As I was getting ready to eat my homemade Skyline Chili for lunch, I was thinking about blogging and writing and life and what comes next on the blog. It occurred to me that I view God as a concept more than God as a being. I can’t exactly remember the tie in between all of that, but there it is nonetheless.
What I mean is that I think of God as a set of ideas to embrace – truth, integrity, love, grace, respect – rather than God the Father or Jesus my brother. I understand that I do have a relationship with Him and that He is real, but I tend to treat Him abstractly rather than than relationally.
Thinking of God this way isn’t wrong as much as it’s incomplete. He is truth, integrity, love, grace and respect and more, but to leave it at that and forget that He’s both my Father and Brother strips my experience of Him of it’s intimacy. Following Him then becomes cold hard obedience or a philosophical exercise rather than loving submission or respect or … The flip side is to embrace the loving Father and forget that He is ruler and King with authority and, frankly, rules. It’s not an either/or, it’s a both/and.
Any of our relationships can become this way, and I suspect if I psychoanalyzed my relationship with my wife or parents I’d find some parallels here. That’s too much to think about over chili, though.
What are your thoughts?
Category: God and Church
Good News Indeed
From Milton Stanley:
… something unique happens when Jesus touches dirt: instead of getting dirty himself, Jesus makes the dirt clean.
Of course, go read the rest. If you aren’t a reader of Milton’s at-one-time-daily blog, you should be. His posts are short and to the point, but almost always makes me think.
Jess’ Communion
Back on June 29th, Mat and Jess Richards (you may remember Mat) gave the communion talk. What Jess had to say moved me, because the story she told was months old and hadn’t directly affected her. Yet, she shared with tears how it pointed her, and continued to point her, to Christ. The story had moved me at the time, but I had forgotten it. Jess hadn’t and because of that, God once again can use it to draw us to Him. With her permission, here is what she shared:
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
Romans 5:6-11 New Living Translation
Sometimes things happen that cause us to think about God in a different way. One such thing happened to me a couple months ago and it has been on my heart to share since then.
On April 11th the following story was printed in the Columbus Dispatch:
The 8-year-old boy lay in an intensive care unit bed last night, swathed in bandages, hooked to machines and comforted by relatives.
Second-grader Christian Engle, suffering broken bones and a concussion, hardly stirred. He held his mother’s hand with his left hand, the good one. Much of his right side wasn’t so fortunate. The injuries were serious, but he was alive. He has Dianna L. Sharp to thank. Sharp took her role as a Hilliard school crossing guard seriously.
As the crossing guard at Scioto-Darby Elementary School, she would usher her young charges safely across Scioto Darby Road each morning and again each afternoon, parents and neighbors said. And some of those children would take the short walk to Sharp’s home after school, where she would keep them safe until their parents could pick them up, they said.
Yesterday, shortly after 9 a.m., Sharp paid the ultimate price as a protector of those children. Realizing that a dump truck bearing down on her and Christian was not going to stop, Sharp either pushed the second-grader clear or shielded him with her own body as the truck slammed into them in a crosswalk in front of the school, Hilliard Police Chief Rodney Garnett said.
Sharp, 41, was flown to Ohio State University Medical Center with severe head injuries. She died there at 10:20 a.m.
Christian’s condition had improved from critical to poor last night at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
“She went to swoop him to break the impact,” parent Ginger Swank said. “I believe she saved that little boy’s life.”
At the time I was working as a tutor at one of the high schools in Hilliard. The district notified all employees by e-mail shortly after the accident. I remember thinking about how awful it was. I remember being in awe of the sacrifice she made to save a little boys life.
I spent the rest of the day thinking about what happened. In the middle of the night that night I woke up very upset. The whole situation really affected me and I didn’t even know the woman.
I have thought about her many times since then. I think about what her family must be going through to lose a wife or a mother or a daughter or a sister.
I think about what the little boy’s parents must feel. Their son is alive because a woman sacrificed her life for him. What would they say to her husband and children?
Another question that comes to mind is “Would I have done the same thing?” I’d like to think I would, but I can’t say for sure. I can’t picture myself jumping out in front of any moving vehicle, especially a dump truck.
