Read this Blog or I'll Shoot This Dog

The Perils of Either/Or Thinking

 

 

In January of my Freshman year of high school, there was a magazine (not a particularly good one) called the National Lampoon that featured on its cover, the picture above, with the title, If You Don’t Buy This Magazine, We’ll Kill This Dog!  Of course, it was a promotional stunt, but it was so in your face shocking that it soon became a hot discussion topic among my peers.  

 

Some thought it was hilarious while others, especially the animal lovers among us, found it to be very offensive and in poor taste.  There seemed to be very little middle ground on the topic.  Either you loved it or you hated it.  There were a few that simply shrugged and said they didn’t really care one way or the other, but then, they were that way on about every topic we discussed.  No matter how one felt, though, they were allowed to have their own perspective and we went on being friends.

 

It occurred to me the other day that in our society, and yes, even within the walls of our church, we have adopted an either/or posture on almost every topic.  Either you are for me…and if not, you are definitely against me.  Either you buy everything I tell you, or you totally reject it.  Either you totally agree with me, or I will have no use for you.   And the stakes for disagreeing are grow exponentially higher, often causing anger, suspicion, distrust and sometimes even ending friendships.

 

The more things change, the more things stay the same.  Did you know that was exactly why there were two different ruling parties that made up the Sanhedrin in Jesus day? They were called the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  They couldn’t agree on anything.  The Pharisees believed in the Resurrection.  The Sadducees didn’t. (Perhaps that’s why they were so sad…).  The Pharisees believed that if you did enough good works, you could bank some of it to help you get into heaven.  The Sadducees believed that since there was no resurrection, this life was all they had, so they had to live it up and get as much as they could while they were still alive.  And they believed that the more possessions one had, the more proof that God was with them and blessing them…which was one thing that the Pharisees began to adopt as well as they cushioned their own homes and pockets a little more.

 

But when it came to Jesus…they both suddenly agreed!  HE was dangerous.  He was usurping their authority and their important role in society.  As such, He had to go!

 

So, they began to use either/or thinking with Jesus.  Buy this magazine or we’ll shoot this dog!  Over and over, they tried to trap Jesus into committing to one or the other, in order to trap Him.  Need some examples?

 

John 8:4   “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

 

John 8:6    They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 

 

They knew that if he said “Stone her” they could simply turn Him over to the Romans for preempting their authority to decide between life and death, and the Romans would dispose of Him. Problem solved.  But if Jesus said, “Let her go” the people would be livid that He was ignoring Moses law and turn on Him. Again, problem solved.  Either/or would carry the day. But not so fast. Jesus has never been about either/or thinking.  It’s too narrow and dismisses any room for grace.  Let’s go back to John 8:7

 

⁷ They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone! ⁸ Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

 

John 8:9    When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. ¹⁰ Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

 

John 8:11   “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

 

With a simple statement, Jesus dismissed, not only a crowd full of sinners, but their “either/or” thinking as well.

 

Here’s another: Mark 12:13    Later the leaders sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. ¹⁴ “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? ¹⁵  Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?”  (There it is…either/or)

 

 Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you trying to trap me? Show me a Roman coin,^a and I’ll tell you.”  ¹⁶ When they handed it to him, he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”   “Caesar’s,” they replied.

 

Mark 12:17   “Well, then,” Jesus said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”  His reply completely amazed them.

 

Why?  Why did it amaze them?  Because it didn’t fall into their either/or thinking.  There are many other examples in scripture, but they all make the same point.  You don’t have to buy the magazine OR shoot the dog.

 

You don’t have to share a certain post with 10 friends or lose the blessing of Jesus.  You don’t have to subscribe to mask or no mask.  You can support black lives while continuing to support law enforcement.  It doesn’t have to be an either/or proposition.  But the more important point to consider as you seek to lead others to Jesus is, how well are you representing the character of Jesus and His love through your words and actions?  

 

Even if you don’t believe in wearing masks and you think it is all a croc, when you go to church and they ask you to be considerate, do you yield for the sake of loving the weaker (perhaps immuno-depressed) brother or sister and put one on, joyful to serve others humbly in such a simple (though perhaps irritating) way?  Or do you proudly, defiantly look for ways to register your disdain and use your position in the church to lobby for changing “these stupid requirements”?

 

When you hear Black Lives Matter, do you humbly seek to hear the plight, concerns and fears of your black brother or sister, happy to serve through listening and learning in humility, or do you immediately jump to All Lives Matter as you seek to argue the point of which matters more?

 

Did you know that I can readily accept and champion Black lives mattering, seeking to uphold and support my black friends and promoting the need for police reform, without agreeing on every point that the Black Lives Matter platform puts forth.  I can likewise support those police officers who are out there on the front lines every day doing their absolute best to do a good job to protect and serve.  I don’t have to allow myself to be polarized so much that I lose the ability to reason.  I can actually, if I think about it…support both.  

