Good Guys and Bad Guys

 I grew up watching those old black and white Westerns—the kind where the bad guys wore the black hats and the good guys wore white hats, and you always knew which one was which.  Those were the days of heroes.  The good guys were good and the bad guys were bad.

But movies changed with the advent of color.  What you thought was a black hat turns out to actually be royal blue.  What you thought was a white hat is actually bright yellow.  And the gray dress that the leading wore—it's a red dress after all.  Does that distort the way you see her?  It may, if you understand color symbolism at all.  The fact is that color changes everything.  Red dresses mean something, don't they?  And if the hero turns yellow, what does that say about him?  And what about a royal color worn by the "bad guys?"  Now we're all confused, aren't we?

Modern writing recognizes that real human beings are more complicated than the flat characters of black-and-white Westerns.  Modern movies are more apt to reveal both a hero’s flaws and a bad guy’s conflicted emotions.  Good guys aren’t all good, and nobody is completely bad.  The anti-hero has emerged in literature and in movies, realistically revealing the internal struggles experienced by all good guys and bad guys.

But that’s not the way we see it—at least not in our own lives.  We tend to group people into categories of “good” and “bad.”  And, of course, we’re the ones wearing the white hats.  It’s impossible that we might be the bad guys, isn’t it?  And, since we’re the good guys, then the ones who oppose us—let’s call them “enemies”—they must surely be all bad.

Of course, we have good reason for perceiving people as bad when they appear to us as threats.  Some of our enemies threaten our physical safety.  Terrorist organizations like ISIS and nations like North Korea appear at the top of our lists, while certain individuals may come to your own mind.  Then other enemies threaten relationships.  While they are no physical danger, they mistreat or mislead the ones you love.  You may feel your place has been usurped in a friendship or marriage.  Perhaps your younger teenager is hanging out with a new bunch of friends, and you’re having a difficult time dealing with the fact that as a parent you are no longer the primary influence in his life.  All these can qualify as enemies if they make you feel defensive.

Your enemy might not be a physical or relationship threat, yet they challenge your ideologies in a way that makes you angry.  Maybe they have a different morality from you, and you’re concerned about the influence they will have on your grandchildren, or on society as a whole.  Ideological enemies might have different politics than you, or a different biblical interpretation from you.  They make you feel uneasy because, if you’re honest with yourself, you just don’t know how you might handle the shift if you were to find out that they were right and you were wrong.  (And, of course, you’re positive that you’re right.)

Financial enemies might be the people who moved in next door to you, who have those loud parties at night, and who throw trash around their yard.  Because they let their house get run down, it brings down the property value of the whole neighborhood.  Maybe they’re even willing to work the same job for less money than you, or maybe they don’t work at all, so you see them as a threat to your financial security.   This makes you feel selfish in your dealings with them. 

Defensive, angry, selfish—the list goes on and on.  An enemy is someone who brings out the negative in you.  When you cry out for justice, what you really mean is revenge.  They make you rage.  They make you want to launch a preemptive strike against them.  Get them before they get you. 

But is this God’s way?

In Luke chapter 6, Jesus gives a different strategy for dealing with enemies.  He tells us to love them and pray for them.  Bless them, do good to them, and even yield to them.  Give to them.  Lend to them, expecting nothing back in return.  In short he said, “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you (6:31 NASB[i]).”  We call this the “Golden Rule.”  You see, Christians are supposed to be different.  We’re not supposed to act like the rest of the world, which cries out for an eye for an eye.  Instead of a preemptive strike of violence or hatred or manipulation, why not try a preemptive strike of love?

You might say, “You just don’t understand who I have to deal with.  This person is just plain evil!”  Yet Jesus says that the Father is “kind to ungrateful and evil men (6:35b).”  Christians are supposed to be like Christ—it’s just that simple.  Jesus says that in response to people like this you should “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful (6:36).”  You may insist that these people are horribly sinful, and deserve judgment or punishment.  But the Bible says, “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).”  This includes you, too.  The more you insist on judgment and punishment for them, the more you insist on it for yourself, because you’re no less a sinner than they are.  It’s so much better to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors (Matthew 6:12).”  In Luke 6:37-38, Jesus says:

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

This means that God will use the same measure to judge you that you have used to judge others.  God will use the same measure to punish you that you have used to punish others.  So, even if you’re thinking selfishly then you should know that treating your enemies with love is just spiritual self-preservation. 