Maybe I would for a child. I hope I would for a child. Would I for an adult that is a stranger? Would I do it for an elderly person? Would I do it for a man that I just saw steal a woman’s purse? In what situation would I be willing to risk dying for someone else?
Will the little boy grow up understanding that he is alive because someone died for him? How will his knowledge of her sacrifice affect his life?
Diana Sharp’s sacrifice has been in my thoughts for almost three months now. What she did has caused me to reflect on the sacrifice Jesus made for me. I understand in my head that Jesus died for me, but I don’t always understand it in my heart. It doesn’t always seem real. I was so worked up over this woman and her sacrifice, but why don’t I always feel that way about the ultimate sacrifice that was made? The one that was made for me.
I change my questions. How would Jesus’ father feel about losing a son? And then I remember that God sent his Son to die for me.
How do I feel about Jesus dying so that I can live? What do I say to His father?
And then the really hard part to wrap my brain around: the fact that God willingly sent his son to die for me while I was His enemy. I didn’t do anything to deserve it. Will I grow up as a disciple understanding in my heart, and not just my mind, that I am alive because Jesus died for me? How will my understanding of His sacrifice affect my life? I hope that it does.
Wall-E
Brant at Letters from Kamp Krusty, has an eye opening post on Wall-E. Well, at least it was eye opening for me, and judging from the comments it was for others as well. Here’s his take:
Wall-E is not about pollution. It’s about sexuality. And not just any kind.
Unmistakably. From start to finish. I’m not kidding.
Watch it, and you’ll see it. … It is very specifically, and very obviously, about heterosexuality.
Now, the eye opening bit isn’t the sex part. His point is that it’s about gender, not about sex. It’s about a plane old guy (Wall-E) and his self sacrificing love for his girl (Eve) and what that love does to change man kind. It’s the message of the Bible (Mark 12, which I just read, specifically) that love trumps all. Love sacrifices, love trusts, love doesn’t fail.
That’s not just the coincidental message of the movie, it’s the deliberate message. Christianity Today interviewed the writer and director, Andrew Stanton, and he said so:
The greatest commandment is to love one another, and to me, that’s the ultimate purpose of living. So that was the perfect goal for the loneliest robot on earth, to learn the greatest commandment, to learn to love.
Go read the whole interview, it’ll restore a little of your faith in Hollywood.
The eye opening bit was that this Christian message is so plain as day and when I saw the movie, I completely missed it. What I saw was the message that wasn’t there, that I assumed was intended but wasn’t at all. The left leaning environmental message. Humans are selfish, evil polluters. Wall-E is left on Earth to clean up the mess that we made of it. The humans split and are living in space on a giant ship, and have been for 700 years.
I know what you’re saying, he’s from Hollywood, surely he snuck that in too, right? CT asked him about the seeming commentary on our selfishness and lack of concern for the environment. His response (emphasis mine):
That’s your interpretation, but that’s not where I was coming from. I certainly see the parallels, but honestly, all those factors came from very different places. All my choices in the film came from what I needed to amplify the main point, which was the love story between these robots. The theme that I was trying to tap into was that irrational love defeats life’s programming—that it takes a random act of loving kindness to kick us out of our routines and habit.
“Irrational love defeats life’s programming” – I love that line. Isn’t that why Jesus came?
So I saw the environmental put down and missed God. How often does that happen? We assume we know what people are about and completely miss the truth. Only later do we see the opportunity missed.
Now I need to go see the movie again.
More [Old] Lessons From Matthew 14
Doing some house cleaning and found this near complete post that never got published from about a year ago. It should have been posted then.
There were two other things that came to light during last Sunday’s class on Matthew 14.
Dave brought along a video that reenacted the scene (of Jesus walking on the water). The portrayal of Jesus plucking Peter out of the water after he began to sink was like a light bulb going on.
I had always imagined Jesus frowning at Peter and rebuking him for his failure. In the video, however, we see a laughing Jesus, teasing Peter rather than rebuking him.
