Conversion of the Mind

Matthew 7:1 NIV

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

Are You Opinionated?

It is one of the most natural of all human behaviors, judging others.  We may not let people in on what we are thinking but we are constantly critiquing and evaluating.  We make determinations regarding the lectures of our professors, the performance of our servers at restaurants, the job done by our hair stylists and the conversational skills of those we meet at parties.  We judge the effort given by our co-workers, the intelligence of our doctors, the creativity of our friends on Facebook and the friendliness of the clerks at supermarkets.  We give everyone we meet a quick evaluation…how well they have dressed, how they smell and how they look.  Often we pride ourselves on how accurately we assess others…their honesty, skill levels and worthiness of our time and friendship.  Fans who have never played above fourth grade baseball somehow know more about baseball than major league managers and millions watching football on TV believe they would not have thrown the “stupid” interception or made the bad pass the point guard made because they are smarter than the players they are watching.

A part of being human is the capacity to judge the skill and effort of others as well as ourselves.  Adam, even before he sinned, was given the task of naming all the animals based on his evaluation of them.  We see in the Bible a number of examples of judging, evaluating and assessing the motives and decision making of friends and co-workers.  King Saul famously decided that young David, his general, was a risk to Saul’s throne and that David’s popularity among the people of Israel might go to David’s head.  Saul came to the conclusion that David was greedy for power and could not be trusted so he tried to kill him.  Was Saul right in his determination?  Did Saul see something in David that warranted his concern?  Perhaps there was a smirk on David’s face when the women of Jerusalem sang about his exploits in front of King Saul.  Maybe David was not as respectful in the way he addressed Saul as Saul thought he should have been.  Whatever evidence Saul had though for judging David disloyal and a traitor, the King later realized it was not sufficient to warrant his mistrust.  He later admitted to David, "You are more righteous than I," he said. "You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly.”(1 Samuel 24:17 NIV)

One of the problems with judging others is that we may be dead wrong in our evaluations and a friendship or alliance that could have been wonderful and beneficial might be lost.  Family relationships can be destroyed by our judging.  Absalom, one of David’s sons became enraged when his half-brother Amnon raped his full-sister Tamar.  Their father David didn’t do anything about the crime though despite being king and having the power to punish Amnon any way he wished.  After three years, Absalom gained his vengeance on Amnon and had him murdered.  This did not settle the account fully though in Absalom’s mind.  He decided that David was wrong in this for not taking up the cause of his sister and thus not competent enough to be king, that he was an unfair and unjust ruler.  He began to gather evidence that David was not just in his other dealings.  Absalom interviewed men and their families as they entered Jerusalem on visits and asked them what they thought about the justice in the land with David as king.  “Did he treat everyone fairly?”  “Did David play favorites, only advancing the careers of those from Judah but disregarding the needs of those from other parts of Israel?

For four years Absalom criticized his father’s fairness as king.  He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, "What town are you from?" He would answer, "Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel."  Then Absalom would say to him, "Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you." And Absalom would add, "If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice." Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him.  Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the men of Israel. (2 Samuel 15:2-6 NIV)  With Absalom, the judgmental attitude toward his father festered into hatred that careened out of control.  Not every critical thought morphs into disgust and loathing. Some just fade to ambivalence and disinterest.  However, never does a critical and judgmental thought disappear from the mind.  It always leaves its mark; always damages in some way our personality.

Two of the Disciples, James and John, responded with rage to the lack of interest in Jesus and His ministry shown by the leaders of a Samaritan village and they made a rather troubling request of Him.  When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?"  But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village.  (Luke 9:54-56 NIV)  This was an extreme reaction to a mundane occurrence.  It is not like these people were ripping into Jesus or wanting to stone Him to death.  They just weren’t interested in hearing Him because He was going to Jerusalem.  Was this the only collection of people who had some sort of reason for turning aside from Christ?  Of course not!  But James and John for some reason believed they were far worse than all the other critics and skeptics of Jesus.  Our Lord rebuked them for their judgmental response to the Samaritans.  We can be certain that there was a much bigger concern of James and John than that these poor villagers didn’t want Jesus lecturing them about religion.  Perhaps racism was at the root of their criticism…perhaps it was their nationalism rearing its head in them…they were not happy that the Samaritans had a bad opinion of Jerusalem.  Whatever the case nearly every time we become judgmental, there is something behind our criticism that fuels it.  Something that runs much deeper than our sense of fashion, political beliefs or loyalty to God!

Jesus’ command during His Sermon on the Mount is unequivocal.  We must not judge others!  "Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” (Matthew 7: 1 NIV)  Luke quotes Jesus almost exactly the same way.  "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.” (Luke 6:37 NIV) This is an astounding demand of God.  We all are so good at judging others.  Not only that, our criticism is always warranted or so we think.  Yet it seems that our Lord does not care how smart we believe we are or how wise we decide our evaluations, we are not to judge others critically.  Of course this is not saying judgments are never to be made.  Those in places of authority are directed by God to make judgments when the law is broken.  Murder, vandalism, theft; God puts it in the hands of those in authority to judge crimes and determine guilt or innocence.  God has established Law as a protection for us from the evil in people’s hearts.  Jesus is not dealing with authority judgement in these passages.  He is commanding against personal judgment.

Let us be clear about this.  There is never a time when a Christian, who is not in a position of authority under the law or as a part of his or her occupation, is given permission to judge the character, motives or actions of another person, whether that person is Christian or non-Christian, in this life.  To do so puts us in direct opposition to God and His mercy.  If you or I judge someone, the Lord will judge us and we would be hard-pressed to find an instance where God’s judgment was pleasant.  Yet our Lord has made us judging people, with critical minds and discerning hearts.  Why is it that, if we are not to use those skills unless we are circuit judges, we have the instantaneous judging mechanism up and running all the time?

Our mind is wired this way by God that we might be skillful at prayer, quickly seeing what we need to bring to God and able to join with the Lord in what He shows us.  If you see an area of weakness in someone or a moral flaw, you take that to God as soon as you become aware of it.  Your professor is giving a boring lecture, pray for God to help her.  A friend has been gossiping about you, bring it to the Lord for Him to fix.  Your parent prepared something for dinner that is not very good, pray for God to help your parent do better.  A hotel clerk is snappy with you and it is irritating, rather than snap back at her or talk about her rude behavior with your wife or co-worker, bring her to the Lord for healing.  One of your relatives clearly doesn’t like you and treats you disrespectfully and you want to “tell her off.”  You cannot.  You must talk only with God about her and ask the Lord to change her ways.  The person of any use to God is the one who prays.  God’s way for us to help people is by letting Christ work through us and He will never do so if we judge them or criticize them.  Have we ever helped anyone with our criticism?  We probably have often hurt them with our criticism, but helped them…most likely not!   We can be certain we have never hurt anyone with our prayers, but we have most assuredly helped every one of those we have prayed for God to come alongside and build into perfection!  Greatness in our Lord’s Kingdom is never determined by our ability to see the faults in others but by our faithfulness to pray for each person God brings our way.

