we can imagine for ourselves. The life Jesus has described asks us to let go of our anxieties about maintaining the basics of life, so that we are ready to do our jobs as servants of the Lord. God is the Good Master and Loving Father.<br /><br /> Is it easy?<br /><br />Of course not. “If it were easy, everybody would be doing it!”<br /><br />In the months I have spent working my way through the Sermon on the Mount, I have been living hand-to-mouth. My expenses have been met by such a variety of means that it astonishes me. And yet, they <em>have</em> been met, by the grace of God. Even so, at this moment, the next round of bill-paying has bred the mice of anxiety and the little rodents scurry around nibbling away at my calm and trust. No, being the person Jesus has described in the Sermon is <em>not</em> easy. Every day is a challenge. But the Lord has proven His faithfulness, time and again.<br /><br />This, then, is the solid rock foundation to build your house upon, this Sermon, exemplified in the person of Jesus. Against winds and floods it will stand true.<br /><br />This, then, is the measure of my life, the standard I choose to build with, the materials I make my floors and walls from.<br /><br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-32913286074264636372012-08-27T11:56:00.001-07:002012-08-27T12:27:34.384-07:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">THE MISTAKEN ONES<br /><br /><br /><em>Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me, on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Matthew 7: 21-23 – NAS)<br /><br /><br />Step by step, Jesus has given cautionary warnings to those who were (and are) listening to His Sermon here. He has described the attitudes and actions that will distinguish His true followers, who will be counted the Children of God. He has warned them that false prophets and teachers will come among them, and given them guidelines as to how to determine whether or not such people are indeed true followers of Christ. He uses the metaphor of “good fruit” twice over to make it clear – good fruit versus no fruit, and good fruit versus bad fruit. And in this passage here, He now expands the warning to include <em>all</em> who say they follow Him, but do not strive to fully follow His instructions.<br /><br />He flatly says that not everyone who calls upon Him will be recognized by Him as His true followers. And He seems rather uncompromising about this. Using His name to cast out demons, using His name to prophesy, using His name to work miracles, none of those impress Him, if the rest of that person’s life does not match up with the life Jesus has been describing in the Sermon.<br /><br />It has always interested me that Jesus does not say that these “special works” did not happen, nor even that it was bad that they happened. It seems to me that it indicates two things: first, that the name of Jesus is indeed powerful, no matter who wields it; and second, that although good can be done by a false follower, if there is a failure to even try to be the person described in the Beatitudes and the rest, Jesus will not recognize the person as one of His own.<br /><br />I sometimes wonder if that first aspect, the power of Jesus’ name in and of itself, becomes something that we use to deceive ourselves about how diligently we are at being the people He describes in the Beatitudes. If He only grants power to His name occasionally, does that not make Him fickle and inconsistent? It would, if He did indeed do that. But the Christ is <em>not</em> fickle or inconsistent. What a <em>waste</em> we make of the name of Jesus!<br /><br /> Imagine that any invocation of the name of Jesus caused a bubble or balloon of golden light to appear on the spot, something perhaps no more than three inches in diameter. This bubble is the manifestation of the <em>power</em> of the Lord’s name, and He has sent it to the person calling out so that it can be used for whatever purpose that person had at hand. And He sends such a bubble <em>every</em> time His name is invoked. What, then, would we see in the world around us?<br /><br /> We would see thousands and thousands of these bubbles hovering around certain people, present but never put to use. For when the power<em> is</em> put to use, the bubble is broken over the object, and that glorious light flows all over the object and sinks into it. We call upon Jesus for healing, for instance, and that bubble of glory bursts over the sick person and pours itself into the being of the sick person. We call for a blessing upon someone and that bubble of heavenly light breaks open over the recipient’s head and showers down upon the person being blessed.<br /><br />But, many times people call upon Jesus, and then never declare a task that can be performed by the glory of God. We call down curses, begging God to destroy another one of His own children. Why would He do that? And so the power waits for a task it can perform. Many times, people invoke the name of Jesus for no purpose at all. They might as well be calling their cat, for all the sense of purpose they have.<br /><br />If this is indeed the nature of the power of Jesus name, then it is no surprise that if anyone called upon His name to cast out demons, to prophesy, or to perform miracles, <em>something </em>is going to happen. But if the person prophesies in the name of Jesus, but because he wants to be famous and have attention, how is this fitting the portrait of the person of the Beatitudes?<br /><br /> We let our pride take over some times, even as believers. “I have the gift of prophecy,” I have heard someone say. But in what way, I often wonder, for I usually do not see it. The speaker may have an ability to extrapolate and thus predict the behavior of others, but that of itself is not prophecy. We get caught up in the specialness we feel when for a certain occasion we manifest a gift of the Holy Spirit.<br /><br />“Not everyone who says, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.”<br /><br />What a shower of cold water that is!<br /><br />Why does Jesus turn so suddenly stern here? After so many passages of reminding us of the loving attention of God the Father, example after example of the actions of God’s love, Jesus slams on the brakes, making us stop and pay serious attention. Why?