Imagine 2 good friends out mountain biking. One is an experienced rider, the other not. The experienced rider heads down a particularly challenging hill, jumping a fallen log, swerving through a series of large rocks and traversing a creek at the bottom. On the other side, he stops and wait for his friend.
There’s another way down, easier, but that trip looked so fun, the amateur decides to try it. He makes the jump over the logs, but half way through the rocks he wipes out. His friend rushes to help him up, laughing. “Dude, that was awesome, but why didn’t you go right after the big one?”
Jesus in the movie was laughing with Peter, rejoicing with him in his triumph, but teasing him as well. “Awesome dude! But why’d you doubt, you faithless knucklehead?”
I need to see this Jesus more, the Jesus laughing with his buddies, egging them on, rather than the serious Jesus, scowling at our lack of faith.
Living Intentionally
Codepoke has an interesting post yesterday that runs parallel to what I intended to post on today. There’s a bunch of stuff in there that I intend to chew on – later.
I haven’t posted much lately. Frankly, posting here has been sporadic at best for a long time. I wish I could say that it was because I was too busy living. You know, spending time with he kids, working around the house, getting projects done and stuff like that. No, mostly I’ve been distracted by a lot of stuff.
I sit down at my laptop every night and most days (like now) at lunch, but mostly I browse around the web looking at stuff. Some good stuff, like Codepoke’s blog or Jared’s blog (two you ought to read), but sometimes it’s just time killers. The online equivalent of reruns of M*A*S*H, something you do to have something to do.
It’s interesting or entertaining to a point and I learn some stuff and talk to some folks, but it’s immensely unsatisfying most of the time. I want to blog, but look, Bloglines says there are 18 new posts on my favorite blogs and I have 4 emails to return. Those things are easier, so I go there and the thoughts in my head that I wanted to share or the Bible study that I wanted to do don’t get done.
Of course this applies to more than being online. Before we had the Internet, there was TV to watch. Even before we had a bazillion channels and DVDs and pay per view, we’d sink into the fantasy world of whatever show was on that night rather than doing something productive. before that there were books and gossip and a million other things.
I blog partly because I enjoy writing, but partly (maybe even mostly) because in putting these thoughts to the screen, I’m forced to flesh them out. I have to do the research, get the facts straight, see if there’s any meat to hang on those bones. In doing so, what God has put in me becomes more real and in turn becomes useful to someone else (hopefully). But too often, I’m satisfied with the skeleton of an idea or the happy thought in my head. I’m convinced, however, that God put them there for more and through blogging that’s what they become.
In order to do that, I have to decide. I have to intentionally ignore my feed list in Bloglines, my Inbox in Outlook and the call of mt Pop up camper club and Thunderbird forum and intentionally sit down to read my Bible and write out my comments or put that thought from Sundays message to the keyboard. It’s intentionally pursuing what God has, in part, created me to do.
Isn’t Christianity like that too? We are bombarded every day with interesting things, TV shows, newspaper and magazine articles, movies, conversations, shopping, radio shows, music and on and on. Jesus calls us to turn our eyes to Him and follow, despite all the calls of the world. Some of those things will flow through the path that we take as we follow him, but we are not to turn our eyes from Him and follow them.
We are called to live intentionally, deliberately on a course that runs counter to the culture around us. It’s like trying to travel straight across a fast moving river to a point directly on the other side, The current want s to push you down stream, it takes determination to stay the course and not be pushed off track.
Too often I live accidentally, doing whatever falls in front of me instead of intentionally following a course toward Him.
My Brother In Law’s Story
I’ve been wanting to post this here for a while now, but I wanted my Brother In Law to type it up so the facts were straight. He recently put it on our family website. It’s an amazing story, here it is …
2007 brought a lot of change in our lives. I have told parts of this story to several of [the family] and it has been requested that I post the whole story. So I will.
When I graduated high school, I went to one job interview. I got the job. That was June 15, 1995. Between then and mid 2007, I had been in four different positions for the company. In 2006, I had reached the top of the ladder. I was the supervisor over all the areas that I had worked during my career there. I had several good employees under me. I was making good money, which would have only gotten better over the next several years. I was put in charge of a 3 million dollar project to build a new facility. I had arrived. I thought.
