Category Archives: Faith

Faith, General

Circling God

I circle around God,

around the primordial tower.

I’ve been circling for thousands of years

and I still don’t know: am I a falcon,

a storm, or a great song?

This poem was written a Rainer Maria Rilke as a love poem for God, a modern psalm, over a hundred years ago. It refers to God as a tower, much like David did in his own psalms and Solomon did in the proverbs.

Psalm 61:2b-3, “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against my enemy.”

Proverb 18:10, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; a righteous man runs into it and is safe.”

A tower refers to a tall part of a fortress or city walls. For the Jewish people, it was a picture of God’s protection. Its presence brought a feeling of security and well-being. They would look to the tower during times of spiritual or physical peril. They would flee to the tower in times of terror.

I think what is so poignant about Rilke’s poem is that we all have the habit of circling the tower that is God. We circle and don’t land. We circle and we wonder. We circle and we doubt. Always circling, never landing.

And his question is valid. Why do we keep circling? What form does our circling take?

Perhaps you are a falcon. For early Christians, the falcon became a meaningful spiritual symbol. A wild falcon symbolized the unsaved, the sinful, and the lost. A tamed falcon symbolized the converted. It was a symbol of hope and victory.

Before someone is saved, they are like that wild falcon the just keeps circling. But, we are called to be tamed, to find refuge in the tower. Are you still wild or do you still wrestle with your wild ways?

Perhaps you are a storm. In the Bible, storms are a contradictory image. On one hand, it gives life with its water. On the other hand, it brings death through its violence. It is an uncontrollable force of nature.

You may feel a little out of control. You may feel like a walking contradiction. You may be simultaneously drawn toward and repelled by the tower; by God. The reality is that you will only feel grounded, centered, and complete when you go into the tower. The storm within will only be calmed by the presence of He who commands the wind and rain.

Perhaps you are a great song. I like the idea of being a great song because songs are symbols of the soul and singing is an expression of the soul. What is your soul expressing as it circles? What kind of great song do you possess?

Great doesn’t always mean good. It simply means big. You can be a song of big sorrow or big joy. You can be a song of big anger or big love. You can circle because your song is one of outrage which keeps you away from God. You can circle because your song is one of adoration that makes God seem untouchable, unapproachable. But the reality is that the best songs are sung in the tower. The truth is the God is also a song – the believer’s song.

If we know how we circle, then we know why we circle. If we know why we circle, then we have a choice.

Can you stop circling? Can the wild falcon within you be tamed; be saved and finally find hope and victory? Can the storm, the uncontrollable force of nature within you be calmed? Can your song connect and join in with God’s song?

It is time.

It is time to find rest and refuge in the tower. You have been circling long enough. Rilke said that he had been circling for thousands of years and in biblical terms, 1,000 is the largest figure they could count by. It wasn’t literal. It was his way of saying that he had been circling for as long as he could remember.

Perhaps you have been circling for thousands of years too.

We are prone to circle God. A part of us is drawn to Him, yet we tend to wander away. We may settle into the tower for a time, but then circle again. Or, maybe we aren’t fully settled and parts of us are still circling.

Whatever it may be for you, the tower isn’t going anywhere. The tower isn’t the one that moves. We move. We circle. We wander.

God is faithful. God is patient. He waits for us to make a choice. He invites us into relationship with Him. He offers us exactly what we need – whether we happen to be a falcon, a storm, or a great song.

Faith, General

Pause for Peace

One of my worst habits is running ahead of God. I have been working on breaking it, but self-sufficiency will always be my greatest faith hurdle. I get an idea or find a solution or make a decision and I run with it. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t.

The problem is not with how it turns out. The problem is that I am leaning on my own understanding. I’m relying upon myself. I’m only thinking about my own will.

Both in the Lord’s prayer and in his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed for God’s will to be done.

Are we praying for the same thing?

In Ephesians 5:15-17, Paul gives a strong caution against my worst habit: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

When Paul talks about our walk, he is referring to how we live. Look carefully at how you live. And live wisely. “Wise” in the Greek means wise in a practical sense. It refers to someone whose actions are governed by piety (reverence for God) and integrity.

When I look at my actions, I can say that I act with integrity and that I am rather practical about things. The problem is that the formula for real wisdom requires a reverence for God in all that I do. That would be the missing ingredient when I run ahead. Even if it works out well. Even if it works out great. It still isn’t wise because I wasn’t acting with Godly reverence. I wasn’t considering him. I wasn’t consulting him. I wasn’t respecting him.

Instead, I was being foolish – senseless, stupid, rash. The exact thing that Paul is telling us to avoid. Be careful! Don’t be foolish! Because being foolish is not the best use of our time. Such a limited resource like time needs to be used wisely. Acting without a thought for God would not be that. No, instead, we need to understand the will of God.

In my research, my favorite discovery was the meaning of the word “understand” in the Greek. It means to bring together your perception with the thing being perceived. If I am trying to perceive the will of God, then I need to bring my perception to his will (the thing being perceived).

