religion

Am I Unoffendable?

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““Choosing to be unoffendable, or relinquishing my right to anger, does not mean accepting injustice. It means actively seeking justice, and loving mercy, while walking humbly with God. And that means remembering I’m not Him. What a relief” (Brant Hansen, Unoffendable).

This book is one of those that comes along and does a seismic shift on your thinking. I’ve always grown up believing that we’re supposed to be righteously angry about injustice and wrongs and sin, but this book is showing me that you can be actively against all those things without giving in to anger.

Based on what I understand, the Bible never calls for us to be angry. It does say that in your anger not to sin. It also says that anger does not produce the righteousness of God. I think when it says to be angry but don’t sin, it’s making allowances for the natural human tendency to anger. It also says not to stay there.

The only one allowed to be truly angry is God — and of course, Jesus — because God can have pure anger rooted in a holiness and righteousness that we don’t have. We can choose not to give in to anger without also giving in to all the wrongs and oppression in the world. We can fight those things out of love rather than anger.

I don’t want to give too much of the book away. It’s worth reading and says all the things I just said but way better than I just said them. Plus, if you get the audio version you get the book read by the author, which is almost always a bonus (and it is in this case).

A lot of our anger comes from the misguided view of calling out the sin in others while ignoring our own sin. We can easily become Pharisee-ical in seeing evil and wrong as being “out there” and “in them” rather than acknowledging my own sinful depravity and capacity for evil apart from the grace of God.

I’m a little over halfway there, so those are my takeaways thus far. My assignment for you is to find the actual book or the audio book and to devour it in short order. It’s an easy read (or an easy listen if you prefer). I’m even going through all the trouble of providing a link to the book on amazon.com. You’re welcome.

https://www.amazon.com/Unoffendable-Change-Better-updated-chapters/dp/1400333598/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.CCApAzLdwJEJ_bILerbPnP92PX4ePbEFxUdfzlwKQuQp8W7M9XUk146MAeiZVMFn_gCWS1YcpqnZy9olfkdcAfSWcn5iw6qDCNSMfQHhWM4EdxijLEVgmtywazlTVSyAjhJq8cHtUVNdhY2iyqRj5RPo8i-hjYAd2LH_aHTRyJG9DkQ7VkckmFOCsXjPi3Xs1hSaBdb8kGdBR9qVSFqkSUFMAdfYgPn_TY8uuyNJF1s.loHWjW318gTjgxlSS8Hem4fAJ5QuDVig1J42IDbTcCk&dib_tag=se&keywords=unoffendable&qid=1730083531&sr=8-1

Got to Have Faith, Faith, Faith

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I think I read that faith means trusting an unknown future to a known God, although sometimes, God seems as unknowable as the future. I understand God as much as He has revealed Himself to me, but there’s so much more to know and even some that will never be known on this side of heaven.

I think faith means trusting what I know of me to what I know about God, giving what I know about my circumstances and my future into His Hands. I almost said understand instead of know, but faith goes beyond understanding. I trust when I do not understand because what I know of God proves His trustworthiness.

I keep thinking about that character in the Bible who said to Jesus, “I believe. Help my unbelief.”

I get that. I relate to that 1000%.

My faith doesn’t have to be complete or perfect. I don’t have to have faith the size of a mountain to move God. All I need is faith the size of a mustard seed for God to move the mountain. Again, it’s not my big faith in God but my faith in a big God who is bigger than my fears, my doubts, and my circumstances.

I confess that sometimes I wonder IF God will show up, despite having seen Him never fail to show up at the right moment. In my best moments, my faith says, “I can’t wait to see how You pull this one off, because I know You will.”

I can’t wait for the day when my faith will be made sight. Until then, I will echo the words, “I believe, help my unbelief.”

And that will always be enough.