<br /><br />Why does He do this? Because, from beginning to end of the Sermon on the Mount, He is talking about matters of great power, amazing power. He is talking about very serious issues, and the tremendous inheritance that is put into the hands of His followers. And He knows full well how easily we are distracted, how easily we turn to treating such things lightly because the power is invisible and we cannot see it with our earthly eyes. He knows how easily we can overlook His instructions in the smaller events of our lives. Thus He rightly warns that many will in fact “practice lawlessness.”<br /><br />So, then, where do we stand?<br /><br />I know that I do not want to come to Judgment Day and find that the Lord is saying “I don’t know you” to me. It is that feeling that makes me pay attention to the “small stuff.” Do I call upon Jesus to do Big Things in order to make a splash in the eyes of others? Or am I trying to be the person described in the Beatitudes – humble, gentle, forgiving, merciful? Time and again, Jesus has said that Splashes are their own reward, and do not have any eternal status. They are <em>not</em> “treasures stored in heaven.”<br /><br />It would seem, then, that if we truly want to enter into the kingdom of heaven, our calling card probably should not proclaim “demon casting, prophecies, and miracles.” Oh, those could be on our resumes, but that is not what Jesus is looking for as the basic description of who we are as His followers. Those acts alone are not our ticket into the kingdom. That is something worth remembering.<br /><br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-58108836522010722232012-08-24T08:59:00.000-07:002012-08-24T08:59:18.016-07:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GOOD FRUIT<br /><br /><br /><em>So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Matthew 7: 17-20 – NAS)<br /><br /><br />Jesus, in warning His followers about the possibility of false prophets and teachers, used the analogy of comparing people – the prophets and teachers especially – to fruit-bearing trees. His initial comparison was between plants that bear fruit (such as grapes and figs) and plants that do not (particularly thorns and thistles). He now fine-tunes the comparison between good and bad teachers to one of good fruit trees and those that bear bad fruit.<br /><br />In modern life, as consumers of fruit, we have become very far removed from the trees that bear the fruit we eat. A person could go their whole life now without seeing a single plant that feeds him or her. Thus, the issue of whether a plant is delivering good fruit or bad fruit is very distant from our awareness. We only see the good fruit in the grocery store.<br /><br />There could be many causes for a plant or tree to bear bad fruit. The root system could be constricted and thus not delivering nutrients to the plant. Or the root system could be eaten away by animals, with similar results. A disease may have invaded the plant, or a parasite or bug of some sort which steals away the life of the plant. Or it may be that by simple genetics, a particular plant produces a less pleasant, more sour type of fruit.<br /><br />As Jesus observes, and His listeners in that day would have readily understood, trees and plants that produced fruit that was “bad,” whether diseased or simply unpalatable, were destroyed. They were cut down. They were often pulled up by the roots, so that no remnant of the bad plant would remain to produce fruit of any sort again. And they were burned, in order to keep any stray cutting from taking root. Farming and tending trees is a pragmatic business and does not allow for sentiment. That which is perpetually unsatisfactory must be removed, lest whatever the cause of its “bad fruit” spread to other plants, either by disease, infestation, or genetics.<br /><br />The initial analogy was applied to teachers and prophets who might come among His followers. Jesus tells us that we will know the quality of the teacher by the quality of the fruit he produces. The simple logic of farming, of maintaining the plants that feed us, provides a guideline for judging those who would lead and teach us. What is the quality of the fruit they have produced?<br /><br />Does this teacher or prophet provide nourishing fruit, or is what he provides merely pulp and bulky substance? Is the fruit sweet and satisfying or is it sour and unpleasant to taste? This is not to say that everything a teacher or prophet says has to be sweetness and light and unchallenging. The “bitter herbs” of cooking carry sharper flavors that in turn enhance the flavor of the main food substance they are cooked with. Those bitter herbs are a far cry from substances that are badly spoiled or even poisonous to us. The dividing line remains the same: there is that which nourishes us and there is that which our bodies reject. We spew out the bad, but take in the good.<br /><br />So. We will know the good teachers and prophets from the bad by the fruit they produce.<br /><br />And what might that be?<br /><br />The modern age has raised the craft of persuasion to the level of an art (though whether or not it is a <em>fine</em> art can definitely be debated). On all sides we see advertisements that try to convince us that this soap or that shoe or the next beverage is the very best thing in the universe and we must have it in order to have a good, happy life. And often enough the product will be of sufficient quality to be worth our spending money for it. Such things, of course, do not of themselves provide that good, happy life we desire, but they may be tools that can help us along the way.<br /><br />If we can persuade each other about objects and products, how much more so can we do it with our teaching and personalities?<br /><br />“Oh, he’s so pleasant to be around that <em>of course </em>his teaching must be good! Right?” And so, people listen, absorb, and start to adjust their behaviors to whatever that teaching might be, never weighing just what the fruit of the teaching actually is.<br /><br />Let us remember that the object of our lives is to be the people described in the Beatitudes: people who are outwardly directed to those around us, caring, attentive, humble. We have been told to<em> not</em> put our own interests first, but rather to serve the Lord first and foremost, and that as a consequence all our needs will be attended to by our heavenly Father.<br /><br />What might we hear from the False Prophets and Teachers?<br /><br />Such a one might declare that he and he alone knows the time of the end of the world and the day of the Lord’s return: therefore, give all to him and follow him, and you will be the select who rise to glory!