Blind!

It would be a miraculous thing indeed if we were solely speaking of Jesus restoring someone's physical sight.  Yet, the power and meaningfulness of John 9 goes beyond that.  Why?  Well, let's think about it for one minute.  What does the act of a person restoring another persons physical sight accomplish?  How does that impact my life?  If I witnessed it myself, I would be awestruck and testify to that person's greatness.  But, Jesus came to inhabit earth for one purpose. Namely, to be a sacrifice for us and to show us how to be one with the Father as he is one with the Father. (John 17) He didn't come to be regarded as powerful, mystical, unique, or even great. I mean, we all know that was true of him then, true of him today, and will be true of him forevermore!  What I am driving at is that Jesus himself did not come with that mission.  He was absent any ego, profit motive, power, material gain, etc, etc. He came to serve, not to be served. He came to do the will of his Father, period!  

Therefore, how does John 9 apply to me and impact the way I live if it is only looked at as a physical healing?  Not much at all.  Therefore what meaning can be ascertained from John 9 that has eternal, significant, and personal meaning?  The answer is found at the end of John, 9:41,  "Jesus said (to the Pharisees), 'If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."  See, Jesus was directing this comment at the Pharisees or Jewish scholars.  Jesus says in verse 39, 'For judgement I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.'  The blindness Jesus is speaking of is spiritual blindness.  In this story, Jesus is saying that those who have no personal knowledge of God and he (Jesus) are in effect blind.  They are groping around in life with no direction and no moral compass.  The Pharisees did have knowledge of God.  They possessed the best book (Bible or in their case Talmud) knowledge among all the people of the world. Yet, they had no personal knowledge of God.  Knowledge and knowing are two entirley different things. They had all the scholarly details down pat but they didn't know God.  Not like Job, 'my ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. (Job 42:5)  Even here in Job, the word "eyes" is used to convey a real knowing of God, although he did not actually see God.  It is this same emphasis on sight that Jesus uses in a parabolic way to emphasize spiritual sight as knowing God.

We can possess all the Bible knowledge we want and quote scripture front to back.  Yet, the question remains.......do I really know God?  What do I do with all that knowledge of the Bible?  Do I try to impress my friends or use it as a symbol of righteousness?  The Pharisees did and look at their predicament throughout the New Testament.  Jesus took them to task.  We must take that knowledge and personalize the word of God to our everyday lives.  We must work out our salvation......daily.   The sight that has meaning to me is that when I look at my life and my circumstances and I read the Bible, I can see that God has been with me the entire time.........his gentle footprints slightly ahead of mine leading me through ALL of life.  And with that knowledge, developing a faith so strong that I need not worry or toil anymore.  The kingdom of God is when I can walk this earth each day muttering, "thy will be done, not mine" and be like the lillies of the field that do not labor or spin and like the birds of the air that do not sow or reap or store away in barns.  

What is Love?

When I think of the word "love", I think of warm and fuzzy feelings one has for a family member or wife or child.  Basically, love has always been associated with positive and uplifting feelings.

However, I have come to see over the years through God's word what love really means.  It always seems that when we pray for something like love and patience, God places people in our lives who are difficult to love and people who are demanding.  Yet, He says that "love is  patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.......Love never fails!"  (1 Corinthians 14:4-5, 8)

See, the first thing that I have to realize is that God loved me not because I was lovable.  He loved me because that is His nature!  Period!  If His love was contingent upon my personal traits and characteristics, He would have forsaken me long ago.  We are called to love one another just as God and His son Jesus loved us.  That is love with no conditions or strings attached.  Unconditional love.  