Another Dose of Spurgeon

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I love getting a daily dose of Charles Spurgeon in my emails. There’s a soundness to the theology of those old-school preachers and writers that’s missing from a lot of pulpits and books today. They weren’t afraid to step on a few toes and speak the unvarnished truth. They weren’t also shy about proclaiming the goodness of God. Here’s today’s gem from Spurgeon:

“DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Oh Lord, in looking back we are obliged to remember with the greatest gratitude the many occasions in which you have heard our cry. We have been brought into deep distress and our heart has sunk within us, and then have we cried to you and you have never refused to hear us. You have rejected the prayers of our lusts, but the prayers of our necessities you have granted. Not one good thing has failed of all that you have promised. Blessed be the name of the Lord forever, our inmost heart is saying. Amen, blessed be his name.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting.” (James 1:5–6)

We cannot ask of a person of whose existence we have any doubt and we will not ask of a person of whose hearing we have serious suspicions of. Who would stand in the desert of Sahara and cry aloud, where there is no living ear to hear? Now, my dear hearer, you believe that there is a God. Ask, then! Do you not believe that he is here, that he will hear your cry, that he will be pleased to answer your cry to give you what you ask for? Now, if you cannot believe that there is a God, that he is here and that he will hear you, then confess your ignorance, and ask him now to give you the promised wisdom for Jesus’ sake.”

The Lord Has Need

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“When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’’ So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them” (Luke 19:29-32, ESV).

I heard something tonight that blew my mind a little. It definitely got me thinking the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem in a different way.

Have you considered the story from the point of the colt? Have you thought that God appointed that a man should go and buy a donkey to take care of it and raise it and feed it? That donkey then proceeded to give birth to a colt, which the man also raises and feeds, all for the moment when Jesus sends His disciples to fetch the colt, saying “The Lord has need of it.”

Have you thought that maybe God placed you and me where we are in the time and place we’re in so that one day, you can be in the place to hear the words “The Lord has need of you”?

We don’t really think about all the time that passed before Jesus needed the colt. All that time that seemed wasted or useless was a time of preparation for one single event that led to the event that changed the entire world.

You may be in a season of preparation that proceeds the moment when God will say to you, “I have need of you.”

I get that in one sense God doesn’t really need you or me or anyone else. But I also know that God places you in the exact moment and location where He will be able to best mold you into the person He can use. Maybe it’s for a lifetime calling or maybe it’s a moment in time. But God will use you. All He asks of you and me is that we are available.

Weeping Prayers

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This is not me currently, but I know a few people who are navigating the process of grieving a loved one. It’s never an easy process and even though I’ve been around a while, I still can’t say that grief is a natural process because death really isn’t natural. It’s a product of the fall brought about by sin and not in God’s original design.

I do believe that God hears weeping as a prayer as much as He will hear your words and desires of your heart. The Bible says that God collects our tears in a bottle. I know that someone in deep grief may not have anything more than tears to offer to God, and that is enough.

As a reminder, there is no time limit on grief, because grief is the price of love this side of heaven. It will never be right that the person isn’t here. It will never be right that you will never hear that familiar voice or see that face again until heaven.

I love the fact that Jesus, knowing He was about to call His friend Lazarus out of the grave, still wept over his death. He wept over the grief of his friends who had no inkling of the coming miracle. He wept to show that we can believe in heaven and the resurrection and still be sad at the same time.

So I’m saying that there’s no shame in grief. Sometimes tears can be the only prayers we have.

The Mother of the Mother of God

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This is a borrowed post that speaks not about Mary, the mother of Jesus but about Mary’s mother. We know absolutely nothing about her other than she obviously existed — no name, no lineage, no story, no angel visit, no nothing. But yet her faithfulness led to Mary’s faithfulness, which led to the Incarnation.

It’s a post from December 20, so we’re not quite to the time of year to be talking about the nativity just yet. At least for most people. I think this is something that works all year round. What follows is amazing:

“This time of year, we talk about Mary a lot.
But what about Mary’s mother?
Someone had to raise Mary to find favor with God.
Someone had to raise Mary to treasure purity.
Someone had to raise Mary to honor Joseph.
Someone had to raise Mary to know the voice of the Lord, even though they were living in the silent years.

