spirituality

Words of Wisdom

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Today, I learned something new. That applies to just about every day that I’ve been alive, since there is so much out there yet to learn (or in my case, to learn and to forget and to re-learn).

Matthew Page preached today instead of Aaron Bryant at The Church at Avenue South and that’s where I picked up this new knowledge. Although, I’d like it not to be just something else that I know intellectually, but something that profoundly affects how I live toward others from here on out.

Mr. Page said that not all of us will be accomplished preachers or evangelists. Not all of us will draw crowds Billy Graham-style or present a compelling defense of the faith a la C. S. Lewis or Josh McDowell.

But all of us can learn to love well. All of us can show the same love for those around us that Jesus showed us. In fact, that’s the most compelling argument for the faith.

People can argue all day long over the finer points of theology and politics, but no one can ever argue over the evidence of a changed life. No one can ever refute a testimony that’s not only spoken out loud but lived out loud as well.

Most of all, people can never deny those who love the unlovable, who go against human nature to forgive and release instead of harboring resentment and seeking revenge.

Those who were drawn into the early Church pointed to that kind of love as the reason. “See how they love one another,” they said of the early believers. They might have added, “See how they love those around them,” to the Christians who risked their own lives to care for lepers, who left the familiarity and comforts of home to take this new gospel around the world.

That’s my prayer both for me and for you: to love others as well as Jesus has loved us. I know it’s not possible unless it’s Jesus doing the loving both in us and through us. Even then, we will still get in the way most of the time. But I’m convinced that if the world saw a fraction of that agape love lived out and not just talked about, it would make a big difference.

 

The Best I Can Do

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“I don’t want to live my life in such a way that the best I can do is the best I can do” (Mark Batterson, Wild Goose Chase).

I had to read that sentence three times before it registered. For those of you still scratching your head, here’s what it means:

I don’t want to live my life limited by my finite human potential.

I don’t want to live a life that can be explained in ordinary terms.

I want to live a life that can only be explained by the presence of the living Christ in me.

I want to be in a place way beyond my abilities so that no one can look at my deliverance and say that I had any part of it.

I want to be in situations where if God doesn’t come through I fail miserably.

I want to see what happens when I come to the end of me, because that is where miracles happen.

“But when I pray, the best I can do is no longer the best I can do. The best I can do is the best God can do. And He is able to do immeasurably more than all I can ask or imagine” (Mark Batterson).

When Helping Hurts: What’s In Your Hand?

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“The Lord said to [Moses], “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff” (Exodus 4:2).

So far, this book is not light reading for when you can’t sleep at night. It’s deep and challenging and (on occasion) causes my head to hurt.

I have a couple of takeaways.

One is that when dealing with impoverished communities, the best way to look at the poor is not from a needs-based analysis, i.e. what do you lack in terms of material resources, finances, education, mindset, etc., but from an assets-based one which asks, “What is that in your hand?” In other words, what skills and talents do you bring to the table? What knowledge of your own community could you give us to help better serve you?

Another is instead of implementing a one size fits all blueprint approach to every crises or problem involving poor communities, the better way is a learning process, where instead of “doing to” and “doing for” the people we serve, we are “doing with,” involving these people in the process and actually empowering them to be a part of the solution to their problems.

Above all, the goal is to see the innate image of God in the people we serve, distorted as it may be from the effects of sin and the fall. It’s not us coming down from on high to serve those who aren’t as good as us, but broken people serving other broken people with the ideal scenario being that both parties learn and grow and change and find healing in the process.

Doing ministry in this way takes longer and goes against our microwave, fast-food, quick-fix mentality, but is by far the better way in the long run.

There will be more of these updates as I continue to make my way through this book. Seriously, it’s a very good book, but it’s like one of those books that I read in seminary. It makes me have to use muscles in my brain that I haven’t used in a while, so I may have to read parts more than once to really grasp it.

But that’s a good thing. Exercise is good, even if it gives me a sore brain in the morning, right?

PS I’ve included a link to the amazon webpage for this book if you’re interested in learning more about it or purchasing it. I recommend it for anyone who is even remotely interested in pursuing either short-term or long-term missions.

http://www.amazon.com/When-Helping-Hurts-Alleviate-Yourself/dp/0802409989/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1424978877&sr=1-1&keywords=when+helping+hurts

A Moment of Whoa!