Pro-Choice

Have we seen yet that we are completely free to live within the world we choose?  We can go down one road or another and it becomes our road but what sort of world we find as we travel along the road is completely up to God.  The Hebrews did not determine the sort of country they would have when first they chose a wilderness and then Palestine.  In neither case was it up to them when the manna fell or didn't, when the storms arrived or stayed away, what hills sprang up along the way and how much dew settled upon their tents.  We choose a home but our Lord decides how that home will be.  Heaven is not up to us to build and Hell cannot be demolished by human hands.  When the poor beggar chose Abraham's country, he could not make it more delightful and when the wealthy Lazarus selected Hell, he could not take down its sorrow.   God sovereignly rules over the worlds but we are kings of the road.  The man or woman who calls for the Law of his or her own way must accept the Law to the end God has determined.  But whoever opens the door to Grace has Grace in its all its wild unpredictability.  The wine that came out of the water pots was from Jesus but the water that was poured into them came from the friend of the groom.  We each live within the economy of our choices but the value of the coin we have in our pocket is decided by God.    God's commands are built on the construct of choice.  We do them or not but His rewards for keeping them are not our choice; they flow out of the Sovereign will of our Savior's Cross.  He chose to take away our Sin, we did not.  He chose to put together a home for us, we did not.  Choice for humanity started in the Garden of Eden...the Garden was not our choice nor was the deconstructed world where Adam and Eve found themselves later but at the point between the two, choice was theirs. Take the low road of "my will" and you have what follows.    Take the high road of "sovereign grace" and every command of God will lead you up and in to a world prepared for you by the same Lord who died to save you. 

"Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take.    Jeremiah 31: 21 NIV

Ridiculous or Doable

It is time to think about the possibility that we have hindered the Lord in His efforts to perfect us.  He did not say for us to "be perfect" in the sense that this is something that we should do for ourselves.  Christ more literally said that "You, yourselves shall be perfect ones" or "completed ones" in His Sermon on the Mount.  He makes this tremendous pronouncement after a rather long string of comments on the commandments and how we are to carry out our response to them.  Every time our Lord makes a demand on our personality in the sermon, He contextualizes it with impossible behavior.  No sane man or woman has ever seriously contemplated the possibility that those commands have been followed by him or her.  Only Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of Man carried them out to their end and the rest of us are perfect basket cases when it comes to not lusting, not being angry with our friends or enemies, not holding a stain of hatred toward our real enemies but really loving them, giving to those whose requests are absurd to us.  In fact, the Sermon on the Mount is more like a comedy routine than actual religion before we are born again.  Almost at every point of Matthew 5 and on into 6 and 7, we are presented with a ridiculous lifestyle that no one wants to take seriously.  The moment though we are born again, the Living Lord Jesus becomes a part of us and if we give Him room in our soul to have sway, we begin to feel the absurdity of living the old way of greed, lust, anger, bitterness, selfishness and discontent with what God has given us.  Perfect is not an impossibility in Christ, it is where we are going.  The day shall come when we will be perfect just like our Heavenly Father and as we let our Savior have His way with us rather than fight Him at every turn, we shall pull into perfect places...a kind response to someone who hates us, a nonchalance about what we have, a lack of interest in men and women whose attractiveness once held our thoughts captive.  Perfect is what we will be when Christ is so completely aligned with us that we won't be able to tell the difference between what we are doing and what He is doing.  What we want and what He wants are going to be the same and on the way, we give in to every urge of Christ we have within us.  For so long we have let our sin corrupted flesh pull us here and there.  In Christ however, we are free to live the good life without the gnawing beast of sin tearing at us and making so much we do a misery.  When we let our crucified Savior live through us...our actions and our thoughts, we find "rest for our souls".

Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.   Matthew 5:48 NASB

See Beyond Sight

We have not fully recognized how great the work is that Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross.  He not only took within Himself the Sins of the World, He destroyed the construct of Sin as a World order.  Before Golgotha, Sin was the universal condition of all creation.  Its poison reached into every particle until the sinless Son of Man came to us.  His body contained the damage of sin but not its presence.  When our Lord was crucified, Sin filled Him and corrupted His body but not the being of God.  Christ's death took Sin with it so that as Resurrected Lord not even the damage of Sin could be found in Him.  For the first time since Adam, the Created Order had a Sinless place and He is the beginning of the Sinless universe.  From Christ Resurrected comes Life not only without Sin but Life undamaged by Sin.  We find in Jesus Christ raised from the dead the beginning of the wonder of living without Sin.  Can we begin to picture life without temptation, without depression, anger, fear or selfish craving?  Have we taken time to think of what it will be like to walk without Sin boundaries and barriers; to be united with God and one another yet still ourselves?  No force of nature will hinder us for once more as it was before Adam, nature will be our dominion and not our master.  Like with Jesus, the wind and waves will obey us.  The earth will be our home and we will no longer struggle with it.  Work will be our pleasure and not our curse, the days will not exhaust us and nothing new will usher in pain.  Memories will only bring joy and dreams will never turn into nightmares.  We will never be betrayed by ourselves or others and the knee and elbow and back will forever be our friends.  The light won't reveal sorrow and the friend will remain a friend.  For the first time, we will see God and really see Him and we will never turn away from Him.  The Cross is the unveiling of Life without Sin and the uncovering of our Lord's Love for us...we now begin to see it; soon enough that Love will be the source of all sight.

Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that."   John 1:50 NIV

Christian Community

If a collection of Christians have to argue and fight over what they must do, then

they have stopped living as Christian community.  They have lost their way and become corrupted by Satan's schemes.  There are only two alternatives to get out of such a mess.  Fold and move to some other endeavor or repent and apologize to one another for each one's part in the rebellion against the Holy Spirit.  When votes have to be accumulated and forceful arguments made to gain what is needed, then God has left the building and the people are on their own to work out matters.  The Prince of Peace will not fight His way to a solution; He will wait for us to come to Him in humble submission and only then will we find the Lord in our midst.  If a house divided against itself cannot stand, why would we think God tolerates division within His Body!  We might continue to succeed in what we are doing if we leave Him out of the work but it will not be the Kingdom of God we are building.  We will have made ourselves engineers and architects and construction workers in the Kingdom of Mankind.  It could be that we accomplish very little if we give ourselves to unity and brotherly love but at least we will still be loyal to our Savior and that is the master plan of God's Church.  His command is to love one another and that can never be accomplished if our top priority is to "get our way".  It is better to lose all you have and be a "failure" in your efforts than to break the bond of peace within the Lord's community.  James declares that the antithesis of Christian living is quarreling as it is an atheistic behavior pattern that disregards the one way we are to live out our Christianity; going to God in prayer and seeking His help in every matter.  In fact, he labels infighting spiritual "adultery" and "friendship with the world".  If real love marked by submission to one another in humble confidence in God and His guidance does not reflect our Christian community, then we ought to just "call a spade a spade" and admit we no longer want Christ with us when we meet.  Nothing comes easy when we live in God; there is a sort of crucifixion that always transpires but what a marvelous and wonderful day it is when believers "live together in unity!"  (Psalm 133:1 NIV)