Mary’s mother, we don’t know her name.
We don’t know what her life looked like.
We don’t know who she was married to, or what he was like.
All we know is, she raised the mother of Christ.
She raised a daughter, highly favored of the Lord.
She raised a daughter to fear the Lord, when the Lord was silent.
This is what we know.

Mary’s mother didn’t have an encounter with Angel, telling her to raise Mary carefully because of how the Lord was going to use her.

Mary’s mother chose to raise Mary wisely so that the Lord could use her.

Mary’s mother didn’t have an encounter with Angel, telling her to honor her husband, because Mary would need to honor Joseph when he told her to travel to Bethlehem while she was great with child, when he told her to flee Herod’s wrath (before it came to pass) in the middle of the night, Mary’s mother just honored her husband, obeyed, and submitted to him because she knew that’s what she was called to do.

Mary’s mother didn’t have an encounter with an angel, giving her a word to cling to in those dark, silent years. But she clung to the word of God that she had. She trusted his word, even during his silence.

And her home shone with divine favor, because she made choices in the dark, that affected the whole world.

Mary did you know?

She knew some, she knew what the Angel told her.

But Mary’s mother?
She had no idea.
But she chose to raise a daughter that the Lord could use.
And that choice still affects us all today.
Who you raise can affect eternity.
The example you set in marriage, can affect eternity.
Your home can make the gates of Hell tremble.
But it starts with you” (Sarah Trent).

That Love Your Enemy Thing Again

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“Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles” (Proverbs 24:17).

I don’t like it when people post about Donald Trump and how they wish the assassination attempt had been successful. I’m equally not a fan of people making fun of Joe Biden for his apparent dementia. Neither one suits a child of God or a disciple of Jesus.

The current political climate has created an us versus them mentality. We can be tolerant toward the views of our people, but not theirs. We will try to be civil and humane with our people, but when it comes to their people, all bets are off and all sorts of name-calling of them and their families are fair game.

We’ve even decided that the whole made in the image of God thing doesn’t apply to them. They’re evil and not human because they are them, not us. Typically, the view we have of them is the most distorted and exaggerated caricature of the person and not the actual person.

When Jesus said to love your enemies, He didn’t stutter. He said to love them whether you like them or not, whether you agree with them or not, whether they deserve love or not. As I’ve said repeatedly, Jesus chose to love and forgive those who were in the very act of murdering Him.

I don’t think it’s good to celebrate when a political opponent suffers. In fact, if your theology allows you to hate “them,” then it’s not of God and not of the Bible. And disagreeing with choices or lifestyle doesn’t equal hate. In fact, the more you love people, the more concerned you will be when they make unwise choices or behaviors and the more you will want the best, i.e. God’s best, for them.

Perhaps the best way to learn to love your enemy is to pray for them. And not in pray for their destruction or comeuppance. But pray for them as you would for yourself or a loved one. Pray that God can change their heart and give them wisdom — not Democratic or Republican wisdom but Godly wisdom. You can pray for their salvation. You can pray that they will find the same joy and peace that you have found.

Another Good Read

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Technically, since I’m enjoying this book through Audible, it would be a good listen rather than a good read. But the narrator is really good and the story has a pace that’s just right and neither too slow or too quick.

Surprised by Oxford is right up my alley. It’s set in Oxford among the ghosts of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien and the like. Actually, there are no ghosts, but the fingerprints of Lewis and Tolkien are all over this story.

It’s a story about a journey to from unbelief to faith told in a riveting style that reads (or listens) like a novel rather than a memoir. I can visualize just about everything in my head despite never actually having been to Oxford.

I know there’s a movie based on the book that I want to see, but I also don’t. I know the movie will leave out significant portions of the book and condense other parts to make it fit into the 90 or so minutes that comprise the average length of a typical film. But also it will show Oxford in all its glory and make me want to go there more than I already do at the moment.

There are so many cultural and literary and musical references that are right up my alley. There are lots of mentions of U2 songs and of course lots of nods to Lewis. It’s set during the 90s when I myself would have been a college student, so I get that timeframe pretty well.