That means that I need to adjust my thoughts, my understanding to the truth, to what is real, to the actual thing. Too many times, we try to shape the truth to fit our perception rather than shaping our perception to fit the truth.

If we are trying to perceive the will of God, we have to bring ourselves to it. That requires humility. That requires molding yourself to him.

It also requires that you stop trying to figure everything out on your own – including God’s will. God’s will belongs to him. We can’t figure it out, force it out, or logic it out. His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. So, we must remember…

His will is for him to reveal, not for us to discover.

We could easily treat God’s will like another piece to the puzzle we are trying to solve. We still try to do it in our own way and time and strength.

That is foolish.

It isn’t wise.

It isn’t understanding.

In order for God to reveal his will, we have to go to him. We have to be still, be quiet. We have to listen. That’s how I am working to break the habit of running ahead.

I build in a pause.

I pause to listen, to check in. If I don’t get an answer, I prolong the pause. I don’t unpause until I feel a sense of peace. Not peace about the situation, but a serenity in my next step. A peace that only comes from knowing the will of God.

In his letter to the Colossians, Paul shares a prayer for them from a fellow Colossian, saying: “that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God” (Col. 4:12).

Mature means complete, finished. It is living wisely.

Fully assured means totally convinced. It is understanding (molding your perception to the thing being perceived).

He prayed that we may be complete and completely convinced in God’s will.

That is how we should be. Complete and completely convinced in the will of God, not just your own.

Don’t act, don’t move until you are.

Instead, build in a pause for peace.

Faith, General

Take Cover

The oddest thing happened to me the other morning. I couldn’t get the image of an umbrella out of my head. I was pretty much forced to ponder it for far longer than I would have liked. But, the more I thought about it, the more that I realized how God is actually pretty similar to an umbrella.

Before you think me too crazy, consider the idea for a moment. Doesn’t God act like an umbrella for those who draw close enough to him to be covered by his protection?

Psalm 91:1-4 reads, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.”

The psalmist refers to God as a shelter, a refuge, a fortress, a cover, and a shield. I’m pretty sure that my umbrella idea falls in the same category – God promises to protect us.

He just doesn’t promise to protect us from everything. No, instead, he promises two things.

First is protection from the snares of the fowler and the deadly pestilence. Exciting stuff, huh?

Seriously though, I know that the metaphor is slightly lost on us because we don’t go around building snares for fowl (aka birds) and we don’t worry that much about some weird pestilence creeping in and wiping us out. But, back in the day of our psalmist, those images meant a great deal.

So, what then, do they mean to us? What is God promising to protect us from in 21st century?

Snares are traps and tricks designed to get you stuck. We all have plenty of those lying in wait. There are snares, traps, tricks, and all sorts of temptations out there ready to trip us up. The promise to protect us from this threat can be found in the New Testament too.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

This is the verse that many people misquote, claiming that God will not give you more than you can handle. That’s not what the Bible says. Of course God gives you more than you can handle. Because if you could handle everything on your own, then you wouldn’t need him!

No, the Bible promises that you will not be tempted beyond what you can handle and that God will always provide an escape from that temptation. He will protect you from being snared, as long as you are close to him and remain under his protection. If you choose to wander out from underneath his wing of protection, like those silly little chicks that wander off on their own and put themselves at risk for harm, then you will have a harder time of it.

Stay under the cover of God’s wing and you will be protected from the snares and traps of the Enemy.

You will also be protected from that deadly pestilence. Pestilence is plague and disease. In Scripture, those are often symbols for the spread of evil.

Ain’t that the truth of it?! Evil does spread like a disease. And God promises to protect you from being overcome by the pestilence that is evil.

In Romans 6, Paul talks about how we are no longer slaves to sin, but children of God. We are not bound by sin and evil anymore. We have been set free. That doesn’t mean we can’t continue to indulge in it. That doesn’t mean that we won’t be affected by it.

If we choose to stay close to God, tucked nicely under his wing, then we won’t be overcome by it. No matter what it tries to do, it will not win.

Again, God isn’t promising that nothing bad will happen. Evil will still hurt those we know and love. Consequences of the bad choices we and others make will still be there. But, evil will not win. It will not overtake us.

As long as we are under God’s wing. And that is the second part of the promise. We will always have a place under his wing.

In Matthew 23:37, Jesus used the imagery of a mother hen and her chicks, lamenting about how often he would gather us together like “a hen gathers her brood under her wings.”

We are like those silly chicks. We get curious. We get tempted to venture out on our own. We think we know better or know enough. So we wander away.

I hope that you have figured out that sticking close to God and remaining under his wing is a far better life than wandering on your own, but even if you are still figuring that out and experiencing the consequences of being out from under the cover of his protection, God is waiting with his arms open to you. He is waiting for your return. You have no idea how often he would gather you back up under his wing.