<br /><br />Ridiculous? But we have seen, and that recently, such a scenario, where those who did not heed scripture (for Jesus himself said that no one would know the hour of his coming again, except God the Father only). They gave all to the false prophet, and when things did not come to pass as the man declared, those followers lost all. They lost not just the money and belongings they had given away, but also trust, faith, love – all those qualities that enrich our interactions, damaged by the experience.<br /><br />Or what of those teachers that tell you to focus all your energies on yourself, telling you that you should make choices the benefit you first and foremost – for it’s only after <em>you</em> have achieved your goal of glory that you can do anything for others. Right?<br /><br />Whole organizations have grown up based on such a message. In the worldly context, many of them even thrive, because the human creature is by nature selfish. We believe that we <em>do</em> have to take care of ourselves first. It is a primal, primitive reaction to our broken, fallen world.<br /><br />But Jesus reminds us that that is not what God has designed. The Lord created beauty, and He still desires us to achieve that. As our Father, He is the one that watches out for us and provides for us. If we put our trust in that truth, then we have no need to listen to the teachers who preach, at the core, that ultimate selfishness is the greatest human achievement. Since we, as followers of Jesus, already know that we are greatly loved and are provided for in all our needs, we are free to extend that care and love to others.<br /><br />Jesus began the analogy by applying it to false prophets and teachers. But inevitably, we cannot escape the implication that He also wants us to apply it to ourselves. He has called us to be His followers, which means teaching others His Way as well as living it ourselves. We, then, must also look to the fruit we ourselves produce.<br /><br />What is <em>your</em> fruit like? What is <em>mine</em> like? Are we bringing forth sweet, juicy apples, or are they the sourest, most inedible crabapples in existence?<br /><br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-75113423534103091332012-08-22T09:19:00.003-07:002012-08-22T09:19:48.549-07:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BE WARY<br /><br /> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Matthew 7: 15-16 – NAS)<br /><br /><br />Jesus warns His followers against falling in with false prophets and teachers.<br /><br /> Why is that?<br /><br />It happens whenever groups of people gather together in a shared interest. There are those who are attracted to power, which may take the form of simply liking to manipulate groups of other people. If someone has such a liking, they are drawn to already formed groups and worm their way into the group, putting on the protective coloring of the group. The False One may have no real interest in whatever subject or cause has drawn the group together, but they can talk it up quite well. They have “put on sheep’s clothing.” They work their way through the flock, becoming familiar, until they can take the position of bellwether.<br /><br />The bellwether of a flock of sheep is the one sheep the others will follow as the flock moves through the countryside. Often shepherds will put a bell on this animal, for if they can lead <em>that</em> sheep where they want to go, the rest of the flock will follow. Because sheep are very near-sighted, they rely on their trustworthy fellows very heavily.<br /><br />Putting on “sheep’s clothing” is not so difficult as it might sound. The wool of sheep can grow fast and heavy, and it provides excellent insulation during the cold of winters. When Spring comes, the sheep owners shear off the heavy fleece coat. By cutting close to the skin of the sheep, the wool comes off in a heavy, tangled mat.<br /><br />If one wished to sneak in among sheep, one could lift this mat of tangled wool and wear it like a cloak over head and shoulders and crawl among the animals. The scent of the wool and the familiar appearance would keep the other sheep from being alarmed. In the ancient world, this was one of the ways thieves would attempt to steal from poorly guarded flocks.<br /><br />These details would have been familiar to Jesus’ followers, for they lived close to the basics of raising sheep and protecting them (shepherding metaphors are very frequent in scripture). The specifics are less familiar to us because most of us live so distantly from the sources of the objects in our lives. We vaguely use the phrase “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” and although we grasp the idea of the predator how has snuck in among the prey, we don’t think about the details beyond that.<br /><br />Jesus warns us to be wary, then. He knew that the power-hungry would sneak in among the body of His followers (especially after He was gone), and would try to mislead them or even destroy them. He wanted to be sure that the faithful understood the need to pay close attention to each who moved about with them.<br /><br />Happily, He gives us guidelines to determine whether that wooly mass traveling next to us really is one of the flock.<br /><br />Jesus shifts His metaphors from shepherding to the growing of crops for those guidelines. He tells us that we will know the difference between the true follower and the false one on the basis of the type of fruit that is produced by the individual.<br /><br />Actually, if we look closer at the metaphor, Jesus does more than just indicate the type of fruit. He uses comparisons between fruit bearing plants (grape vines and fig trees) and plants that notoriously bear nothing resembling an edible fruit at all (thorns and thistles).<br /><br />If we think about what Jesus says here, we have the means to test the validity of those who come among believers and try to gather up a cloak of leadership among us. We can look to the fruit of their efforts and evaluate (<em>judge</em>) the nature of those fruits: do they nourish those around them, like grapes and figs, bringing sweetness to the hungry, or are they sticky and prickly and always pricking the exposed skin of everyone with whom they come in contact?<br /><br />Too often we let ourselves become too diffident about evaluating those around us who are supposedly “part of the flock.” We caution ourselves by citing only half of Jesus warning about making judgments (“Judge not lest you be judged”) and do not remember that His warning about that is just about being clear as to what standards we are using in making our judgments. So we avoid testing our fellow sheep, and the one who has “put on sheep’s clothing” continues to linger with us.