 

And someone’s need to have me agree with them on their polarized end of the spectrum is just that--their need.  And when I don’t conform to their demands, many have pushed me to the opposite end of the spectrum in their mind, without actually considering my reasons, or the  fact that I don’t happen to agree with the opposite end of their spectrum either.  But we are caught in a society that pushes, very strongly,  either you are with me or you are against me!  

 

I love my wife, but I don’t have to agree with every last idea or thought she has in order to continue loving her.  We are going to have differences.  HOW we work through our differences really determines whether I truly love her or not.  And the same is true in the church.  How we love others will show whether we truly love Christ or not.

 

I may believe that wearing a mask is stupid, suffocating and non-essential, but still choose to wear it out of love.  Because I understand that wearing it tells my fellow worshippers that I am more concerned about their health, and their belief that masks help contain the spread of a virus, than I am about my personal rights.   I can choose to wear it joyfully, because I want my church to be perceived as a safe place to be for my brothers and sisters, as well as a safe place to bring their friends.  Both physically and spiritually.

 

Jesus said it this way: John 13:35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

 

Don’t buy the magazine…and please don’t shoot the dog.  It doesn’t make you a bad person.  But DO show love and respect for others as a way of proving to the world that you are a disciple of Jesus.

Where Do I Find My Faith?

Over the past two weeks, my FaceBook inbox, my email inbox and many comments left on my Facebook feed have all begun to point at one main question.  “Where is my faith?”  Or “Where can I find peace.”   Is it possible?  And the answer is “Absolutely.”  I know that many others are talking about it, but for the sake of my friends who are asking, I’d like to take a stab at it.

First of all, I think many of us get confused when we hear the word faith.  Where is it found and what is it?  Well, it’s found in the dictionary, which is where most people would logically start.  Oxford defines it this way:

faith | fāTH |

noun

1 complete trust or confidence in someone or something: this restores one's faith in politicians.

2 strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof: bereaved people who have shown supreme faith.

• a system of religious belief: the Christian faith.

• a strongly held belief or theory: the faith that life will expand until it fills the universe.

It starts out good by saying, “complete trust or confidence in someone or something”, but then goes downhill when it mentions politicians.  Then we see “strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion” but then we see stuff like “based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.”  The we see “a system of religious belief, and Strongly held belief or theory.”  And none of those are really helpful in restoring my faith.  No wonder we are confused.  I don’t want a faith that is simply based on my spiritual apprehensions or blind trust or simply chanting the mantra, “I believe, I believe” over and over as if God were Santa Claus and I really want to see him at Christmas. 

Here’s the problem.  While the dictionary can take a great stab at defining it, the type of faith we are talking about is not centered in a system or doctrines or even just strongly believing and hoping.  None of those is where true faith lies.

True faith lies in a relationship with a Person.  And the funny thing about relationships is that you can never really prove that they exist, you can only give evidence of them existing.  For instance, I can say that my wife, Sandy, loves me.  But I can’t prove it.  I can believe it to be so.  I can hope it to be so. But I can only point to the evidence of that love.  She treats me nice.  She continues to stay with me after almost 40 years.  She cooks and cleans for me.  She says nice things, etc.  But all of those are not proof—only evidence.  

Each of you could point to examples where the above evidences were only in place until that person could gain what they wanted or something of greater importance to them.  Let’s look at them one at a time.

“She treats me nice”...you already know intuitively that people can treat you nice because they want something from you.  So that is not necessarily a proof of love. “She continues to stay with me”...maybe she has no where else to go and she is comfortable with the lifestyle.  “She cooks and cleans.”  Could be she just sees that as a trade-off for a roof over her head and some groceries.  “She says nice things”...maybe she doesn’t want to mess up her good gig.  

So you can’t point to any of those and say you have conclusive proof.  BUT...if I take all of those pieces of evidence and put those together, and combine that with the ongoing nature of such evidences, I can conclude that my wife loves me.

Nice, Pastor, but I still haven’t found my faith.  Ok.  Since we are talking about God, why not see how HE defines faith. And since the Bible is His self-revelation to us, let’s see what it says.

In Romans 10, Paul points out that the Jewish people were having some of the same struggles that we have when it comes to walking in faith.  

Romans 10:1    Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. 2 I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. 3 For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. 4 For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God.

Here is often where we get stuck.  We want to know God.  We want to follow Him.  We want to have faith in Him, but we don’t understand God’s way of making people right with Himself.  Why is that?  Because many well-meaning people in our past have obscured it with well meaning words and rituals and practices that hinder a true view of Jesus.

In my faith tradition, especially during my youth, we often confused a relationship with Jesus with following of rules to help us live better lives.  Nothing wrong with the rules per se, but it caused me to miss Jesus, the person I need to have faith in, as I focused on being a good member of my church community.   And, as I am friends now with clergy from many other denominations, our comparing notes has led me to conclude that most of them have had a similar time in their history where following rules was more important than following Jesus.  

