Maurice Clarett

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In Fear of Doubt

A few Christians have had the luxury of growing up with the freedom to doubt. Most haven't. From what I can tell, most Christians fear doubt, and have been taught to fear doubt. In fact, fear in general is a quite the motivator to keep people in check, especially in religious groups. If you can cause enough fear in people, you can control them. And, a sad thing it is that too many church leaders believe it is their role and right to control people, to keep them in obedience to their high wisdom and greater understanding of things spiritual. Leadership, especially spiritual leadership, is distorted when it tries to keep people from learning to think for themselves ... even doubt for themselves. 

I believe and it is my experience that the greatest and strongest faith is the examined faith. Being given answers-on-a-platter just buries the fear that lies beneath the surface of every person who wishes to know truth. "Just take my word for it" is too often a manipulation by leadership who misunderstand their role (or worse) and a disquieting copout for those who heed them. As children, our good parents gave us tools to live and think independently and to survive and thrive in life. To do any less would be to neglect the ultimate goal of raising children and to doom them to a life of dependent weakness. Spiritual growth is the same. Spiritual "parenting" is the same. The Christian scriptures of the New Testament to a certain extent call this discipleship. A disciple follows a teacher and learns to live in the life that the teacher leads them to. The goal of Christian discipleship is to lead another to something, a place where the hand off takes place, to stand alone in one's faith, to know the master teacher himself, Jesus Christ. Knowing him is the goal. Learning to seek answers from him is the intent. The role of the one who disciples is temporary. The idea of discipling is that the one who was discipled grows mature enough to disciple someone else. Old Testament scriptures are quoted in the New Testament to that effect: "There will come a time when no one will need to teach another about Me (God), for all will know me from the least to the greatest. I will put my very Spirit within them" (paraphrased from Jeremiah and Ezekiel, OT prophets, and quoted in a letter to Hebrew Christians). 

This is a hard thing to swallow, but if followers of Jesus truly believe what they know their scriptures teach, then they will intrinsically know that following a man or woman, or a church group's rules or system wasn't the goal Jesus' had in mind. Being in a relationship with himself was his desire from the beginning. Restoration of the intimacy of knowing God was always what God was after and why he visited us in flesh. Even following the words on a page, as in "scripture," wasn't the end goal. Certainly knowing scripture and following its teachings are a good and necessary thing, but Jesus himself put that popular idea in pinpoint perspective when he spoke strong words to a group of religious leaders. "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have eternal life." How many of us have in effect refused to come to Jesus Christ because we think that by studying scriptures we have eternal life. The Good Book was never meant to be worshiped or to replace the true object of our reverence. When we revere the book above Jesus thinking we can know him simply through the words, we replace the true Word. One of the Jesus writers who knew him in the flesh, one of his closest followers, told us The Word was made flesh in Jesus and lived among us. The Book was meant to lead us to the Christ, not replace him. In him we find life. 

Any teaching that leads us to depend upon a man, be he pastor, bishop, priest, or minister, is teaching that falls far short of God's intent for leadership or discipleship. When "seasoned" followers of Christ feel as though they will dry up and die without the weekly teaching of some person, they haven't learned nearly the first thing about life lived in perfect harmony with the Spirit of God. Teaching is good, but it does not equate to our relationship with God.

And so, what I have come to understand about doubt is that God is not threatened by ours. What good father belittles or punishes his young child for doubting his word?! God, our Father, is the same. There may be times when he says, "Hang on! Trust me. I've got you. You're not going to fall! You'll understand this later." There are times when he is silently, patiently waiting for us to come to the end of our wanderings. But, he is there. Always. Sometimes, we have to bounce around for awhile until we wear out and sit exhausted and ready to believe and receive.

But God isn't turned away by our doubts and fears. An old friend of mine called it "faith with a question mark." Faith in the face of questions. When we learn that God loves to hear us, loves to know what we are struggling with, isn't afraid of our questions, that is a great day. Go ahead and ask your questions, entertain your doubt, pursue faith. But, let me assure you that underneath your doubt is God who loves you more than anyone ever has or ever will. He is bearing you up, holding onto you! and leading you into a depth of faith and freedom that you never thought possible. 

The words of author Jim Bishop are fitting: 
"At the age of four, I knew that God was everywhere. I spoke to Him...But as I grew toward manhood, the more I learned, the less I believed in God...When I was twenty-one, my superior intellect told me that God was a fake. Heaven could not be "up" and Hell could not be "down" because in space there is no up or down. And I knew that everything in creation dies, including the smallest insect and the biggest star.

"Then one day," he said, "I felt a new experience. I saw the miracle of birth -- Virginia Lee, a child of my own -- and it turned my wandering mind around. I began to doubt my doubts. Gradually I lost faith in my intellect. It was not supplying the needed answers.

"I could not see the air, but without it I would die. Thus it is, I decided, with the spirit of man. I needed something to breathe life into a soul that had been crushed by the dominance of the human mind."
 
Jim Bishop needed faith. "I was a slow learner," he said, But, somehow, somewhere, as I groped my painful way, I found my soul...I knew it was there -- wounded, bleeding perhaps, but alive.

I began to pray, and as faith returned to me, I feared that it might dissolve again. So I prayed for continuing faith. It was only when I gave up -- when I let go and allowed myself to be carried by God -- that I began to really feel His Presence. He was there, and I knew it!

I had wanted proof -- something for my eyes or ears or hands. He wanted me to believe without it. Faith and trust are what He required of me! And He never rested until I found them."

What I believe you'll discover in this walk of faith is that as you learn how much this Father loves you, you WILL trust him. It is as natural as a child who trusts her father to let her jump into his arms without dropping her. What I am discovering is that trust really is more of an outcome than a decision. Everything about my life is in the Father's hands. Everything! Nothing escapes his watchful, loving eyes. As I understand more about his love for me, I naturally trust him more. And, I don't mean "understand" as just an intellectual exercise. The more I experience his love, the more I discover that I am trusting him. Something happens and I am surprised to find that I am not worrying like I used to to. Or, I go through some difficult time and later look back and realize I wasn't as frightened as I had been when that happened earlier in my life. I found that I had been trusting God all along without ever really declaring I was. Trust is just the natural outcome of what I've experienced in my relationship with him.

Such an awesome thing to learn. Faith in the midst of doubt. Trust in midst of pain and disappointment. Love that penetrates and covers it all.

Exceeding Abundant Pain

There is a New Testament passage that many Christians like to refer to and even memorize. In Christian churches, it is a good one for strong emotional appeal. It goes like this: “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.” (Ephesians 3) A friend shed a little light on this bit of scripture that has changed my thinking a bit and I want to pass it on.

This is one of those Bible passages that usually sits right next to the picture of your kids or grandkids on the refrigerator door, one of those “Wow!” verses. And, it’s usually interpreted something like, Oh, man! What a great promise! God is going really bless me. I’ve been praying for a two-bedroom house, and if I believe him enough, or live rightly enough, he’s going bless me with a four-bedroom house. Or, I’ve been praying for a new Honda and this means that if I live right or trust God enough, he’s going to bless me with a BMW.

In my opinion, there has never been a more thorough slaughtering of biblical understanding. What I’ve come to understand about this God of love is that he isn’t very much interested in my comfort. That isn’t at the top of his list. Yes, I believe God loves to bless us with good things, and he sometimes surprises us with things that bring a level of comfort to our lives. But, his desire for us is our ultimate good. And, isn’t that what love really boils down to? Having and expressing a desire for the ultimate good of another, even to the point of disregard for our own desires? When we love someone, we will do what it takes to see that that person has what they need even if it means we have to sacrifice pleasure and desire for ourselves.

The New Testament writers are pretty plain spoken about God’s love for us. “God so loved” us that he GAVE. He gave everything, sacrificed everything for us. Sacrificed all to bring us wholeness, to heal our brokenness, to bring us back into relationship with him, the ultimate center of life. He is a God of love, so much so that one writer defined his character as Love Itself. “God IS love,” he said. And, that self-sacrificing love was devoted to our best interest. It wasn’t a mushy feeling kind of love that seeks to indulge whim and fancy, that wants to give us everything our hearts desire even if it means it will not be good for us.

What that scripture actually means is that when I’m praying and asking for things, and God isn’t doing what I think he should be doing for me, even if I think I have a clearly “godly” agenda, something deeper is happening. He is doing something exceedingly and abundantly more than I can imagine. I can imagine living in the paradise of my dreams, laying on a hammock under the cool shade of palm trees on a tropical island, drinking iced tea. I can imagine driving my dream car cruising down the highway with the top down and the wind blowing on a warm, sunny day. I can imagine all the comforts of life surrounding me and having all the money I could ever want to satisfy every urge and impulse.

What I can’t imagine is pain ... and that God will use discomfort and suffering to do something deeply inside of me to bring me to wholeness, to bring me back to himself, to save me from foolishness and other antics of life that would destroy me and those around me and make me less than he created me to be. I’m coming to understand that God does use the downsides of life to do his work in me and through me. The exceeding abundance is his power that is at work IN me, a power that is life changing, a power of love that starts a process of healing, and brings me to a place of usefulness in the world.