<br /><br /> We can even get to the point where we accept the thorns and thistles as proper. <em>Shouldn't</em> it be challenging to be a follower of Christ? After all, He did warn us that we would be persecuted. We can’t expect everything to be soft and easy, can we?<br /><br />But Jesus has told us that we are to expect <em>fruit</em> from each other. Remember the type of person that would be shaped by the standards of the Beatitudes? Gentle, humble, merciful, peacemaking, always seeing the righteousness of God. These are beautiful qualities that touch our souls when we are near them. And even in this passage, Jesus compares the fruits of the righteous and true followers to grapes and figs. These are simple fruits, that carry their own sweetness in them. The “fruit” of the true follower of Christ will give us sweet nourishment, even in small amounts, like a single grape or fig.<br /><br />Is everything that is discomforting a sign that there is a false prophet or teacher among us?<br /><br />No. Scrubbing the skin clean of dirt often is a stinging experience. But when the encrustation is washed away, our skin tingles. We feel the pleasure of freshness and cleanliness.<br /><br />But the pain of scratches from thorns and thistles, that is something different. The skin is broken and blood is drawn. There is no pleasure in the encounter, nor in its consequences, for such scratches and cuts can become infected, bringing even greater discomfort.<br /><br />We need to be wary of those who come among us. Jesus has warned us that some invaders will come with hunger, with a desire to feed on us. We need to test the fruit such people produce for us. Not in big flashy ways, but rather in the small, simple fruits. When we put out our hand for the small things in interaction with each other, do we receive a grape or a fig, or do we find a thorn or thistle being pressed into our palm?<br /><br />Pay attention. Especially if the other person wants to lead you somewhere unknown. Is that person really a member of the flock, or is the fleecy cover thrown over something more dangerous?<br /><br />Be wary, and look to the fruit.<br /><br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-11061042704705746272012-08-18T17:39:00.000-07:002012-08-18T17:39:20.347-07:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">THE NARROW WAY<br /><br /><br /><em>Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Matthew 7: 13-14 – NAS)<br /><br /><br />“If it were easy, everybody would be doing it!”<br /><br />How often do we say that about activities, especially activities that we appreciate when they are well done? A deeply moving singer, a fleet-footed runner, a mesmerizing storyteller – we see their achievements and wish that we could do likewise. But we also recognize at the same time that it took more than talent to reach that achievement: it took long hours of work and practice and study.<br /><br />So why are we really surprised that Jesus tells us the same thing about the challenge of living as the Children of God? Perhaps deep down we feel that if God really loved us, He would not make it so difficult to live the life He designs for us. The closer we get to God, shouldn’t it be easier to live as His people?<br /><br />But that isn’t the case. Sticking to His design takes a lot of work on our part, every day.<br /><br />Not long ago, in the trailers for one of the <strong><em>Harry Potter </em></strong>movies, the wizard Dumbledore gives advice to Harry about facing and fighting evil. He tells Harry that the choices he will face are between “what is right and what is <em>easy</em>” (emphasis mine). We had expected the usual phrasing of “right and wrong,” but the storytellers jolted us with the actual choice we face.<br /><br />Jesus begins by telling us that the gate is wide and the way broad – oh, doesn’t <em>that</em> sound appealing after a long, tiring trip? But then He pulls the comfort rug out from under us by adding that <em>that</em> path is the way to <em>destruction</em>.<br /><br />Wait, what?<br /><br />So there we stand, outside the city walls of our destination, within sight of our goals. And now He tells us that that wide, open archway, and the wide, glittering street that seems to run straight into the heart of the city, the easiest way toward our goal ... He tells us <em>that </em>way only leads to destruction. We still have some work to do.<br /><br />We have to go find the narrow way into the city. We have to go look for a small gate and a narrow way, if we really want to reach the life that God has to give us.<br /><br />If the broad path leads to destruction, why do so many people go down it? What is the appeal? Don’t they know where it goes?<br /><br />Probably not.<br /><br />They go down the broad way because it seems to be the easiest route to the center of the city, to the life that the Lord gives His followers, all those good things that Jesus had been talking about. But think about any stretch of road that is filled with shops and restaurants and theaters and other distractions. Think about the Strip in Las Vegas or the “Crossroads of the World”, Times Square in New York City. Even though they are only “ways” to other places in reality, they have become “destinations” by offering a dazzling array of distractions. What is it that they really offer? Do they offer a real destination? Remember, our goal is to find the source of True Life, the throne of God Almighty and our true home. And that isn’t to be found on the Vegas Strip or in Times Square.<br /><br />So, Jesus tells us to turn aside and look for a much smaller gate, and the narrow way that lies beyond it. It is <em>that</em> street, He indicates, that will lead us straight to God, without distraction or deviation.<br /><br />It is so very easy to be swept along on the broad way into the city. So many other people have traveled it that the surface is smoothed out. The flow of traffic keeps everything moving forward, so that we hardly even need to think about where we are going. The current will take us there, right to our destination ... won’t it?<br /><br />No. It’s likely that broad thoroughfare will dead-end in some square at the backside of the Court of God, where the white walls shine, but have no opening. And getting out of that square, to find the street that leads to the front door of God’s palace will require going back out the way we came in, in order to search for the small gate. Back out, against the flow and press of everyone around us, past all those same distractions that glittered and enticed us as we came in.