And once we grow in our spiritual lives, He will place unlovable people in our path who we will be expected to love in a Godly manner.  That is, we may not like the person or agree with what they say or do, but we must love them.  And the purpose of doing so?  To become as much like Jesus as possible in this life that we may be greeted by God upon our physical death with these words, "well done my good and faithful servant." (Mat 25:21)  We have to remember that "wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it." (Mat 7:13)  If we hate, despise, ridicule, and gossip about those who are different than us, who get on our nerves, who continue on in sin...........then what are we doing any different than the majority of people in this world, the majority as Jesus tells us that are passing through the wide gate?  

I personally have to remember all the times that I have forsaken God, the times when I have done bad things, the times when I lived in the squalor of sin..............then it becomes easier for me to love the unlovable, just as God loved that unlovable me!  

Why are we so Forgetful?

When I ask this question, I think of my own personal experience.  How many times has God delivered me up out of horrid personal circumstances, for me to only turn my back on Him?  Yet, this is the story of mankind, isn't it?  We need only hearken back to those oft forgetful Israelites in the desert. The following is from Psalm 106: 12-15."

"Then they believed in his promises and sang his praise.  But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel.  In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test. So, he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them."

God gives us free reign to choose Him or everything else our natural hearts desire.  We are even told that God will not force or fight with us over our allegiance.  'he gave them what they asked for.' Disobedience and turning away from God is the struggle we all face.  The 'things of this world' with all of their glimmer and attractiveness pull us away from God.  Yet, time and again these things that seem so beautiful, that seem so attractive, and that seem so filling, turn out to be ugly, unattractive, and completely void of any substance and leave us completely empty inside.  They cannot nor will they ever, completely fill that void, that "God sized"  void that from its name implies that only God can fill!  Disobedience leads to guilt, shame, and remorse.  Those three are a yoke too heavy and burdensome to carry around with us each and every day.  So, let us as take the yoke that Jesus offers us.  His burden is light.  It is a burden that comes from obedience to Him, but it pales in comparison to the "hell on earth" existence if we continue living a life enslaved to sin.  

And God will love and return His favor to you.  The following Psalm has become one of my favorites, Psalm 51:

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.  Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.  For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me." (1-3)

 

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." (10-12)

 

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." (17)

God does not delight in sacrifice (as it is mentioned in the Old Testament) or take pleasure in burnt offerings.  When we come to know God intimately, our hearts and spirits are broken more severely when we disobey.  Yet, it is this disappointment in ourselves that we have failed 'Our Father' that pleases Him.  We will continue to fail in this life, we will never be completely be free from sin, but we will always be welcomed back with loving arms by our Father when he sees our broken spirit.  Therefore, never give up the fight!  We should expect sin to slither its way into our lives (for we all fall short of His glory), but we must never accept it in our hearts and become enslaved to it.  

Perseverance versus Endurance

There is a difference.  Endurance implies the ability to "hold on" to the end or completion.  Yet, perseverance implies the ability to "hold on" and succeed in the mission all at the same time. For example, I ran a marathon once and I endured the grueling 26.2 miles.  However, I finished in over 4 hours.  Others who had finished prior to me were probably already at home, showered, and relaxing reading a book.  Perseverance is defined by what we predetermine to be a success.  As my 1st marathon, I just wanted to finish the race.  Therefore, I both endured and persevered.  However, if I had wanted to finish in under 3 hours or come in 3rd place, I would have endured but not persevered.  Okay, enough of the confusing talk.  

My wife and I named our daughter Hannah.  We did so because like the Hannah in the Bible, we want her to be a "worshiper of God."  It means this because the biblical Hannah was barren (sound familiar) and could not have children.  Her husband had another wife and the other wife teased Hannah for her inability to bear children.  It says in 1 Samuel 1:10, "In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord."  Hannah was bitter, but not at God.  That, I believe, is the difference between Hannah and most of the people living today.  I know from my own experience that years before something "snapped", I would blame God when things were not going my way or when I found myself in an unfavorable or painful position.  Yet, we see here that Hannah prayed to God in the midst of her bitterness.  "As she kept on praying to the Lord........"[1 Sam 1:12]  Therefore, I know today that it is okay for me to be bitter or sad.  God does not require us to be any certain way emotionally.  Emotions are emotions, its the thoughts and actions behind those emotions that are of concern to God.   It is okay to be bitter or sad about our circumstances because we live in a fallen world.  Yet, it is this bitterness, loneliness, and sadness that should serve as a catalyst to turn toward God (in thought and action), not away from Him.  