Our faith and church have always been very important to us. We had changed churches in 2006 and feeling very comfortable in the new church. We were given the opportunity to run the youth department. That had been something we had done at our old church, so we were pleased that the ministry JUST HAPPENED to become open at the right time. By the way, I don’t believe in accidents, coincidence, or just happened. The Bible says “All things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose” It did not just happen, it was God’s Will.
In August 2007, our church held their annual preacher’s meeting called “Fishers Of Men Fellowship” Pastors from all over the state and surrounding states come to our church to hold three days of meetings. A day consists of breakfast, four different pastors preaching, lunch, four different pastors preaching, a two-hour break, supper, and a revival type service in the evening where two more pastors preach. It is a marathon of preaching, but one that I will never miss. On Thursday of the week, a preacher named Ray Ditch was asked to preach. He had recently had a stroke and was still suffering from some of the effects of that, but when he started any and all aliments were gone and he was able to preach. The sermon was 21 minutes long. In those 20 minutes, my life was forever changed. He preached on James 1:22. It says, “Be ye doer of the work and not hearers only” He said that standing idle was not acceptable. God has a will and a purpose for each of our lives and that if God is calling you to do something then you should just do it. He kept saying that just do it, just do it. He was not finished but after about 20 minutes he said the Lord was telling him to sit down and that was what he was going to do. He sat down and over the next 2 1/2 hours three other preachers spoke about “something”. I don’t know what they spoke about because Just Do It, Just Do It kept ringing in my mind. When the meeting broke for lunch, I went down to the altar at the front of the church and asked God a question. “Just Do What, LORD??” Over course he didn’t answer but while I was still kneeling there I told the LORD something that I meant then and that I still mean now. “Whatever it is LORD that you would have me to do LORD I will do it. Whatever it is, I’m in.” I literally felt something, a weight, lifted off of my shoulders. The day continued. I went to lunch and then we had four more preachers speak.
After the second session, I went home and talked with Hannah. She had no knowledge of what had gone on. I walked in and asked her a question. I said, ” If the LORD calls me anywhere, are you with me?” She had the “deer in the headlight” look. Her look told me to ask the question again so I did. She said after the second attempt, Yes, she would follow wherever the LORD would call us. Then, she asked, “Why?” I feel this was important because I had committed to God without knowing what I was committing to. Hannah also had to blindly commit to me, her husband, before knowing the circumstances or “the what”. God wants us to blindly commit to His calling. That is the faith the Lord wants us to have. I told Hannah what had transpired throughout the day. She asked me, ” Do you know what it is?” I told that I did not but when I did I would let her know.
Early the next week I had a feeling, I guess you would call it. I felt the LORD had showed me what was going to happen. As I had promised, I went to Hannah and told her that I thought I knew what was going to happen. This is what I told her. In our church, there are three full time paid positions. One is the pastor. One is the printer at our printing ministry, and one is the principal of our Christian School. All three positions were filled and had been for years. I told Hannah that Ron would step down as printer, Mike would move from Principal to Printer, and I was going to become Principal of the school. My wife, full of faith and spiritually minded said, “Yeah Right!” I thanked her for her support and told her that was what God had showed me. Her response this time was more open-minded. She said, “We’ll See.”
Two days later, on Wed, Ron stood up and announced that for personal reasons he would be stepping down as printer after many years of service. Hannah looked at me dumbfounded. COINCIDENCE. Over the next month, three men of the church applied for the job of printer. Mike was not one of them.
At work, we were just finishing the building project. The hectic time was beginning to turn into a more normal routine. My job had become easier. The workload was lighter. BUT I was not happy. I had always enjoyed going to work. I took pride in my job. My philosophy was I had to be there so I might as well enjoy it. I could not explain it. I was not happy.
Through the interview process, all of the men who had applied for the printer job had decided that the job was not for them and they were not interested in the position. At the September business meeting, Mike stood up and said that he felt that God was pushing him toward taking the job as the printer. It was a push he was willing to take if the church would allow him to make the move. The church voted then that Mike would become the new printer and now the position of principal was now vacant. COINCIDENCE. Hannah was shocked. After the meeting, I immediately went to the pastor and told him that I was interested in the job of principal. His response shook me. He said, “I know.”