You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God...You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.      James 4:2, 4 NIV

Internal Healing

Depression is not corrected by an ongoing inward exploration of damaged systems within.  We can gaze internally for decades and never get any further than a thousand different psychological wounds that have festered because we keep looking at them and refuse to turn away.  Unlike physical injuries, psychological injuries do not improve with increased concentration upon them.  Whenever Jesus healed, whether it was the lepers or the blind, He did not give them instructions for continued care to the damaged body part.  He made the blind man wash the mud out of his eyes and be done with it, told the lepers to go to the priest and have their clean skin verified by the priest, ordered the paralyzed man to pick up his mat and walk.  All focus was upon the new life that had come, not the old life that had been a plague of sorrow.   The injuries done to the personality are, if they are not physical in nature, the result of Sin and its penetrating corrosive work.  Whether it be the "sins of the fathers" or "the sins of the sons", we cannot say.  Sometimes we are wrecked by the sins we commit, other times it is the sins committed against us that take us apart.  Regardless, it is the Cross of Christ that must be worked into us if the psychological damage caused by Sin is to be worked out of us.  Even the most disturbed among us can be brought into joy by an ever growing trust in God that He is good and His love for us in Christ unceasing.  The simple prayer, "Jesus, you are good and I trust now in your love for me" if voiced again and again during the day will begin, perhaps slowly, to heal our personalities of the harm done to them; not because it is a magical prayer but because it opens us to the touch of Christ at points where we have not before given Him access.  Jesus asked the odd question, "Do you want to get well?" not because He was trying to draw out of the paralyzed man a profound statement of faith but because our Lord will only work in us where we give Him permission and it was not clear that the paralytic was open to God dealing with him.  If we want our personalities to get well, at some point we must take our eyes off the damaged parts of us and look squarely at Jesus and keep our eyes fixed on Him long enough for Christ to enter the inner courts of our personality and make us new.

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.              Romans 6:4 NIV

Mind Re-oriented

Philippians 3:15 NIV

 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.

Are You Aware Of Everything Going On Around You?

There is nothing quite as disconcerting as discovering something has been going on without you being aware of it.  We now have webcams that can keep tabs on our homes, our pets and cities that we have never visited.  The spy in the sky is now visiting our neighborhood and looking into our backyard.  It hasn’t always been that way and even now we can be caught off guard by what we didn’t know had been happening around us.  I used to read to my children just before bedtime and often I did it while lying down on the floor with the kids on each side of me.  I read everything from the Chronicles of Narnia to the Little House on the Prairie series.  When our two oldest boys were little, I started reading to them the Lord of the Rings.  Many times I found myself dozing off as I read; slurring the words and one or both boys would immediately start shaking me to get me to read further before falling asleep.  More than once I did fall asleep in the middle of a sentence and my kids knew I was then a lost cause.  I remember waking up perhaps at around one in the morning and finding that my wife and the boys were all up and about, playing, talking, making cookies.  I was stunned; why were they still awake?  Why hadn’t they gone to bed?  What else had they done while I was asleep?  For all I knew, they could have shaved my head, taken all the money out of my wallet, gone joy riding in the car and had a drunken party in the house while I was out cold.  I had no idea what I missed while asleep and no one ever really told me either.

Perhaps you too have felt like you were left out of it, not aware of everything that was happening.  Maybe at work others seem to know more than you about what the company plans are.  Perhaps your friends seem to have the “inside scoop” and you are oblivious to it.  You might feel like you are the only one who doesn’t get the joke at the company picnic or the only one in America who has no idea why Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton are as popular as they are, why your teacher suddenly blew up at the class or why your mom treated you and your brother so differently.  In our information age, there is much we do not know and have no way of finding it out.  The internet is a blank page when it comes to some matters you care very much about and no amount of research may help you understand why your parents got a divorce or what led to your son dropping out of college.

There is within our era of information overload, a serious degree of information poverty that must be considered.  The Bible hints at this and it would be important for us to consider the possibility that there is a vast array of knowledge we could access that we are not even aware exists.  We should be disturbed by an account in the Bible that alerts us to how little we really do know about what is going on about us.  The ancient prophet Elisha faced a grave crisis or so it seemed.  A foreign ruler wanted Elisha dead and sent his army out to find him and kill him.  Elisha was staying in a village that was unable to defend themselves, let alone Elisha.  Elisha’s servant panicked when he saw the soldiers descending upon the town.  Elisha’s reaction was surprisingly calm and relaxed.  He reassured his servant that all would be well despite appearances.  "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O Lord, open his eyes so he may see." Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:16-17 NIV)

We have here clear evidence that there is a significant amount of information we aren’t aware exists and never access.  Some would call this the supernatural aspect of our universe.  But it was not supernatural for Elisha or his servant.  It simply was not “seeable” before this but once their eyes were “opened”, they could see all the chariots of fire and hills full of horses and it was clear as day to them.  Afterward, if they had been asked how they could be certain of what they said they saw, they would not have an answer to give that would sound logical or even acceptable to most people.  That doesn’t mean that what they saw wasn’t really there on the hills; the inability to explain why they could see what they did doesn’t mean they hadn’t seen it.

Consider the situation here closely.  There was a great army of soldiers who had no idea that the hillsides around them were covered by horses and chariots of fire and there was an entire village that did not see any of this either.  Only two people in this huge crowd could see what was very certainly there.  This same sort of occurrence is described by the prophet Isaiah in the sixth chapter of his book.  He was in the Temple and Isaiah became aware of the Lord present there sitting upon the throne and seraphs with six wings flying about glorifying the Lord so loudly that the doorposts and thresholds shook and the room was filled with smoke.  Now it is highly unlikely that Isaiah was the only person in the Temple at the time but it may have been so.  If he was the only one present, it is strange then God’s question.  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" (Isaiah 6:8 NIV)  It seems that this is not a personal call directed only at Isaiah to go but rather a general call to anyone who is listening.  If that is the case, then who else was to hear this?  The Seraphs?  It doesn’t seem likely.  Was there someone else present who was to hear this too?  Perhaps it was all a dream…it just happened in Isaiah’s mind.  But again, the call for someone to go was not just for Isaiah it seems.

