Bearing Fruit For a Long Time

A Chinese proverb asks "What's the best time to plant a tree?" The answer is "Twenty years ago!" Trees are symbols of stability and strength (Psa. 92:12), long life and contributing to one's surroundings (Psalm 1). Jesus uses a grapevine in John 15 to

Your Bootstraps Just Broke

Long ago, when I was a boy, people used the expression "pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps" --those were the loops at the top of some boots that helped you get them on your feet. It meant something like "trying to succeed all by yourself" and usually included "and failing" because

The Glory of God

"So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son" (John 1:14).

 

Moses asked to see God's glory, and he did get

Too Much Trouble?

Life has its share of trouble. Illness, injury, natural disasters, even something as simple as tangled fishing line, can make us wish life was simpler. I've told friends that the last few years have been hard on The Lovely Joanne, as she has experienced some kind of disaster every summer, and we want next year off! But what if God had been put off by the amount of trouble

Do You Really?

"Do you want to get well?" That sound ridiculous, doesn't it? Jesus -- who in my estimation was never ridiculous -- asked that exact question of a crippled man. In John 5:1-15, Jesus encountered this man as he lay

Things to Leave Behind

The Lovely Joanne and I have moved from our comfortable house to an apartment for a

Taking off the Veil

Spiritual vision involves seeing the way God sees, not the way we humans see (1 Sam. 16:7).  I know several people with
cataracts in one or both eyes. They see the world like they are looking through a veil -- it's indistinct, dark and dangerous. Spiritually, if we can't see clearly, we stumble around, without making spiritual progress. How can we see as God sees? How would that change us?


Perhaps an example will help. In Luke 5, Jesus is calling his 12 disciples out of their own lives to follow him. One of them, Matthew Levi, is a (insert 1st-century epithet) tax collector, assumed to be getting rich by robbing his own people while selling them out to the (epithet) Roman occupiers. Matthew surprises everyone by leaving it all behind to follow Jesus, then invites his friends (some of them are probably epithets too) to a banquet with Jesus, and the Pharisees pitch a fit. Why? Because they thought their job was living by the law and making others do it too, so the nation would be righteous. Jesus took a different approach. He described his mission as extending grace to (epithet) sinners (verses 31 and 32), which he knew the Pharisees wouldn't understand (verses 36-39).

2 Cor. 3:14-18 describes a 'veil' that darkens the spiritual vision of people who, like the Pharisees, see only the way of performance and so do not understand the truth. Only when "someone turns to the Lord" (v. 18) is that blindness removed. "Truth" is defined here as freedom in Christ under that "new way which makes us right with God" (verses 8-11). That's grace, not behavior, and that's how God thinks even if we don't get it.

I remember, 18 years ago this month, when I finally surrendered the survival instinct that told me I had to "do something," admitting that I couldn't save myself from anything, even by my earnest attempts to obey. "All of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord" Paul says in verse 18, and that night I finally began to see the glory of God. I'm still learning to reflect that glory -- that's a journey of seeing the ways I still don't reflect him, and surrendering those also. "The Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him" as we surrender more of ourselves to him. 

Proper behavior is not the path to life with God.  Life with God is the path to proper behavior. In fact, the way of performance is "worldliness" just like the Pharisees' thinking. If you don't see that, I beg you, with all I have, to turn to Jesus in complete surrender and ask him to remove that veil. If you have seen it, then spend some extra time and effort today listening to Jesus and then following him.

Monks and Ordinary People

It sure would be nice to always feel close to God, wouldn't it?  I think we all would like that.  A long time ago, people who were especially passionate about connecting with God took a drastic step, to
live in a mountaintop, desert, or island 'retreat.'  Some lived in monasteries and convents with vows of silence, as a way to hear from God.  They created daily routines of prayers and readings and hymns, and discovered tools to stay more connected with God.  The impression grew up that these were 'the holy elite,' as though the only way to spiritual living was to become a monk or nun.