So does that mean they were bad people?  No.  I believe they were wanting to follow Jesus, but simply bought into what someone else had told them they needed to do, ultimately leading to a type of legalism in the church.  And in their misguided zeal, the true picture of God was marred and many were led to conclude, “well if God is like that then...”   The problem with that conclusion is that the premise was never challenged.  If God is like that.  Perhaps instead, we should have asked, “Is God really like that?”  And then gone looking in Scripture for the answer.

Other things that keep us from understanding God’s ways are expectations that we have learned or deduced or heard that may or may not be true.  I had such expectations when my dad got cancer and then consequently died while I was begging God to spare his life.  It really made me question if I could remain a minister.  I mean, why minister to the goodness of a God that you suddenly didn’t feel was so good?  If you are interested in reading that story, it’s here on my blog from a few years back.

I have realized in the ensuing years that the devil can create a lot of misunderstood passages and misguided expectations that can lead us to the wrong conclusions, and when we don’t get the desired outcome, he can twist our consequent pain into a blaming of God and an anger at Him that is neither accurate nor deserved.

I prayed and believed and nothing happened...therefore God doesn’t care and He can no longer be trusted.  It spirals downward from there.  God could have done something but He didn’t so I hate Him!  And on we go, spiraling away from where the only real hope is found.

So what does God look like?And how do I find my faith?  The simple answer is God...looks like Jesus. Notice this question and Jesus’ answer in John 14:8,9   Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9   Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? 

John 1 calls Jesus “The Word”.  Starting in verse 1 of John 1 we read:  

1 In the beginning the Word already existed.

The Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

²  He existed in the beginning with God.

³  God created everything through him,

and nothing was created except through him.

⁴  The Word gave life to everything that was created,^a

and his life brought light to everyone.

⁵  The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness can never extinguish it.^a

John is saying that Jesus IS God and Jesus was basically saying to His disciples, if you want to see what God is like, look at Me.  Watch Me.  Hang out with Me and I will show you a pure undistorted picture of what God is like and what we want for you!

So, how did Jesus treat people? Matt. 14:14 Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.   Over an over we see that Jesus led with compassion.

How did He deal with those that made mistakes?  Read the story in John 8:1-11 of the woman caught in the very act of adultery and then read the ending.  You will see Jesus response.  

John 8: ⁷ They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” ⁸ Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

v.9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. ¹⁰ Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

v.11    “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

And of course most people have heard the greatest statement about what God is like in John 3:16…but don’t often read what John 3:17 says.  And John 3:17 was the continuation of Jesus’ thought when he was talking to Nicodemus.  Check this out.

John 3:16    “For this is how God loved the world: He gave^a his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 

Yep…that’s the part I’ve heard.  But let Jesus continue that thought.

¹⁷ God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

One of the biggest lies that Satan has perpetrated through the centuries is that God hates you and is just sitting up there trying to catch you doing something wrong.  But Jesus didn’t come to judge the world…but to save it.  That means that God wants you to be saved more than you can ever even have the desire to be saved.  He won’t be throwing obstacles in your path.  The devil does that.  Jesus calmly, relentlessly pursues us as we continue to look at the distorted picture of Him that Satan has been pushing ever since the Garden.

All that is required of us is to see a picture of Jesus/God who loves us, wants to save and redeem us and who continues to pursue our hearts in love, and then simply stop and respond in returned love.

Here’s the capstone verse, in my opinion: 

1John 5:11   And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. 13    I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. 

So the questions on the road to faith that we each have to answer are these: Do I have the Son of God in my life?  Have I accepted His forgiveness and am I willing to take the next step of faith that He lays out for me?

Be Amazed...Again...(For the very first time)

Exhibit B in our journey this week on learning to be amazed once again.

Your name is Jairus. You’ve come a long way to find Jesus. Your only daughter is dying. The doctors have all given up and you’ve taken her home to die. But somehow, you just can’t give up without trying everything. One of your servants has seen Jesus heal and suggests that if you could just find Jesus and have him come, your daughter might not die. You search frantically, from one town to the next. The reports are all the same. “You just missed Him. He was here about 2 days ago and healed most of the people in the town.”

Hope grows stronger, while on the other side of the emotional roller coaster, you become frantic as you realize that you are a few days behind him. You redouble your efforts, trying to reach Him and get Him home before it is too late. Finally, you come racing into a town and discover a large crowd of people gathered around. This must be Jesus. Pushing your way through the crowd, you come face to face with Him. “Master, you must come now!” The urgency is in your voice as you try to get Jesus to follow you back through the crowd. He motions for you to lead and begins to follow. You look back and realize that He has stopped and is asking who touched Him. You turn back to urge Him to hurry when one of your servants rides up to the edge of the crowd on horseback and motions for you.

You can tell by the look on his face that it’s too late. “Don’t trouble the Master any further,” he says, “She’s dead.” Grief wrenches your soul and you slump to the ground. The "if only’s" come. If only you had found Him quicker. If only He had been closer to your home. If only she had held on for a little while longer. If only there were no crowds to slow Him down.”