Hannah "prayed without ceasing" [1 Thessa 5:17] and it was credited to her as righteousness.  Now that is what is stated in the Bible about Abraham, but I interpret the birth of Samuel as God crediting her with righteousness. Hannah had promised to give her child to God if God looked upon her with favor, and she did.  After she submitted Samuel to Eli to be a "child of God", God blessed her with 5 more children. [1 Sam 2:21]

So, Hannah persevered!  She knew what she wanted and she received it in God's time, not hers. She received because she asked God, seeked God, and knocked upon His holy door!  That is the key because when things do not happen in my time, I tend to give up and stop praying.  This is a great reminder to keep praying and you will be a winner in all things.  Your faithfulness will be credited to you as righteousness and you will receive blessings far beyond what your finite mind can even comprehend.  

Redeemer

Merriam Webster defines redeemer as: "to buy back, to get or win back, to free what distresses or harms, to release from blame or debt, to free from captivity by payment of a ransom."

The initial entry in Merriam Webster has Jesus listed as the reference point of "one who redeems."  Yet, how does this work?  How am I redeemed?  What am I being redeemed from? Do I simply verbalize my love for God and Jesus?  Is that enough?  We can find the answers in the book of Ruth.  

Ruth was a Moabite who had been married to one of Naomi's sons.  The story goes that Naomi and her husband and two sons went to live in Moab because of a famine in the land of Judah. While living in Judah, one of Naomi's sons married a Moab woman named Ruth.  Naomi's husband and two sons eventually die and she, Naomi, moves back to her homeland, Judah. The two daughters-in-law want to move with her, but Naomi pleads with them to go on with their lives and re-marry.  One of the daughters-in-law, Orpah, leaves.  The other, Ruth, refuses to go her "own way" and commits to life long loyalty to Naomi.  They move back to Judah where Ruth gleans the fields after the harvesters and a man named Boaz takes notice of her.  Boaz is known in the story as a kinsman-redeemer.  Once Boaz sees the loyalty and love Ruth has for Naomi, he sets out to "redeem" them by buying land Naomi has put up for sale. 

We see in this story how the love and commitment of one person resulted in redemption. Redemption from what?  Boaz redeemed Naomi and Ruth from distress.  When they moved back to Judah, Ruth had to glean the fields.  In the Old Testament, God provides instructions to the Israelites in regards to harvesting.  One of his provisions is that the harvesters shall not harvest every last shred of crop.  They must leave some behind for those less fortunate, poor, hungry, deprived, and oppressed.  The lesson is one in generosity and concern for others.  So, Ruth and Naomi came back to Judah widowers and found themselves in a dire situation. Therefore, Ruth gleaned the fields after the harvesters in order to provide them sustenance. Ruth found favor in Boaz's eyes and exclaimed, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me- a foreigner?" [Ruth 2:10] Boaz replied, "I've been told about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband-how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.  May the Lord repay you for what you have done." [Ruth 2:11]  

Okay, so how does all this relate to me- at this present moment in time?  Well, in the New Testament, Jesus made some bold statements regarding what is needed to follow him.  When Jesus made his first calling, Matthew says that, 'At once they left their nets and followed him' and  ' immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.' [Mat 4: 20, 22]  And famously Jesus retorts in Matthew 10: 37-39, 

"Anyone who loves his father and mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