I'm glad to say the Lord invites all of us to connect deeply with him, and there aren't any 'elite.'  Paul tells us in Romans 12:2, "let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."  He wrote those words to ordinary people living in Rome -- the hotbed of immorality and evil practices -- without telling the people to 'leave civilization behind' and live elsewhere.  So if Romans can participate in spiritual transformation, all Christians can!

Those who lived in retreats learned, of course, that "wherever you are, you take yourself with you" so they still had the same personal sins and weaknesses, and still had to let the Lord transform their thinking and emotions.   Like craftsmen create tools for woodworking, dozens of different practices were discovered by these people, as they were led by the Holy Spirit to surrender their shortcomings and problems to God.  And what they learned can help us! 

Would you like to feel more connected with God, more often?  I'm going to write a series, off and on, highlighting some of those ancient and effective practices.  I'll learn by distilling and writing about them, and I hope you will learn too.  May the Lord bless our journey together! 

Can the Gospel Change Your Life?

Romans 12:2 - Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn
to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

The Bible isn't just a chapter of history told from a particular perspective, or a series of letters to a long-gone church, or a bunch of poems from a prophet to ancient Israel, or even an instruction manual for human life.  It's a telling of human struggles, and the love story of our rescue from those struggles by God himself, as he gives imperfect and messy humans a new way of living with him and with each other (and even with ourselves). 

The critical moment for each of us is when we can see the Bible as the words of God to us, personally, individually, for right now, even though they were written two thousand or more years ago.  But please notice, taking God's words personally doesn't mean saying "Yes, that's right, I have to try harder to do these things so God will be pleased with me."  It's more like a cry of wonder and awe:  "Is God really saying that he loves me and wants my love in return?  Is God really offering me a new life in what he says here?  Can God really take away my old habits, unclean desires, and horrible memories of my past?  Can I trust that God will help me change?  Will I ever be able to say that in my life I'm reflecting the image of Christ?"  The answer to all those questions is "YES!" 

The Gospel -- the Good News of God's love for us -- really does have the power to changes your life.  I know that because I've seen people changed from the inside out once they learn it.  I know a man who was once self-centered and abusive, who came to see the love of God for him.  He is now a stable, loving man who has renewed relationships with his children, and who expresses God's love through the gifts of the Spirit in the body of Christ.  The love, peace, patience and other fruits of God's love in his life (see Galatians 5:22-23 for one list) are directly from God's heart to our hearts -- God condescending to live in us and express himself through us -- not from our broken methods of trying harder.

How does the Gospel change our lives?  When we look to the Son of God, Jesus the Christ, who has already made it possible for us:  "So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image."  Let the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ change you. 

Politics, and Real Answers

My friend Jack and I got into a discussion about politics the other day.  Being the reasonable person I am, as soon as he started telling me his opinions about the parties and candidates, I had to tell him my opinion too.  That's when
things got difficult. But one of the fascinating things about having friends who don't have the same belief system or ideas as you, is that election time gets intense!

I've had discussions lately with quite a few neighbors, friends and church members about our economy, the job situation, foreign policy and so forth.  And although I am non-partisan, I have an opinion about our system:  it's broken.  Jesus said "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse" (Matthew 9:16).  He wasn't talking about politics, but we are in a similar situation.  Most of our laws are designed to fix a problem, and that's honorable.  By nature, those laws favor one situation while limiting another, and they're never perfectly even-handed.  The imbalance needs to be adjusted, or new factors come into play.  Our system has become so complex that, when we write another law to patch a problem, we "tear a hole" somewhere else, then we try to fix that, and ... well, you get the picture. (If you'd like a real-life example, here's a news story illustrating this from the BBC.)