<br /><br />G.K. Chesterton once said (and I’m quoting from memory, so I may not have the quotation exact, sorry) that “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and not tried.”<br /><br />If things come too easily for us, perhaps we should stop and double-check which street we are on. It is wise to be wary. This isn’t to say that God does not ease our pathway when we truly are seeking His face. It’s just that if we are getting lots of bells and whistles and bright lights as we go along, it’s possible that we are on the wrong street. The pathway that leads to God and true life is narrow, straight and uncluttered. It may be a steep climb uphill, but up ahead of us we can see the open front door of the Courts of God and the welcoming light that always pours out of it. And that light is warmer and more welcoming than the flashing displays of the Strip or Times Square.<br /><br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-31095416824411124902012-08-15T12:05:00.000-07:002012-08-15T12:05:00.001-07:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WALKING GOLD<br /><br /><br /><em>In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Matthew 7: 12 – NAS)<br /><br /><br />Jesus has just been talking about how ordinary people want to give good things to their children, using that as an analogy for how much God wants to give <em>us </em>good things. He makes that point that even “the evil” know how to do this for their children. In this verse, He extends that knowledge further out, inviting us to change our behavior not just toward our children but toward everyone we come in contact with.<br /><br />“Treat people the same way you want them to treat you.”<br /><br />The Golden Rule.<br /><br />Other faiths tend to put it in the negative approach: do not do to others that which you would not want them to do to you. But that is a passive response to our fellow humans, and Jesus calls us to a positive, active engagement with those around us. <em>Do</em> onto others as you would have them do to you.<br /><br />How well do we follow this?<br /><br />Some of us manage to do it fairly well and rather consistently. The rest of us struggle along in fits and starts.<br /><br />We do well enough treating our family and friends as we want them to treat us. We may even do the same with our co-workers, earning their appreciation for the respect we extend to them. But the less personal our relationship is with someone the less attention we pay to this instruction from the Lord.<br /><br />Why do we find it so hard to be gracious to everyone we meet? Is it that we feel we might be bled of our strength if we give the unknown person we casually pass by a greater extent of courtesy? What is it that we fear we lose in being kind to strangers?<br /><br />I’ve recently taken part in conversations discussing the etiquette of tipping. How much should one tip? Should one tip even if the service has been bad? There even seem to be practices of punitive tipping, where the patron will dock the servitor a certain amount, leaving the total of the tip at less than standard. Because, as someone pointed out, the tip is a <em>gratuity</em>, something given beyond obligation for service. The thing that disappointed me in this discussion was that most participants were applying this even to the service they would get in a common restaurant, where it is likely the wait-staff are not making high wages and genuinely need the extra that comes to them in tips. The judgmental mindset feels justified in declaring that if the service was bad, it is therefore legitimate to give the servitor a poor tip.<br /><br />And those were believers saying that, people who claim to be followers of Christ.<br /><br />“Do onto others as you would have them do to you.”<br /><br />How<em> easily </em>we avoid that commandment when it comes to the small encounters of our lives! The waiters, the cashiers in stores, the other people in the grocery line, the other drivers on the freeway – they don’t know us, they’ll never see us again, we barely see them in the encounter, so why should the Golden Rule apply in such situations? Who’s to know?<br /><br />The Lord.<br /><br />The Lord knows.<br /><br />If we know as individuals that the Almighty God considers us precious, that we are heirs to His kingdom, should we not cultivate the gracious manners of royalty?<br /><br />But more than that, look around. Every face you see belongs to someone that is equally precious to God. Every person you see is so valuable to God that they may as well be Walking Gold.<br /><br />The Golden Rule is not about doing something so that you can get something back – although that is a consequence. It is about recognizing the value of everyone around you. But we are stubborn, selfish creatures by nature, and the Lord knows this. So He instructs us in terms we can grasp: if you want to be treated as the Golden Creature that He has made you to be, you need to treat everyone else with that same respect – <em>because it is true!</em> They <em>are</em> those Golden Creatures in God’s eyes.<br /><br />The Lord knows that I’m no saint. I try to follow the guidelines that He has given us, especially those in the Sermon on the Mount. But I don’t always succeed in remembering them. I can be as petty as the next person, as resentful and hostile to offenses against my dignity, brittle about things that make me anxious. Yet I find that the more I try to abide by this verse, the easier it becomes.<br /><br />The simplest method is simply to pay attention to the people around me. We all hate to be ignored, to be treated as if we were part of the furniture. So I try to at least acknowledge the existence of the person I am passing by. The gift of a little courtesy costs me nothing but a minor effort, and yet gives the recipient that refreshing awareness that they have been seen and appreciated at least for that fleeting moment.<br /><br />“In <em>everything</em>, treat people the same way you want them to treat you.”<br /><br />How do <em>you </em>want to be treated in your interactions with others? I myself would rather receive attention, courtesy, generosity and appreciation. So that is what I try to give to others. Yet every day, I still see people – followers of Christ – treat the incidental people they encounter in life with indifference, inattention and dismissal. We all have our levels of self-protection and not engaging with unknown passers-by is one way we maintain our shields. And we are not all on the same level of spiritual development. I can be wise in one area that a friend is not, and yet still be an utter fool in an area that my friend handles with grace and elegance.