What Ruth did was follow Jesus.  Her decision to follow Naomi, leave her mother and father, and forgo her own future with a new husband is as selfless as it gets.  She placed the concern of another ahead of any concern she had for herself.  And this is what is required!  To die to any right that we think we have to our own lives.  Not literally of course, but to die to my self centered view of the world.  I must look outward, not inward.  I must reach out to others, not constantly wallow in self pity over my circumstances or worry about "what could have been" or "will this or that be provided" or "I must do this to ensure that I get this or that."  Not at all! Jesus, in asking us to follow, is asking us to leave our comfort zone.  He asks us to care as much if not more for foreigners as we do about our own family.  What he is really trying to do is trample out any pride, selfishness or lasting vestiges of self preservation. This simple and beautiful story is relevant because it is real.  It is just as real today as it was then.  On the surface, it is a heart-warming story indeed.  However, it is a story that is in "real time" for us.  

Jesus is the redeemer, not was the redeemer.  He redeems today and tomorrow just as he redeemed yesterday. He, as the Merriam Webster definition states, "frees us from captivity by payment of a ransom."  I never knew that I was captive until I accepted my brokenness.  What held me captive for over 30 years?  Sin!  And I, you, and all human beings will not see that until we feel the pain of existence in this world and realize the futility of "the ways of this world" to such a degree that a threshold is reached that pushes us into the realm of the spirit.  Then, by the grace of God, when we turn our face to His, we receive what we have been looking for our whole lives...........a peace of mind, heart, and soul that borders on Utopia.  God makes it possible for us to achieve what we want.  The only catch is that we must arrive their by His means.  

The oppression of this world can be overcome.  When God sees, as Boaz did in Ruth, that we are living our lives for Him and not for ourselves, we become redeemed by Jesus.  And just like Ruth, we are redeemed by people who God chooses to work through. We begin receiving blessings.  That has been a mind blowing concept for me to understand and still is much of the time.  I have always thought that to receive blessings, I must take an active part in acquiring them.  Now, I see that all I have to do is "tend sheep" and they come, they just come without any self centered effort on my part!  In fact, the more personal effort I put into obtaining them, the less I receive.  Wow!  Now that is amazing.  Before I went through "the fire" of the last few years, I would have never "seen" the larger spiritual meaning of this story.  Today, I see it, seek it and I yearn for it.  Where I was once blind, I now see!  And, we can all have our spiritual vision restored, if we just make the decision to follow!

Am I okay with being unknown, Part 2.

After writing my last blog entry and re-reading it, I wanted to re-visit this topic.  I have a feeling that I may have offended some people.  Especially those who have felt the sting of "this life" through the senseless and untimely death of a loved one or someone that has been struck with a terminal illness.  I want to apologize if I offended anyone and tell you that I do not believe these types of situations to be God's will.  When I wrote it, I was thinking of my own personal situation and how I wallowed in self-pity for so long before I saw the greater picture and how God was orchestrating events in my life. The following is written by Marcus Borg, a progressive Christian and theologian out in Oregon,

"God Provides, Doesn't Protect

I believe that God is present everywhere, in everything - that the universe is shot through with the radiant presence of God. Thus we are always "in God," even as God is more than the universe.

But to say that God is everywhere and in everything does not mean that God is the cause, directly or indirectly, of everything that happens. To say the obvious, utterly horrible things happen in the world, and with great frequency. To imagine that these somehow fit into the long-term purposes of God is blasphemous. Rather, we are creatures who are able to act (as we often do) in ways contrary to God's purpose and dream.

And more: tragedies like the shootings and deaths at Virginia Tech indicate, in my judgment, that thinking of God as an interventionist is impossible as well as unhelpful. If God could have intervened to stop this (or the Holocaust, or 9/11, or the war in Iraq, or the individual tragedies that never make the news), but chose not to, what kind of sense does that make?

We live in a world still under the sway of "the powers" - powers in individual and collective lives that lead us away from God and God's passion for life on earth.