I have a much more fundamental question that you might find counter-intuitive at first:  Who is Jesus?  He is the Creator, the coming King of the world, our Savior, and the one who by becoming flesh along with us, has brought us into the heart of God for eternity.  Asking "how would Jesus vote?" obscures the real issue:  Jesus isn't running, and he isn't voting, he already IS in charge even though he hasn't yet fully imposed his will on the world.  When he does return visibly in glory, he won't be looking for your vote!  He, and he alone, will have all the perfect answers to all our tangled and competing needs.  If we try to work out our problems without looking to him for his solutions and his love, we're hopelessly lost.  And someday, he's going to return and we'll finally get to see what human life really ought to look like. 

What do we do in the meantime, then?  Here are some suggestions:

• Pray hard for our leaders and system -- as though prayer is the only tool you have -- and be a responsible citizen.  See Rom. 13:1-7.  
• Follow the simple advice in Malachi 6:8:  "this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
• Get involved where you can to "do right and love mercy."   We have the right to vote for leaders and issues in this country, and I encourage you to cast a wise, prayerfully-considered vote.  About 20 years ago a friend of mine decided to get more involved:  he ran for city council because he loved his neighbors and wanted to do them some good.
• Use a lot of grace in discussions with those of different opinions.  

 I won't tell you how to vote.  That's not my job.  But I pray you will find the wisdom you need to vote well. May the Lord grant you wisdom and peace!

Time for Change? Good News!

This morning, I heard a flock of geese flying by, headed for winter south of here.  Their honking brings a smile to my face -- I think geese are magnificent creatures -- but it makes me realize
what their honking means:  Change is on the way! 

Most of us would like to see real, meaningful, permanent change in our habits.  We'd like to be free from fear, doubt and temptation.  Good news!  Our first real change has already been given to us, at no charge. Colossians 1 tells us that we are the blessed recipients of God's unilateral actions: 
"For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself.  He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. (v. 19-20) This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. (v. 21) Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body {not through our repentance, faith, baptism or obedience}. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault" (v. 22).  What a huge change!!  But can we change the way we act? 

I've had the experience of being harnessed to a strong rope and tackling an obstacle course twenty or thirty feet up (a lot higher off the ground than I like to be!).  Since I was completely secured by that rope, I was given the courage to climb, jump, and work my way over obstacles I never would have tackled alone.  God's love gives us the same courage.  Paul tells us here to "continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it" (v. 23) as a moment-by-moment part of life.  Leaving our old habits behind feels foreign, and we can hesitate in fear.  Knowing we are completely loved and eternally accepted by God, gives us the courage to change our ways:  to live another day without the false promises of alcohol, pornography, anger, lust, food, unforgiveness, or any other method we use to feel in control of our lives.

I can tell you from experience, this much change won't happen from sheer force of will.  It's time to believe what God says, that he we are "holy and blameless," and to choose to live in that truth.  God will always hold us securely, and will help us develop new habits of thinking, feeling, speaking and living, whether we take it one step at a time or all at once.  Why not start today?  If you need another person to know what you're doing and pray for you, just ask.

A Glorious Mystery

A "mystery" is usually in a novel, where you have to read to the end to find out whodunnit.  (And no, I'm not smart enough to figure it out earlier.)  But in the Greek used in the New Testament, it normally means "something that, though once a secret, has now been fully revealed in the gospel" (Expositor's Commentary).  In Colossians 1, Paul writes of this sacred mystery, not as something still hidden, but an open secret:  "And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory." (Col. 1:27).  In this life, it's hard to measure a spiritual presence, so it can still look like a mystery sometimes; but the 'assurance of sharing his glory' is something I can get excited about!  Adding to that blessing, Paul writes "Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault" (verse 22). 

I'm awe-struck by these statements of spiritual fact.  I don't think of myself as 'without a single fault' because I'm too familiar with most of my faults.  But here, Paul says we are holy because of Jesus Christ, not our own right deeds.  We 'stand in God's presence,' he says, through 'the death of Christ.'  And besides that, we have the perfect Christ living in us. 