So be good to your enemies—and not so that you can transform them, but so that you can change your own heart towards them.  One mistaken way that Christians often “love” “sinners” is that we forgive and accept them as long as they change their ways and become “like us.”  We tell them that God will love them if only they will stop being—well, them.  We make public statements about how bad they are just so that no one will mistakenly believe that we actually approve of them.  We want them to know just how bad they are so that they will want to be like us.  But why would they want to be like us if we’re going to be like that?  Which is worse, their sin—or your judgment and treatment of them because of their sin?  How are you any less of a sinner than they?  Maybe it’s your heart that needs to change, before they’re ready to change theirs in response to you.  In Luke 6:39b, 41-42, Jesus says:

“A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?...Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

Jesus says there are a lot of Christians who are locked in a blinding sin of judgment of our neighbors, labeling them as “bad guys” when they’re really just “guys” who are struggling the same way that we are.  Who is worse—the one who is honest about the speck that she has in her eye, or the Christian who denies the log that he has in his own, all the while trying to make the speck-eyed person more like himself?  Why would she want to be like him?

When it comes to our enemies, our goal is not to destroy them by violence or hatred, or even by making them “fix themselves” and become like us.  Abraham Lincoln had it right when he said, “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”  In other words, don’t change them—change yourself  by praying for them and doing good things for them until your attitude toward them has become like Christ’s.  God wants to help you stop seeing people as if they’re characters in an old black-and-white Western.  He wants to open your eyes and help you see in vibrant color, to understand that your friends and your enemies are deeper human beings than you once imagined.  Instead of pointing your finger in judgment, open your arms in acceptance and friendship.  “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful (6:36).”  And the Father of mercy will have mercy on you as well.

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[i] All scriptures taken from the NASB.

Stop, Look, and Listen

As my grandchildren visit me this weekend, I am reminded of how dangerous the world can be for toddlers.  When children first learn how to safely cross the road, we tell them to stop, look, and listen.  Instead of looking at their friends playing and all the other distractions, we want them to look .  Instead of listening to the kids who may be calling their name, we want them to listening for cars.  In the same way we need to stop, look, and listen to God.  Instead of watching for the things that may distract us, we need to look with fresh eyes at what God is sending our way. 

Reality, however, is that our powers of spiritual observation are often feeble.  We see, but we don’t look; we hear, but we don’t listen.  In her blog, “Seeing, Creating, and Being,” Elizabeth Watts writes about the difference between seeing and truly looking:

                Have you ever thought about the difference between ’seeing’ and ‘looking’?  For me, seeing is active; looking is passive. Looking is like showing up, punching the clock, not necessarily engaging. Remember the scene in the hysterically funny National Lampoon Vacation movie where Chevy Chase schleps his family to the Grand Canyon for an ill fated summer vacation? After an arduous journey, they arrive at the edge of the canyon, get out of the car and look out over the view for 7 seconds at most, jump back in the car, done—they’ve looked at the Grand Canyon. He did not however, engage with, or experience the Grand Canyon.

                Seeing speaks to understanding, illumination, discernment, and wisdom—seeing past stereotypes, cliches and preconceptions. Do you see?  To ’see’ is to look past the obvious, the expected; to take the time, to pay attention.[i]

               

            Seeing goes beyond just getting a look at something.  Listening is more than hearing.  Not long ago, I was told about an incident where one of my children said something to me, then repeated it again, and I just walked away.  They were standing so close to me that I must have heard their voice, but apparently my mind was somewhere else and I wasn’t listening.  Like my children, God would probably say that too often I have something that looks like a hearing problem, but in reality it’s a listening problem. 

            In Isaiah 55:2[ii], God says through the prophet: “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?”  In the early verses in this chapter, God is not really talking about bread and water, but about spiritual nourishment.  Too often we run after spiritual experiences that do not satisfy.  Like Chevy Chase’s character we run to church, stand there staring at the Maker of the Grand Canyon for a few seconds, and then pronounce ourselves done.  Yep.  We’ve seen the Lord.  We’ve heard from God.  We’re done now—we can go home.  But are we really satisfied?  Have we really experienced anything if we only hear from God but don’t listen to Him?  Have we really known God if we are reminded about Him in church services but never lovingly look into His heart?

            Too often, our prayer lives leave us like people who have eaten at many French restaurants—plates full of beautiful food but portions so small that you’re still hungry when you leave.  We may pray beautiful prayers, but when we’re done, we just don’t feel satisfied.  Do you want to be satisfied in your spirituality?  In this passage, God tells us how we can “eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance (v.2).  The Lord gives us some hints about how to fill your spirit up with His love.  Take a look with me at some of the verbs that we find in this chapter:

            In verse 2 God says, “Listen carefully to me.”  In the following verse He says, “Incline your ear and come to Me.  Listen, that you may live.”  As I’ve already said, there’s a big difference between hearing and listening.  The difference is inclining.  Every one of us is spiritually hard of hearing.  In order to hear from God, we need to lean in, cup our ears, stick that old-fashioned listening trumpet out and say, “Eh?”  Too often our prayer time is spent telling God everything we want or need.  We don’t give enough attention to listening. 