This is the reason that his faithfulness is called a shield and a buckler by our psalmist.

To be honest, I had to look up what a buckler was because I was pretty sure that the writer wasn’t describing someone who makes buckles. I found that a buckler is a large shield that curves so that it completely covers a person.

So, not only is God’s faithfulness a shield, but it is a shield big enough to cover us. Just like a wing. Just like an umbrella. He is the shield that protects us from the snares of the Enemy; from the spread of evil.

It is no wonder, then, that when Paul talked about the armor of God, he called our faithfulness in God a shield too. In fact, it is a shield that extinguishes the flaming darts of the evil one (Eph 6:16). Our faith in God draws us close to him, under the cover of his protection. So, in reality, the shield is his faithfulness to us. Our faith just puts us underneath it.

So, you have a choice. As ever. As always.

Do you choose option A – God, or option B – not God? That’s seriously what it comes down to.

Do you choose truth (aka God) or do you choose to wander away toward lies (aka not God)?

Do you choose faith or the trap of fear and doubt?

Do you choose love or the evil taint of hate and discord?

Do you choose humility or the pestilence that is pride?

Do you choose to take cover under the wing of God’s protection or… not?

Faith, General

Lost Life, Found Life

The other day, I read a passage of Scripture that held such a juxtaposition, I was totally intrigued and couldn’t seem to move past it until I pondered it for a few days.

That passage is Matthew 16:24-26:

“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?’”

The juxtaposition was the two distinct ideas of what it means to lose your life. Lose your life one way and have it saved. Lose your life another way and have it forfeited.

How do we know if we are losing it in the right way?

That is the thought that kept me hooked. How can I lose my life in the way that leads me to be saved? What does that mean? What would it look like?

I looked up the word “lose” in the ancient Greek and found that it is actually about destroying the connection that one thing has to another. Kind of like losing a call on your phone. It really isn’t lost. The connection was destroyed.

I then looked up the word “life” and found the Greek word “psyche.” After reading through its definition I realized that it correlates in a really profound way with how the soul is understood in ancient Hebrew.

You see, in Hebrew, there are three words for soul. Each word correlates to a different aspect of our soul; a different layer.

“Nephesh” is our life force. It is the part that is connected to our life on earth. It is being physically alive.

“Ruach” is our personality, our will, our thoughts and feelings. It is our heart. It is what makes us each unique and special.

“Neshama” is the part that was made in the image of God. It is the part that we think about when we consider dying and going to Heaven. It is the part that communicates with the Holy Spirit. It is the aspect of our soul that longs for the immaterial, the spiritual, and eternity.

Going back to the Greek word, “psyche,” it encompasses both Ruach and Neshama. It is the seat of our feelings and the essence that differs from the body, continuing after death. It is our heart and soul.

So, when Jesus is talking about losing your life, he is saying that you need to destroy the connection that your heart and soul has to…

That’s the next question. Destroy the connection to what?

He says that we need to lose our life for his sake. I believe that means we have to destroy our connection to anything that isn’t him. Destroy the connection your heart and soul has to anything else for his sake. That means, destroy the connection to anything that is not of God; to anything ungodly; to anything worldly.

Why?

So you can find it.

Jesus said that if you lose your life for his sake, then you will find it. You will actually find your true heart and soul when you disconnect from the world.

You see, we are only made whole in our connection to Christ. It is the only way to find your true self. But, you have to disconnect from the world before you can fully connect to Jesus. He wants all of you. There is no middle ground. He won’t share.

Just check out these two verses:

James 4:4, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world, makes himself an enemy of God.”

1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

This is talking about being in the world, but not of the world. These apostles are telling you to maintain a separation from the world in order to be fully connected to Jesus. The alternative is to remain connected to the world, but an enemy of God. What good is that? What good comes from that?

I think that is why the next thing Jesus says is, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”

Stay connected to the world, and you get to gain the world and all it has to offer. You get to have the world, but not God. The word translated to “soul” in this verse is still the Greek word “psyche.” So, you end up forfeiting your heart and soul to the world.

The word “forfeit” means to sustain damage or injury; to suffer loss. Remember that we are only made whole, made right in Christ. We only find our true self in connection with Jesus.

By rejecting that connection, instead choosing to remain connected to the world, you damage and injure yourself because you don’t get to be made whole. Instead, you continue to be fractured and broken. You don’t get to find your true self. Instead, you remain a false self.

So, there you have it. The juxtaposition turns out to be a choice. You can gain the world and lose your soul or you can lose the world and save your soul.

You really can lose your life in the right way, in the way that leads it to be saved. You just have to lose it in Christ. You have to destroy the connection you have to this world and connect with Jesus instead.

What it all boils down to is this: A lost life is a found life.

But only if you do it all for Jesus’ sake and no one and nothing else’s.

Faith, General

Open Hands

Psalm 24:1-2 tells us, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.”