A hand on your shoulder jars you back to reality. “Don’t worry, just believe.” Jesus helps you to your feet and begins walking towards your town, He and his disciples helping you as you stumble along in a haze of grief. You sleep little that night, and the next day is a blur as you head home. As you come near your house, the mourner’s are there in full force. It really hits home. She’s dead. 

Jesus simply quiets them and says, “Don’t mourn. She’s sleeping.” Laughter meets His statement. How can Jesus mock your pain with such a statement. You enter to find your wife weeping and lying across the bed holding the lifeless form of your daughter. Jesus gently lifts her and you rush to hold her, to hold each other, as Jesus now looks at the little body on the bed.

Gently, yet with authority he says, “Little girl, I say to you arise!” Her eyes flutter open as you heart beats wildly. Your wife screams with joy and leaps toward the bed as your beloved daughter sits up. Suddenly the three of you are laughing, crying, talking, hugging, kissing, and marveling at what just happened. You look again…and He is gone.

Are you amazed yet? Can you just shrug it off with an "I've heard all this before!"? Or is there something, even now, that is begging you to be astounded and astonished at a God who cared so much for you and me that He came and gave us a peek at what God is like. Someone who calls the unloveable. Someone who forgives the hookers... Someone who wants to turn your grief into joy. Look again...for the very first time. And be amazed!

Look Again for the Very First Time

Are you ready for another round of look again...for the very first time? The game where we take a fresh look at some perspective of Jesus life that we may have heard so often that we fail to be amazed by it. Here we go...be amazed...

Your name is Mary. You’re a hooker. A street-walker. A prostitute. Nobody at the church wants you hanging out in front of the entrance, and you assume that if the church people don’t want you, their God doesn’t want you either. You watch from your corner as the people leave the evening service, giving you cold glares as they walk by or drive off. Not a problem for you. You’re not wanting what they have to give anyway. You’re waiting for a certain someone to come out of the church. Here he comes now. One of the Pastoral staff. He shakes hands with the last of the parishioners and watches as they disappear around the corner. He locks the building and then looks your way. You’ve seen that look hundreds of times before. The look of a man hungry with lust. He looks around to make sure that no one is watching and then gives you the signal. You leave your corner and head for your previously arranged meeting place a few blocks away. By the time you get there, he is already inside and waiting. You are barely undressed when the door comes smashing in. It’s the rest of the pastoral team. Grabbing you, dragging you from the bed as you clutch at sheets and try to cover yourself, they half-lift, half-drag you out into the streets.


Your mind is swirling. This is it. This time you lose. Set up by the pastors. You know the rules. You mess around and get caught, you die. You’ve played the odds and this time you lose. You’ve been in and out of a hundred beds, and so you figure it must be your time to go.

Inwardly you cry for a God to save you. But why would He? His people know you’re scum. His word says that an unfaithful woman should be stoned. No. No use crying out to Him. Take the punishment with as much dignity as you can muster. Suddenly you are flung in front of the Teacher, your sheet being ripped away as you hit the dusty street. Curling up you try to cover yourself from all of the laughter and leering eyes as the pastors say, “Teacher, Moses and the law say that we should stone this woman. What do you say?”

You know what any holy man will be forced to say and you brace yourself for the rocks. Abruptly, you realize that all has grown quiet and then you hear the question. “Woman, where are your accusers?” Looking up slowly from your curled up position, you realize no one else is around. It is just you and Jesus. He is taking His outer cloak and covering you. You respond, “I don’t see anyone, Lord.” And then His response takes you totally by surprise, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and leave your life of sin.” You look again. And you see for the very first time that He is smiling.

Go ahead...be amazed!

Be Still--and Breathe!

It had been a week on an emotional roller coaster. First the people’s hopes were lifted, and then they were dashed. They were trying to follow God, but it didn’t look like they had always dreamed it would. The political machinery of the day looked as if it were going to swallow them once again and relegate them to the bowels of society. They had been there long enough. They knew what that was like and they didn’t want to go back!

And now the Lord had finally freed them. They had put blood on the doorposts—not the typical way of finding relief from oppression, but it had worked. The command came to leave and they instantly obeyed before Pharaoh changed his mind. He always did. It was just a matter of time. So they left Egypt both rejoicing and looking back to see if they were being followed.

And about the time they started relaxing, someone sees a dust cloud on the horizon behind them. Looking ahead at where the giant pillar of cloud was leading, all they could see was water. They were trapped, and they knew the outcome of dealing with Pharaoh’s army. Many of them would die. Most would be re-captured and re-bound into the very slavery they had just escaped. Let’s pick up the story in Exodus chapter 14. Beginning with verse 10.