            We also don’t give enough attention to observing what God is doing around us.  In order to understand God, we have to see what He is trying to show us.  Verse 4 says, “Behold.”  Verse 5 says, “Behold.”  Believers need to observe what God is doing in life situations, look for lessons from nature, and watch for sign posts along the road that point the way to God’s will.  This is what the Lord means in verse 6: “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.”  God-sightings don’t usually just happen.  You have to seek the Lord on purpose.  This means seeking the Lord himself, rather than just His blessings.  Jesus said, “…Seek first [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  In other words, seek God, and the rest will take care of itself.

            So how do you seek God?  You’ve got to clear out all the wrong desires from your heart and simply listen to Him.  Without asking for anything, complaining about anything, or even telling God anything—just listen.  Listen for His words, His thoughts, His ways.  For thousands of years, Christians have practiced this kind of listening prayer.  Some have called it Contemplative Prayer.  Others have labeled it Centering Prayer or by some other name.  Simply put, listening prayer is quieting your spirit before God, putting your own ways and your own thoughts aside, and inclining yourself toward the Lord.  Verse 7 says, “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.”  The goal is thinking what God thinks, instead of what you think. 

            This concept of listening prayer is foreign to many people who have always believed prayer to be about talking to God and telling Him what you want or need.  But think of it this way: telling God what you want all the time is unnecessary because He already knows what you want.  Also—which is more important?  Getting what you want or getting what God wants for you?  What you need in prayer is less of your thoughts and more of God’s thoughts.  In verse 8, God says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.”  Listening prayer is forsaking your thoughts, and trying to hear God’s thoughts instead.  It means actually getting quiet during your quiet time.  It means leaving the world and its distractions behind and returning to God.

            Verses 10-13 describe the soul that is nourished by this kind of prayer, that listens to God, beholds the things He has to show, inclines itself to Him, forsakes human thoughts and ways, and returns to Him.  Isaiah uses words like watering, sprouting, and bearing fruit.  He describes all of creation breaking forth with song and celebrating.  It is the blessed state of those who truly seek God.

In this environment, refreshed by listening prayer, the final instructions in Isaiah 55:12 are: “For you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace.”  Contrary to popular opinion, the contemplative person doesn’t walk around with her head in the clouds.  He does not sit idly by and meditate while life happens around him.  Instead, God’s word commands the person who listens to God to “go out…be led forth!”  There is a mission for these kinds of Christians who have learned to stop, look at what the Lord is doing, and listen to the voice of God.  Their mission is peace—to seek it, to find it, to share it with the world. 

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[i] [i] http://www.elizabethwatt.com/blog/2010/10/creativity/seeing-vs-looking/.  March 23, 2012

[ii] All scriptures are taken from the NASB.

The Other Shortest Verse in the Bible

This Sunday was our special day at church to welcome visitors, guests, and newcomers of all kinds.  But keeping in mind that it may be the first time that many of you have been with us, I wanted to keep the message brief.  Shakespeare said, "Brevity is the soul of wit."  While not all my sermons are brief, on the whole I tend to agree.  I remember visiting one church when I was a kid, where we were the only ones who didn't know in advance that they should bring their lunches along and plan to make a whole day of it!  In general, and especially when there are newcomers present, I believe it's best to keep the message short.  George Burns said, "The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible.”  Franklin D. Roosevelt used even fewer words than that, to say the same thing: "Be sincere, be brief, be seated."

Often the briefest things are the most profound.  Today I want to share with you what's purportedly the shortest verse in the Bible, John 11:35.  Jesus’ friend Lazarus was sick, so his sisters Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus that He should come.  For his own reasons he delayed coming to them, so by the time Jesus arrived Lazarus had already been dead for several days.  When he got there, both sisters told him the same thing, "If you had been here, our brother would not have died."  In verses 33-37[i] we read:

³³ When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, ³⁴ and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?”

Jesus wept, not because he grieved Lazarus' passing.  In fact, He knew that he was about to perform one of His greatest miracles and bring his friend back from the dead.  Jesus wept because He saw the overwhelming pain and turmoil of faith in the eyes of His friends.  They felt hurt because they didn't understand why God would do miracles for others, yet let their brother die.  They were wounded because their friend Jesus, who always had time for other people, had delayed coming to them when He could have prevented their brother's death.  Jesus saw all this in the tears that streamed from their eyes, and in His compassion for them He wept.