But in the midst of all this, there is a source of sustenance that can help us in the darkest night. The most concise expression of this that I have heard comes from the late William Sloane Coffin, who died a year ago this month. He said - and I am confident of his "gist," if not his exact words: "God provides maximum support, but minimal protection."

Does God as an interventionist protect us? No. Does God provide a means of support in the midst of our tragedies? Yes."

Am I okay with being unknown?

Today, I wanted to let Oswald Chambers do most of the talking through his May 1st entry in "My Utmost for His Highest."  -

Faith— Not Emotion

We walk by faith, not by sight —2 Corinthians 5:7

"For a while, we are fully aware of God’s concern for us. But then, when God begins to use us in His work, we begin to take on a pitiful look and talk only of our trials and difficulties. And all the while God is trying to make us do our work as hidden people who are not in the spotlight. None of us would be hidden spiritually if we could help it. Can we do our work when it seems that God has sealed up heaven? Some of us always want to be brightly illuminated saints with golden halos and with the continual glow of inspiration, and to have other saints of God dealing with us all the time. A self-assured saint is of no value to God. He is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and completely unlike God. We are here, not as immature angels, but as men and women, to do the work of this world. And we are to do it with an infinitely greater power to withstand the struggle because we have been born from above.

If we continually try to bring back those exceptional moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are becoming obsessed with the moments when God did come and speak with us, and we are insisting that He do it again. But what God wants us to do is to "walk by faith." How many of us have set ourselves aside as if to say, "I cannot do anything else until God appears to me"? He will never do it. We will have to get up on our own, without any inspiration and without any sudden touch from God. Then comes our surprise and we find ourselves exclaiming, "Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!" Never live for those exceptional moments— they are surprises. God will give us His touches of inspiration only when He sees that we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never consider our moments of inspiration as the standard way of life— our work is our standard." 

This is very true for me.  I must always be very critical of myself personally and my motives.  I am very addicted to emotions and I always want the emotion of happiness and elatedness.  If they are not present, then I am bored.  I think that I must always have the inspiration of God at my back.  However, it will never happen that way and it is a sure sign of immaturity on my part to demand it.  It is a sure sign, as Chambers aptly noted, that I am seeking something other than God himself.  And what usually brings those emotions of inspiration?  They usually occur when something good happens in my life.  That is goodness based on my definition of goodness.  It is good for me to be rich.  It is good for me to be healthy.  It is good for me to be famous and well known.  It is good for me to obtain and maintain a job.  It is good for my stocks to rise because the Dow soars.  It is good for me to have a wife and several children.  And yet, when my job is lost, family is lost, riches usurped, and health in jeopardy, I somehow think this is not God's will for me because it makes me feel bad.  And if it makes me feel bad, then it is surely not good.  

No!  If we believe in an all powerful, controlling, and knowing God, then we must be prepared to reconcile our "current situation" with the fact that it is God's will.   We usually try to garner sympathy from others by pointing to how well we have been living. But, if we honestly critique our lives, we will see that what is happening to us is just what is needed to bring us into alignment with God's way.  We may not like it, but we most assuredly will have to agree that what is happening in our lives is for the greater good.  Paul writes in Romans 8:28, "And we know that IN ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  ALL THINGS means ALL THINGS.  That means through birth, death, health, sickness, marriage, divorce, job, no job, riches, and poor, God works for the good!  Yet, we continue to balk at this truth.  When we do so, we usurp God's omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence!  And that makes God a very little God indeed.  Do we really want a small God whose hands are tied behind his back at times? This is why walking by faith and not our mortal, limited, and finite sight is crucial, so very crucial in growing an authentic relationship with God.  May His peace be with you!

Controversy!