Have you ever really stopped to think about that? The earth and everything in it and everyone on it ultimately belongs to God.

Yet, we walk around like it belongs to us. The world belongs to us. Everything in it and on it belongs to us. We even think that we belong to us.

I think that is why Jesus said in Luke 14:33, “In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” To be a disciple – a student, learner, follower of Christ, you have to make Him the most important thing in your life. You have to choose Him over anything and everything. You have to quit trying to own everything.

In a famous story dubbed “The Rich Young Ruler,” Jesus told this wealthy man that he had to be willing to sell all his possessions to follow him. It is said that the young man walked away dejected because he was very wealthy and he wasn’t willing to make Jesus more important than his wealth.

Now, does this really mean that Jesus literally wants us all to have nothing? No. It is both rabbinic hyperbole and a challenge to adopt a certain mindset. You see, rabbis often used hyperbole, speaking in extremes, to make a point. What was Jesus’ point in saying this? First, He wants to be number one in your life. Second, He wants us to adopt the mindset that we don’t own anything; to recognize that everything really belongs to God.

God owns the world. It is all His. We are merely stewards, caretakers, borrowers. We have to remember that and hold onto everything and everyone with open hands. We need to stop grasping and holding tightly to anything of this world.

In the story of Job, he declares that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. He says this after he has just lost everything – his family, his wealth, his health. Yet, he still acknowledged that it all belonged to God and just as God had chosen to give it to him, God had also chosen to take it away. In the midst of his grief, he still maintained a heavenly mindset.

I used to hate the idea that God gives and takes away. Probably because I didn’t like the idea of losing anything. But, I finally realized something and it clicked for me.

God gives us abilities, people, prosperity, resources, talents, time, and on and on, in order to bless us and benefit us as we become who He wants us to be, and progress down His path, and further His kingdom, and point the way to Him, and bring Him glory.

It is a circular, mutual benefit. When it stops benefitting us or when it stops benefitting Him, He takes it away.

That’s another reason we need to hold everything with open hands. As soon as it becomes more important than God, as soon as it becomes a distraction away from what God wants, as soon as it becomes an idol of any sort, then it needs to go away. And, often, the one thing that you hold onto tightest, the one thing that you aren’t willing to give up, is going to be the one thing you need to loosen your grasp, and, probably, the one thing that you will be called to give up.

That’s a harsh thought, isn’t it? But, the reality is that living with open hands enables us to live with an open heart and a fearless faith. Fearless, because it takes away our worry. It keeps things really simple. It narrows everything down to living for Jesus.

In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us not to worry about anything, not even our most basic needs. God made us. He knows what we need. He wants to take care of us, but only if we look to Him. In verse 33, Jesus says that we must seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and then He will give us everything that we need.

Are you seeking Him first? Are you pursuing Him? Are you desiring Him?

Look for His will, purpose, and plan. Submit yourself to His authority. Enter into relationship with Him and be open to transformation. Then He will take care of everything else.

Open hands doesn’t mean we reject everything or we don’t care about anything. It doesn’t mean we don’t want, wish, desire, or dream. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have nice things or enjoy the bonuses in life.

Living with open hands simply means we hold it all with the understanding that it’s not really ours; with the attitude and willingness to let it all go, if called upon.

Be willing to give up everything.

Desire God more than anything else.

Remember why He gave you all that you have and hold it all with open hands.

It doesn’t really belong to you anyway.

Faith, Family

Radiant Love

We have heard people talk about letting your light shine. I mean, there’s even a song that Sunday school children learn, “This Little Light of Mine,” that comes complete with hand movements.

I was thinking the other day about what that light really is. Some Bible verses describe it as the gospel or as truth. Other verses use it to describe holiness, purity, or just exposure of anything currently hidden in the dark. The more that I thought about it, though, I came to realize that, ultimately, it describes the presence of God. God is truth and holiness and purity. God is light.

Letting our light shine is letting God’s presence shine through, to radiate from us.

That made me think of Moses. In Exodus 34:29, it says, “When Moses came down from Mt Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.”

His face was radiant. Being in God’s presence made Moses’ face radiate light.

In our own way, we can do the same. We can allow the presence of God to shine from within. We can radiate any number of God’s qualities, be it truth or holiness or joy. But, I think the most important thing we can radiate is love.

1 Corinthians 13 culminates in verse 13: “So now these three remain – faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.” Love is the greatest. It is what we are supposed to do. It is what we are supposed to be.

The Greatest Commandment is about love. The second greatest commandment is about love. The new commandment that Jesus gave before His death is about love.

Why? Why this fixation with love?

Because God so loved the world.

Because God is love.

Because love is greater than even faith and hope.

It seems pretty obvious that God cares a whole lot about love. Him loving us. Us loving Him. Us loving each other. It is His defining trait. It should be our defining trait, too.

1 John 4:12 tells us that no one has ever seen God, but that if we love one another, then He abides in us. They can’t see Him, but they can see Him in us. They can catch a glimpse of God when they see us radiate love.