Ex 14:10-14 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Some things never change, do they? At the first sign or even sometimes, at the first hint of trouble, we grow terrified. And we start complaining and even believing that the very things we are being rescued from would now be preferable to what we are now facing. Look at vs. 11, 12 again.

Ex 14:11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”

Why do we do that? Why do we, at the first sign of anything remotely threatening to our security and well-being, start complaining and crying out in fear? To be sure, because we are human. But might it also be that we haven’t developed the ability to be still and trust that God is still in control? Could it be that we feel like we have to rescue ourselves and we don’t see how it’s going to work out? Look, once again at Moses’ command in vs. 13 and 14.

Ex 14:13-14 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

And you probably remember the story, don't you. God provided a path through the sea and when Pharaoh and his armies tried to follow them, the walls of water came crashing down on them. The Lord had done their fighting for them. They only had to stand firm and watch the Lord's deliverance.

Either we never knew, or we have already forgotten that the Lord will fight for us, we only need to be still. That’s harder than it sounds. Be still. Ok…and do what? Ponder the problem? Seek solutions? Wring your hands in anxiety? No. Psalm 46:10 says:

Psa. 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

That’s what Moses was trying to get the Israelites to see in the middle of their crisis. They didn’t have much choice, did they? The sea on one side, the army on the other…they had to be still…physically. But not all who are still physically are calm emotionally and spiritually. Have you noticed that? But they have no where else to go. So they wait on the Lord to do something. And He does.

What solved their problem? Did they solve their problem? Did they form a giant think-tank to discuss, deliberate and vote? No. How was their problem solved? They waited on God. They had to be still. Was that all? No. They also had to obey God and walk the direction He led. If they hadn’t done the walking, they would have stayed on the other side of the sea. They had to be still. Then they had to obey. Inhale, exhale. Be still, inhale, obey, exhale. We have to learn to breathe spiritually.

We talk a lot about our need for prayer, about how good prayer is, about how necessary it is to our spiritual walk, yet we seldom seem to take the time to pray. It has been said that prayer is the breath of the soul. If this is so, then perhaps the reason we so often feel anxious or overwhelmed in life is because we are not breathing!

In order to do away with the anxiety and panic in our lives, we must allow our souls to breathe deeply. And one of the primary reasons we are not breathing deeply enough is because we are not still long enough to do so. “Be still”, God says. Being still is the first requisite to breathing well.

When difficulties come; breathe. When it feels like life is going to run you over; breathe. When you feel uncertain or scared or anxious; breathe.

Ellen White, in her book Desire of Ages, page 667, says, “The path of sincerity and integrity is not a path free from obstruction, but in every difficulty we are to see a call to prayer. There is no one living who has any power that he has not received from God, and the source whence it comes is open to the weakest human being. {DA 667.4}

In every difficulty we are to see a call to prayer. A call to breathe. A call to Be still. Why? So we can

gain perspective. So we can live life without having to panic. So we can know that He is God. Being still allows God the chance to work in our lives before we go out and do something stupid in our typical reactionary mode. Being still allows us to realize Who is fighting for us. Being still will allow us to remain at peace. Isaiah tells us that.

Is. 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.

Phil 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Do you want peace in the midst of life’s storms? Learn to breathe. Be still. Seek God. Keep your mind fixed on Him. Allow Him to bring you peace.

When You are Stuck in the Prison of Your Soul or I HATE to WAIT!!!

Genesis 41:1 "Two years passed…” After Joseph had interpreted the dreams of the baker and butler and the butler had been restored to his job, promising Joseph that if it all came true he would tell Pharaoh about him, the butler was reinstated and then...promptly forgot about Joseph—so the next verse starts with “Two years passed…” Two years! PASSED! While Joseph sat in prison!

Interesting that the Bible inserts those words. Two years passed. We have nothing recorded about Joseph’s life during those two years. We can only assume that it was lived the way the previous years had been lived because of what we see AFTER the two years. How had he lived? Gen 39: 20 So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were held, and there he remained. 21 But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. 22 Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. 23 The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed.

"But I don’t LIKE to wait." Neither did Joseph. "Well, if my story ended up like Joseph’s I wouldn’t mind the waiting so much." Joseph had NO CLUE how his story would end up. He just found himself stuck in “wait” mode. He must have wondered a million times if he would ever get out of prison and be able to fulfill some of his goals and dreams for his life…even if they were to be spent as a slave. He could at least work to be head of the household.

No. I think Joseph must have gotten pretty tired of the waiting. Two years passed. Two years! But God hadn’t forgotten about Joseph. He had greater plans and Joseph’s character would have to be equal to the task. Like a blacksmith forging his iron, or a glassblower who knows just exactly when to take the glass out of the flames, God knew what it would take to bring Joseph’s character to be strengthened equal to the task. He knew that Joseph would have to be able to wield power carefully. God knew that Joseph would have to be kind. He knew that Joseph would need to be wise and that ultimately, Joseph would be able to preserve his family instead of annihilate them because of unresolved hatred. God knew that Joseph would have to be able to forgive.