He loves me that much.

Here is how Eugene Peterson puts it:
“My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

“God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.”  ~ The Message

Well spoken, I think. My Father loves me. My Father knows How to love me. My Father knows best. He’s got my back, he’s looking out for me and all those I love.

Dr. Happy

I've got to tell you, this is one of those scratch my head til it bleeds moments. So, I'm a Christian, right?  [ TANGENT ALERT!] Actually, I prefer "follower of Jesus Christ" mostly because of what has presented itself as Christianity in recent years, imo. I've even taken to asking some people what they mean when they ask me if I'm a Christian. Do you mean a practitioner of a religion called Christianity? Or, do you mean someone who simply follows Christ? A longer subject for another time, but suffice to say that I am not ashamed of believing in Jesus. He is the one who has saved me and continues to save me from my brokenness, which the Christian Bible accurately calls sin. BEFORE you stop reading, hear me out, please!

People in the the culture today don't like it when Christ followers talk about sin. It's judgmental to them, an indictment, a holier-than-thou kind of thing. And, honestly, I understand that. Judgmentalism is a major face of Christianity in the world. That stinks. That is one of the dynamics that propelled me out of Churchianity. Not that I was being judged, nor do I condemn or look down upon those who choose to become part of a traditional religious congregation. What I've seen projected onto the culture today though in great measure is quite "ugly" if you will, even though there are certainly exceptions. I just didn't want to be a part of that particular scene for the very reason I call myself a CHRIST follower and because I felt there was something different for me to do. So many groups of Christians reek of contempt and judgmentalism, and the media plays it up really big when some really wacky and quacky "Christian" group shows its ugly head. That said, Jesus didn't show contempt to hurting people, those trapped in their doubt, selfishness, fear, and soul-breaking bondages. Check out the story about the woman Jesus met drawing water from a well near the Middle Eastern town of Sychar. It's a fascinating read and great example of how he treated people. (I blogged about it a few weeks ago. http://gracepilgrim.blogspot.com/2012/01/frozen-in-place-on-hot-day.html)

I think that if people are brutally honest with themselves they will admit in their most quiet of moments that something is wrong, wrong with the world, wrong inside of them. And I don't mean the imperfections that we all carry about through life. There is a fundamental brokenness, a fracturing in the soul of each one of us. An aching. A longing to be whole, free from the selfish desires which drive us. Free to have goodness poured into us. Free to have a new heart. Even more so, it's a hunger to to know the God who made us, who loves us with great passionate affection. I very much like what Dallas Willard says about this God: "So we must understand that God does not 'love' us without liking us -- through gritted teeth ... Rather, out of the eternal freshness of his perpetually self-renewed being, the heavenly Father cherishes the earth and each human being upon it. The fondness, the endearment, the unstintingly affectionate regard of God toward all his creatures is the natural outflow of what he is to the core -- which we vainly try to capture with our tired but indispensable old word *love*" (The Divine Conspiracy). We have a God who is absolutely, head-over-heels in love with us. He doesn't like everything we do, dislikes the hurt we inflict upon one another as well as ourselves, and even promises there is a reckoning to come, a time when he will sort everything out his way. But, he loved and loves us so much that he paid a great price to buy us back, to woo us into a relationship.

You see that's what Jesus was all about. He came as a rescuer, God-in-Flesh, to show us this Father who longs to know us and for us to know him, to show us the way back. I also like how Brennan Manning describes Jesus' heart for us: "The heart of Jesus loves us as we are and not as we should be, beyond worthiness and unworthiness, beyond fidelity & infidelity; He who loves us in the morning sun and the evening rain without caution, regret, boundary, limit, or breaking point" (The Signature of Jesus). This God longs for us to allow him to love us, to love us out of all the places we've gotten stuck. He longs to be the healer, the restorer, the lover, maybe a Father you've never known. There is more that can be said, but that's the gist. If you've not been presented with that view of God, then I think I may understand why some Christians and Christianity turn you off.  I will assure of this: You have a Father who loves you more than anyone on this planet ever has or ever will, and has love powerful enough to do something about your broken places. That is very Good news! The religion, the structures, conformity-based obligations, not so much.

Got that off my chest. A tad off my topic, nonetheless important. And, if you fit the above description, I hope you'll rethink Jesus.

Back to my bleeding head ... I was flipping through Facebook and stumbled upon some friends of friends of friends of friends, and came upon two sites that made me want to take my son's anti nausea medicine. One person, a pastor by trade, hailed himself as DR so and so. Every reference to himself had the Doc title. He had two of these, one earned and the other I suspect an honorary bestowment. I have not a thing against degrees. I've earned a couple myself. I have a good friend for whom I have much respect who has two earned doctorates who is an amazing teacher, writer, and researcher. The troubling thing to me is that Christians and Christian leaders insist upon making a point about their position and status. Why not just first and last name? What's so important about making a public statement about your level? It's one thing to list in your About/Bio section your employment and education, etc. It's quite another to make a point about it and title yourself by your status. I won't give more detail because it might give away who this is - not my intent. My point is that this site was rife with a viewpoint that I've come to expect from Churchianity, one that says that people can be above other people, that a person can be given worship veiled in the guise of "respect" and "honor." Sad. I can't say anymore.

The other friend of a friend of a friend of a friend was advertised as The First Lady and she looked nothing like Michelle Obama. She was the wife of a pastor, The First Man, I suppose, although I couldn't find that reference on the site. First Lady?! Really?! I missed that one in the Bible. Where has there ever been a scriptural notion that Anyone is preeminent over any one else in this thing Christians refer to as the Body of Christ? In fact, one of Jesus early followers who wrote a piece of the New Testament had a bit of a fit over a leader who "loved preeminence." As far as I can tell Jesus offered vehement criticism of two things: religious structures and their leaders, especially those who abused the helpless, poor and disenfranchised. He said that certain people love to get themselves called by certain titles and manipulate minds to the point that people willingly call their leaders by auspicious monikers ... that'd be things like Senior This, Bishop That, even Pastor So and So, or Dr. Didandoalot. "Honor" they call it. Oh my Lord, help us! If the Bible caught a cold I'm afraid many of us would never catch it. "It will not be that way among you," said that Jesus we're so fond of us talking about. Where did Christianity find itself in a place where it justified title happiness and leader worship?

I want to tell you stories, but I suspect it will only get me unfriended. I like staying in touch with what's going on in people's lives, friends, acquaintances old and new. Some might even recognize the stories.

Ok, so if you've read some recent blogs that end up pounding on the leadership drum, I suppose it looks like I'm spinning on the broken record. Sorry 'bout that. I really do like to talk more about this awesome God I'm learning to know. It's just that I see this stuff everywhere and can't seem to help myself. I guess it's because I'm just broken and my record also gets that way every so often. Maybe I should find a title to get myself called by. Got any ideas?

A Story of Decreasing

They were second cousins (...according to some traditions, so I'll go with that), six months age difference between them. Living in different towns, but only about two days walk, it's easy to imagine their families visiting often enough for them to look forward to playing together for a couple of days. They probably played stick ball, fished in the creek, hiked the hill country, and played “Antiochus vs. the Maccabees” with tree branch swords. Once a year during Passover, their families may have met to go up to Jerusalem. While a solemn and holy festival, there was quite a lot of celebration, too, and plenty of time for two young boys to have some fun with cousins and brothers. John and Jesus could very well have been buddies, good friends during their childhood, as well as cousins.

I know what it's like to have fun with cousins. I always looked forward to visits with my second cousin, Mark. Whether at my house or his, we always a had great time together. Riding our bikes, playing in the creeks, playing with our plastic army men, and whatever other imaginary games came to mind. Then, we grew up and went our separate ways. It would be nice to reconnect some day, but I don't even know where he is today, nor even what he does with his life.

Reading through John, a writer about the life of Jesus, I've been focusing on John's cousin, Jesus. We pick up practically nothing of Jesus' childhood in all of the accounts, only a few snapshots here and there, what the writers choose to weave into their message. We can surmise that John and Jesus went their separate ways, as they grew up. Jesus learned the carpenter trade from his father, which some say also may have included stone working. We know a little about John's dad, but nearly nothing about John's upbringing or aspirations. John's father was a priest who served the temple on a rotating basis probably with years of who-knows-what in between. We do know that both John and Jesus as young men felt God calling them for something very special. John was led into a life of solitariness in the wilderness, sort of a modern day Bear Grylls, a Man vs. Wild kind of guy. There he heard the voice of God more clearly, discovering what it was this Yahweh was asking him to do. It was probably there that God showed him he would fill the vital role of blazing a trail for Messiah, that some day Yahweh would reveal Messiah and when that day came, he would have accomplished his life's work.

Jesus was also led into the wilderness and “by the Spirit,” as the Jesus "biographer" Luke puts it. He was led there to fast and hear from this same Yahweh, this God whom he now knew intimately as his Father. While John survived off of the land eating locusts and wild honey in his desert experience, in his Jesus ate nothing for 40 days and experienced a hellish vision of the true enemy of humankind, clearly a test. He passed. Luke says he returned to civilization “in the power of the Spirit.” He was ready to walk out his intimacy with Father in the public square, prepared to declare him to the world. Matthew, another Jesus writer, quotes the ancient word's of Prophet Isaiah who foretells great impact on a beaten down, captive people: "The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” New Testament writers consistently describe Jesus as Light.