The good news today is that just as Jesus saw the need and pain and disappointment in His friends' faces, He also knows your hurts and sorrows.  Jesus sees you battered and broken, and He weeps with you when you hurt.  Jesus mourns over the struggles you've had in your relationships, the financial pressures you feel, your sin and disease and unforgiveness.  He also cries tears of joy in celebration of your triumphs.  Jesus weeps.  This is the good news: God knows how you feel, and He feels it with you.

But Jesus didn't continue to weep.  Those two words, "Jesus wept" are in the past tense, which means Jesus felt what the mourners felt, but then he moved on to embrace hope and joy.  He prayed a prayer of faith and raised Lazarus from the tomb.  So too Jesus wants to see victory over the tombs in your life.  He wants to see resurrected relationships, flourishing finances, sinners separated from their sin, and feuds forgiven.  He can't do this by weeping.  So He turns mourning into dancing.  Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

This brings us to the actual shortest verse in the Bible.  While John 11:35, purportedly the shortest verse, consists of 16 letters in the original Greek (ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς), 1 Thessalonians 5:16 is two characters shorter (Πάντοτε χαίρετε).  In English it simply says, "Rejoice always."  If brevity is the soul of wit, and “Jesus wept” is profound, then “Rejoice always” is equally deep.  But how do we reconcile these two with each other? They seem to be completely at odds—if Jesus is the model of divine living, and His Word tells us to rejoice always, then how could he have wept?  If Jesus is the model of human experience and he could weep over grief and suffering, how could he rejoice?

We can understand these seemingly opposite things together when we realize that both illustrate the diversity of human experience and the reality of God’s complete identification with us.  Jesus was fully human and fully divine.  He came so that humanity might have access to the divine.  So He can laugh when we laugh and cry when we cry.  He can feel the sting of loss when a loved one struggles, yet He can also speak words of faith that bring life out of death.  This is what rejoicing does—it resurrects the dead.  Joy doesn’t deny that pain is real, but finds hope and strength in the midst of suffering.  Holding hands with hope, joy knows that there’s victory in Jesus despite the pain.

I know it’s hard to rejoice always—especially when, like Mary and Martha and Jesus, you’ve experienced loss.  It’s so unimaginable that Paul had to say it twice in Philippians 4:4 – “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!”  But then in verse five he tells how to do this: “The Lord is near.”  Even in the midst of trouble, joy reminds us that God is with us.  The Lord’s constant presence grants us access to peace of mind and power of spirit—the kind that works miracles.

How do you access that constant presence of God when situations scream hopelessness?  The same way that Jesus did: Dispel despair with prayer.  In verse 41, Jesus says, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me.”  Knowing that his His Father is so near that He has unlimited access to the throne, Jesus could speak to the dead and bring him back to life.  He tells us the same thing He told Martha: “…If you believe, you will see the glory of God….(John 11:40b)” 

Today I ask you—what’s causing grief in your own life?  What’s dead inside of you, or in the life of a loved one?  Jesus who said, “I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25)” wants to breathe new life to that which you have lost.  It’s okay to weep—after all, Jesus did.  But then He wants you to move from grief to faith.  He only asks that you believe, so that you can see the glory of God.  Even when things are tough, Jesus invites you to rejoice always in God’s constant presence.  Trust God, praise Him, pray to Him, and wait for your miracle.

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[i] All scripture taken from the NASB.

Return and Rest

At the beginning of each year, I’m great at making plans.  I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but I do take time out to set goals and make plans.  I’m planning how much weight I will lose this year (because I didn’t meet my goal in 2014).  I’m planning on running more this year (because I started running in 2015).  Maybe you’re doing the same thing this month—evaluating what’s working and what’s not working, setting goals and making plans.

            We need to make sure that our goals and plans are not simply based on our own imaginations and aspirations.  Instead, we must seek God’s will and plan according to divine wisdom.  In Isaiah 30:1-2 (ESV), the Lord speaks through the prophet:

“Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord,
“who carry out a plan, but not mine,
and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit,
    that they may add sin to sin;
who set out to go down to Egypt,
    without asking for my direction,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
    and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!

            It’s very easy to make plans that seem good and right, but that are only human schemes full of self.  We justify our own plans to make them seem godly, when in fact we never bother to inquire of God.  Or, if we do, we seldom listen for an answer.  Listening to God is the key to good planning.