So maybe you find yourself in the waiting period. Nothing seems to be moving. Your career. Stuck. Your passion. Gone. Relationships. Stagnate. Two years pass. Maybe 5. And you wait. And wait. How do you deal with the wait?

I have been there. Waiting. My soul passionless. Sometimes even the food I ate tasting bland and grey. No aliveness in my soul nor song in my heart. Unable to feel all but the strongest of emotions: mainly anger. Waiting and praying that God would somehow, someway deliver me from the prison of myself. My job as a pastor was crushing at times, seeking to bring hope to those that God brought to me while the grey in my soul was eating me alive. Week after week, month after month, year after year, writing sermons, counseling, giving Bible studies, planning and executing mission trips to Appalachia, seeking to keep hope alive in my own soul and my spiritual nose above water.

To be sure, there were some times better than others. There were times when it seemed like I would be getting out of this soul prison. It would seem that the door were starting to finally swing open and new hope would spring forth, but just as quickly, something would happen that would slam the door in my face. The death of friends and family members through cancer, heart attacks, strokes, car accidents, plane crashes and sometimes, even old age, all of these stretched out on my life line to slam the cell door of my soul back in my face.

I read a story once, about Mother Theresa saying that she had gone 22 years without hearing a word from God. She called it her “dark night of the soul” experience. She was asked, “How in the world did you keep going when you felt God was so distant?” Her response stunned me. She reportedly answered, “I just kept going back to the last place I KNEW I heard God speaking to me and sought to be obedient to that."

So how do I endure the waiting, especially not knowing how long it will last? I think it is found in the same way. It is in my belief that God is in control and that it isn’t so much what happens to me, but IN ME, that matters. Somehow I keep going back to the time where I KNOW I heard God speaking to me distinctly and I, like Joseph, like Mother Theresa, seek to be obedient to that until I next hear God change my calling.

And so I continue to wait. Totally dependent upon Grace to help me administer grace to the graceless, hope to the hopeless, help me write sermons and give counsel and dispense wisdom that calls people back to God. Grace that gives me strength for the journey, not knowing if today I will be in the cell, or suddenly promoted to the palace. To be sure—I rest in HIS promise: 2Cor. 12:9 NLT Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

Two years passed… how will YOU wait?

Living in the Land of the Un-graced

I have a confession to make. I have never told anyone what I am about to tell you. Not even my wife, though I think she must have suspected something. And I struggle with how to tell you this news this morning. Yet I feel the time has come for me to confess this to you honestly. And I will understand if you do not want me as your youth director after I confess this. I am prepared to accept that.

I am a terrorist (more like an unholy terror). Let me be quick to also add that though I belong to a group, I am not part of the al Quaida organization and have no responsibility for the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks of September 11, 2001. Though I am a pilot, I have never planned, nor would I ever plan on using a plane as a deadly weapon to bring about destruction of human life. I am also not into biological warfare. Nonetheless, I, and people in my group, can cause sleepless nights of anxiety. We can be ruthless when we feel we need to be. We operate quietly and without detection, for the most part, moving in and out of unsuspecting people, leaving behind us a trail of fears. The FBI nor the CIA has us listed, so they aren’t even watching us. We are pretty much free to move in and out of the population at will. As a matter of fact, we have quite a few operatives on the inside of the government, and to date, word has it that we have not yet been noticed.

My cell isn’t in to a quick death. My group is dedicated to long-term torture. We enjoy watching people dangle on a rope, fear in their eyes and terror in their hearts. And we have the ability to rip, shred and filet almost anyone. And what’s more, we can’t get enough. It’s not something I necessarily want to do. It’s something I almost feel I have to do.

I also have to confess, that many in my cell are are often found sitting with you in church each week. Don’t worry, if nobody moves, you won’t get hurt. Any given week, I see quite a few who are in my cell group and we are recruiting all of the time.

Oh, I’ve tried to get out a few times, but you don’t understand the pressure from the rest of the group. If I were to quit the organization, I would be the next victim on the list… and I’ve seen what happens to those who are considered traitors. It is not a pretty sight. So though I might want to quit, I’m just too afraid.

Who is this group? What is its’ name? Before we have people running out of here calling 911, I suppose I’ll tell you, and then you will have to check and see if you, too, are already part of this group. Our organization is called - Ungraced. The Ungraced Organization or the UO for short. Let me explain.

We are a group of people who, though we are called to live in God’s grace, and though we have accepted His call to do so, continue to distribute un-grace to those around us. And as a result, our words and our actions strike anxiety and fear into those around us and steal delicate hours of sleep. We don’t need biological weapons. Our words and actions alone can do the damage.

When confronted or offended by a Person (or we could call them Person A), does our operative launch a full out offensive on Person A?  No. Too dangerous. Could blow his/her cover as an operative for the Un-graced. Rather, he/she takes their anger and cloaks it in politeness, smiles and handshakes, until they are safely out of the confrontation zone. Then it’s action time!