Two cousins, two similar beginnings, one with a six month head start. John knew that he would come back to civilization ready to confront the culture with its brokenness and challenge the people to prepare themselves for a special visitation from the One whom they had heard about all their lives, One who would be sent from God, a Savior, Messiah. His mode of challenge was to baptize people (a ritual practice not unknown to the current culture) and call them to return their lives and focus to God. John knew that his coup de grace, his swan song, his purpose and most important act would be to introduce the Son of God to the world. Near the same time, Jesus, this Son of God, returned from his wilderness encounter to take on the complete role he had been called to, to seek and to save anyone who recognized they were lost and broken. And, by the way, he's still doing that for anyone who will listen for his soft, tender and whispered voice.

In the first few chapters of biographer John's account (a different John than our subject), Jesus' cousin becomes known as John the Baptizer. Curious religious leaders come one day to ask him who he is, and he is clear that he is not Messiah, but that he fulfills the role of Prophet Isaiah's “voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'” Then one day cousin John sees cousin Jesus coming his direction after these many years toward the very waters in which John had chosen to baptize people. At that instant, the sign he was too look for appeared and it was no longer just cousin Jesus he was staring at, but the very Son of God himself, the savior of the world. “There he is! I saw the sign! He is the One! This is the Lamb of God who will take away the world's sin, it's brokenness. He is the One who will offer himself as healer of the souls of humankind.” Can you imagine John's excitement? Cousin Jesus! He's the One! MY COUSIN! The very one who I played pitch and catch with when we were boys. I can imagine John laying his head down on his rolled up tunic that night thinking, “Man! I knew it! I knew there was something different about Jesus. Looking back at our boyhood days, I always felt that somehow he was marked for greatness.” I'm sure Jesus had known the same of John.

From that moment on, John's popularity wanes. Some of his disciples become the disciples of Jesus, one of them, Andrew, becoming one of the inner circle of Jesus' friends. People begin to flock to Jesus, and understandably so. Jesus has a message that far exceeds the message of any religious leader of the day, including John. His love and compassion, his healing touch, his miraculous representation of God the Father, his evidence of “being from God,” all of these characteristics draw people like a magnet. Some of John's followers become concerned and ask him about it.

The Baptizer's response is pretty amazing to me. He calls himself Jesus' friend, just as he had been for all those growing up years, but this time he is a different kind of friend. He is the friend of the bridegroom, his best man, we might call it. The best man waits hand and foot on the bridegroom as any good best man would do. He listens for his voice, and when he hears his voice he comes running, excited to do whatever it takes to make his friend ready for his big day, the big ceremony. That's his joy. And John says, “That joy is mine, and it is now complete.” And, this is the sentence that impresses me most: “He must become greater; I must become less. One of my early mentors called this “a ministry of decreasing.”

I've got to tell you, you don't see much of this today in our version of Christianity, at least in the most public of its persona. Everything has to be bigger and increase and “the man of God” has to become more and more revered. It isn't enough to meekly fill a place for a time and humbly step aside to allow someone else to keep the ball rolling. I think Christianity could use a prescription of humility and a mentality of decreasing among its leaders.

John is quite a guy. He sees the signs, acknowledges them, declares Jesus to be the Son of God, the one they have been waiting for. Then, he steps aside, out of the limelight and points people to Jesus. His time of service in the public eye is now coming to a close. In fact, it comes to a sudden stop a few months later. But, he now does what every believing-in-Jesus leader needs to do every time they step in front of others. He points everyone to Jesus. "It isn't me, folks; it's him. He's the One. He's the light in your darkness, the source of your life. Look to him." He believes wholeheartedly who this man is and acts upon that belief in fine fashion.

Followers of Jesus could take good note of John's demeanor, especially those who claim leadership in this group. To follow Jesus is to live in his love and to point others to that love, to that Christ, that Savior. Following him isn't about gathering a group of people who want to listen to me, who will adore me, who will hang on my every word. Following him is to point people to him, to give attention to him in increasing ways, and to discourage and decrease dependence upon yourself. Christian leadership baffles me. Leaders set themselves up for a lifetime of being served and adored by their followers. A rampant disease.

Leadership described in the New Testament is service-oriented, humbly carried out by those who would rather stay out of the spotlight and point that light on God. Look carefully at what is not said nor described in the New Testament and you might discover that leadership roles were probably temporary, given for seasons and tasks. Once those tasks were completed, they probably either stepped aside and allowed maturity to take its own course or moved on to a different field of endeavor. We don't do that today in Christmasanity. Every day is a gift of adoration or monetary gain or notoriety, or all of those. People love their leaders, their pastors, their apostles, their prophets. They lavish them with aura and mysterious godlike attributions. Our leaders in Christmasanity retire with Cadillacs and gold watches, CEO-style. And, it is a rare young man who enters the realm of leadership in this religion who doesn't have stardom in mind, many quite willing to wear the gilded cloak of "servant leadership." Even those with the best of motives find it difficult to resist soaking up the adulation afforded them. I believe it was author Robert Banks who noted that churches don't need more servant leaders. Rather, there is quite a dearth of "leading servants."

John, the historically respected forerunner of the Jesus these people preach, models a different lifestyle. “He must increase; I must decrease.” God is my source, my resource. I need no other. Simple. Complete.

Jesus said it better than any. Paraphrasing...“The one who tries to be exalted will be humbled. The one who humbles himself or herself will be exalted.” Jesus also said something like, the leaders in this world's system position themselves as benefactors, great ones. In other words, they set things up so that they are called by titles and adored by the masses. Then he concluded, It will not be like that among you. The greatest will be called the least. The least will be the greatest. You see, things are quite up-side-down in the Jesus world. Callings are calls to serve, not to be served. And, it just might be a revolutionary idea that a “called” person might find their source of living in God, in a job that God provides, not in a cushy officer-of-the-church position surrounded by plush amenities provided by the “flock” of little people followers. It just might be more difficult to point people to Jesus when all they can see is a huge spotlight on "me." The less they see of you, the more they see of Him. The less they need you, the more they learn to need him, to go to him, to know him.

Lowly John headed for a headless death in prison while struggling with doubt, needing to be reassured and comforted by his heralded messiah cousin. Jesus -- before his un-self exalted glory -- chose to begin and end his eternal place as healer of the broken in obscurity, poverty, and ignominious death.

While pondering the lives and attitudes of these cousins, ponder the lyrics to this common Christian tune:
"To be like Jesus,
To be like Jesus,
On earth I long,
To be like him.
All through life's journey,
From earth to glory,
I only ask,
To be like him."

Words to live

‎" Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, tolerant with the weak and the wrong. Sometime in life you will have been all of these." ~ Lloyd Shearer

Frozen in Place on a Hot Day

Being frozen isn't a very comfortable place to be. I grew up in the Midwest and since moved to milder climates. I remember the cold harsh winters of northern Ohio, especially the times when I worked as a hod for some bricklayers, including my late brother-in-law. Most of the time, we didn't work in the snow and really cold weather, but since it was feast or famine in that business, we worked when we could. I wore out many cheap pairs of jersey gloves carrying cement blocks and bricks and mixing mud with bone-chilled fingers. That job was one of my greatest motivators to get a college degree. Not that it wasn't noble work; we worked very hard and did quality jobs for people, took pride in our work and I learned important life lessons in those days. But, I didn't want to stay and had other ideas that required a college education. The winter days in Ohio, whether working, hunting, or playing brought on freezing cold hands, numb lips, cold feet, and slipping and sliding in treacherous driving conditions. It doesn't feel good to be frozen. 

I've been thinking for some time about what it means in a metaphorical sense to be frozen in place. There are many ways to find yourself there: stuck in jobs, habits, behaviors, grief, regret. Those and other conditions can trap us for periods of time, and it always seems best that we figure out how to move on. There is another angle from which to view this idea of frozenness. I wonder how many times I myself have frozen other people in a certain place in time. I knew a them in our past, lost touch with them, and then reconnected. My first inclination is to perceive them just as I knew them way back when, 15, 20, 30 years ago. Since I've gotten onto Facebook, I've connected with a few hundred people from my past. That's amazing in itself. While there is some criticism to be heard about the downsides of social networking, it's incredible to me that technology has made such far and wide connections possible. The first thing I notice is how friends' looks have changed. No great surprise, although sometimes a bit of an initial shock. 

People change outwardly, but also inwardly. People grow. I've been impressed by the growth I've seen in friends and acquaintances who I may have secretly thought would never amount to much. What a judgmental attitude! Here's a great revelation: People are able to improve given the chance and some grace! I've been thinking how much of a mistake it is to not allow -- in own mind -- my old acquaintances to grow. I feel I've grown in many ways, and I think I rob others and myself a certain joy by not giving them a chance to do the same. 