            Isaiah describes this kind of people who follows their own path by saying:

For they are a rebellious people,
    lying children,
children unwilling to hear
    the instruction of the Lord;
who say to the seers, “Do not see,”
    and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us smooth things,
    prophesy illusions,
leave the way, turn aside from the path,
    let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel (vv. 9-11 ESV).”

            Isaiah’s words seem all too familiar to our churches that want to do nothing in their communities, that want to hear nice preaching that does not offend.  Our itching ears are eager for oracles that support our plans and our own self-important ideas.  If it sounds good, then we believe it.  If it’s a hard truth or a challenge, we reject it.  To replace our itching ears, the prophet gives a solution to the problem of pretentious plans:  

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
    in quietness and in trust shall be your strength…

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,
    and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
    blessed are all those who wait for him (vv. 15, 18 ESV).

            As you strategize your next steps in 2015, it’s good to consider what you want to do.  It’s better to consider what God wants you to do.  Return to Him.  Rest in Him.  Be still before the Lord and trust Him.  Wait on Him and listen to His voice.  Then and only then should you set your goals, make your plans, and act.  May God bless you as you follow His commands this New Year.

By Faith

The Holidays have come and gone.  I rang in the New Year with my church’s youth group at a two-day-long Christian extravaganza.  We enjoyed great music, awesome speakers, fun activities, and prepared our hearts for the new year.  When midnight hit there were fireworks on stage.  Balloons dropped from the ceiling as eight thousand teenagers celebrated.  Many resolutions were made for the new year, and many have probably already been broken.  What about you?  One of the reasons we break these resolutions is that we approach them with will power instead of faith.  Will power fails when challenges get tough, but faith is something entirely different.  Faith isn’t relying on your own will, but trusting in the will of God that works itself out in you.

In Faith Is, Pamela Reeve wrote, “Faith is resting in the fact that God has an objective in leaving me on the scene when I feel useless to Him and a burden to others.”[i]  Hebrews 11.1 (NASB) puts it this way:  “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  Faith says, “I don’t know what’s ahead in 2015, but I know that whatever it is, God has me in his arms.”  I heard an old story that illustrates it this way:

One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, “Jump! I’ll catch you.” He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flame, smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: “Jump! I will catch you.” But the boy protested, “Daddy, I can’t see you.” The father replied, “But I can see you and that’s all that matters.”  (Source Unknown)

            That’s all that matters.  God’s got you.  You can jump.  The eleventh chapter of Hebrews, called the “Roll Call of Faith,” is a list of people in the Bible who couldn’t see what was ahead of them, yet through they jumped into the waiting arms of God. 

            Hebrews talks about Abel, who by faith offered a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain.  As you look to the new year, rather than making resolutions, consider what sacrifices you can make to God.  What can you give Him—besides your money, which is too obvious an answer?  Can you give God your business?  Can you give God your retirement plans?  Can you give God your talents, and use them for Him?

            By faith, you can walk with God as Enoch did.   By faith, you can be like Noah and listen to the warnings that God speaks to your heart, sharing them with those around you.  By faith like Noah’s, you can make preparations based on what God has told you.  By faith like Noah, you can reject the attractions the world has to offer, and build something better.

            By faith, Abraham went somewhere that God called him, even though he didn’t know where he was going.  Is there someplace that God is calling you to go, even though there’s uncertainty?  Faith says “yes” to God’s call, and follows.  Abraham and Sarah, who were well beyond childbearing years, received the promise of God and conceived a son.  What kind of faith will your marriage take this year?  How can you sow seeds of love into one another, letting that love take root and grow?  How can you take something that is barren, and create new life in it?  Not by an act of your own will—but by faith!

            By faith, Abraham offered his son Isaac on an altar.  Though God did not ultimately demand this sacrifice, Abraham was willing to follow through.  Writers have a phrase: “Kill your darlings.”  This means that sometimes, for the sake of the book, you have to be willing to cut out your favorite chapters or characters, if they don’t push the storyline or really add anything to the depth of the text.  In the same way, we’ve got to be willing to give up what might be most precious to us, trusting that God will perfect our story for us—and we may even receive back alive that which we offered up to God.

            By faith, like Isaac, you can invoke future blessings on your family.  By faith, like Joseph, you can speak prophetically to your family, instructing them in the way that they should go. 