But, that only happens if God abides in us. We have to allow Him to fill us and shine through us. Can you do that? Can you let God in to the point that you are filled with His love? What about letting it shine out of you? Moses covered his face when it was radiant because it made others uncomfortable. Can you keep the veil off and expose your radiance?

Both acts require vulnerability. It is not easy to let God in. It is not easy to let His presence be exposed in you.

Both acts require trust. If you are going to let God come in and fill you up with His presence, you have to trust Him. You also have to trust Him to carry you through when you step forth with your light fully shining.

Both acts require someone to get uncomfortable. It can make you uncomfortable to let God be such a dominant presence within you. It can make you uncomfortable to feel exposed without a veil. It can definitely make other people uncomfortable when they experience this kind of radiant love coming from you.

But, despite those challenges, we have to remember that both acts also result in something better than we currently have. They lead you to a better you. They lead you to better relationships. They lead you to a better future.

2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”

I love that verse. God is inviting us into relationship with Him. He is saying, just turn and take off that veil, and let me in. As we do that, we are being transformed into the very image upon which we gaze. But, it is a steady transformation. It isn’t done in one shot. It is done from one degree to the next.

I just picture myself standing there fully exposed as I bask in God’s presence, totally unaware that the longer I remain there, that I am becoming the very thing upon which I gaze. In His presence, we are not left unchanged.

He is filling us and making us radiant.

We have to remember, though, that this light isn’t something we generate on our own. It is the presence of God abiding within us. It is a chance for us to be radiant – and not just any kind of radiance, we get to be radiant love.

Imagine what you could be like if you let God in and became radiant love.

Imagine what your relationships would be like.

Imagine what your life would be like.

Make that your intention this week – embracing radiant love that comes from letting God in and taking your veil off.

Faith

Empathetic Joy

Romans 12:15 tells us to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”

That makes me wonder how many of us can genuinely celebrate when others succeed? Are we truly able to join in their joy? Or, do we feel envy or indifference instead?

I think rejoicing when others rejoice sounds easier to do than it really is. There are so many things that we allow to interfere with authentically connecting with others like that.

One thing that interferes is how we see people. Do we really see them as people or do we see them as objects? More often than we would probably like to admit, people become vehicles to get us what we want, obstacles that sit in our way, or they are totally irrelevant to us. So, when the vehicle succeeds, we are selfishly happy because it helps us in some way. If the obstacle succeeds, then we are agitated or annoyed because it will only reinforce their obstacle-ness. If they are irrelevant, then we are indifferent to their success.

What if we were able to see each other as people instead of objects? More so, what if we were able to see each other as an extension of ourselves? I mean, we are all members of one body.

1 Corinthians 12:25-26 says, “There may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”

Really? If one member is honored, all rejoice together?

Most of us do not see others in this way, so we rarely rejoice with them when they are honored instead of us. We end up comparing ourselves with them so that their success makes us feel like failures. Even if their success has nothing to do with us!

We need to break out of the mindset that there are finite successes. That being honored or celebrated is a limited resource that has to be fought over.

I think that another thing that interferes with our ability to experience empathetic joy is how we see ourselves. If we don’t feel joy in ourselves, we can envy the joy we see in others.

We covet and crave instead of join in and share.

We feel threatened instead of empathetic.

Have you ever had someone see you do something well or be blessed in some way and try to jokingly say that they hate you? Yeah. It doesn’t feel good. Not even when they are clearly joking. Yet, we have that reaction when we see others succeed or celebrate or feel joyous.

What is wrong with us?

Well, perhaps the real culprit is that we don’t see the good in ourselves or in our lives, so we end up feeling diminished by the good we see happen to others.

Since we don’t see the source of joy in ourselves, then we end up feeling worse about ourselves when others find it for themselves.

Or, maybe we feel convicted by seeing others get blessed. We fixate on what we lack or what we have failed to do. Somehow, we end up discouraged.

What I find fascinating is that Romans 12:15 (my opening verse) is found under the heading, “Marks of a True Christian.” Empathetic joy is a mark of a true Christian. It is a sign of being a part of the body of Christ.

Can we learn to see others that way? Can we learn to connect with them – authentically?

Can we see their joys, blessings, successes, and good and be inspired instead of threatened? Join in their joy instead of envy or feel bothered by it?

Can we support, encourage, praise and celebrate others?

Can we rejoice together even if it has nothing to do with us?

What about when we think the person doesn’t deserve the good or the blessings they are receiving?

Ouch. Right?

Admittedly, that would be a really hard thing to do. But, the problem with this is that we may be comparing or judging the person, using our own standard or definition as if it is accurate. To us, according to us, they are not good enough or deserving enough to have this good thing happen to them.

Really?

I think this just exposes our lack of trust in God.

We may also be misinterpreting something as good or as a blessing, when maybe it isn’t. Maybe it is a test or even a curse. Maybe we should just let God do his thing and stay out of it.