A judging spirit carries with it a natural ability to label, another way to say that we freeze people in place. Once a person does something that hurts me or disappoints me, it is easy to not allow them, in terms of my relationship with them, to get beyond that event or situation. They may well have grown, changed, and become better people and I just won't allow it in my own perception because of my own hurt and reluctance to forgive. This isn't an easy thing, this forgiveness business. But, I think the damage unforgiveness does to relationships is a great loss. I recently had a discussion with a many-years-ago acquaintance. We had recently renewed contact through Facebook. I made a comment on someone's wall and this person immediately tried to throw it into my face. I'm sure he figured "This guy is still just like I was years ago and hasn't changed." So, he judged me and condemned me without even really knowing who I was and had become to this point in my life. He froze me in time, in place, in character. Right or wrong, I let him have it with both barrels, not attacking him per se, but expressing my disappointment that he would make an unfair assessment of me and where I have come from since that earlier point in life. I didn't hear back from him and I'm not quite sure why. Maybe he just crossed me off as not worth the effort. I hadn't been caustic, just direct. In fact, I only defended myself by pointing out to him how I had been spending my life and I have been quite different from the stereotype he seemed to want to cast me in. The sad part to me is that we could have had a healthy dialogue and respect for one another, appreciating and discussing differences that exist without anger and accusation. 

Reading John the New Testament writer's story about a woman Jesus met drawing water from a well seemed to parallel my recent thoughts about this topic. I don't want to quote it here, you can read it yourself in his fourth chapter. This woman evidently had quite the reputation. Guys loved to sleep with her, so she married them, and eventually either she or the guy dumped the other. She did this five times. At the time of her introduction to Jesus, she had evidently given up on the idea of marriage and was just sleeping with a guy. The fact that she was drawing well water at noon is telling, a hot time of the day, certainly not the sensible early morning, cool-of-the-day event that most women participated in. She was alone. I imagine she wasn't welcome at daybreak with the other women, maybe some of them victims of her indiscretions, possibly having lost husbands to her lustful advances. A bit of reading between the lines, but not a stretch. The village of Sychar was a great place for everyone to know the business of everyone else. 

So, her presence among the others was not appreciated. This is a really great story John tells. There is so much to glean about the character of this Jesus I am learning to follow and how graciously he treats people no matter their place in life. I would like to focus though for a moment on this woman's frozen condition. Hot as it was in that part of the world, she was in a very cold spot. Any reception she would have experienced from the townspeople (unless they were men eyeballing her as eye candy with benefits) would have been accompanied by icicle-like stares. It was cold business being a loose woman in a hot little town. Thus, she was lonely at that well, on purpose, no doubt facing a future with the permanent label of the village slut. Frozen. Imprisoned in lust and time with no possibility for parole. 

Then she met Jesus. You've just got to read the dialogue recorded! It's fascinating. The thing about Jesus was his uncanny ability to see past the face of things, quickly dispatch slight of hand obfuscations, get to the core of the matter, and show love like no one else you or I have known. He fielded her muddled attempts at dodging the important issues and deftly moved her to a place where she could thaw out without great shame and embarrassment. You see, we think that shame and embarrassing people is a good way motivate them, to get them to see the error of their sins and change their behavior. Well, that may work to change someone externally for a time, to get them to obey the rules for a season, but what it really does is drive their pain and brokenness deeper. 

Guilt-tripping only extends the pain and really doesn't change anything in the end. What we know about Jesus is that he knows that guilt, condemnation, and shame do not grow people. Love does. Love changes people. Not the mamby pamby cowardice that masquerades as love, but the God kind of love. The love that has power to change, power to go as many miles as it takes to bring a person to wholeness. Sin is its own punishment. We don't need to pile on. The back-bowing weight of one's own mistakes and failures are enough. What people need is grace. People need to be loved out of their character flaws and brokenness. That, in my opinion, is one of the biggest mistakes that the Christian religion has made. Love with a hook. That is today's face of Christianity. But, it isn't the face of Christ. Jesus knows that the only thing that will change us is love. 

And so, our woman at the Sychar well was frozen. Frozen in her own pitiful attempts at finding love. Coldly detached from hope of life being any different. Jesus was the big thaw. Jesus doesn't do what we do by nature. He sees the end from the beginning. He sees that person in view of their potential, the person that we label and hold some grudge against for something they said or did to us maybe years ago. We didn't see the motivation behind what they said or did then, and we find ourselves with little capability of letting them loose from the cage we've put them in. We lose and they lose. We say we forgive, but not really, and we freeze them in their past; they suffer from our unforgiveness, and our relationship continues to bear the pall of feelings lying just under the surface and coloring all our communication with that person. 

This story about Jesus and the forgiven woman has two sides. She needed forgiveness -- which she received from Jesus, and the townspeople needed to forgive her. We don't know the totality of the story. But, we do know that when she went to tell everyone in the town about her encounter of love with the man whose name she didn't even know, one whom she was now believing to be more than just a man, they came in droves to hear him. And, John tells us that many in that town believed in him because of her testimony. 

Did they also forgive her? Was she able after hers and their belief in Jesus to go to the well at daybreak with all the other women? We don't know the answer, but if I was a betting man, I'd put my money on the power of love and forgiveness and its ability to go viral quicker than any other reality of life. 

Here's what I propose. I propose that you think about the people in your life, the good relationships, the bad ones, and the ones that always seems a little strained. Run your emotions through the grid of forgiveness. See if you've allowed yourself to freeze any of those people in their past, distant or recent. Challenge yourself with brutal honesty -- it's easy to kid ourselves. Be willing to take any part you've had in whatever level of cold war exists between you and them. Sure, forgiveness isn't the same as reconciliation. But, it's a start. And, if you can find the honesty within to own your part of the dysfunction, there may be hope. Or, just compartmentalize like most of us seem to have to do, and leave things alone. You can always put another layer of warm denial on and go your merry way. That's a pretty cold way to live though. Maybe Jesus can help, eh? 

Nic at Night (Nic Gets Tebowed)

A senator came to Jesus at night. You can find this story in the New Testament Gospels, John's, in chapter three. Nicodemus ... let's call him Nic - it's easier to spell ... comes to talk to Jesus. Now, by this time in his public life Jesus has managed to tick off a few people. He was pretty radical and stood up to the corruption, religious distortions and abuse of the leadership of the day. You see, Roman occupation aside, the Israeli government was religious, kind of like most Muslim countries today. The leaders are the purveyors of the religious system, albeit in this case, their laws are encased in and under the scrutiny of Roman governance, i.e., they are allowed to control the people as long as it doesn't conflict with Roman law.

So, anyway, Senator Nic comes to see Jesus. I call him a senator because that's my best shot at a parallel position in our American government system. He's a member of the "ruling council." Nic comes to see Jesus at night. That's significant. He seems to come representing some of his compatriots in the council ... but only some. His nocturnal visit is secretive. He's keeping this rendezvous from others' knowledge, but his opening line indicates that he probably volunteered to represent a group of curious leaders who are a part of the larger group. The larger group is likely ticked off and maybe even threatened by now by Jesus' public statements and actions. Temple merchants had been selling their trinkets in the temple. Jesus came by and cleaned their clocks, drawing the ire of the leaders, who undoubtedly benefited from this flea market. He was unhappy that they had turned what was supposed to be a spiritual, God-focused place into something mercenary and profit-oriented.

If you'll pardon a little rabbit trail here ... This bunch in the temple sounds like some church buildings we've recently visited during their Sunday morning gigs. It's my observation that, when the "church" -- which in New Testament scriptural terms is not a building, but a group of people who follow Jesus -- when that church becomes more focused on its building and programs than on its commission to reach and serve people, something goes haywire. It may take some time because these churches take on an inertia that seems never ending, and people love inertia, especially of the religious kind. The more talented its ruling council, the more talent to perpetuate the machine, the longer they hang on. It may take time before the wires go hay, but it is inevitable. They may continue to exist and God loves people, so he puts up with a lot of our foolishness, but eventually, the focus on keeping the machinery running rather than on what God is all about among us drags people down. The monster has to be fed and the people have to feed it. If there aren't enough people to feed it, we have to figure out more gimmicks, more "ministries," more whatever to draw more people into the fold who can help us feed the machine. "After all, if we can't keep the thing running, we can't do what we were called to do in the first place, can we?" So, the energy is directed toward upping the budget. That's abackwards. And, I think I just lost some readers of this blog.

Okay, back to the Nic at Night story. Nic comes to Jesus under cover of darkness because a number of his ruling comrades wouldn't like it. His opening line is "WE know you are a teacher  who has come from God. For no one can perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." To which Jesus replies, "Why thank you!! Thank you for noticing. Yes, I am from God and I was hoping you could figure that out because of my amazing feats. You guys are perceptive. Would you like for me to come speak at your next conference? I'd like to show you how I do these things. In fact, I think I could teach YOU how YOU could do these things, and even greater things! What'dya says, boys?"