            Hebrews mentions Moses’ parents, who preserved his life, and the blood of the lamb that preserved the lives of the Israelites from the Death Angel at Passover.  Like them you can say, “By faith I will believe that there are hidden blessings that cannot be killed. By faith I will refuse to be called a son of Egypt (sin), but will identify as one of God's chosen... even if it means suffering. By faith I will leave sin behind, not being afraid of the devil's anger.  I will endure as seeing Him who is invisible. By faith I will trust in the sacrificed Lamb and keep my household anointed with His blood.”

            Like the Israelites at the Red Sea, you can stand against any barrier by faith, raising your staff against it and trusting that you will see the wonders of God.  Like they did at Jericho, you can march around those obstacles in your life, praying through and shouting praise to God who makes the walls fall before you.  Like Rahab, you can welcome God’s messengers who come to you, and the message that they bring—and by that truth you can be saved through faith. 

            Like the heroes of old, you can say, “By faith I will go into battle for my family.  By faith I will see God overcome. By faith I will not speak negativity but will be a positive voice to those around me. I will endure pain, and, like Jesus, will offer up no defense. I will bear the blame, never turning blame back on anyone else. And I will leave it all up to God, whether or not I received what I hope for in this life—because I will receive the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises in the next.  By faith I will acknowledge that I am a stranger and exile here, but that I’m looking to a better country, my heavenly homeland.”

            The truth is that life is hard.  Hebrews 11 recaps the heroes of the Bible, who all knew life’s struggles.  Your life is hard, too.  And will power just doesn’t cut it.  But faith does.  Again in Faith Is, Pamela Reeve writes, “Faith is engaging in the deepest joy of heaven, knowing His unfathomable love for me as I walk through the thorny desolate now.”[ii] 

            Sometimes it’s hard to see how God is going to make it work.  The thing that lies before us seems impossible.  Faith knows that God will bring it to pass, and trusts God for it.  One common story goes:

Todd, a three year old boy from Rhode Island went down to the seacoast to fly a kite. Never having flown a kite before, Todd had obvious doubts. His father assured him that all was well, and the kite would go up as planned. As Todd unravelled the string, and watched the kite go up, he was heard to say, "I knew it would fly, daddy. You said it would." Simple statement, profound implications.  (Source unknown)

            What are you trusting God for this year?  What is God calling you to do this year?  Are you having a difficult time seeing how it’s all going to work?  God calls you to faith.  “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11.1).”  I pray that in 2015, you’ll forget about resolutions and will power, trust God, and take a step of faith.

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[i] Swindoll, Chuck.  Tale of the Tardy Oxcart.  Word Publishing: Nashville.  1998.  Pg. 195.

[ii] From Swindoll, Chuck.  Tale of the Tardy Oxcart.  Word Publishing: Nashville.  1998.  Pg. 197.

God With Us

During this time of year, one of my favorite things is to attend a musical concert featuring Handel's Messiah. I love the majesty and meaning of the music that declares that "He shall reign forever and ever."  Within this elaborate work of musical art, we find five names of the Messiah, that are worthy of reflection and meditation. Those names are deeply meaningful, and contemplating them makes us aware that indeed, God is with us."

The first is from Matthew 1:23, which quotes Isaiah 7.14. The ESV renders this as:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us).

Everybody needs to be reminded that God is with us.  At times, when the troubles of life threaten our well-being, we need to feel God's presence and care.  All too often, we feel quite the opposite.  In Dante’s Inferno, the medieval storyteller takes us to the very gates of hell, upon which are inscribed the words, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”  According to Dante, hell is defined as a place where there is no hope.  A lot of people are living in hell on this side of the grave.  They cannot feel God’s hopeful presence, even though He is embracing them all the time.  Psalm 139.8-9 (ESV) says:

Where shall I go from your Spirit?
    Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
    If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

            The blessing of Immanuel, the hope of Christmas, is that God is with us.  We don’t have to abandon all hope, because God is walking with us every day.  Christ in us is the hope of glory.  Since the dawn of the church, Isaiah’s prophecy of Immanuel has been embraced by Christians as referring not only to an event that would take place in the prophet’s own time, but also pointing to the future coming of Christ.  In the same way, Christians interpret Isaiah 9:6 in messianic terms.  Along with Immanuel, Isaiah gives other names for God that we need to understand during this season and throughout the year.  Handel quoted the prophet, who said:

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
 and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
 Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9.6 ESV).

            Wonderful Counselor—what a marvelous name!  Each of these names for the Messiah is comprised of both a noun and an adjective.  This lets us know that He is more competent than just any counselor, greater than any pagan god, more faithful than any father, and more peaceful than any earthly prince. 