After that conversation, I left it in God’s hands. I did not ask any questions. I just waited. In November, I was called in to have a meeting with the pastor and the deacons. It was then that I realized that another man had applied for the job. I never considered not getting the job. I figured that God would work it out. At the December business meeting, the deacons recommended that I be voted into the position. The church agreed and I was to start in Jan. The next day, I done something I never thought I would do. I gave my two-week notice to take a job that paid 1/3 less and I was not only happy about it, I was elated. The unhappiness that I had felt since August had also been lifted. It was then that I remembered something that Brother Ray had said. When you are not in God’s Will, you are just not happy. I realized that for 12 years, God’s will had been for me to work at Orscheln and I loved it. In August 2007, His Will for me changed and I could not be happy again until I was back in His Will.
I started the job of principal on Jan 1, 2008 and I have not had a bad day at work. I love it. It has now been 5 months and the school year is winding down and I still love it. We still run the youth department and love it also. Through the summer I will work at our camps and help Mike in the print work. I will also work on the next year of school. We are remodeling a building that we will use next year for our school. The LORD is going to grow the school and we need to be prepared for that. I will also go to some training during the summer to help better equip me in the new position. Everyday the Lord gives me the strength that I need for that day. He has blessed my family and I in so many ways there is not time to type it all.
The LORD is real and wants us to help Him. We do this by committing ourselves to God before he shows us where or what He would have us to do. If you commit, God will show you things and do things in your life that you would not seem possible.
I DON’T BELIEVE IN COINCIDENCES!!
One thing I’ll add that he shared with me, but didn’t include here. When me met with the church leaders, they asked him if he’d been praying about this decision. His reply was “No, not at all. God told me this was what was going to happen, there didn’t seem to be a point in praying about it.”
Grace is Scandalous
Here’s a Thinklings two-fer.
First, go read the incredible story of a man who’s mother was murdered by the next door neighbor’s son. What’s incredible isn’t the murder, it’s the grace offered by the family of the victim.
Yesterday at her funeral, her son offered to pay for the defense of her killer. … He said that he was following Jesus’ teachings: loving his enemies, forgiving others, and doing unto the “least of these” as he would to Jesus. The radio host said, “Jesus is my Lord and Savior too, but all I would want is 5 minutes alone with the guy.” “Yeah,” Mr. Barrios said, “but you’d be doing it to Jesus.”
Wow. There are only a few comments on that post, but the tone shows just how even believers can find grace scandalous and ridiculous to the point of tossing it out. Not possible or even worth considering. Except that when they need it, they’re glad that Jesus offered it.
The harsh responses to the story prompted Jared to share this post on the audacity of grace which he originally wrote in the midst of a particularly hard time in his former congregation, when their popular minister was let go.
Imagine you are one of the early church’s first members. You are sitting in a home with a few other believers, sharing a meal. You pray together. You sing a few Psalms. Someone recites a bit he’s heard of Jesus’ biography. Then someone gets up to read a letter to you from some guy named Paul.
Paul is a guy who used to go by the name Saul. It’s possible he is responsible for the murder of someone you know, perhaps even your parents or one of your children. Now you have to sit and listen to someone read not just words from this guy, but instructions from this guy. Since his conversion from Christ-hating enforcer of the Law to card-carrying Jesus freak, he’s not just one of your fellow Christians. He’s an authority over all Christians recognized by nearly everyone.
It is possible this arrangement would not have sit well with you.
Go read them both, but if you must choose make sure you read the second one.
Grace is what makes Christianity different. It’s what makes us whole. It’s what makes everything OK when it absolutely shouldn’t be OK. It’s exactly what we need and exactly what we could never expect to receive. It’s a ridiculous solution to a tragic and insurmountable problem. When all seemed absolutely lost, grace saved the day. Grace puts all the crazy endings to all action adventure movies to shame, both in it’s efficacy and it’s audaciousness.