Okay, so I read between the lines. I did... right? You're correct! NO, I misread between the lines. Notice. Nic doesn't ask a question, although it's probably implied: "So, tell us Jesus, ARE you from God?" He doesn't say that, but that's probably what his cronies wanted Nic to pick his brains about. I can hear the conversation in back corner of the Jerusalem Boar Head Tavern. "He's GOT to be from God, right?  [sip] No one can do these things if they're not, right?! We need to find out more. [sip, sip] Where's he headed with all this miracle stuff?", says the short guy. And, one guy says, "[sip] If he draws too much attention to himself, Uncle Rome isn't gonna like it. In fact, we may lose our [sip] jobs. [gulp]" Then the chap by the wall says, "But what if he IS from God? Shouldn't we be following him? or at least paying more attention to what he says?" Then, Nic says, "Okay, guys, I'll go. He's really got me curious. I gotta tell ya though, I think he's the real article." And, they bump their mugs together, "Agreed! [sip, gulp, gulp]

When Nic "asks" the question, Jesus doesn't bite. He redirects the conversation immediately. It isn't about the miracles. "I'm glad I've gotten your attention, but I didn't do all those healings for you. I did them for those who needed the healing. They hurt, I heal." (More in between the lines reading.) No, Jesus knows what these leaders are after, but doesn't talk about the miracles. He gets to the point. The point of his existence, the whole point of his arrival among us, the goal of his life. "Jesus, are you from God?" "Nicodemus, neither you nor anyone else will ever see this God you're asking about and his kingdom, his space, unless you are born from above, born again." Forget the miracles. You're on the wrong page. It's about new birth.

To which Nic replies, "Huh?" A little more eloquently than that, but the same effect. "How can a man be born when he is old." Surely, you're not talking about the Benjamin Button syndrome? "Surely he cannot enter his mother's womb a second time!" !! ... !! ... !! (Nic's eyebrows). Jesus clarifies - or tries. "Here's the truth: no one can enter the realm of God's existence, his kingdom, unless he is not only born once, but he must be born again ... Of The Spirit." We're talking about spiritual things, things beyond what you can see, like the blowing of the wind, a natural phenomenon. To which Nic again replies, "Huh?"

Jesus essentially chides him. "So, you're a man of the cloth. You're a teacher of spiritual things?! Give me a break. You can't see what I'm talking about?!" Notice where he now goes with this. Remember how Nic opened up this tete-a-tete? "WE know..." Jesus does him one better. "I'll tell you what's true. I'll tell you what's important to know here and now," in essence. "WE speak of what WE know, and WE testify to what WE have seen, but still you people do not accept OUR testimony" (my emphasis, obviously). Two things about this. One, the all hot-and-bothered senatorial wizards have had this marvelous revelation. "This guy must be from God!" Duh! Nico comes as their rep and lays this sanctimonious admission on Jesus. "Aren't we the cat's meow? Look what WE know." Jesus seems to rub this in. "Let me tell you what WE know, and what WE KNOW is true, apparently the very thing you people have been so totally dense about. I try to explain it to you with down to earth language ... the wind blows, you know. You still don't get it, do you?" Yes, he is from God. He's been with God, he IS with God and, (we eventually discover) he is God (a totally different topic for another time). "You want to know about God, about his realm, his "space," his way of doing things, these "heavenly" things. Jesus says point blank, "I've been there, I am there, and you can be there. Stop trying to wrap your mind around this. Open the eyes of your heart!"

The other observation is about who the "we" is. I think it's pretty clear in context that he is referring to his Father, the Spirit, the "Godhead" as theologians like to call it. Basically, he's saying my "we" trumps your "we." "We have seen what is real, the essence of reality, and that's what I'm talking about." Jesus now answers Nic's question and puts it in prophetic terms. Nic asks, "How can this new birth thing be?" Jesus predicts his death as the "Son of Man" and says in plain words that the new birth takes place when you see the significance of his death and believe in that significance, that there are personal implications at stake. "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son" (yes, Tebow's favorite verse). You believe that he did that so that you can enter this realm of God, this kingdom, this "heaven," really that you actually believe in Him, and you will have eternal life. Pretty simple, yet so difficult for so many to believe.

There's a bit more to this Nic at Night story, but that's the meat of it. The really cool part about Nic comes later in John's account of Jesus' life. We see Nicodemus take a bit of a stand for Jesus when his cronies are getting ready to pounce on Jesus. He asks them to slow down before judging him too quickly (chapter 7). Not much more is said, but we do know his comrades don't listen and go as far as insulting Nicodemus. Later, at the end of the Gospel of John, after the death of Jesus, Nicodemus gives a huge hint that he has crossed over into belief. He shows up with a friend and claims the body of Jesus to bury it. This time in broad daylight.

God Among Us

...When God came to be among us he didn't come as a mathematician or a scientist. He came as a story teller... And he told stories people could live. At bottom, the Judeo-­Christian tradition isn't a list of rules or a set of scientific theories; it's a big long story... But Jesus didn't stop with stories; he also gave us a way to authenticate them... he told us that you tell whether a story is true by the lives of the people who tell it. You judge a story by its teller. You will know them by their fruit, he said. A good tree bears good fruit, a bad one bad fruit. If the people telling a story love each other and live together with depth and grace, then their story is true. If they don't, then their story is silliness -- or worse. A good story enables people to lay down their lives for each other and become one. To put it in Jesus' own words, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. By this every­one will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." A few chapters later he prays that his followers "may be one... so that the world may believe that you have sent me." A story is authenticated when the people who believe it go to the cross for each other. ...Notice that Jesus doesn't require belief in his story simply on the basis of authority... evidence mattered to him: here's how people will know that you are my disciples, here's how they'll know that I'm from God -- that you love each other.
~ John F. Alexander, The Secular Squeeze

Worshiping My Common Sense

Susan hooked me on Oswald Chambers book, My Utmost for His Highest. Good stuff for a guy who died about 100 years ago.

He was talking about having grace for today and commenting on Paul's second letter to the Corinthians. All of it good. When he quoted the portion of the chapter on "having nothing," I was struck by his take on being poor, or in need. Verse 10 says, "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." Chambers comments: "Never reserve anything. Pour out the best you have, and always be poor. Never be diplomatic and careful about the treasure God gives. This is poverty triumphant." That doesn't sit well with some of my friends, I am sure. It didn't with me. Who wants poverty?! God doesn't ask us to be poor, does he? I don't think he does, even though some are, and we are called to alleviate suffering, pain, and dilemma where ever we can. Look at Jesus' take on this though: "Blessed are the poor [in spirit] for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." I've got to tell you, to honest with you, sometimes my reaction to some of the things Jesus said is laced with incredulity. If he was just some "plain Joe" (sorry to all you awesome Joes out there! nothing personal!), I'd think he was off his rocker. But, this is Jesus we're talking about. He turns things upside down so often and catches our minds off guard to help us see what is really important. This "poor" saying conveys a pretty amazing attitude and there are a couple takes on that truthful saying of Jesus. But, in a very real sense, our concern for our own need can be converted into an orchestrated mission toward blessing others.

I think what Chambers is saying is true. We are not as blessed when we hold back what we have. What God pours in, we pour out. Like the story of the widow in the Old Testament. She poured out oil from the bottom of the jar and it never ran dry. Her task was to give all she had and God kept pouring back in. The picture painted of her was one of poverty, but she always had what she needed for her family. Jesus said something like, Give and it will be given back to you many times over what you gave. Chambers goes on with regard to "guarding" what we have and not allowing God to be our guard. If we try to guard ourselves and our possessions, we remove ourselves from God's deliverance. He says, "The most devout among us become atheistic in this connection; we do not believe God, we enthrone common sense and tack the name of God onto it. We do lean to our own understanding, instead of trusting God with all our hearts."

I wonder how many times we mask our stockpiling with our common sense. We have such common sense reasoning to keep us safe that we aren't able to help others because of it. We remove ourselves from His deliverance and provision and worship our own wisdom. It's a hard lesson to learn, one that I'm still suffering some pain from. I could say a bunch more about the mental gymnastics and pain I've experienced with this over the years, but I'll spare you.

My prayer is this: May God grant me the grace to never be "diplomatic and careful about the treasure" he gives me.

All That Thrills My Soul

There are a few devotional songs I learned growing up that have great meaning to me to this day. This is one because it expresses to the core my relationship with my God. I always wonder what people who don't know Jesus think about when believers in Jesus write about these things. Nuts? Delirious? Wacked out? I care in one sense about that because I only wish that they could know he is real and know him intimately. Otherwise, it really doesn't bother me. I care a whole lot more about what Christians do to misrepresent this God of such amazing love. But, I covered some of that in a previous blog entry on judgmentalism. I'm not surprised that many don't believe. I only wish they could know him. Anyway, here's the old song. Some of my ole Jesus believer friends will know it and smile with me. :)


All That Thrills My Soul

Who can cheer the heart like Jesus
By His presence all divine
True and tender, pure and precious
O, how blest to call Him mine

Chorus
All that thrills my soul is Jesus
He is more than life to me
And the fairest of ten thousand
In my blessed Lord I see

Love of Christ so freely given
Grace of God beyond degree
Mercy higher than the heavens
Deeper than the deepest sea

What a wonderful redemption
Never can a mortal know
How my sin, though red like crimson
Can be whiter than the snow

Every need His hand supplying
Every good in Him I see
On His strength divine relying
He is all in all to me

By the crystal flowing river
With the ransomed I will sing
And forever and forever
Praise and glorify the King

To My Keepers - Thoughts from Dad on Father's Day

Last week, our daughter shared with us that a high school friend's mother passed away suddenly ... well, it actually took about a week, but it was still sudden. There was no indication that she had been ill as far as we can tell, until this event, some freakish unexpected illness. Mom was there last week and gone next week. As my daughter read about this to us on her Facebook, she started to cry. I started to choke up a bit and said, "Let's make the best of the years that we all have together, okay?" Life is short, no matter how long it is. Too short to hold grudges, cast blame on others for our unexplainable insecurities and cause years of unnecessary separation, too short to not stop in to see that friend or single parent or neighbor we often forget to pay attention to. How about those elderly around and among us? How lonely they can get! "Life is too short to major in the minors," one of my mentors once said.