What a beautiful thing to know that Jesus is more competent than any counselor.  These days there are all kinds of people who call themselves counselors.  There are life coaches and psychologists, psychiatrists, attorneys, school guidance and vocational counselors, and much more.  Proverbs 15.22 (ESV) says, “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.”  Proverbs 20.5 (ESV) tells us, “The purpose in a man's heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.”  Everybody needs someone to talk to, someone to listen to our troubles and give us wisdom and insight.  Sometimes we shy away from counselors because they intimidate us.  As Tennessee Williams said, they meddle too much in our private lives.  But we need their voice of experience to guide us.  Yet even the best of counselors will fail.  Jesus, the Wonderful Counselor, never fails.  His voice speaks wisdom to our hearts and never leads us astray.

Many people claim that this passage in Isaiah refers to a messianic figure who was merely human.  The next phrase is the reason why Bible scholars say this can be only Jesus—He is the Mighty God.  Why is this adjective necessary?  Is it because there are indeed many gods?  1 Corinthians 8:4b-6 (ESV) says,

“…An idol has no real existence…there is no God but one…For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—  yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”

            Indeed, there are many supposed gods—those that have religions devoted to them.  Then there are those things like riches and pleasure and power that simply have people chasing after them with religious devotion.  Yet, above all these things, Christ is the only Mighty God.  Because he is not just a god but the only actual God, His power outstrips all the supposed powers that we could imagine.  The Bible says that one day “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2.10-11 ESV).”  One day, all creation will declare that He is the Mighty God.

            “Everlasting Father,” declares the prophet, looking toward a Savior fully human but also eternal God.  Certainly there are all kinds of fathers.  On Father’s Day we celebrate good fathers, and even thank God for those good qualities possessed by bad dads.  Throughout our lives we try to have the best relationships we can with our fathers, and those of us who are dads try to be the best we can be.  Sometimes we even adopt spiritual children, investing in the lives of those who aren’t biologically related to us.  But every father, good and bad, will have his funeral.  At the worst, people will celebrate his demise.  At the best, they will mourn his passing and try to live up to his example. 

            Yes, earthly fathers are for a time, but the heavenly Father is for eternity.  When our worldly fathers’ voices are silenced by the years, the Everlasting Father still speaks truth to His children.  Every one of us needs the Everlasting Father.  We need His love, protection, provision, and wisdom.  Thank the Lord that, while earthly dads are limited by time, the Everlasting Father is forever.

            Finally, Isaiah predicts the Prince of Peace.  There are all kinds of princes in the world—rulers that range from benign to beastly.  The sixteenth-century Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli wrote a treatise called The Prince, in which he says that rulers should gain power by any means possible.  All immoral actions can be justified as long as they work toward the prince’s ultimate goal of control.  Machiavelli says that the prince should do what is politically expedient, not necessary what is right.  To express this idea, we often say, “The end justifies the means.”

            In contrast, the Messiah does not seek peace by any means necessary.  Christ doesn’t simply seek political peace, but affects inner peace in the hearts of all who trust Him.  We await the day when the Lord returns, establishing righteousness and renewing creation.  Until that day we wait for inner change—spiritual transformation that makes us a different kind of people.  As such, believers do not say that the end justifies the means.  Instead, we trust the Prince who can bring His peace even in a world of unrest.  Kingdoms crumble and governments fail, but peace reigns in the hearts of all who trust the King of souls.

            “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  These are the names of the God who is with us.  He never leaves us nor forsakes us.  Isaiah 9.2 (ESV) says, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”  By that light we all can see, and we can more than see.  We can walk in faith that shines brighter than day.  We can walk with confidence because God is with us.  Authority rests “upon his shoulder…of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end (Isa 9.6-7 ESV).”

Do the Right Thing

Do you ever find yourself in a position where you need to make a difficult decision, and you don’t know what to do?  Often the best decision isn’t the easiest thing, and sometimes a person has to choose between the lesser of the two evils.  In Between Two Truths, Klyne Snodgrass writes:

During World War II, Winston Churchill was forced to make a painful choice. The British secret service had broken the Nazi code and informed Churchill that the Germans were going to bomb Coventry. He had two alternatives: (1) evacuate the citizens and save hundreds of lives at the expense of indicating to the Germans that the code was broken; or (2) take no action, which would kill hundreds but keep the information flowing and possibly save many more lives. Churchill had to choose and followed the second course.[i] 

            In Matthew 1.18, Joseph faced a tough choice, and had no idea what he should do.  “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.”  Can you imagine being in Joseph’s position?  In those days, family honor was everything.  Brides were supposed to be virgins, and it seemed that Mary was not.  She had this crazy story of miraculous conception, and Joseph just didn’t know what to believe.  Perhaps the words of the prophet rang in his ears, directing him to a decision: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6.8 ESV)?”  This seemed helpful as he tried to determine what the Lord required of him.  But in reality, it seemed to present three different options.