He tells us to rejoice when others rejoice. He tells us to rejoice together when someone is honored. He tells us that experiencing empathetic joy is a mark of a true Christian.

Can we start to get over ourselves and join in the joy?

I know for me, I sure hope so.

Faith

True Discipleship

“…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” –Acts 1:8, ESV

When I hear the word “witness,” my mind conjures up a picture of someone sitting in court, giving testimony to whatever he saw, heard, or experienced that the court proceeding finds relevant. In truth, my mind isn’t too far off of the actual definition of being a witness, which means to serve by testimony. I just need to break it out of the narrowed venue. Being a witness for Christ is something that all believers are called to do everywhere, at all times, and with everyone.

If we take a look at the actual Greek of Jesus’ words, I think we get an even better picture of what this calling really entails. The Greek word translated to “witness” is martys. It is the same word from which we get the word “martyr.” Bible translators translate martys into both witness and martyr. It amazes me that the same word is used to produce two words which are vastly different in our American minds. Giving your testimony is merely stating words of truth when called into account. Being a martyr means standing by that testimony to the point of death.

When Jesus calls us to be His witnesses, He is wanting more than for us to stand up in a court of law and tell the truth about Him. He wants us to go everywhere and tell everyone the truth about Him, even if it results in suffering or death. This understanding is much more in line with what Jesus taught about being His disciple. In Luke 14:26 Jesus says that anyone who doesn’t despise his own life cannot be His disciple. Later in verse 33, He says, “Those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”

If you are not willing to meet the conditions of being a disciple, then you cannot call yourself one. And if you aren’t a disciple of Christ, then can you call yourself a Christian? Can you consider yourself saved? I think it is something for us all to consider.

In the July 2nd entry of My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers wrote, “There is a difference between devotion to a Person and devotion to principles or to a cause. Our Lord never proclaimed a cause; He proclaimed personal devotion to Himself. To be a disciple is to be a devoted love-slave of the Lord Jesus. Many of us who call ourselves Christians are not devoted to Jesus Christ.”

A disciple of Christ is devoted to Jesus Christ, not to the cause of Christianity or Christian principles. We are not to be devoted to a concept, but to the Person of Jesus. When we find ourselves more devoted to the Church or to a ministry or to a role or to a value, we have made an idol (replaced Christ and His proper position in our lives) with things that should be evidence of our devotion to Christ. It’s like being in love with the idea of love rather than the actual person. You can be devoted to the idea of Christ and Christ-likeness without being devoted to the actual person.

Jesus said that we should count the cost before undertaking something of enormous magnitude (Luke 14:28-32). There is nothing of greater magnitude or importance than being a disciple of Christ, and the cost to undertake it is everything.

Are you willing to surrender everything out of devotion to Jesus? Are you willing to be His witness to the point of suffering or death? Are you willing to surrender control and follow? Being a disciple isn’t just about getting into Heaven. It is about answering a call to a lifestyle of learning, obeying, and being transformed.

Faith, Family, Marriage

Revolutionary Heat – the August eNewsletter

I live in Arizona in what is affectionately called the Valley of the Sun. In the middle of August, it actually does seem like the sun itself has come to sit right down inside our little valley. Sometimes it can be too hot to even go swimming because the sun has warmed up the water in the pool to an uncomfortable degree. When it hits 118˚, you run from your car to inside your house as fast as possible for fear of the soles of your shoes melting to the pavement. Well, maybe it’s not that bad, but I do still make a mad dash for the air conditioned house because the heat is so oppressive, so exhausting, so debilitating.

No one likes to be sitting in the middle of the Valley of the Sun in August…

 

FAITH

…but sometimes, that is exactly where God meets you. In the dead center of the oppressive heat.

Heat is an interesting thing. It warms us when we are cold. It cooks our food. It sterilizes our water. Those are all good things. But, heat can also make you hot – unbearably hot. It can burn your food and dry up your water.

The right amount of heat seems like a blessing. Too much heat seems like a curse. Perhaps that is true when we are talking about the physical body. But, don’t be so quick to judge when God turns up the heat on your spirit. There are times when God allows us to get unbearably hot emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. There are times when God allows our metaphorical food and water to be dried up. He wants us sitting in the middle of the Valley of the Sun in August.

Why?

Because sometimes things need to be burned down to ash before a new thing can spring up. Forestry people know that small forest fires are necessary to maintain the health of the overall forest. The trees that have been growing for a long time develop a canopy of branches and leaves that block the sun from reaching the forest floor. With little sun light, not many plants can survive there, leaving hardly any new growth. There are even some plants with seeds that will only germinate after a hot fire and will then use nutrients from the fire to begin to grow.

If you find yourself in the midst of unbearable spiritual heat, look around and find those things that have been growing for so long that they are preventing any new growth. Allow God to clear out the old things to create something new, perhaps even something that needs this heat to take root and to grow.