<br /><br />But we have to begin somewhere, when it comes to playing the part of being one of the Children of the Most High. If we assume that anyone we might encounter is also such a being, it is easier for us to treat them as one of the Walking Gold. For is that not how <em>we </em>want to be treated?<br /><br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-26958684079556996702012-08-14T09:41:00.005-07:002012-08-14T09:41:59.618-07:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">STONES AND SNAKES<br /><br /><br /><em>Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Matthew 7: 9-11 – NAS)<br /><br /> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jesus follows His straightforward declaration of “Ask, seek, and knock” with this reminder that the person we ask things of is God Almighty, our heavenly Father. He uses the analogy of human parenting to convey how attentive God is to our needs and requests.<br /><br />He is, of course, speaking of normal parents, the vast majority of parents, for we know that there are examples of parents who do indeed give their children “stones and snakes” when the offspring have asked for bread and fish. That is the tragedy of being human, especially when that person has moved far away from God. But most people, even those who otherwise treat their fellow humans badly, try to do what is best for their children.<br /><br />So if otherwise dubious specimens of humanity can “do right” by their children, why do we doubt that God our Father would not do right by us?<br /><br />And yet, when we go through times of difficulty - when we do not feel that we are getting answers to our asking, finding what we are seeking, or having doors opened when we knock – we often question whether God is paying attention or even cares about the challenges we face.<br /><br />Jesus knows how impatient we get with our circumstances, particularly when they are difficult to deal with. He knows that we beg and plead with God that He intervene and improve our situation. So many of the Psalms, in fact, do just that, begging for God to step in and relieve the psalmist from distress.<br /><br />He also wants us to remember that we, as His followers, are heirs to the kingdom of heaven. We <em>are not</em> forgotten orphans who have no expectation of receiving anything from anybody. We are heirs to the household, beloved children of a living Father, who knows <em>everything </em>in our lives. Remember: this is the Father who knows our secret desires and prayers, who provides for the birds of the air and lilies of the field and for His children who are dear to His heart. Do we really have cause to claim that He is inattentive or is refusing to give us what we need?<br /><br />Yet, the fact remains that many believers go through distressing times of trial. Their lives get cut down to the bone, with many things that seem necessary and important stripped away. At such times, the faithful cling to a verse like Psalm 37: 25 in desperation, like a life line. The verse says, <em>“I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread.”</em> The believer who goes through such trials really does cling to the hope that surely the Lord will not let them be cast out into the streets or go hungry. And yet, when times of trial stretch on and on, those of us facing such difficult experiences end up wondering if God really <em>is </em>paying attention.<br /><br /> Jesus reassures us that God does know our needs and will indeed fulfill them. The Lord will not give us stones when we need bread, and He will not give us snakes when we need fish.<br /><br />Then why do we not get those things we ask for?<br /><br />There have been many times when I’ve been made to realize that what I think I need and what <em>God</em> thinks I need are two different things. It surprised me at times the things that God is willing to let go by unattended. What could be more important than meeting my financial obligations, for instance? These are debts I accrued in good faith, with every intention of paying them promptly. But when circumstances occur that make that impossible, why does God not step in to address them? Could it be that there might be something more important to Him than whether or not I pay off my debt immediately?<br /><br />What <em>is</em> more important to God then? What is <em>He</em> seeing in my life that needs addressing more than my worldly concerns?<br /><br />A time of trial involves a stripping away of things we have let get between us and our heavenly Father. How many layers of <em>things</em> have we put between us and our intimate relationship with God? Do we let our financial obligations distract us from that relationship? What about our every-day jobs? Do they become more important to us than spending time with God? Even our family can become a buffer zone between us and the Lord, as we put them first in our lives – perhaps even making little idols of them, that we worship more in our hearts than we do the Creator of the Universe.<br /><br />What we think is necessary is not always what God thinks is necessary.<br /><br />In that case, we need to examine the experiences He <em>does</em> send our way, to discover what it is in them that He thinks we need. Often it is as simple as our need to let go of trying to control everything. Can we not trust the Creator of the Universe lay out the path for us? Is He really likely to steer us badly? If we feel that we are not receiving what we need, is it really because we believe that God is not providing for us? Do we take the time to stop and examine what we <em>are</em> receiving in each circumstance?<br /><br />When circumstances are rough on us, we really don’t want to sit down and “count it all joy.” When we’re wondering where the next amount of grocery money will come from, we’re not really keen to review the consequences of our tighter budget. But perhaps God is working on something through those circumstances. Perhaps by taking away spending money for frivolous things, the Lord is teaching us to break old eating habits which are not healthy for us. Perhaps in peeling away our entertainment indulgences, He is showing us how much we let distract us from the work He has planned for us.