            First, Joseph could choose to do justice.  Certainly, everyone believes that acting justly is always the best thing…or is it?  According to Deuteronomy 22, the just punishment for adultery, fornication, or incest was death by stoning.  Joseph was within his rights to seek the death penalty against Mary, and keep his honor clean.  Justice means doing the right thing, and doing the right thing means seeking justice…doesn’t it?  For every crime, a punishment that fits?  Joseph must have considered what the right thing to do was in this situation.

            In your life decisions, you have the option of seeking.  Justice is a good thing.  It means treating all people fairly, doing what’s right.  Justice means giving everybody what they deserve.  But sometimes justice can be harsh.  Giving people what they deserve might mean doling out punishment—and then you have to ask yourself whether you’re really qualified to make that decision, or whether it’s the right time for action.  In Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do, Robert Schuller writes:

I remember one winter my dad needed firewood, and he found a dead tree and sawed it down. In the spring, to his dismay, new shoots sprouted around the trunk. He said, "I thought sure it was dead. The leaves had all dropped in the wintertime. It was so cold that twigs snapped as if there were no life left in the old tree. But now I see that there was still life at the taproot." He looked at me and said, "Bob, don't forget this important lesson. Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst mood. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come."[ii] 

Just because it’s in your power to give somebody what they deserve, does that mean that you should?  Justice might mean cutting down the tree, or the person—or it may not.  Is there a better way?  Micah says we should do justice AND love kindness.

            Joseph decided to take the higher road of kindness, in regards to Mary.  Though he didn’t necessarily believe her story, he decided to treat her as if it were true.  He chose to give her the benefit of the doubt.  Justice called for her death, but the law also allowed him to save her life by forgiving her.  This he was willing to do—but he drew the line at marrying her.  The hurt had gone too deep for that.  In those days, betrothal was different from today’s engagement.  In order to get out of the marriage, he had to divorce her.  Verse 19 (ESV) says that “Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.”  In his mind, that was the path of kindness.

            What decisions do you have to make right now?  Is there a way of justice to which you are perfectly entitled, but then a higher way of kindness?  Which of the two is the better path?  There’s an old saying that goes, “It may be true that there are two sides to every question, but it is also true that there are two sides to a sheet of flypaper, and it makes a big difference to the fly which side he chooses.”  For the Christian, kindness ought always to win out over justice.  Yet Micah says that there may be three sides to this flypaper.  Did you know that flypaper has three sides?  There’s the wide sticky side, the wide non-sticky side, and then there’s the narrow edge.  Micah points out the third, most narrow path of all: Do justice, love kindness, AND walk humbly with your God.

            Joseph was a good man.  This means he was prepared to choose kindness over justice.  But this word “and” in Micah is a powerful word.  It means that you don’t get to choose between the three—you have to do them all.  Be fair, show mercy, and walk humbly with God, all at the same time.  For Joseph, walking humbly before God meant listening to God’s message.  Self-will says, “I know the right way.  I can make this decision all by myself.”  Walking humbly with God says, “Lord, I want you to show me Your way—and I’m willing to do it.” 

            Walking humbly with God, Joseph’s heart was ready for the third option.  He neither had to have Mary stoned to death nor did he have to put her away quietly.  Joseph chose to follow an angel’s advice, “Do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit (v. 20 ESV).”  Walking humbly with God, Joseph admitted that he didn’t have all the answers.  Admitting that he didn’t have all the answers, he opened himself for God’s creative plan.  Marry Mary anyway.  Accept the child.  Raise him as a son.  It was preposterous—but it was God’s way.  And this was the path Joseph chose.

            “Do justice, love kindness, AND walk humbly with your God.”  This is what the Lord requires of you.  Do you have any tough decisions to make?  Are you asking yourself how you can do the right thing?  Maybe the right thing is to seek justice—but perhaps there’s a higher way of kindness.  And there may be a way that’s higher still.  If you listen with a humble heart to God’s voice that speaks in the midst of your confusion, you just might hear that angelic message, directing you toward the greatest mission of your life.  I pray that in all the decisions you have to make, that God will show you what is good, what the Lord requires of you.  I pray that, like Joseph, you’ll do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.

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[i] Klyne Snodgrass, Between Two Truths - Living with Biblical Tensions, 1990, Zondervan Publishing House, p. 179.

[ii] Robert H. Schuller, Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do!, Thomas Nelson.