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I had a Joey moment. It’s one where I literally almost said “Whoa!” out loud. I did said it in my head.

One of the men staying with us at Room in the Inn said something that paused me in my tracks. Proverbially, since I was already sitting down, but it got me thinking. Here’s what he said:

Sin has the letter I right smack dab in the middle of it, while Jesus has the word “us” in it.

There’s an I in sin. Right in the middle, which puts me in the center of my life instead of God. Sin is all about me doing things my way and setting myself up as the ultimate authority.

There’s an US in Jesus. As in although Jesus saves us one person at a time, He puts us together in community, what we sometimes refer to as the body of Christ. Jesus never saves anyone to live out their faith on their own, but in the midst of other believers. Simply put, we are better together.

Sin leads to isolation and loneliness. And as just about anyone can tell you, you are much more prone to temptations and pitfalls when you’re fighting alone. Jesus leads us to accountability and encouraging and mutual bearing of burdens. When we are together, we compliment each other because where I am weakest, someone else excels, and where that person may fall short is where my gifts and calling lie.

Beware of anything that leads you away from fellow believers. I understand that not all of us are extreme extroverts and some of us like times to be alone. But no one should spend all their time alone, away from others who can watch out for them and warn them of imminent dangers they might otherwise walk blindly into or possibly speak that word of encouragement that enables them to go on for one more day.

There’s an I in sin and and US in Jesus. It’s that simple.

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Ruminating on Last Sunday’s Sermon

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I’ve been ruminating on last Sunday’s sermon (hence the title of this post). Two points come to mind that really got my attention.

First of all, seeing as how marriage is so vital to society, it’s interesting how most people will spend far more time planning on the wedding day to the neglect of preparing for a good marriage. The wedding, as beautiful as it is, takes all of an hour, while the marriage is supposed to last a lifetime.

I’m convinced that if you won’t mind having a less than stellar wedding if you have good marriage, and it won’t matter that you had the perfect wedding ceremony if your marriage turns out to be a bust. So yes, do plan for a beautiful wedding, but be sure to plan just as much for a good and godly marriage (which won’t happen by chance; you have to be intentional and proactive about it).

Also, the Bible calls husbands to love their wives with the agape kind of love. That love goes both ways. Here’s what that means.

It means that the husband loves his own wife regardless of whether she ever loves him back that way– or at all, whether she is grateful or not, whether she receives it or not. I’m not saying it’s easy. I am saying that’s the biblical standard.

To love your spouse like Christ loved the Church (also the biblical standard) isn’t easy. In fact, it’s humanly impossible to do on a consistent basis, day in and day out. That’s why Christ at the center is essential for any marriage to work.

I’m not married. I’m not even close at this point. But for me I know that if I want a godly wife, I HAVE to be intentional RIGHT NOW about developing a godly character. I can’t wait until my wedding night to start getting ready. I have to BE ready.

 

Snow! Snow! Snow!

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It really won’t be long before we’ll all be there with snow. Or in this case, a wintry mix of freezing rain, sleet and a bit o’ snow thrown in for good measure.

Snow is safer to drive in. Ice? Not so much. Especially when you have a rear-wheel drive as I do. But it’s pretty to look at.

I stayed home all day. I used the excuse of snow to catch up on my movies, starting off with a Peter Sellers movie, The Revenge of the Pink Panther, and ending with an old Hitchcock favorite, Spellbound.

Tomorrow’s forecast looks to be more of the same, since the temperature will most likely be dropping and all that slushy mix will only freeze over and become more treacherous to drive in. And according to the most reliable weather source available, my smart phone, the temperature is supposed to drop to -8 at some point between Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. Brrr.

I won’t have to set my alarm for some ridiculous pre-dawn hour. That’s always a plus.

I’m sure by the time it’s all over, I’ll have a case of cabin fever and will be willing to even set that blasted alarm clock if it means me getting out of the house.

But one thing I’ve learned is to make the best of wherever God has you and learn to see the good in every situation. That means counting blessings and finding joy in hidden places. Even in the middle of Winter (the arrival of actual snowy, icy weather as opposed to the general season of winter running from December to March).