Jesus began His ministry by reading a passage of Scripture from Isaiah 61 and declaring it fulfilled by His presence and the work that He had come to do. One of the things that He proclaimed is that He had come to give His people beauty for their ashes. But first there needs to be ashes from which the beauty can come. What is it in your life that needs to face the oppressive heat of August?

 

MARRIAGE

“Those who marry will face many troubles in this life…” – 1 Corinthians 7:28, NIV

Nobody ever reads those words in a wedding ceremony yet they are the reality of married life. We will face many troubles in life and in marriage. Things will go wrong. Times will get hard. The heat of passion will, at times, become a heat of oppression. Heat is inevitable because your spouse is married to a sinner. And you must have some empathy for that because you are married to one too.

Bring two sinners together for a lifetime and things are bound to heat up. And when things heat up, tempers usually flare. In those times, it is essential that you take a look at what is fueling your temper. Did you set up expectations somewhere along the way that have yet to be fulfilled and have now turned into something your spouse owes you? Do you sense some sort of injustice taking place in your relationship? Have you experienced some sort of loss, whether it is real or perceived (e.g. respect, power, identity, security, affection, trust)? Maybe you haven’t lost it yet, but it is being threatened or endangered.

Anger is always fueled by an unpaid emotional debt, injustice, some sort of loss, or fear of a loss. Always. One or more of those things. Without fail. Meaning, take another look at that list instead of blowing off this part of what I’m saying to you.

You cannot solve anger in anger because the problem lies behind it. You have to solve the problem at the problem. When the heat rises and becomes unbearable, look for what lies behind your contribution to this potentially combustible situation.

 

FAMILY

If Paul thought that those who marry will face many troubles in this life, then he had no clue how compounded that statement would be for those who have children. Take a situation that already has two sinners in it and add more to it. It’s like adding fresh kindling to already glowing embers. Little fires pop up all the time. There isn’t a day that goes by without my two little boys getting into some sort of a roe with each other. And there are plenty of days where parenting my children creates some heat under my collar.

What I have come to realize is that it never does any good for me to lose my cool with my kids. My agitation makes my kids more agitated. They bicker even more and are in worse moods when I project negative emotions. Not only does my anger distract them away from the real issue, but it’s like I am adding lighter fluid to their already heated exchange. Everyone remains in a bad mood and the negative energy just seems to simmer before boiling over again.

So, how do we parents remain cool in the midst of the oppressive family heat? Step 1 is to take deep breaths. They are calming. They add oxygen to our brains which will help us remain clear-headed.

Step 2 is to talk to yourself. I recommend doing this part quietly in your head, but it’s up to you. What should you say to yourself? Whatever you find calming, centering, or encouraging. I like to say things like, “Smother the fire,” “Give them a good example,” “Be the adult,” or “Lord Jesus, please calm me down before I go and take this child that I brought into the world out of it.”

Step 3 is to assess yourself and the situation and do the best thing possible at that moment. If you are calm enough to address the issue, then go ahead and do it. If your children are too worked up to hear you, separate them until they calm down. If you are too worked up to do anything other than contribute to the heat, separate your children as a temporary reprieve while you go and calm down. If this is a recurring issue that you have already talked about with your children, then separate your children until you have had time to decide upon a course of action (aka think of something better than what you have already tried with them).

Step 4 is to plan a time, preferably in the very near future, when everyone involved in this negative exchange can enjoy each other. You have to replace the debit that this negativity had upon the family’s overall atmosphere. Maybe you make cookies together after dinner or go rent a movie that everyone can watch or head to the park for a bit of outdoor fun.

That’s it. Breathe. Talk to yourself. Do the best thing you can in the moment. Plan some fun.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

I think I can get an “Amen” when I say that nobody likes going through the Refiner’s fire. It is uncomfortable. It is oppressive. It downright sucks. But we are always better for it. We appreciate its effect. We revel in the closeness that we feel with God that only comes on the other side of the fire.

I may be literally sitting in the Valley of the Sun in August as I type this letter to you, but we all find ourselves there emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and relationally at one time or another. Perhaps you find yourself there now. Find comfort in the knowledge that God has not forsaken you. God is not punishing you. God is using this time to refine you, to purify you, to make you holy because He is holy.

Zechariah 13:9 says, “I will put [them] into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”

When silver is refined, the Refiner places the silver into the center of the fire where it is the hottest in order to burn away all impurities. He has to sit in front of the fire with His eyes on the silver the entire time because if the silver is left in the fire for even a moment too long, it would be destroyed. He watches the silver because He knows that it has been refined only when He can see His image reflected in it.

In ancient times, in order to test for the purity of gold, it had to be heated. If it retains its color when heated, then it is pure. If it pales, roughens and hardens, or softens and blackens, then it contains impurities.