I was thinking today about what to write and I realized that I have a desire to be controversial.  Is there anything wrong with Christians being controversial?  Not if you're trying to imitate Christ! I read a book not long ago titled, The Imitation of Christ.  It's not on a recent best seller list because it was written in 1418 by a Dutch monk by the name of Thomas a Kempis.  It is considered one of the most widely read devotions to Christianity.  It is a product of the German-Dutch school of mystical thought.  Now before anyone gets too spooked, mysticism was and is the earliest form of pure Christianity.  It came before Catholicism, before the Reformation and all the different "religions" and before all the various ideologies and man made doctrines.   I realize the word mystical somehow brings up thoughts of magic, but that is not the intended meaning of mysticism as it relates to 1st and 2nd century ascetics.  These folks were so devoted to God and Jesus that they spent their whole lives in the desert "communing" with God.  

So, back to the original question.  Is it "wrong" to be controversial in Christianity.  It is if you are being controversial over matters that are not based in spiritual truth.  For example, attempting to make Jesus gender neutral.  However, Jesus was a "lightning rod" during his ministry.  He was provocative, controversial, and progressive.  He made many enemies by claiming to "forgive sins" and grew to be hated by the scholars and scribes of the Hebrew Bible so much that they carried out his murder and crucifixion.  Yet, we are called to "be like Christ."  What does that look like?  Well, if history is a good guide, we are supposed to be just as controversial as Jesus was.  We should be proclaiming truth no matter the consequences.  Even to the point of being hated and ridiculed by the biblical scholars of today.   Yet, we must be very careful here or we can become self-righteous and bent on pointing fingers for the sake of taking the focus off of us.  If we are to be controversial, we had better have our "own house" in order.  We had better be trying to live just as Christ lived, all the while knowing that we will never reach that level of perfection.  That means that we must rise on bended knee, walk with humility all day long, and retire on bended knee.  

However, it is a charge that has been left for us by Jesus.  He makes it clear through the "Great Commission" that we go out into the world and make disciples, just as he did.  When we accept things passively from those who have been trained in religious and biblical matters, then we are being lazy and placing too much authority in man and not enough authority in God.  We only need to remember who Jesus was "fighting" against during his ministry to reach this conclusion. John the Baptist called the Pharisees and scribes "broods of vipers."  Jesus called them "hypocrites."  So, we too, must at the very least take the direction that has been given us by pastors, preachers, priests, and the like and verify it through our own study of scripture.  I say all of this not to create an adversarial mind set toward your pastors or church leaders.  No!  Not at all. I say this because we are all human, pastor or not, and all humans sin, every single one of us.  No man is perfect, so we must go to the Author and Perfecter of Life in order to obtain truth when things are unclear.  Pastors and church leaders are our guides.  They point to "the way" and it is up to us to walk in "the way."  Even some of the greatest climbers need guides because the guides know the terrain.  However, that doesn't mean that the climber not train and do his own homework.  Just the same, we need spiritual church leaders to guide and direct us because they are familiar with the terrain.  Yet, we need to do our homework too!  

In closing, I will cite one personal example.  I am in the process of reading Joel Osteen's, "A Better You" and I am doing so not because I am a fan of his style and teaching.  I am doing so because I need to know what is so captivating in his message that millions of people flock to buy his books and to hear his message in his mega-church in Houston.  The title alone is something to think about.  I know that when someone plays upon my ego by using words like "you" and "me", it makes me feel good.  Yet, the resounding message over and over in the Bible is about taking care of "His sheep" and He will give you rest.  Biblically speaking, we are to decrease so that He may increase. I am charged with "making disciples" and being "the least of thee."  Jesus washed the feet of His disciples and they did not understand the act.  They were too busy jockeying for position to be at "His Right Hand."  They thought in "I" and "me" terms and Jesus thought in "you" and "we" terms.  The prosperity movement within evangelical circles has rightly been challenged by some of the leading Christian thinkers of today like Rick Warren and John Piper.  It is one area where "truth" has not been the guiding force behind the message.  True prosperity is a spiritual prosperity in which the peace of God flows in and through you during times of plenty and want.  True prosperity is when I have reached such a humble state that my own rights, wants, and needs are an afterthought.