Is it possible that there were hundreds, maybe even millions to whom this call to go was directed but no one else was available to God; everybody within “earshot” was too busy with their own thoughts and concerns to receive God’s call?  Their natures were not adapted to comprehending anything so rich and pure as the call of God.  There is something largely overlooked which Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3.  Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. (John 3:5-6 NIV)

We must sit here at the foot of this great statement of Jesus and let its implications sink into us.  It is often misunderstood at a very great point.  Many think the kingdom of God is heaven, that to get into heaven one must be born again.  This of course is true but it is only part of what this implies.  The kingdom of God is all that God inhabits and it is His Kingdom where He rules as supreme over all.  That Kingdom can only be entered by the one who has been transformed by the Spirit into someone completely new.  The Kingdom of God is all externals for the one not transformed.  It is books and lectures and church buildings and music styles and talent and rules and entertainment and possessions and personal improvement and issues and did I say rules?  But entrance into the Kingdom of God through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit is all about God…His presence, His direction, His love, His power, His mercy, His goodness and His life.  Christ is the Gate, He is the Way, He is the Life…the Kingdom of God is Him in every place.

Why are we so out of touch?  Why are we so oblivious to God all about us?  Perhaps it is because there has been so little God worked in us that we are unaware of Him.  We face a problem…a problem person…a problem with our bodies…a problem with our family or friends…a problem with work or school…and we go at it within the confines of only this kingdom, the kingdom of mankind and that is all we have…none of what is Kingdom of God decides for us how we think about a matter and how we approach it.  Until you enter into the Kingdom of God you cannot see anything or hear anything with certainty beyond the kingdom of mankind.  But when the Cross of Christ has formed Christ in you and the Holy Spirit begins leading you deeper into the Kingdom of God, you shall begin to hear the voice of God guiding you in matters and the power of God will begin to work through you and accomplishments that are impossible outside the Kingdom of God will be done by you because you are not the you that existed before the Cross of Christ formed Christ in you.  You are now Christ and you and that is the personality that exists.  It is a new personality that can see God, hear God and be empowered by God and that personality as it goes further into the Kingdom of God becomes more and more alive to God.

The temptation of Satan presented to Adam and Eve ran along two lines and for us it is the same fundamental temptation.  Satan inserted into the mind of Adam and Eve two thoughts.  God is not good enough and God is not competent enough.  If we accept either of these two thoughts, our mind will be shut out of the Kingdom of God, we will become deaf and blind to all that is opening up to us in the Kingdom of God.  Only the Kingdom of Mankind will be accessible to us because to approach God you must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrew 11:6 NIV)  Remember when the disciples wondered why they could not cast out the demon who was causing a boy to have seizures and Jesus replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:19-20 NIV)  It is as easy as breathing to stay with simple-minded determination in the realm of the kingdom of mankind and not go any further than that.  If you do, you have access to all there is in the kingdom of man but nothing more.  Faith in Christ however opens your mind to the Kingdom of God where the wisdom and power of God seep into your mind like living water nurturing the lovely plant which is your life. 

Do an experiment this week.  Make yourself completely open for God to guide you and empower your work.  In faith ask Him to guide you, ask Him to talk to you.  Only by faith in Christ will your mind be prepared ground for God’s seed to be planted there and if God has built His life in you, there will develop even this week a growing awareness of Him thinking in you and His thoughts will become clearer and clearer.  Power will be given you to see what only God can show you and bit by bit the Kingdom of God will become visible to you.  But you must start to make your mind open for Jesus Christ to work within your mind and that takes discipline and determination to not fall for Satan’s lie that God is not good enough and not competent enough to guide you!   Breathe out this prayer to the Lord. “Enable me Lord Jesus to do Kingdom of God things in a Kingdom of Mankind world.  Fill my mind O Lord with You!”  

Love Brought to Life

At each moment of contact with another person, there is a crisis of faith.  Do we believe our Lord is working in this one and recreating him or her as He is doing with us?  If we don't, then we can criticize, despise and disregard the soul before us.  If we think God is active and alive in each person we meet, then it is demonic to have anything but real love for that one we have bumped up against.  The world's own can react in any fashion they wish when people come into contact with people: irritation, scorn, lust, contempt, fear, manipulation, idolatry.  If Christ though lives in us, there is only one way to approach even our enemies; with supernaturally empowered love.  Our tangle of Sin-enflamed responses can be crucified with Christ if we let our Savior live through us as each moment of contact arises.  Whether it be a post we come across or an argument that develops, our Lord can work through our reaction and His love convert our reactions into true and real love.  The moment we begin to criticize, judge or dehumanize, God will give us the check of the Holy Spirit to hold back our anti-love response and we can be a force of Christ or Satan immediately.  The check won't last forever and we must submit our will to our Lord's instantly if we are to be God's then and there.  Wait, deliberate, hesitate and it is gone and you will likely make a mess of the opportunity to love through Christ.  Submit to God's prompt and the glorious love of your Savior will come through you and someone will sense God's presence because you are near.  Consider the possibility that by means of the love of Christ, you may be the burning bush a Moses has waited a lifetime to encounter.  The love of God, poured out through His people, makes every encounter a supernatural one.

 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.     1 John 4:7 NIV

Where Will You Go Next?

The true test of all Christians is how closely they resemble the Savior.   As we align ourselves along various scales...faith, forgiveness, confidence in the Father, indifference to what we have or don't have, love, purity, disregard for acclaim, loyalty to the Kingdom of God, honesty, unhurried devotion to prayer, patience, gratitude, we find a different sort of life coming into place.  It is impossible to be a "good Christian" without the supernatural working of Christ in us.  We are a hopeless tangle of lusts, frustrations, lies, mismanaged emotions, fears and self-absorbed loyalties.  Nothing we do can make us fit with Christianity...not with real Christianity.   Spiritually, we are like a dieter who cannot break free of too many calories.  The world can only look at the symptoms of unprocessed Christianity: road rage, drug abuse, depression, anxiety, materialism, greed and cheating spouses.  The one who is born-again sees something much more personal; the absence of Christ in daily living.  With Christ a part of us, not just as a role model but a living, interconnected part of our new personality, we can become perfect as He is perfect.  Each day is day one of Christ coming out of us in a new way; His love joined to our affections, His faith brought into our stresses, His holiness pouring into our desires.  Christ crucified does away with our Sin.  Christ resurrected breaks apart the bondage Sin has had over us and gives us the habits and behavior patterns of God Himself in the day we have before us.  What did Paul mean by, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me "?  (Galatians 2:20 NIV)Was it some quasi-spiritual gibberish or is he saying that Jesus Christ really does live in us?  Is He as He really is a part of us, living through all the decisions and behaviors of our personality?  If so, then we have real hope to be good and righteous and full of the peace and joy of God Himself.

But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) "or 'Who will descend into the deep?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).  But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming:  ( Romans 10: 6-8 NIV)

The Check of God

Matthew 5:23-24 NIV

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

Who Makes Your Decisions?

The other day I was driving on the freeway and a car was behind me in the left hand lane.  Suddenly he sped up and cut in front of me but then slowed down so that I had to put on my brakes.  I was a bit perturbed because he could have just as easily slid behind me if he had to get in my lane.  When I found myself driving five miles an hour slower because of the guy who had pulled in front of me, I began to stew over it until it became an obsessing thought.  Why did that guy have to be in front?  Was it an “alpha dog” thing?  I felt like my manhood had been stolen from me by this one simple act of this guy getting ahead of me on the freeway.  Of course my thinking about this was irrational and of course I was being immature but in a flash, I shifted lanes, punched the gas and broke into the lead, jumping in front of the guy who had cut in front of me.  Did I feel happy about what I did?  For a moment…for a moment I was quite puffed up and filled with pride…and then I just felt stupid and embarrassed and was compelled to ask God to forgive me!