Quickly gathering their ring of friends and supporters for a clandestine meeting, they plot an all out offensive. The guard is dropped and the statements fly. “Did you hear that?” “What was that about, huh?” “That Person makes me so mad! We can’t let them get away with this! Here’s what let’s do!” And that plan of action is put into effect. A little word here. An insinuating remark there. A well-poised question and the trap is set. Now…a little patience and whamo… Person A is in the crosshairs and running for cover and our operative smiles and knows that Person A won’t be quite so quick with their disagreeable statements the next time out. Person A has been successfully intimidated and is now running on fear.

The situations are different, but the results are the same. Fear. Intimidation. Anxiety. Irritation. Anger. Sadness. Guilt. Loss of sleep. Loss of appetite.    When we choose to operate out of un Grace, rather than God's Grace, we cannot change those results.

Philip Yancey, in his book, “What’s so Amazing about Grace?” recounts the story from Simon Wiesethal’s book: The Sunflower. It recounts a small incident that took place during the “ethnic cleansing” campaign of the 2^nd World War. It is a story that does much to explain what propelled Wiesenthal to become the foremost hunter of Nazis and a relentless public voice against hate crimes. The book centers, interestingly enough, on forgiveness.

In 1944 Wiesenthal was a young Polish prisoner of the Nazis. He had looked on, helpless, as Nazi soldiers killed his grandmother on the stairway of her home and as they forced his mother into a freight car crammed with elderly Jewish women. Altogether, eighty-nine of his Jewish relatives would die at the hand of the Nazis. Wiesenthal himself tried without success to commit suicide when he was first captured.

One bright, sunny day as Wiesenthal’s prison detail was cleaning rubbish out of a hospital for German casualties, a nurse approached him. “Are you a Jew?” she asked hesitantly, then signaled him to accompany her. Apprehensive, Wiesenthal followed her up a stairway and down a hallway until they reached a dark, musty room where a lone soldier lay swathed in bandages. White gauze covered the man’s face, with openings cut out for mouth, nose and ears.

The nurse disappeared, closing the door behind her to leave the young prisoner alone with the spectral figure. The wounded man was an SS officer, and he had summoned Wiesenthal for a deathbed confession.

“My name is Karl,” said a raspy voice that came from somewhere within the bandages. “I must tell you of this horrible deed—tell you because you are a Jew.”

Karl began his story by reminiscing about his Catholic upbringing and his childhood faith., which he had lost while in the Hitler Youth Corps. He later volunteered for the SS and served with distinction and had only recently returned, badly wounded from the Russian front.

Three times as Karl tried to tell his story, Wiesenthal pulled away as if to leave. Each time the officer reached out to grab his arm with a white, nearly bloodless, hand. He begged him to listen to what he had just experienced in the Ukraine.

In one small town, abandoned by the retreating Russians, Karl’s unit stumbled onto booby traps that killed thirty of their soldiers. As an act of revenge the SS rounded up three hundred Jews, herded them into a three story house, doused it with gasoline, and fired grenades at it. Karl and his men encircled the house, their guns drawn to shoot anyone who tried to escape.

“The screams from the house were horrible,” he said, reliving the moment. “I saw a man with a small child in his arms. His clothes were on fire. By his side stood a woman, doubtless the mother of the child. With his free hand the man covered the child’s eyes, then he jumped into the street. Second later the mother followed. Then from the other windows fell burning bodies. We shot… Oh, God!”

All this time Simon Wiesthenthal sat in silence, letting the German soldier speak. Karl went on to describe other atrocities, but he kept circling back to the scene of that young boy with black hair and dark eyes, falling from the building, target practice for SS rifles. “I am left here with my guilt,” he concluded at last:

In the last hours of my life you are with me. I do no know who you are, I know only that you are a Jew and that is enough. I know that what I have told you is terrible. In the long nights while I have been waiting for death, time and again I have longed to talk about it to a Jew and beg forgiveness from him. Only I didn’t know whether there were any Jews left…I know what I am asking is almost too much for you, but without your answer I cannot die in peace.”

Simon Wiesenthal, an architect in his early twenties, now a prisoner dressed in a shabby uniform marked with the yellow star of David, felt the immense crushing burden of his race bear down on him. He stared out the window at the sunlight courtyard. He looked at the eyeless heap of bandages lying in the bed. He watched a bluebottle fly buzzing the dying man’s body, attracted by the smell.

“At last I made up my mind,” Wiesenthal writes, “and without a word I left the room.”

The SS officer soon died, unforgiven by a Jew, but Wiesenthal was liberated from a death camp by American troops. The scene in the hospital haunted him like a ghost. Over twenty years later, he finally wrote down the story and sent it to the brightest ethical minds he knew: Jew and Gentile, Catholic, Protestant and irreligious. “What would you have done in my place? he asked them. The second half of the book records their responses. Of the thirty six who responded, only 6 said he had erred in not forgiving the German.