I posted what follows below on the kitchen refrigerator for my family not too many years ago. The kids were teens at home (one is still at home but will be out of the teen years next week). I never did get much response from them ... obviously a time when their minds were on vacating the premises in one way or another. But, I thought it was a good thought to live by, so I posted it this week again, and thought I'd share it on my Facebook Wall. (I think I may have gotten the core of this from something I read online, but I don't remember where.)

"One day a woman's husband died, and on a clear, cold morning, in the warmth of their bedroom, the wife was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any more. No more hugs, no more special moments to celebrate together, no more phone calls just to chat, no more 'just one minute.' Sometimes, what we care about the most gets all used up and goes away ... never to return before we can say goodbye, say 'I love you.'

So while we have it ... it's best we love it ... and care for it ... and fix it when it's broken ... and heal it when it's sick. This is true for marriage ... and old cars ... and children with bad report cards and dogs with bad hips and aging parents and grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.

Some things we keep -- like a best friend who moved away or a classmate we grew up with. There are just some things that make us happy no matter what.

Life is so important, like people we know who are special ... so we keep them close!"

You're a Keeper!

Love,
Dad

Here come da judge

"Here come da judge." Remember that schtick from the old 60s Laugh In comedy show? (I'm too young to remember it. Someone told me about it. Titter, titter.) Ever felt that way about people you've known? You know that at some point your conversation is going to turn into a session of that person being critical and judging your actions or motives. You almost don't want to have a conversation with them, or at least avoid bringing up certain topics. Don't you just hate that? I wonder sometimes if I'm that guy. Man I can be so quick to judge people! In fact, I wonder if what has come to be known as Christianity isn't the living incarnation of "da judge." I know some of my non-Christian acquaintances see it that way.

Well, I'm a follower of Jesus, and these days, sad to say, I wonder how much being his follower relates to at least the public persona of Christianity. As a "disciple" of Jesus, I am quite obviously interested in what he has to say about a host of subjects. Judgmentalism is one of the big ones. Sometimes, I think it has become synonymous with Christians these days. I see/hear that topic on blogs, Facebook, or in face-to-face conversations and people rise to red-faced anger quicker on that subject than any other I know. "Who are you to judge me?!" I hear non-Christians say that to Christians. I hear Christians say that to Christians.

You know, I think there are good reasons for judgmentalism comments I hear. Having someone make a judgment call on our decision, lifestyle choice, or mistake quickly drills deep into the psyche, the spirit. All of us are broken at some level, visible or invisible. We all react to our brokenness in our own way. Some of us deny it. Some of us deny that we are anything but divine, and so therefore, just can't be broken, just unenlightened. Some of us avoid facing it. Some come clean and seek help. Some turn to Jesus, the one whom I've discovered is amazing at untwisting us, healing our wounds and damage.

Back to the question. What about it? Who ARE you to judge another person?

I really like Jesus. Seriously. He's so practical and down to earth and to the point. My friend, Penni, quotes Gandhi on her Facebook page, "I don't hate your Christ. I love your Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ." Owie. If I'm going to call myself a "Christian" or at least a follower of Jesus Christ, I think I need to know him more. I need to know what he has to say about this issue.

So, I'm looking at one of the sources, the Gospel of Matthew, chapter seven, and here's what he says about this. "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you."

My first question is, what does it mean to judge? In many ways the Greek language (the original for the New Testament) is much more precise than ours. For instance, there are three or four words for love. Agape, phileo, eros. I guess we're just so efficient in English that we have all-purpose words. We just say, "love" ... and let you figure out what it means. "I LOVE that cake!" is different from "I love you, my friend!" or "[husband to wife] I LOVE you ... Baby!" "For God so LOVED the world that he gave his son." "Greater LOVE has no man than this..." Different words. It's the same here in Matthew. There is more than one word for judge. Krino, diakrino, anakrino. One means to discern, one, to evaluate. One means to make a choice or a distinction. Here it means "to pass judgment" or "sit in judgment." To be the judge over another's character. To set yourself up as the judge of someone's character or motive. A "critical spirit."

Jesus is urging us, Don't do this! This setting oneself up as the judge of one's character or motive can start with one critical statement. "Look at her. Like SHE needs to eat that dessert." "That kid is NO GOOD. He'll never amount to anything." Jesus cautions us. "Don't do that. Go easy on the people God has placed in your path." Not only do you tear down and destroy a part of a person, but ... listen to this [I'm pausing for effect] ...   a critical spirit can boomerang. What goes around comes around. "In the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you." Give THAT a second thought. Downright frightening.

Here's the upshot. You don't see the end of the story. The end of that person's story hasn't been written. NEWS FLASH. You are not God, the Judge. Stop acting like it. You don't know how God is at work in that person. I've heard people say something like, "I was fighting you on the outside, but inside something was stirring, listening."

Look at the rest of this. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of  your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?" Let me tell you something straight. Your problems, the problems in your character, your "issues," are much more important to deal with than someones else's. I like that saying, "When you point a finger remember three fingers are pointing back at you."

Do you know why the stuff in the other guy's eye looks like a speck to you? Something that should be easily fixed, with a little effort? Because you're not close enough to really see what's going on inside that person. You're too far away -- even IF you are standing right in front of them. You DON'T KNOW WHAT GOD KNOWS. It may very well be a plank-sized problem, but it's just none of your business.

The other reason it looks like a speck, i.e., something different than what it really is, is that you have a dang board stuck in your eye -- obscuring your vision. You can't see accurately because of your own "stuff." Let me take it a step further. You can't understand what's in another person's heart (eye) because you are a human being with weaknesses. Not only do you not have the insight, but you don't have the strength to stand in judgment over someone else. You're not God... right?

Go easy on people. You've needed slack, so do they. Does that mean you can't help them. Of course it doesn't mean that. But, you know what? I don't think we are ever "plankless." As soon as we get the plank out, another one slides right in behind it. Our vision is always at least a bit impaired. We never have enough insight to stand in judgment over someone, to cross them off. How often do you cross people off, judge their character, think less of them because you've judged the end from the beginning? I think Jesus might be pointing us back to our "Father who sees in secret" (Matthew 6). Ask God what, if anything, you can be doing to partner with him in that person's life. If it doesn't come clear to you, go back to sawing your plank. And, pray for that person. And, don't tell anyone else. "I want to tell you about Ezzy so you can pray for her." Did you see the operable word, "secret"? A good reason for that. Look what Jesus says next. "You hypocrite." It's like he's caught us red-handed. "Ha! Caught ya!" I think he said that with a little grin on his face. [Rumor has it he loves us even in all our feebleness and folly.]

Do you ever wonder why you feel a need to judge others? Why do you worry about it? I'm not gonna get very far into that. But, I do think that Jesus' whole emphasis in this part of his teaching in Matthew is that God's gonna take care of things, including you, including that person you are so anxious to peg. (Read the verses just prior in chapter six.) Why do you worry about this other person? God's got your back ... as well as that person's. Don't worry yourself over this other guy. You've got enough to deal with yourself ... today.

Well, I suppose that's all for now. There is a bunch more, but I see someone coming down the road, and need to hide. It's da judge.