It’s definitely a book I’d recommend either listening to or actually honest to goodness reading out of an actual physical book. I know when it ends, I won’t be ready and will be a bit sad for a day or so. Then I will start my next grand audio adventure.

God in Unexpected Places

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Earlier today, I wanted some soothing background music, so I turned on a DirecTV channel called Soundscapes that plays vaguely new-agey music. Mostly, it’s instrumental, so I can read or do other things without being distracted.

Then they started playing a song called “If A Rose Could Speak, ” and lo and behold, a woman starts singing. I was definitely not expecting that. But it was mostly generic lyrics about love, so I didn’t really pay much attention.

Then the song went into a kind of counter-melody. I instantly recognized the tune, but I couldn’t place it. The more I heard, the more I knew that I knew it, but couldn’t remember where. Then the line hit me: “Lord of all, to thee we raise / This our hymn of grateful praise.”

It was the melody of the old hymn “For the Beauty of the Earth.”

I’m sure that it could also be the melody to another old song from ye olden days. Hymn writers were known to take familiar songs and add new lyrics to them so that people would recognize them and catch on faster.

But it was an odd moment for me in the middle of my day. It was also a gentle reminder that even with all the evil that seems to run rampant all over the world, the Earth still belongs to the Lord. Jesus is still in control. Even a broken and fallen creation can still glorify and bring praise to the Creator.

For those unfamiliar with the old hymn, here are the words in full:

“For the beauty of the earth, 
for the glory of the skies, 
for the love which from our birth 
over and around us lies. 
 
Christ, our Lord, to you we raise 
this, our hymn of grateful praise. 

For the wonder of each hour 
of the day and of the night, 
hill and vale and tree and flower, 
sun and moon and stars of light,

Christ, our Lord, to you we raise 
this, our hymn of grateful praise. 

For the joy of human love, 
brother, sister, parent, child, 
friends on earth, and friends above, 
for all gentle thoughts and mild,

Christ, our Lord, to you we raise 
this, our hymn of grateful praise. 

For yourself, best gift divine, 
to the world so freely given, 
agent of God’s grand design: 
peace on earth and joy in heaven.

Christ, our Lord, to you we raise 
this, our hymn of grateful praise” (Folliott Sandford Pierpoint).

Praying for the Lost

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“Oh, our glorious Lord, you have taught us to pray for others, for the grace which could have met with such undeserving sinners as we are must be able to meet with the vilest of the vile. Our Father in heaven, we offer prayer for those who never think of you; who, though created by you, are strangers to you; who are fed by your bounty, and yet never lift their voices to you, but live for self, for the world, for Satan, for sin. Father, these cannot pray for themselves for they are dead; your quickened children pray for them. These will not come to you, for, like sheep, they are lost; but seek them, Father, and bring them back.
Amen” (Charles Spurgeon).

Sometimes, I think we get so caught up bashing our enemies that we forget that we’re commanded to pray for them. Note that Jesus did not make a suggestion or a friendly reminder, but instead gave us a command. We don”t get to choose whether we want to obey or not.

But when we see lost people acting lost, why are we surprised? Maybe we should be more amazed that we’re not lost because when we were dead in our sins, God made us alive. If not for the grace of God, we’d all be just as lost and hopeless as anyone out there in the world.

So we can pray for those apart from Jesus just as others prayed for us when we were just as far from God and just as dead in sin. We can pray that God will do what no one else but God can do — save people.

It’s good to have a list of people that you’re praying for their salvation. You could pray daily or weekly or however you feel led. Even now, I’m thinking of someone who’s far off from God at the moment and praying he’ll come to a true saving faith in Jesus. Not because I’m extra special super spiritual, but because I know how much I needed Jesus when I was lost (and how much I still need Jesus now).

The Bible teaches us that no one is past saving or beyond the grace of God or ever too lost for God to find. Who knows but that our persistent praying might lead some of them in the the kingdom of God. Wouldn’t it be amazing to run into one of them and say, “You know, I prayed for you to be here, and here you are. Isn’t God good?”