We will face many troubles in this life, whether married or not, whether parents or not. And it is in these heated troubles, that God refines us like silver and tests us like gold. He burns away the impurities and looks for His reflection. He heats us up and looks for our reaction to see how pure we have become.

May the heat that you next face be a revolutionary heat that purifies you and draws you closer to Jesus.

Faith, Family, Marriage

Revolutionary Ice Cream – the July eNewsletter

I bet most of you don’t know that July is national ice cream month and this Sunday, July 17th, is national ice cream day (note to self: Google free ice cream offers for Sunday). Ice cream is certainly a favorite for my kids as it was for me and my sisters when we were kids. My sisters and I always got a kick out of making our own ice cream at home. Every once in a great while my parents were willing to drag out the ice cream maker and undertake the arduous task of creating homemade ice cream. A lot of work went into a little bit of ice cream, but we always thought it was worth it. Nothing beats homemade ice cream. So why go and buy ice cream at the store if it isn’t as good? Simple. Because it is easier. We are willing to settle for lower quality in order to save effort.

Unfortunately, that turns out to be a very compelling metaphor for a lot of things in life.

FAITH

A major claim against Christianity by nonbelievers (and some believers) is that Christians do not walk their talk. Jesus and the Apostles modeled a lifestyle that few modern Christians follow. The Bible teaches principles and values that would make the world a significantly better place if a larger portion of its population practiced them rather than merely considered them.

So why don’t we?

Because living the Christian life and upholding Christian principles and values require a strong connection with God. Our human nature prevents us from fully expressing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control on our own. We need a strong reliance upon Jesus every single day. And that takes effort. Effort that most people aren’t willing to exert.

It is much easier to go to church for an hour a couple Sundays a month and let the worship leader sing the songs for you and the pastor read the Bible and pray to Jesus for you. It is easier to believe and not act. It is easier to put on the Christian moniker than the armor of God.

Let’s face it. Just like that homemade ice cream, we know that having our own relationship with Jesus is so much better! And just like that ice cream, we find ourselves willing to scrimp on quality in order to save on effort. We rely on others to do our praying for us. We wait for others to prompt our Bible reading or share Scriptures they’ve read. We get lazy or busy or tired or distracted.

Stop settling for store-made Jesus. Make your own relationship with Him.

MARRIAGE

Most relationships start out really good. Like homemade ice cream good. And it is because we are willing to put forth the effort to meet the other person’s emotional needs. We listen. We encourage. We smile and touch. We say nice things. We spend time together. We have fun together.

Unfortunately, most relationships go the way of the ice cream. Life gets complicated. Time gets filled with obligations and responsibilities. We get jobs or take on hobbies or make other friends or join groups or have kids. Our plate gets fuller and fuller, so the effort we once put into the relationship slowly erodes.

Isn’t it easier just to talk to your friend or get the attaboy from work or get affection from the kids or have fun with our hobbies? That’s where we spend much of our time. That’s where much of our effort already goes. Two birds. One stone. Right?

Only if you want a store-made relationship. And those don’t feel too good or last too long. Keep making the homemade ice cream in your marriage. It takes effort, but it is so much better!

FAMILY

Wow, kids need so much time and effort! If you’re a parent, you know that your day can easily be filled with your kids’ needs and activities. If you want to get anything else done, then you need to find something to occupy your kids. That means school, daycare, their friends’ houses, babysitters, television shows, video games, etc.

I have seen many parents burn-out. They start out with such good intentions and high hopes and then their energy and effort is sucked out of them. It is easier just to let their child watch whatever television he wants, whenever he wants. It is easier to give them a video game to play for hours. It is so much easier when they go to school or daycare. Parents slip from homemade ice cream to store-made ice cream with their parenting.

I have also seen the other extreme. This is the parent that not only makes homemade ice cream, but built the machine herself. She doesn’t use ice cream mix, she makes her own from scratch. She doesn’t put chocolate flavoring in, she has organic raw chocolate that she prepares to flavor the ice cream. She chips the salt from the rock herself. Parents can take it too far and allow their kids to take all their effort and time so that relationships, faith walk, and their own identity suffer for it.

The key is balance. Don’t get lazy and settle for the store-made version of family. But, don’t get so crazy with the homemade version that there are no boundaries and the parent’s identity, self-worth, and life purpose is wrapped up in their kids.

FINAL THOUGHTS

We live in the age of modern convenience, so the idea of putting effort into anything for a sustained period of time is ridiculous to our sensibility. We naturally seek the path of least resistance in everything – relationship work, housework, schoolwork, work work. We only have so much time and energy in a day and too many things are pulling at it – including our own laziness.

Balance looks different for everyone. The key is evaluating your tendencies and tweaking your behavior until you are spending the right amount of effort on the things that are the most important. If you want a life, a faith, a marriage, and a family that is à la homemade ice cream, then you need to do the steps that it takes to produce it. Stop settling for the store-made stuff. It may seem easier in the moment, but we all know that scrimping on quality will disappoint and frustrate us in the long-run.