Call me crazy. That's okay! (or, Some Things I've Learned About Life)

I've been working through some things in my life and mind that I want to put on paper and share. These are things I know about myself and about my God. If you are not a believer in God, or Jesus, you might be interested in reading this anyway. Most people who don't believe in God call me crazy. Let me chronicle my craziness. I am a follower of Jesus ("Christian" carries some pretty strange un Jesus-like connotations these days), and as his follower, I can say these things with confidence:

• I am God's child. He has done something amazing in me that is born of grace and love. Most believers in Jesus call this being "born again." It's hard to explain sometimes to people who don't believe this way. That's fine though. I find it's best to live what I believe and let my life do the talking. Someone said, "If you can shut up, shut up." That didn't make sense at first. I'm beginning to understand it. I don't need to bark out my beliefs. If I can live who I am in as real a way as I can, I hope to live a life far more transformed and powerful than living by someone's religious obligations, some person's or religion's or church's idea of what I should do or not do. Doesn't make sense to you, you say? That's okay. Come walk beside me and we'll learn all about this God of love together. 
• I know that Jesus chose me. I don't know how to tell you I know this. You can read about it in the source material, the writings of and about him. But, something pretty amazing is happening to me that is changing me and making me into something I've never dreamed of being. Something good. You don't see it? I'm sorry. I'll just have to keep walking this journey and maybe someday soon it will become evident and we'll get to share life in some really deep and wonderful ways. For me, though, it is a voice of truth. No, I'm not hearing voices in my head. (My atheist friends say that. *Sigh*) It is a reality that I am growing into. It is a spiritual change, a life that is growing inside, a peace that goes beyond anything I can begin to understand... You see! I told you it was hard to explain! 
• I am learning that I am protected by the power of God. I am secure in his love, in my relationship with him, and it isn't based on my performance, my conduct, or my behavior. I have enough weirdness and quirkiness in me that I know doesn't commend me to any secure standing with God. People who know me, who are closest to me, can attest to that. But, I am learning that I am secure in my heavenly Father not on the basis of how I respond to life's trials and difficult times. I am secure in Jesus Christ, because of Jesus Christ, because of what he has done for me (and all the rest who will embrace this amazing God). I am secure in Jesus on the basis of his sacrificial, all sufficient death on the cross and his resurrection. Yes, I DO believe in that. Call me crazy, it's okay. I just cannot deny that it is real. The moment I let him into my life, as I said above, something new took place. I know that in some real way God assumed the responsibility of protecting me. It isn't a matter of me holding on to him -- because in my weak faith often I might let go -- but he holds onto me. I am protected and secured in him. So, when all evil breaks loose, and I don't know what to do, one thing is certain: God is holding onto me. Pretty weird, eh? As much as my "Christian" friends want to try to explain it and say it is perfectly explainable, I don't think they can. It's just beyond comprehension how an individual person can know these things. I guess you still think I'm crazy, loopy. It's okay. Once you step beyond the intellectual barrier you've put up between you and God, I think you'll understand what I'm saying. And that would be so cool for me to see. {wink, wink} But you know, when you find something really good, you always want to share it, right?
• If you know anything about the life of the patriarch, David, chronicled in the Hebrew scriptures, maybe you can see this next thing I am learning about life and God. His life speaks to me in this way: He learned some awesome truths about God by making mistakes, by failing, as well as by being faithful. He learned wonderful things about God in fear. Yep, in fear. Now I'm not talking about being afraid of God -- that's another misunderstood idea for another time. David learned some awesome truths about God in fear, as well as in courage. He learned about God's love, his faithfulness, his grace, and how near God actually is to us, about life, and how to handle life. My point is that he learned these things while he was afraid, as he worked through his fear, as he kept hanging in there with God, as he kept believing in this God. His greatest moments and deepest insights didn't come necessarily while he was this courageous, bold "man of God." I saw that David "repented" when he realized he was wrong. He wasn't afraid of being humble, admitting his errors. In all his weakness, he was still okay with God and God was okay with him. In fact, centuries later, as his story was retold, he was still referred to as "a man after God's own heart" in spite of his failure and weakness. 
• Another thing I'm learning about God comes to me from a friend. Something he shared I have come to embrace. He was talking about the passage in John's gospel, in chapter 14, where Jesus is preparing for his arrest and ultimately his death and he tells his followers some pretty important things. Just like you would probably do if you knew your days were numbered. He talked about "his Father's house." I'm gonna make this shorter than it could be and say what I believe is that Jesus is talking about isn't heaven, but he is talking about the life his followers, those who believe in him, will experience in God. He is talking about being at home in God. I am now embracing the reality that I am to wake up everyday being at home in my Father, in God. I know each morning that this Father delights in me. He is at home in me and I am at home in him in spite of all my fears, all my doubts, with all the things I am still tempted to, and with all the struggles and failures in my life. This God on this day wants to be at home in me. My friend has said that if we will live there, that's where everything happens that transforms and changes us into the best of what we can be ... and I believe him. 

So, you still think I'm crazy, a loon, hearing voices? Well, some of my friends tell me I'm crazy, but not for the reasons you might be thinking. Okay, here's a challenge: If you are at all interested in the things I have written but don't get it, or you have a hard time understanding this kind of thing, or you really don't know that you believe in God, my challenge to you is to ask him to show himself to you. Seriously?! Seriously. Don't chicken out. If you really would like to know whether or not God is real, and whether or not he is like what I have described in this blog, just ask. Sincerely ask him to reveal himself to you. I guarantee you, I know enough about God to know that he wants to reveal himself to you, and that he will. Or, just call me crazy. I'll still love you.

T + P = MC

James, chapter one is about going through tough times. He starts out with some advice that sounds pretty wacky: "Consider it pure job, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds." 

Seriously?! When EVER do we do this?! This is an oxymoronic request if I've ever seen one. There is nothing joyous about tough times. So, you’re sick. “Yay! I’m sick!” Uh. No. No “Yay.” You’ve been slammed with financial trouble and you’re supposed to rejoice about it. Right. “While you’re at it, please poke me in the eye and chop off a finger, please. I can’t get enough of this ‘joy.’”

I don’t think this is what James is after ... as though we are to be unrealistically optimistic or Disneyland giddy about our dire circumstances. I think Eugene Peterson captures it well when he translates it, “Consider it a sheer gift...” No trial or time of testing is wasted time for us. Besides surviving and getting through it -- which is usually our only focus, naturally, I think James wants us to see at the front end the real value of our difficulties. There is a dimension we can live in that takes some focus in order to gain value. Testing your faith develops something good: maturity and completeness, or as The Message puts it, “mature and well developed, not deficient in any way.”

 Really, having a mature outlook and perspective is reward enough. I find that when my outlook is mature, I don’t freak out as much when the next big thing hits. (Watch me make a liar out of myself next time :) ) God has gotten me through this before, we’ve been here before, we can handle this one, too. Yes, it’s a bit more serious this time -- maybe a lot more -- but we can do this thing. You see, hard times - smack downs - aren’t an indication that God is on holiday. And, that’s the real crux of the issue. We are tempted to think that God has abandoned us -- that’s the “testing of our faith.” Faith says God told me he wouldn’t abandon me -- Jesus said as much. Faith says God does care, God is here, he’s able and willing to help me work through this and come out stronger and more mature.

There’s a very good reason beyond ourselves that maturity is good. Maturity helps others - the less mature than you, the younger than you, the weaker than you. Mature means you are out ahead of someone. As you learn the navigation issues through these particular waters of testing, you will chart a course for someone else, someone right behind you, or someone in the future who will face a similar circumstance. (I think that part is exciting.) This isn’t a matter of superiority as though you will now be able to gloat or best someone, although that seems a common human tendency. 

Speaking of, I’ve known people to do this. If they’ve ever had any situation similar they’re “all over it.” Instead of offering a compassionate, steady hand, they’re quick in one of two ways. One is the you-think-you’ve-got-it-bad syndrome. Or, it’s “This is what you SHOULD do. I’ve been there. I KNOW. Or, they’re good at both. Maturity comes along  side rather than dispensing auto responses. Maturity offers to walk along side, if only for a season. It says, God loves you, you’re gonna get through this. How can I help? What do you need that I can offer? … and it may not be advice. 

To me, the whole value of this maturity-through-trial thing is that we come out better lovers of people. We are loved through a hard time, by God and others, and it is natural that we now know how to love others better.

So, James says, whenever you face trials of many kinds (or one kind), see the gift in them. Hard to do. Very hard to do, especially right in the middle of them. But, the benefit is worth the effort.

There’s one other element here that is part of the “formula.” Now, I don’t like formulas for Christian living. I don’t think they work. People write "how to" books on the Christian life -- I have shelves full of them -- and they don’t work, as a friend of mine says, because if they did people wouldn’t keep writing them. (Look for my big sale on Amazon.) Living in God’s love isn’t about formulas, it is about relationship. It's about living loved by God and loving others -- relationship. That said, what James lays out for us does fall out as an equation of sorts. The testing of your faith develops perseverance. When perseverance is “finished” we find that we are more mature, more complete, that we have everything we need to get us through this thing, to come out on top, to thrive. Testing + perseverance = maturity and completeness. T + P = MC.

It’s also funny how he says this. The testing of our faith develops perseverance and “perseverance must finish its work.” It’s as though perseverance is something outside of us, a thing that is at work. It’s a very passive way to say this. You might expect to hear something more like, “You must persevere if you want to get through this. Don’t give up or...” (or else). That’s not the language. Perseverance is doing something TO us. It’s working to mature us. He almost personifies it. What I’m discovering is that as I hang in there with God, acknowledging he is right in there with me, that he will get things worked out as soon as they need to be. This “trial of faith” is doing a number on me. It’s good number though. It’s “a perfect 10.” I do what I know to do, use the resources at my disposal, and … wait. I know that I am loved by a Father who loves me more than anyone ever has or ever will. As I grow in the realization of his affection and care for me, trusting him is natural. Trust is the moment by moment outcome of my always-increasing confidence in his affection for me.  