So here’s to being inside when it’s cold outside. Too many people don’t have warm places to stay when it gets frigid outside. I don’t ever want to take for granted what so many go without. So thank you God for a warm house and a warm bed and a warm cat.

 

 

A Lenten Prayer That Pretty Much Works Year Round

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“The Jewish people have a beautiful prayer form, a kind of litany to which the response is always “Dayenu!” (It would have been enough!).

They list, one by one, the mirabilia Dei, the wonderful works of God for their people and themselves, and after each one, shout out DAYENU! As if to say, ‘How much is it going to take for us to know that God is with us?!’ It builds satisfaction instead of feeding dissatisfaction.

If we begin our day with any notion of scarcity, not-enoughness, victimhood, or ‘I deserve,’ I promise you the day will not be good—for you or for those around you. Nor will God be glorified.

Maybe we all should begin our days with a litany of satisfaction, abundance, and enoughness. God, you have given me another day of totally gratuitous life: my health, my eyes, my ears, my mind, my taste, my family, my freedom, my education, clean water, more than enough food, a roof over my head, a warm bed and blanket, friends, sunshine, a beating heart, and your eternal love and guidance.

To any one of these we must say, ‘And this is more than enough!'” (Father Richard Rohr).

I think I need to print this out or at least have it handy on one of my mobile devices so I can pull it out as a reminder when I fall prey to the entitlement/victim mindset and start feeling sorry for myself (which is far more often than I’d like!)

The prayer that my friend me comes to mind: “Abba Father, I come to you with empty hands. If all I have is you and the next breath, that will be enough.”

If you pray that prayer, anything extra at the end of the day will be like icing on the cake. Or to put it another way, it’s all grace.

 

 

Real Love

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“If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5).

Love. It gets talked about quite a lot these days. We talk about how we love our spouses and children. We also say how much we love oreos or vanilla ice cream. We use the same word for the people whom we pledged to spend the rest of our lives with as we use for food groups.

The Greek language has four words for love. I won’t get all technical on you, but basically those words in English are companionship (between people or even between a person and his or her dog), friendship, erotic/sexual/romantic love and unconditional love. The last kind is a kind that only originates from God and while we may say we love others with this kind of love, it’s really God loving those people through us.

Love is more than a feeling. It’s definitely more than the sappy lyrics to any of the multitude of syrupy love songs you’ll hear on the radio. Real love is an action, a choice, a verb. It means you always act toward the best interests of the beloved, whether you feel like it or not.

If love is a feeling, then it won’t last, because no feeling lasts forever. But if love is a choice, then you can always keep choosing to love and keep choosing to act lovingly even when you don’t feel love.

 

 

Three Reminders for Those of Us Who Need it Tonight

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When I was a senior at Union University, my roommates and I used to go dumpster diving. At least I remember the one time. I came away with a worn out baseball glove and a television. I kid you not. I got a television from the dumpster.

When I ceremoniously placed it in my dorm room and plugged it in, lo and behold it worked. It even had a button on it that would turn the images on the screen green. I still don’t know what the purpose of that was.

That rescued television served me well all the rest of my senior year of college. In fact, it worked all the way up until the day I brought it home. Then it became a very heavy and super bulky paper weight.

I sometimes wonder how God puts people and places and things into our lives for a season. Sure, some friends are for life, but those are rare and precious. Most of the people in my life have come for a week, a month, maybe a year or two. I’ve learned not so much to be sorrowful when they’re gone but to celebrate the lessons they taught me.

I was reminded of three things tonight. 1) Jesus is for me, 2) Jesus is with me, and 3) Jesus is in me.

My pastor tonight said that Jesus was the best evidence that God isn’t pursuing you and me because he’s angry, but because He’s desperate for us to save us from our sins and ourselves. I agree with that. Jesus Himself said He came not to condemn the world, but that it might be saved through Him.

I know Jesus is with me. He promised He’d never leave me, abandon me, or forsake me. That’s a promise I’ve found to be true, whether I could feel it or not.

I know Jesus is in me. Sometimes, I find myself saying and doing things that I know could never come from me. At least based on what I’ve said and done the other 98% of the time. I know that’s not me speaking and acting, but Jesus in me.

So remember tonight that Jesus is for you, with you, and in you.

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