<br /><br />We are not demeaned slaves of God. We are not forgotten beggars on the road to the kingdom. As followers of Jesus, we are heirs of the Lord Almighty. Into our hands, He has placed the authority of heaven. Yes, the Lord is our master and we are called to serve Him. But He is also our loving Father, who cares for us more deeply that the silly birds and flowers who are incapable of intimacy with Him.<br /><br />Circumstances may bring us to the edge of a seeming Cliff of Disaster. We may stand at that edge, constantly fearing that we will fall over it and disappear into the abyss. But God holds us in His hands. Jesus has told us time and again, the Lord is trustworthy, the Lord loves us as dearly as any parent loves his children. Just as He will not give us stones when we ask for the needed daily bread, He does not give us desolation when we need life. We just need to stop letting our expectations and desires cloud our vision. We need to see just what the Lord <em>has</em> given us: it might be plain sustaining bread when we were looking for feasts. But He does not give us stones to eat.<br /><br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-65513022711898357722012-08-08T10:38:00.000-07:002012-08-08T10:38:08.175-07:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> ASK, SEEK, KNOCK<br /><br /><br /><em>Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.</em><br />(Matthew 7: 7-8 – NAS)<br /><br /><br />This seems so simple and straightforward. And surprisingly wonderful. Jesus says this is true, so surely it must be.<br /><br />Why then do we find it so hard to “make it work” in our lives? We feel that we have been asking and asking for something, and nothing has happened. We seek for something and don’t find it. We knock on metaphorical doors and never find a sign of life. How can it be as simple as Jesus says it is?<br /><br />When we ask things of God our Father, what is it that we have in mind? What do we ask for? And how are we doing the asking?<br /><br /><br />I ask that God provide for my living expenses, for my rent and my food. Jesus says that what we ask for we will be given. What I trip over is that what God gives to me never appears in the form I’m expecting of it. When I ask God to provide for me, in the back of my mind I’m actually thinking of wanting some regular income so I don’t even have to think about how I will paying the rent this month. But that isn’t what I <em>asked </em>of God. Why then am I surprised when God’s providence comes from some unexpected direction?<br /><br /><br />It would seem then, that on the one hand, we ask in too vague a manner, leaving God at a loss as to how to address our request. What did we <em>really </em>want to ask for?<br /><br /> I think we often fear to be too specific because we want to “leave God room” to do the unexpected. But in doing that, we end up muffling what our request is. Or, we try to be humble about what we are asking, and so we do not ask for what is really on our hearts but rather for some pale, feeble version of our desire.<br /><br /> Let us remember that we are speaking to a Divine Father who in fact already <em>knows </em>what is in our hearts. What is <em>He </em>thinking when He hears our watered down requests instead of our heart’s desires? He knows we don’t really want what we’ve asked for, we want something bigger, better. And so He waits for us to speak from our real desire, to ask for what we really want.<br /><br />The same dynamic comes into play when we seek after things. How earnestly <em>are </em>we seeking? Do we even know what we want to <em>find </em>at the end of our questing? Will we recognize it when we come to it?<br /><br /> And knocking on doors? Are we really doing that, or are we just tapping on the door once in passing? Do we really want to enter in through the door? And are we actually even knocking at a door? I’ve long taken a sarcastic perspective on “knocking on doors,” because, as I like to say, I wonder if we are even always knocking on a <em>door</em>. Perhaps the “door” isn’t opening because what we are knocking on is a wall, and the door itself is standing wide open just a few paces away. But because we are stubborn creatures, we continue knocking on the surface in front of us.<br /><br />So I do think that our perspectives and honesty do affect how well God can answer us when we ask, seek and knock. I think some of these conditions do matter in how we interact with the Lord when we come before Him.<br /><br />And yet, the simplicity of Jesus’ statement remains. He does not elaborate. He does not put conditions on the actions. The declaration stands there boldly, un-garnished, uncluttered, direct.<br /><br />Ask, and it shall be given to you.<br /><br />Seek, and you shall find.<br /><br />Knock, and the door will be opened to you.<br /><br /><em>Everyone </em>who asks will receive.<br /><br />He who seeks, will find.<br /><br />To those who knock, the door will be opened.<br /><br />Jesus really wants to get these points across, so He says each of them <em>twice</em>.<br /><br />Does our doubt and unbelief get in the way of following through on these promises? I think it does. We don’t believe it could be this simple. Jesus will remind us about the context in the next set of verses, once again telling us that we are dealing with a loving Father.<br /><br /> Ask, seek, knock.<br /><br />Are we honest enough to ask for what we really desire? Are we clear enough on our goals that we know exactly what we are seeking? Are we bold enough to knock on the door once we find it?<br /><br />We are the Children of the Lord. If we are earnestly trying to be His people, what do we fear when faced with this loving opportunity for interaction that He gives us?<br /><br />Be bold and approach the Father: ask, seek, knock.<br /><br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6687384.post-30285840449560447412012-08-04T06:33:00.001-07:002012-08-04T06:33:22.652-07:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> WHAT IS HOLY?<br /><br /><br /><em>Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Matthew 7: 6 – NAS)<br /><br /><br />How often do we reference “pearls before swine” these days? Quite a lot, but mostly in a dismissive way. It gets used by someone in sympathy with another who is attempting to reach an audience. When the intended audience doesn’t respond, the speaker dismisses the target audience and “consoles” the friend at the same time by saying, “Pearls before swine,” meaning that the audience isn’t worthy of the attention given them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We use the phrase as a judgment against those who are ignorant or unperceptive, who fail to recognize value in good work. But that is not what Jesus is focusing on here, and we would be better served to pay attention to Him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Do not give what is <em>holy</em> to dogs, and do not throw your <em>pearls </em>before swine....”