What that means:  Our future is secure.  On top of that, right now, we don't have to put up with a 'second-best' life anymore.  We don't have to settle for drudgery, ongoing depression or hopelessness.  The mind and will of Christ-in-us can lift us above all the misery and despair we might feel in looking just at physical life.  We have an absolute promise from God of "sharing in his glory" (forever!), and a spiritual sense of that glory already, because of Christ-in-us.  We can't measure it with physical science, but it's there and we can feel it.  And if we stay aware of Christ-in-us, we can let his presence change our thinking and our results. 

It's a different focus than we had when we didn't know Jesus.  People who are unaware of what he did for them don't have this hope, or this living presence in them.  But they could -- if we were to let them see it in us, and tell them about it!  If that joy is in you, why not share it with someone who needs it?  And if Christ is in you, and you're not feeling the joy, then ask him for more of it -- he will answer!

Pray without Ceasing

Some friends of mine say that nobody comes to salvation through Jesus Christ without prayers -- lots and lots of prayers -- being sent up on their behalf. Is that true?

Well, Jesus has already done all the heavy lifting for us. We read in Hebrews 2:9 that "by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone." And in 1 Tim. 2:6, we see that Jesus "gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone." So that part is done. And how do we, and others, come to know this amazing grace? Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would convict the world of "sin, righteousness and judgment."

So God is perfectly capable of doing his work without our help. But how does he want us to feel and act toward our neighbors who may not know him yet? Do our prayers matter? In what way?

Jesus said in Matthew 5:44 "But I say, love [even] your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!" So loving our neighbors means praying for them. Even the guy who plays his music too loudly, or runs over our geraniums with his Jeep. How do we pray -- that they will reform, in order for us to be more comfortable? Rather, that they will come to know the love of God, who through his Son's death and resurrection has already brought them from death to life.

Jesus' command about love gave prayer as the first example of how to love someone. In prayer, we learn to care. When I'm praying for someone else's salvation and peace, for his or her sole benefit, that prayer will change me, helping me to care for that neighbor as God already does. I'll be more likely to respond lovingly -- as God, through Jesus, already has responded -- in any interaction. Earnest, intentional prayer for them to know Christ's love will make me more likely to be the right example and, if it comes up, to give them the right words also. And to be able to thank God, with genuine love for them, when they accept the love he is offering them. Without that prayer, God's work will still be done for them -- but less of it will be done in me.

Jesus told us to pray for our neighbors. Somebody prayed (maybe for years) for you to come to know salvation in Christ. Who are you going to pray for today? This week? This year? Without ceasing? --And how will all that prayer change you?

Change Is Coming (not just political)

The leaves on the trees are turning color, and some have dropped off; and the weather is a lot cooler than a month ago. The seasons are definitely changing. So is a lot of other stuff--mortgage rates, economic factors, gas prices. Pretty soon, the chairs in our governmental offices will have a different set of people sitting in them.

We like change. Change is the main theme of the US elections this fall. At the same time, we tend to resist it. But without change, we stop growing and die.

Our first parents, Adam and Eve, had an open friendship with God -- complete access to all the power and the wisdom in the universe. When they decided they could handle things on their own, and turned away from him, everything changed for the worse. It wasn't until a long time later that God sent his Son into the world to change everything back.

A lot of people of his day didn't like the changes Jesus, the Son of God, brought. They had everything worked out in their minds about the methods a person had to use to approach God, and didn't like the idea that he was bringing in a new system of trust. They did everything they could to convince him he should follow them instead, but in the end, they couldn't handle the idea that they might be wrong and need to change, so they killed him.

That didn't work out the way they wanted, either. He didn't stay dead. And his disciples changed from a bunch of uncertain, arguing trainees to powerful speakers who helped convince even more people that they needed to change too.

That was 2,000 years ago. Change is still important to our spiritual maturity. When we're faced with some way we don't measure up to the life of Jesus, we have something he wants us to change. That's okay; we get help with it (John 16:12-15, etc). And we get to look forward to one final change that will let us see God together: "But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown." (1 Cor. 15:51-52).

I'm really looking forward to that one.