Each of us has a disposition that is rooted in Sin.  Sin impacts our personality in a wide range of ways and for some of us it means we are prone to selfishness, for others greed, of using people for selfish ends or being easily insulted or angered.  Sin can lead to us being cold and indifferent to the suffering we see, make lust our dominant thought process, strip us of our compassion and honesty.  Sin wrecks our true sense of self; many despise themselves because of how Sin has affected them, others feel inadequate and generally depressed. Sin isolates us from God and from each other and makes our disposition self-absorbed and cuts us off from the spiritual realm.  By far, the most damaging effect of Sin upon our disposition is it makes us unconcerned about sin’s impact and makes us true rebels against God’s Kingdom.

There is an under-appreciated work the Holy Spirit does in us and that is He makes us aware of where we have gone wrong…how we have veered off-course.  Jesus hinted at this in the Sermon on the Mount.  "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23-24 NIV)  The Holy Spirit checks us…causes us to pause and think about some way that we have been wrong.  In this case it is with regard to disappointing and angering those close to us.  We see in the New Testament numerous examples of how the Spirit of God changes the disposition of His people by checking their behavior.

The Apostle Paul early in his life had the dangerous linking of a violent temper, self-righteousness and the authority to wield them as he wished.  Many have bad tempers and quite a few are self-righteous but the combination of the law and social constraints keep them both in check usually.  Paul was not encumbered by either and so he was free to unleash his self-righteous fury at will.  Paul’s wrath was directed at Christians and like Stalin and Hitler and Saddam Hussein after him, he was able to let his anger determine his actions; he was given authority to beat, imprison and kill anyone he wished.  After Paul was born again and God began working throughout his personality, his temper and self-righteousness continued to plague him.  In Acts 15:37-39 we see their lingering power over Paul.  Paul was mad at a colleague who deserted him and Barnabas on their previous mission trip and he refused to forgive his actions.  Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work.  They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. (NIV)

Not much later, that temper flashed again and many would say justifiably so when Paul was being questioned by the members of the Sanhedrin when the Roman commander asked the Jewish leaders to prove the rightfulness of their charges against him. In the midst of the proceedings, the Jewish High priest, who was not known to Paul, became angry with something Paul said and ordered Paul be punched in the mouth.  Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, "My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day."  At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. (Acts 23:1-2 NIV)  Instantly, Paul responded.  Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!"  (Acts 23:3 NIV)  When Paul was told that he had just insulted the Jewish High Priest, Paul backed off from his angry indignation.   Paul replied, "Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: 'Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.'" (Acts 23:5 NIV) 

Now a critic of Paul might argue that the Apostle would have acted upon his anger if he had the power to do so.  What checked his temper was the force behind the Sanhedrin.  Yet, Paul was not thinking of attacking the High Priest physically, his temper only took him as far as the insult, a similar one to what Jesus used when confronting the Pharisees.  When Paul realized that he was angry with the High Priest, the Holy Spirit through the scripture checked him and he immediately backed off his temper. There is a moment when a window opens and God’s light can either come into us and fill us with His presence or we let the window close and nothing of God touches us. It is when the check of God reaches our mind and we choose to heed it or ignore it that we stand on the edge of receiving a deeper work of the Holy Spirit in us or lose that instant of intimacy with God.

The Bible often points back to the critical moment when the people of God had to decide if they were going to trust God with their lives and enter the Promised Land or close the door to Him and silence God’s voice in them.  They decided to go it on their own without God.  Of course they never would have said they were closing themselves off to God.  The Hebrews were much too religious for that.  As far as they were concerned, they were wisely not putting themselves or their families at risk.  They were still open to the Lord working with them.  He could talk to them later if He wished…that was acceptable to them.  But God doesn’t work that way something serious and terrible happened when they refused to let the check of God have its way with them.  So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did.  That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.'  So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'" (Hebrews 3:7-11 NIV)

The check of God is the door that opens the way for us to enter our Lord’s rest.  “Rest” in Scripture is not some sort of spiritual or even physical “lying around”.  It is reaching the sweet spot with Christ where we are secure in Him and despite all the chaos around us, we are at peace because we have obeyed the check of God.  Let’s examine a very practical example of this.  In Acts 16 we are told that Paul and his fellow missionaries did not go into the province of Asia because the Holy Spirit checked them.  It is not that they didn’t really want to go and preach in Asia, but the Holy Spirit somehow made it clear to them not to go into the Roman province of Asia.  Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.  (Acts 16:6 NIV)  Later, Paul did go into Asia when the Holy Spirit was no longer checking him.  He (Paul) sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer. (Acts 19:22 NIV)  In both situations God’s peace was with Paul and his companions because they were aligned with God.

Let’s now look at the Holy Spirit check from a different angle. The Spirit can also check us to do something.  "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.  I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.  (Acts 20:22-23 NIV)  So Paul was directed somehow, and we do not know how, but somehow by the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem.  In this check of the Holy Spirit, he also was cautioned about what he would encounter there.  Later, a prophet from Judea traveled up to meet Paul in Caesarea and confirmed what the Spirit had already told Paul.  After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.  Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'"  (Acts 21:10-11 NIV)  When the people of the church heard this warning they literally wept and begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem; they loved him so much.  But Paul was as calm and peaceful as a daisy in the springtime sun.  That is how it is when we let the check of the Holy Spirit have its way with us.  No matter what He might tell us, we are settled and unperturbed when in faith we obediently let the check of the Holy Spirit have its way in us.

It cannot be said how the check of God will come to you.  It may be through a dream, or a conversation, a moment of reflection while driving in the car or most likely a quiet moment while reading the Bible but the Holy Spirit will make known to you something that aligns perfectly with Scripture and it is going to be totally up to you how you respond to the check and then what happens next is in God’s hand.  You will have His rest like Israel could have had if you let the check of the Holy Spirit have its way with you…or you could be brought into turmoil by turning away.  No one is more peaceful and content than the Christian who is letting the Holy Spirit have His way in his or her life but the converse is also true.  No one is more miserable than the Christian fighting the prompt of God and turning aside when the Holy Spirit has made something clear.  Our Lord’s promise to you could not be any clearer.  You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3 NIV)  It is in your hands whether you have our Lord’s perfect peace at any moment.  With steely resolve, decide you will do what the Holy Spirit tells you to do and God’s peace will carry you through every twist and turn of your day.