My thought: The fact that it haunted him and tormented him for so many years would indicate that he had made the wrong choice. Grace extended rarely comes back to haunt you.

Where are you today? God is calling you and I to be gracious people. Not people who arch our backs and dig in our heels when we are provoked. Not people who work to plan our next attack and figure out ways to get what we want. Rather, He calls us to grace. First, for our own needs, and then once we are full of grace, for offering it to others.

The gospel of grace begins and ends with forgiveness. And people write songs with titles like “Amazing Grace” for one reason; grace is the only force in the universe powerful enough to break the chains that enslave generations. God's love and grace alone melts ungrace.

Let me finish with these words 2Tim. 3:1-5   You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. 4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!

God is calling you and I to quit the Ungraced Organization. He’s calling us to live a gracious life. One that is quick to forgive wrongs and extend grace, even if the other person isn’t sorry. He is calling you to be one that extends grace in the face of the seemingly unforgivable. There are only two options: Be gracious or get even. Forgive or grow bitter and exhaust your life on making sure they get their just due. Be a gracious saint or an ungracious terrorist. What about you? Are you willing to give up terrorism? Are you willing to release it to God?

Lord, I’m choosing this day, to tear up my card and quite the organization. I’m turning around, again, and saying yes, Lord, thank you for Your grace and that I’m not condemned. Help me to be a gracious person dispensing Your grace and forgiveness to others who offend me. I give You the terrorist in me today. Take it and make me who You want me to be. In Jesus name. Amen.

The Word became Flesh to Contradict False Words

John 1:10-13   He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

God understood that at the very heart of living life on this earth is using words to convey thoughts.  He designed us to be social creatures that thrive in community.  He created us and made us with the ability to learn—especially to learn about each other.

Can you imagine that moment when Adam and Eve first met? A brand new world sparkles and vibrates with color and movement.  God’s anesthetic has just worn off from the first surgical procedure and Adam has just awakened and looked into the face of God, wondering what had just happened.   God simply re-directs Adam’s gaze over at Eve and for the first time they see each other.  God speaks an introduction.  “Adam, this is Eve.  I have made her to be a companion for you.  Eve, this is Adam.  You’re just going to love this guy! I’ve have made you and he to be perfect companions.  I’ve already told him what needs to be done.  Help him do it, would you?” Adam and Eve both nod, but are too lost in the wonder of the gift of each other.  

Adventist Artist, Nathan Greene captured what it must have been like in his painting “The Introduction”.  I love that painting. You may have seen it.  It is a stunning portrayal of that first moment of man's special blessing from God.  Adam and Eve gaze with a wonder and tenderness to set the standard for all time.  And from that moment on, they spend hours getting to know one another.  They form their thoughts into words and share what is in their minds.  They converse and exchange ideas.  And love grows.  They thought they were in love to begin with, but they find that as they express their thoughts and feelings, love deepens.  Then it begins to be seen in their actions towards each other.  This was the perfect marriage.  A match truly made in heaven.  And the actions and words and emotions converge to bring them back to gratitude for a God so loving that He would provide so abundantly for the two of them by giving them a perfect world and each other.  Words were never cruel, never harsh, never impatient or demanding.  Nor were they ever unkind.  And they were never, ever false.

Which is why the words of a serpent in the tree were so easy to believe. Eve had never heard a lie before.  Only truthful words had ever been spoken.  And she suddenly finds herself in conflict, because here is a beautiful snake contradicting God himself.  Unfortunately, she bit on the lie and we were cut off from face to face contact with the Word.

That’s why it was necessary for the Word to come to earth in the form of a Baby.  When man first sinned, they could remember what it was like in the Garden, and could communicate that to generations before the flood.  Adam and Even lived over 900 years, so they told and retold the story of their introduction and what life was like in the garden.  They told of the fateful day when a serpent had deceived them, and how they had been removed from their garden home so that they could not eat any longer of the tree of life and thus perpetuate sin.  They told of how Abel had already died and that each of them was doomed to death, but that there was a Savior coming to redeem them.  The Word Himself. 

But the longer man was out of the Garden, the more man forgot the Word of God.  The farther man got from the Word, the more man’s words were harsh and cruel and untrue. Lies abounded. And the more lies that were told, the less God was recognizable in our world.  And as God became so obscure in the lives of men, He knew that if He were to redeem us, He would have to speak a Word so powerfully that it would resonate down through the corridors of time to all future generations.

And so the Word became flesh. John 1:14   The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

That’s exactly what we needed from the Father.  One who came full of grace and truth.  We needed to once again see God and to sense His presence among us.  So the Word came and He lived a vibrant and passionate life in the midst of the grayness of our existence.  Where we saw shadows, He brought light.  Where we felt pain, He brought healing.  Where we found ourselves mired in the endless cycle of toil, pain and death, He brought joy, hope and life.