He does this work. I slip my hand in his. He walks me out of the messes, most them of my own doing. Through every painful trial, perseverance must finish its work. I learn to sit still while perseverance works on me, while God works on me and in me. Really, it’s a matter of rest, of resting. And, I didn't say doing nothing. Rest doesn't necessarily mean inaction. It may, but it may also mean continuing to do what I am doing. As I rest in the reality of his love, the more I find that I am trusting him and not my own agenda for my life. That’s the difference between me grunting in perseverance and allowing perseverance to do its work. I’m really allowing God to do his work. Didn't Jesus say, “Come to me and I will give you rest"? He's saying, Your work alongside me will be restful.” If I don’t come to him, I find that I am laboring in my own strength, wallowing in my own agenda. I like how The Message relays Jesus’ words, “What I’m trying to do is get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God’s giving.”

You see, this is so much like God. He works best when we are content in him. In fact, the New Testament writer, Paul, says as much when he says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Being like God is to respond to him and life with contentment. If I'm not content, then there is something to learn about his love that I haven't yet learned. He is enough. His love is enough. Resting in this reality is allowing perseverance to finish its work. Jesus grows my trust right through the middle of my mess. He continually frees me from focusing on what I don’t have and turns my attention to him. He is the author of grace and trust. He is sufficient.

The testing of my faith develops perseverance. Perseverance finishes his work, and I grow, and lack nothing I need for life. T + P = MC.

Life in the Family

What does life look like as we live loved by our Father and live that life out with other believers? A friend recently observed that a healthy life together as believers in Jesus should not be an obligation; it should be irresistible. In my experience, as well as my understanding of the scriptures, there could be no truer perspective on life in "the Body." If we see fellowship as something God creates, not as something we conjure up, what could be more irresistible than something our Creator has come up with? ... Did you catch that? Let's try it again: What could be more irresistible than something our Creator has provided? You DO see the operable word in that sentence, right? Our CREATOR. He has loved us with this unimaginably creative love. He IS love and so, his love is intrinsically creative. And, if God loves to see us relating among one another in healthy ways -- and he certainly does, don't you think we can count on him to bring people into our lives with whom we can do that? Man, I do! Lord knows, we've screwed it up a million times over the centuries. Maybe it's time to get out of the way and trust this awesome God to do his thing. It IS time. I would like to suggest that no human effort can produce the Christian community that we long for. It is God's gift to us, his provision. 

Try these realities on for size ...
As we are learning to live in God's love, we realize that HE is our source -- of life, of freedom, grace, love, all that we need. If I don't feel like I need to get from you what I am already getting from Him, I don't need to put expectations on you to provide those things. As I said in the blog on Freedom last time, I am freed from the need to manipulate others for my own well-being because I am totally accepted by and in a relationship with a Father who loves me, who has my back, and provides for me. I don't need you to do that. He may very well provide through you something I need, and that's great, but it is him providing it, not me grabbing for it. There is a big difference. He frees me from being preoccupied with getting and grabbing, and is teaching me to relax in what he is giving. (NOT an easy lesson.) I accept what he gives from wheverever he gives it. He may be giving you to me to walk alongside for a time for mutual support, friendship, and relationship, and that's great. 

Do we NEED each other? In one sense, no -- what we NEED is him. Does he give us one another to share our life together? Absolutely. We will inevitably find our lives intertwined with other believers coming alongside them for a season and others coming alongside us for a season. Sometimes, what I need is exhortation -- Thank you, God, for my sister who gave me the right exhortation at the right time! Sometimes, I need encouragement and God sends you to encourage me. I accept that and we walk together in that time of encouragement. Every once-in-a-while, some good person who I know loves me steps up beside me and says, "Uh. Skip? Skip, what WERE you thinking?" Thanks, my bro, I needed that. Thanks, God for sending my bro for some clarification. Sometimes, what you need is ... MONEY! A JOB! I can help with that, how about you? 

The best journeying-together study from the New Testament that I have done is searching through the "one another" phrases in the first century letters to believers. I actually did this about 10 years ago. It really messed with me. You know: Love one another. Exhort one another. Pray for one another. Give to one another. Be kind and tender hearted to one another. I think there are 20 or so different "one another" phrases in the letters to the first century believers in Jesus. I tried to plug that stuff into my churchy mentality and it didn't work very well. (More about that later, maybe.) You see, the "one anothers" are all about relationship, not programs or any other kinds of organizing. And, that's what those historically closest to the source were all about. People who had seen, touched, and walked next to Jesus.

You see, the difference I'm realizing is that Christian community is not based on need; it is based on the sheer joy of sharing relationships with fellow journeyers. We modern, institutionally-minded people have our compass set in a pretty weird direction. Jesus' life flows FROM each of us into the body, not the other way around. Whenever I try to get from the body what I am not finding in Jesus, I am actually substituting it for Jesus. And we all know that serving something that isn't him is "idol worship." Asking the body to be what I really need Jesus to be for me is to make an idol out of it. I bring to my brothers and sisters the life I am experiencing in God. That's how we flourish together. It is his life flowing from us to each other that brings our strength and effectiveness. This is a far cry distance from a group of weary, bleary-eyed Sunday morning people sitting through a Sunday morning concert and motivational speaker workshop... like a group of hungry birds waiting for someone else to pour some life into us ... the life that we need to be getting everyday on our journey with the Father. (Time to BBQ some sacred cows? Anyone for a little cow tipping?) 



Back to the one anothers ... When I began to study the preponderance of these phrases in the New Testament a number of years ago, the realization came over me that being the church wasn't about meetings, buildings, programs, events, etc. BEING the church was about family, relating, loving, sharing, giving of our lives to one another. I discovered that the family images and metaphors of our life together far exceeded any other picture of what body life meant. 


This study started a revolution in my mind of what the church means. Here's what gets me crucified every time. I started to see how our structures, organizations, and institutions actually work against the one anothers so evident in the life of early believers. I told my wife the other day that it's like the old trying to "fit a square peg in a round hole." Every large (large is relative) church structure I know of and have been a part of that wanted to make at least an attempt to be faithful to this aspect of new life in Christ always struggled to make this happen. Why the struggle? Usually because the sheer size of the mechanism made it impossible. So, what do these folks do? They try to organize people into small groups. AND ... one of the problems is that it becomes forced. It doesn't work very well. Even when they pound out in their public meetings the importance of relating to one another on a small group level, their very structure belies the truth. They have spent scads of money, time, and effort attracting people with their flashy programs, buildings, and "ministries" that it seems a paltry and even hypocritical effort to now say to people, "You really need to be a part of these small groups we have put together for you." Some even go so far as to say, "If you really want to grow in Christ as you should, you will invest your time in a small group" or something like that. Most of us are so used to the big gathering being what we call "having church," that we don't know that there is no such thing in the scriptures as going to church. Since we don't know this reality -- even with a pastor-type person telling us, "Folks, we ARE the church" -- for us, going to a "service" IS being the church.  I've never heard anything so schizophrenic.  

This God journey is all about relationships. Our relationship with him. Our relationships with one another. And, you see, what is evident from the New Testament is that their life together was defined by their relationships with one another, not their meetings or activities. Their life together was not marked by programs, services, activities, outreaches, etc., but by their love one for another. Did they have problems? You bet your bottom ... dollar. That's pretty much what the letters to the early groups of believers was all about. Helping them sort out this life together they had discovered in Jesus. The New Testament writers taught them a lot about learning to love each other unselfishly and practical ways to serve one another. 

In reality, of course, none of us have it all together, and many times we do feel like we NEED to be with others who seem to be on top of it. Sometimes, we are too wounded to offer much of anything to others as we gather. I think that's when the life of Jesus flows from others into the body to bring wholeness. Even so, the most effective help to give is to learn to point each other to Jesus, not get others dependent upon us. So many people feel a need to "minister" because they have some sort of gift and they have this hankering to foist it on others, aka "having an outlet for their gift." That's the least effective focus, I think. The most effective kinds of gatherings that I have been a part of are not times someone has some "need" to minister or "exercise their gift." The greatest benefit comes when we share the life of God with one another in response to where each of us finds ourselves at any particular time. 

You know, that brings to mind another realty of life together which really is the rockbed of our ability to relate to others. You cannot love others if you don't know how you are loved by God. Brings us right back to the reality of being loved, doesn't it? That was the whole point of Jesus' "new commandment" in John 13: A new commandment I'm giving you, Jesus said, love one another. "As I have loved you, so you must love one another." So, does this mean your task then is to read all about how Jesus treated people and then go out and mimic that behavior. I don't think so. I think Jesus was plainly saying, you can't love until you are loved. You can't love well until you are loved well. You can only love to the level that you know you have been loved by the Father. When you know how much you are loved by this Father, you will love others well. Until then, you won't know how to love. It's a reality of living loved. That's one of the main reasons real fellowship is irresistible. People who have been SO LOVED are great lovers. :) Knowing how much I have been loved by this awesome God just spills over into loving others in very practical ways. 


So, that's it for now. Life in the family. Learning to live loved. Learning to love. Learning to serve. Learning to point one another to Jesus for the answers to our perplexities. Learning to listen to God together. This is what he has been showing me.