Fix the Mind First

The great moments of testing come without warning.  Suddenly they are upon us with the force of a hurricane.  A financial blow...a rejection...a traumatic injury...a crushing loss...despair...depression...failure...It seems impossible this life of faith.  We sigh deeply.  "What do we do now?"  There are some who it appears never have an unhappy moment but that is not me or you.  The Garden of Gethsemane was not a mythological battle of great forces thumping each other in a Shakespearean play.  Jesus Christ prayed in agony on a plot of ground that was known to real people in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel and He did so during the specific hours of a particular Thursday evening and Friday morning when Saul and Mary and Jonah and others we have not met were doing the same sorts of things you and I do at those times.  In that particular Garden Jesus took in the full force of an unraveling world and traveled the same road we have taken.  He agonized.  What He did not do though was lose His mind.  He did not fix His thoughts on what was coming up against Him.  He did not become a dandelion worrying about what to wear or a woodpecker worrying about what to eat.  He did not let His mind become a godless fury of Google searches for answers.  Jesus Christ fixed His mind on the Father and in that shelter, He found rest; even while agonizing over the Sin of the world.  The way to rest as we enter into the great swirl of life at the office, at the meeting with the principal, at the mechanic's shop, in the hospital room and the funeral home is to keep thinking on Jesus with ferocious determination.  Your mind may swell with anguish and despair, your stomach may swim in anxiety but with your thoughts on Jesus now and on Jesus a minute from now and on Jesus thirty seconds later you will have the power of Heaven working in you to give you the rest you need right then.  Worry is your terrible enemy; not the troubles that are before you.

Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.      Hebrews 3:1 NIV

Living By Faith

Living by faith and not by sight is not a dispensation of risk-taking and adventuring.  It is the clear ground upon which every Christian is to operate his or her life.  When we let Christ become our salvation, we received the Holy Spirit as a part of our personality.  This means that He interacts with us at every level of our thinking, whether conscious or unconscious.  The warping caused by sin makes us incorrigible at points; pouty children who demand our way at the expense of living in the Spirit.  This creates a conflict in our soul and the effect upon our soul is that we develop outbreaks of anger, depression, fear, discontentment, jealousy, frustration, impatience and a loss of gratitude.   When we frustrate the Holy Spirit by our rebellion against Scripture or disregard for how He is leading us, we start to lose contact with Him.  Some Christians are just fine with that.  They are in fact pleased to not have to put up with His pestering but after a while, it becomes clear that we are miserable people when we are not walking in step with the Holy Spirit.   At that point, when we like the prodigal son realize just how badly we have chosen, we in our misery cry out to God for help.  Through our desolation we repent of our sin and the Holy Spirit presents Himself to us once more and our heart becomes soft enough to live in Him, or to put it another way, live by faith.  Faith is not an ephemeral feeling of "everything will somehow come together."  Faith is the practical doing as the Holy Spirit gives direction.   The Holy Spirit might point out a Scripture that tells you how to respond to an argument you are having with your spouse or tell you to stop working for a certain company but always, if you are to remain "Spirit filled", you must not trust your Sin marred "sight" judgment, but rather by faith let the Spirit lead your next step.  The Holy Spirit is not going to fight with you to gain your allegiance.  But if you want the fruit of the Spirit operating within your personality, you must fight with your flesh to make Him your commander and chief!

We live by faith, not by sight.   2 Corinthians 5: 7 NIV

Easter Blindness

Luke 24:15-16 NIV

As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

Have You Missed Something Lately?

Several times I went to Russia to teach for a few weeks at a Christian college in Moscow.  Although I did not speak any Russian, my lecture was translated to the students in Russian.  This meant for extended lag times when I waited for the translator to finish before I moved forward with my teaching.  I kind of liked the gaps; it gave me time to compose my thoughts and make sure I was staying on topic.  It made it a bit tedious for the students though as they had to wait for me to say what I had to say before they could find out what it was.  However, there was an interesting dynamic to this class that it took me a while to recognize.  I tried to entertain the students a bit by giving funny anecdotes from my life and sometimes I realized there were students laughing before the translator finished.  At first I thought maybe the translator was saying something funny or making comments about what I had said.  This happened several times and because I was insecure, I assumed that maybe the translator was adding to what I was saying to make my lectures more interesting.  Then of course it dawned on me what was happening.  Some of the students were laughing before the translator finished translating because they understood English and were laughing along with me as I told my stories.  It was like within my class there was a secret society of English speakers who I was not aware existed.  They could have remained embedded there for the full time I taught if they had not let the cat out of the bag by laughing before the translator repeated my stories.

There are many times when we don’t pick up on crucial information…like when we don’t realize how angry our wives are, or when we don’t notice that our husbands don’t like what we just cooked.  Perhaps you have talked about someone and didn’t realize that person was right behind you.  You might find out that there was a deduction you could have taken off your income tax but didn’t know about it until it was too late.  Maybe you had not realized one of your children wasn’t doing his schoolwork until you saw his report card.  Maybe you thought you were having a great conversation with someone only to discover the person didn’t like you.  Have you ever believed you were doing badly at work only to have your boss complement you for what you are doing?   You might have discovered someone close to you had cancer but were not aware of it.  Maybe you found out when you were in school that a classmate had a crush on you and were oblivious to it.  Our world has lots of secrets it keeps from us…some because we aren’t paying close attention, others because we don’t have a way of accessing the information.  Easter Sunday was one of those days when what seemed to be the case, wasn’t always as it seemed.

The first Easter was a day full of surprise.  After watching Jesus brutally beaten, his skin shredded by a Roman flogging, and then suffer his agonizing death on the cross; Jesus’ disciples and close friends were emotionally devastated.  Some were afraid for their own lives; others were in shock over what had happened to Jesus.  No one was prepared for the events of Easter Sunday and it took them all a while to realize what had happened.  This becomes clear when we take a close look at what transpired. 

Somewhere near dawn, Mary Magdalene and some other women came to the tomb of Christ hoping somehow to put anointing spices on His body.  They were of course well aware that a heavy stone had been placed in front of the tomb entrance and there guards were stationed there to keep Jesus’ body from being removed.  How they planned on pushing back the stone, we have no idea.  Perhaps they thought they could talk the guards into doing it for them.  When Mary Magdalene and another woman got to the tomb, they found the stone rolled away and the guards gone.  This shattered Mary Magdalene’s already fragile psyche and she rushed off to tell the disciples that Jesus’ body had been stolen.  Peter and John hustled back with Mary Magdalene trailing far behind them.  When she got to the tomb, Peter and John had already been inside and ran off another way carrying with them the startling news that something supernatural had taken place in Jesus’ tomb and His body was gone.  At the tomb, two angels greeted Mary Magdalene but she was so distraught she did not know it was angels talking to her.  Let’s listen to John the Apostle’s description of what happened. 

Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.  They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"  "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him."  At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. (John 20:11-14 NIV)

There are two interesting assumptions Mary Magdalene made that are very normal and understandable and they are related.  The first is that the angels she met inside the tomb of Jesus were not angels.  Who she thought they were is anyone’s guess but she certainly did not realize they were angels.  Either she completely overlooked the tell-tale signs or there was no evidence for her to consider that would lead her to recognize them as angels.  Immediately, Mary Magdalene turned around and saw Jesus but shockingly, she didn’t know it was Jesus.  Neither His voice nor His look gave Him away.  "Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"  Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him." (John 20:15 NIV)  Why did Mary Magdalene, staring straight at Jesus, not know it was Him?  This is of course a mystery to us.  The same thing happened with two disciples who were walking away from Jerusalem toward the small village of Emmaus.

They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.  As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.  He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?"  They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?"  "What things?" he asked.  "About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied.

(Luke 24:14-19 NIV) Here these two disciples were; talking about Jesus of Nazareth, not knowing the entire time they were talking to Jesus of Nazareth.  Like Mary Magdalene, Jesus was unrecognizable to them even though He was perfectly Himself.  Luke says these two disciples were “kept from recognizing him.”  What that means we have no idea but that is the case.  What should have been so easy to realize, that they were with Jesus, was a complete secret to Mary Magdalene and these two disciples.  They could not see God right in front of them.

It is getting more and more difficult for people to realize they are having God moments.  Like Mary Magdalene they are either kept from seeing God at work or they aren’t open to noticing Him.  The Bible is filled with ordinary moments becoming extraordinary experiences with God.  The prophet Jeremiah noticed an almond tree branch and God confided in Him that He was “awake” to accomplish all He promised to do.  Likewise, when Jeremiah came across a tilted boiling pot, the Lord informed Him that disaster was coming upon Jerusalem from the north.  How did David have the inspiration for writing one of the most well-known poems in literature, the 23^rd Psalm?  He did his job watching sheep for his dad and he thought about how much God cares for us.  The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.  He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. (Psalm 23:1-3 NIV)

James the brother of Jesus watched plenty of boats sailing upon the Sea of Galilee and thought about how such a small item as a rudder could force a big boat to turn.  At some point, the Lord pointed out to Him that the rudder of a boat is like a tongue.  Both are small but each has a huge impact.  Paul the Apostle spent time on farms and saw how the branch of a wild olive tree could be grafted into the trunk of a cultivated olive tree.  He then heard from God that the Lord did the same thing by bringing Gentiles into the Kingdom of God through the Jewish people.

There are perhaps a hundred different moments when God can break into your day and speak to you.  You might be blind to it like Mary Magdalene or like David you might see as clear as day God moments.  Something as simple as a trip to the mechanic or a stop light could be the moment God breaks through to you.  You could be preparing dinner when the Lord has something to say to you or working out in the gym when He shows you something.  If an almond tree can be a great revelation for Jeremiah, what might a rose bush be or a conversation with one of your children.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves at least this.  God does not need our help to conquer death or anything else for that matter.  He didn’t search out the disciples on the road to Emmaus because it was essential he get advice from them on how to strengthen and encourage the rest of the disciples.  He came to the disciples because He loved them and wanted them to live in Him rather than just hear of Him.  You too are on the road to Emmaus.  God may say something to you at any moment.  He might show you something when you are not prepared to see it.  Our Lord does not just want you to read about Him, He wants you to have personal experience being with Him.  Praise Him.  Think about Him.  Ask Him questions.  Thank Him for what He gives you.  Gradually you will become aware of Him and you will know how to recognize Him speaking to you.  Sometimes you will think God has spoken to you but it won’t be Him.  As you keep turning to Him again and again though, you will hear Him and it really will be Him.  He will be present with you and your heart will skip a beat because you will know Jesus Christ Himself is there right where you are.  No longer will it be a story about Him; someone’s statement about Him, it will be you with Him and He will speak to you so that you know it is Him.  It will be your Easter Sunday!

Them-ing to Us-ing

Are we still caught up in parochial feuds, national boundaries and the rub of ethnocentric thinking?  If there is one outcome of the Cross, it is that sin is universal and there is only "us" needing salvation.  "Them" gets smashed within the scope of Calvary and it must be demolished in our Christianity.  To imply there is a "them" that is worse than "us" makes a mockery of Jesus' scathing rebuke of the Pharisees who saw everything as "us" and "them".  It took the Church a bit of time before it realized the "us" and "them" theology they held was a relic of a religion without salvation.  Forgiveness crosses all lines of demarcation and makes us one in Christ and really one.  This is not Christian rhetoric; it is the really real outcome of being born again.  There is neither Jew nor Greek at every level of the Church and when we get on our high horse of making a "them" out of someone, we have approached the abyss where everyone is a "them" and no one an "us".  Sin brought the division between peoples and it is what keeps it going.  The Cross makes us one even as God is One.  Jesus' great prayer established the unity of the Body of Christ in which all Christians are united in love and faith and good works.  When we find ourselves despising a "them" because of that one's "themness" we must confess it as sin and believe that God will make us one too.  Love has not ethnic, political or gender boundaries and the Love of Christ cannot be kept to one side or another.  It must "leap the fence" again and again until we truly are one.

Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name — the name you gave me — so that they may be one as we are one.     John 17:11b NIV

Prayer Re-thought

Matthew 6:8 NIV

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Why Do You Pray?

A couple of years ago we were awakened by a violent shaking near our bed.  It wasn’t an earthquake but for us something much worse.  Our youngest son still slept in a small bed at the foot of our bed and in the middle of the night started having a seizure.  He had never gone through one before and we had not experienced a seizure ourselves nor seen one of our kids have one.  The disorientation caused by just having been asleep and the shock of witnessing one of our children experiencing something so terrible threw us into a panic.  His eyes were rolled up into the top of his head and his body was stiff as a bamboo pole.  Not knowing what to do, we called 911 and soon emergency personnel were at our house helping us with Ben.   I rode with him in the ambulance and after a couple hours, we were sent home, reassured that the seizure had not harmed him and did not mean that he would have other seizures.  Throughout this ordeal, both Mary Jo and I prayed for Ben, prayed for wisdom about what to do for him, prayed for the nurses and doctor to know how to help him and prayed that he would recover without damage to his brain.  We did not hesitate to pray when the seizure began and never questioned the value of continuing to pray on the way to the hospital, while in emergency and after we returned with the doctor’s clearance.

Prayer is one of the most frequent activities engaged in by people world-wide and specifically within the Christian community.  Those who pray rarely question the logic of it or its validity when doing so yet there may be many times when we wonder if we should keep praying about a matter and countless hours and perhaps even days when prayer does not cross our mind.  Why do we pray?  What is a father whose child is addicted to meth hoping to accomplish by praying?  How come a woman going through a divorce prays or a young man needing work prays?  Why does a high school student pray when facing a tough final?  Is there a reason why a mother prays for her family or a grandparent prays her health?  What do you hope to accomplish by praying?