We need reminded. We think too much that Christianity is a nice, straight forward religion. It’s not because at its core is a God who took the audacious step of suffering Himself to redeem those who had wounded Him. It’s even more scandalous than the victim’s family paying the legal fees of the murderer. In our trial it’s the prosecutor who dies for the defendant.
Did Jesus Come toTeach us How to Live?
Daniel pointed me to this article about how more and more folks are re-making Jesus in their own image. nothing new really, folks have been re-imagining a less shocking Jesus almost since he left.
It got me thinking about what Jesus’ was after in his teachings. I’m thinking we just might be missing the point.
Was Jesus really teaching to get us to change? Sure, I think he wanted and expected folks to take note and to rethink who they are, but prophet after prophet had come teaching much the same message. The scriptures will filled with much of the same teachings. Why would these same words from this man, even if he was God and man, be any different?
What if the point of Jesus coming to teach was to prove the point that we were helpless to save, powerless to obey and in desperate need of a savior. He knew going in that ll the best teaching in the world wouldn’t save us. Only he could do that.
Yet people over and over examine and re-examine his teachings, hoping to expose that nugget that will transform. Some magic nugget that has eluded all the others before. That’s why we have Jesus the positive thinker, Jesus the spiritual guru, Jesus who wants you to have your best life now and on and on.
We’re missing the point. When we look at Jesus’ teaching on marriage and divorce, on generosity, on lust, on loving our enemies, on purity, on holiness, on pride, on anger, his compassion, his restraint, his patience, his sermon on the mount and the beatitudes and we look at who we are in our sin, our response can’t possibly be “OK, I can do that.” No, when we see who we are in stark contrast to what God expects, we can do nothing but fall on our knees and beg for mercy.
We do not need the self help Jesus for we cannot possibly help ourselves. We need the savior. The reach over the rail of the ship and catch me from the waves savior. The run through the flames and snatch me from the burning building savior. The step out into the firefight to pull you to safety savior.
And after he’s taught us who God is, and humbled us because we are not that and cannot hope to be, he goes to the cross and saves us.
And only then can we be transformed into that which was impossible before and only because he makes up the difference. He bridges the gulf and now we are free to acheive that which had been impossible before.
His message is not “you can” but “you can’t, but don’t worry, I will”
Good Friday
Today is Good Friday. As Jared reminds, Good Friday. We mark this day with God nailed to a tree as good.
2000 years ago, the disciples following Him did not see good in this day. They had come to Jerusalem with great expectation, I suspect. Jesus had in some respects built this up, waiting to go to Jerusalem until it was the right time and setting out resolutely when it was. They had the passover meal in the upper room and there was something profound in the air. He had told them to make sure they had swords. They entered the garden that night and they could see in Jesus the anguish, the stress. His prayers were more urgent and desperate than they had seen, yet he emerged as determined as ever.
Then there were the soldiers. It’s on! They accuse Jesus, pointing and …
He gives no fight. He simply goes with them. He even rebukes Peter for using the sword He told them to have! Here was the one who was to be their savior. He opened eyes, mouths and ears. He had silenced the leaders. Here was the one who banished a legion of demons to a herd of pigs, simply walking away with the enemy, giving no fight to a mere handful of Roman soldiers.
Then the beatings. The mock trial. The accusations. The death sentence. And through it all, Jesus gave no fight. None.
Then the cross, and they watched their savior die at the hand of those he was to save them from. Perhaps they awaited some last minute miracle, but none was coming. He just allowed them to hoist him up, and then he died. Why?
It had to rock their world. All they had been preparing for, the victory was guaranteed had slipped through their fingers. What had they been doing, what had they been thinking, abandoning their secure lives to follow a carpenter. Had it really all been for nothing?
This Friday, was anything but Good.
They didn’t realize that in surrender, Christ was securing victory, In death he would achieve life for all. The only way to victory was through defeat. They didn’t get it, though He had explained it to them over and over. They would be lost for these next 3 days, and He knew it. But that was OK, because He knew that they would understand …
… come Sunday.
Recent Comments