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jesus asks us to look closely at what has been placed in our hands, and to value those things properly. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pearls were of great value in Jesus’ time, because they were difficult to come by and their remarkable beauty made them very desirable. Pearls are not crystals like most other gemstones. That distinction, and the process by which they are made, gives pearls a reputation of high worth. These are not mere pebbles that we treat as objects of beauty: they are <em>undeniably </em> beautiful objects. Pearls do not get mistaken for lesser things (though lesser things can attempt to imitate them). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that we’re clear about pearls, let us remember how Jesus began this verse. “Do not give what is holy to dogs.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Holiness goes far beyond monetary value. Holiness is about the striving for perfection. It is about those things that have been dedicated to the very best, even consecrated to the service of God. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jesus tells us not to give such things to dogs or swine. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He is not condemning the dogs or swine for <em>being </em>dogs or swine. Pigs were considered unclean animals in Jesus’ culture. It didn’t have to do with a condition of being covered with dirt, but rather that they had not been sanctified by the Lord. Pigs were frequently kept because they would eat garbage. Many dogs also were not considered to be of much worth. But they are what they are. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jesus, however, is not dismissing them as being unworthy. To the people He was speaking to, that much was already understood. Instead, Jesus was reminding us to pay attention to our own conduct. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do we scatter our pearls anywhere and everywhere, in hopes that someone out there will value them? Do we give away everything to the first creature that comes up to us and plops itself down ready to take <em>anything </em>we will give to it? If we <em>do</em> indeed do those things, what does that say about how we value what has been given into our hands? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, Jesus is not just talking about physical objects, whether things we have acquired or things we have made. He is also speaking about the “pearls of wisdom” that the Lord has given us in scripture, and in what Jesus has been teaching. How do we treat these things? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How often are Bible verses scattered about in discussions, just to “make a point”? How often have believers used scripture to browbeat others? We justify that behavior – when we think about it – by relying on the fact that it is <em>God's </em>Word. “It will not come back void,” we tell ourselves. But have we treated it as <em>holy</em>? Have we treated it as if it had the beauty and pricelessness of a wonderful pearl? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We do not. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We often treat God’s Word as if all that wisdom and relationship were simply sticks to beat others with, tools for getting “our way.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let us remember that this verse is in the middle of a long teaching wherein Jesus is trying to make a bunch of blockheads (namely, <em>us</em>) understand the conduct that He desires to find in His followers. This is not about telling us not to waste our efforts on the unworthy (although He does caution us as to how the Unworthy might respond to things). Instead, it is about how <em>we</em> treat what we are given. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Word of the Lord is like a strand of perfectly matched pearls. Are you going to throw away that strand on a street corner and hope that whoever finds it will value it? Are you going to pull the strand apart and toss each pearl into a crowd of passers-by, and hope that each one lands in the hands of someone who knows what it is? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who in their right mind would do that? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yet, that is how we treat the Lord’s words. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just how much <em>do</em> we value what the Lord has given to us? Do we toss scripture at outsiders and think that we have done enough in sharing the Good News? Do we expect them to behave like dogs and just lap everything up, taking it all in without understanding? What does it say about <em>US</em> that we treat the Word of the Lord this way? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Holiness is about the ultimate of perfection. We say that God is holy. But how often do we think of what that means? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The shining heart of all existence is the presence of God. The fire of the Most Holy is such that imperfection cannot come near to Him (unless Jesus stands protection for that which is imperfect). The nature of this holiness is inherent in all scripture. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But we don’t treat it that way. We treat scripture as “mere words,” and so we toss them around every which way. Is it any surprise that nonbelievers trample them under their feet and then turn and run at us, ready to tear us to pieces? Have we in anyway way treated the scripture as something precious and valuable? Don’t we come across to others as simply using tools (and particularly unlovely tools, at that!)? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Scripture and the relationship that we can have with God by understanding scripture... these are the things that are holy. These are the pearls of great price. These are what we should treat as being so precious they are gems in a crown. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let us all be careful about what we start casually tossing out to those passing by us, those that are around us. Let us remember what is holy.<br /><br /> </span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317580616795337485noreply@blogger.com0