It seems so simple, right?  We pray to get something.  We see in the Bible plenty of examples of people who prayed and did hope to get something.  The accomplished and mostly good King Hezekiah found himself in a tough spot.  In the fourteenth year of his reign, Hezekiah’s country Judah was being ransacked by a huge Assyrian army and now they were at his doorstep, surrounding his hometown of Jerusalem.  It was an impossible situation; he had no hope of being able to fight off the Assyrian invaders…starvation or capitulation seemed to be the only options he and the people of Jerusalem had.  The general of the Assyrians mocked Hezekiah and the Hebrews for believing the Lord might answer their prayers and rescue them.  "Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, 'The Lord will deliver us.' Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?  Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand?  Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?" (2 Kings 18:32-35 NIV)

Many of us have felt like it was hopeless to pray and perhaps Hezekiah did too.  The Bible does not say that Hezekiah himself prayed for deliverance from the Assyrians although we might assume he did.  We do know however that he sent messengers to Isaiah the prophet and asked him to pray for God to drive off the Assyrians.  Isaiah’s reply was, “Tell your master, 'This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard — those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.  Listen! I am going to put such a spirit in him that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.'" (2 Kings 19:6-7 NIV)  But the Assyrians did not leave immediately.  More threats came from their general and Hezekiah himself prayed.  Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God." (2 Kings 19:19 NIV)  That night one hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrian soldiers were struck dead by a plague sent from the Lord and Hezekiah gained fresh insight into the Lord’s power and care for him and the nation of Judah.

At the age of thirty-nine, the Lord told Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah that he was about to die.  Devastated by the news, he prayed for God not to take his life.  Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, "Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly. (2 Kings 20:2-3 NIV) Of course Hezekiah was overjoyed when the Lord through the prophet Isaiah promised him fifteen more years of life and he did gain them.  Something interesting happened though in those fifteen years.  Hezekiah lost his interest in praying.  Things went so well for him and he was so prosperous that it seems he became comfortable and his interest in God casual.  There were all sorts of issues he faced we can be sure but he solved them on his own.  Hezekiah was smart and a talented leader and it seemed to him that everything was going so smoothly that he didn’t need to waste his time praying or bother his head with it…and it is true.  He was doing well.  He was successful, popular and content.

Later, a contingent of Babylonian merchants and politicians came to Jerusalem to meet with Hezekiah and the king welcomed them with open arms.  Hezekiah received the messengers and showed them all that was in his storehouses — the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine oil — his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them. (2 Kings 20:13 NIV)  Now, this seemed like a lovely gesture of comradery and neighborliness.  Hezekiah was smartly hoping to form an alliance with an up and coming international power that could help both him and his country in the future.  Of course it was a little boastful on his part, showing off his riches and bragging a bit about his accomplishments but he had great reason to be proud of his work and what harm was it anyway to show off some.  The Lord immediately sent the prophet Isaiah to Hezekiah to explain the ramifications of what he had done in welcoming the Babylonian contingent into Jerusalem.  Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord:  The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, that will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." (2 Kings 20:16-18 NIV)

Hezekiah’s reaction to this rebuke from God is fascinating but quite representative of how the mind responds to the Lord when it has lost its sensitivity to the way God thinks. "The word of the Lord you have spoken is good," Hezekiah replied. For he thought, "Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?" (2 Kings 20:19 NIV)  God had nothing more to say to Hezekiah after that reaction to the warning.  Hezekiah was not thinking like the Lord; it was as if they had nothing in common with each other.  Now we realize that there are plenty of people who don’t care how their actions will impact the generations that follow them.  They don’t worry about what their career move will do to their children, how their divorce will impact their grandkids, what will happen a hundred years from now if they choose one school over another.  Who thinks that way?  God does.  He cares what sort of life we lay down for future generations and it matters to Him the decisions we make and their ramifications for ourselves and others.

There is an interesting statement Jesus makes about prayer and praying that has confused many Christians and non-Christians.  Talking about pagans and all who misunderstand what is to happen when we pray, Jesus commented, Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:8 NIV)  Now it is easy to confuse this statement with those of atheists who teach that praying is irrelevant and useless.  That is not at all the gist of this as Jesus goes on to explain how prayers should be presented to God.  In fact immediately after this verse He then gave us the model prayer to be certain we all know how praying should go.  If prayer is not giving God key information that He might not be aware exists, then why do we tell Him about what we want and what we need and about our concerns?  It is because as we pray, our mind comes in contact with God’s mind and all we care about becomes immersed in Him and is transformed by His thinking.  The panicked minds or the calm and faith-filled minds are all changed by going to the Lord in prayer.  As  we bring before Him the things He already knows and cares about, we find that we lose our own view of what we face and we begin to see it as He does.  It is not a terrible storm.  It is Christ in the boat.  It is not a devastating loss.  It is the Lord lifting us to a new opportunity.  It is not the end of the world.  It is the beginning of a more important journey.

Every situation we face, whether we deem it good, bad, frightening or inconsequential, we can go through it with God’s mind thinking through our mind or push forward on our own.  When we pray to Christ for help or guidance or simply to honor Him, we put ourselves in touch with God who miraculously guides us through what we face and gives us His thoughts about what is before us and what we do not yet see.  Hezekiah stopped thinking that it was important to see things God’s way but you haven’t!  You want God to tell you to relax and trust Him.  You look forward to being guided by Christ through your next crisis or job opportunity.  You want the Lord to tell you what to think about your trials as well as your victories.  Prayer is how our Savior shows us the way…even when we don’t realize we need directions.  It takes practice learning how to recognize when it is God leading you and when it is just you forming an opinion.  That is why we need to pray all the time that His voice is not a stranger to us when we need to know it is Him!

Sin Unbound

We see that there is a deep advantage to being hurt by the badness of people.  It awakens us to just how profound the ramifications of Sin are.  Sin strikes at the core of every relationship we have and impacts every thought we possess.  Sin runs deep into our unconscious and percolates up into our dreams and odd reactions to circumstances...tempers we don't expect, lusts we thought we didn't possess, depressions and anxieties that seem unfounded.  The world is permeated by Sin and the cruelty and rudeness that exists is mind shattering if we give it much thought.  Even school-age children are severely damaged by the prevalence of Sin in the classrooms that we would like to believe are sanctuaries for them.  Thank God He did not close His eyes to the cruelty and corruption of Sin.  Our Lord took it on His own back and wore the brutality of it in His muscles and skin and He absorbed it fully until it was clear, "it is finished".   When we feel the weight of Sin upon us and it's cruelty marks us too, we can at that moment recognize the assignment God has given us to intercede for those about us.  Pray for the ones you see suffering from the agony of Sin induced sorrow and pain.    No heartache or wound is too deep for Jesus Christ to heal and redeem.  No fury is too great for Him to calm and no lust too powerful for Him to tame.  The Cross of Christ brings victory at every point where Sin has had its way.  The Cross is God accepting in Himself each outcome of Sin within His own body and thereby making every sin we commit and face  a broken chain that once bound us but does so no longer.  Sin still wrecks lives and brings misery but Christ Crucified gives the peace and joy of God  entrance into every human heart that looks to Him for salvation.

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2 NIV