I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't disappointed in the outcome of the election. My candidates had a tough night! I could see it coming, but still prayed and hoped for a different outcome. The miracle didn't happen!
Having said that, I'm uncomfortable with how evangelical Christians have become tethered to the Republican party. I understand the importance of voting for a party that mirrors (in part) my values--the sanctity of life, small government, opportunity and individual responsibility. I vote my values (just as Democrats do) and I don't apologize for it. Still the Republican-Christian association doesn't always serve the cause of Christ well. Perhaps we've put too much trust in our influence in government. All the past political victories haven't done much for the state of the church in the U. S. (many of which are plateaued or declining).
The days to follow will be test of what I/we really believe about God's sovereignty over all things. Today I find myself joining Paul--a man who in his travels came face to face with a variety of governments and rulers-- in his counsel in 1 Timothy 2:1-3:
"First of all then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all that are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in everyway. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires that all people be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth."
If I read this passage correctly, God is most interested in the kind of life we live in the days following the election. The action point towards that life is prayer for all people, ESPECIALLY those he has in his sovereignty allowed to rise to power. Elections are a way of exercising our rights as citizens but not control over structures or others. Prayer is a way of releasing back to God the things only he can control. The American story is known in its totality by our God. The chapter being written now fits into the plot. So even if a party is in power that doesn't share my values, I rest in the sovereignty of my God that knows and is writing the American story AND my story. It may be an adventure, but it will always turn out for our good and His glory. I'm not bailing on the system, nor resigned to whatever comes my way. What I'm saying is that God has a plan and that Barack Obama is President elect not JUST because 50 plus million voted for him. God is allowing him to rule for HIS purposes at this place in the story.
So let's do what is pleasing to God (1 Timothy 2: 3)--PRAY for President-elect Obama, our newly elected leaders and our people, and LIVE THE LIFE! In the long run, it will do more for the Kingdom of Jesus than a Republican victory!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Blind Spots
A recent development in my life has been the loss of some peripheral vision in my right eye. When I drive, I have to turn my head slightly to the right to see things I would have normally caught out of the "corner of my eye." If I fail to glance to the right, I could find myself suddenly in an intersection with another vehicle or bicycle. My blind spot is dangerous, especially when it comes to seeing things I must.
Jesus' closest friend was a man named John, one of the original four disciples. He left the family fishing business to follow Jesus. He was--it seems--always close to Jesus . . . near him in the upper room, with him in the garden, the last disciple at the foot of the cross. John became a leader in the early church. He led by speaking of Jesus, reminding people of the things he taught and did. In his first letter to the early church, he wrote about blind spots.
"This is the message we heard from him (Jesus) and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1: 5-6, 8
The last verse I sited is one that seemed absurd to me, "If we say we have no sin . . ." How could that be? Doesn't the whole becoming a Christian thing involve an acknowledgement of sin? Wasn't that covered with these people in Gospel 101? How could a Christ follower even think in these terms? John is calling out two blind spots--one theological and one practical.
Theologically, people mix God revealed truth with manmade nuances to deal with some of the tensions in following God. Jesus redeemed me from sin, but the struggle with sin remains. Left to ourselves, we seek and find a designer point of view that allows God and sin to happily coexist. "Not so fast," says John. Taking them back to his eyewitness testimony of Jesus' teaching, John reminds us that God is light, in him is not even a shred of darkness. As we live in this sin infected world, the character of God--not culture, our friends, family or even church--should be our reference point for evaluating our conduct. To be his child is be set on a path to becoming like him.
Practically, this verse confronts a more subtle, yet dangerous blind spot. I remember a day when again I read and pondered the absurdity of verse eight when the Spirit of God whispered, "When was the last time you confessed your sin?" The reflex in my mind answered back, "What sin?" BINGO! Though I'd never be foolish enough to claim I have no sin, the absence of confession in my life betrayed a blind spot--the supression of the convicting and cleansing work of God's Spirit. To confess is literally to label sinful behavior as God sees it, not to ignore, rationalize, justify, or blame others for it. To deny sin in confession free life is to deceive myself not only about sin's presence in my life but its impact on every aspect of my world, especially my relationships.
A blind spot is refusal to see what we must see. We all have them. Our "feel good about yourself," positive thinking culture nurtures them. However, inviting the examination of God's Spirit (Psalm 139: 23-24), owning what it reveals and confessing it to God liberates us from the life stealing affects of sin. One of the great promises in the Bible is found in the verse immediately following verse eight:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1: 9
To deal with your blind spots is to live the eternal kind of life!
Jesus' closest friend was a man named John, one of the original four disciples. He left the family fishing business to follow Jesus. He was--it seems--always close to Jesus . . . near him in the upper room, with him in the garden, the last disciple at the foot of the cross. John became a leader in the early church. He led by speaking of Jesus, reminding people of the things he taught and did. In his first letter to the early church, he wrote about blind spots.
"This is the message we heard from him (Jesus) and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1: 5-6, 8
The last verse I sited is one that seemed absurd to me, "If we say we have no sin . . ." How could that be? Doesn't the whole becoming a Christian thing involve an acknowledgement of sin? Wasn't that covered with these people in Gospel 101? How could a Christ follower even think in these terms? John is calling out two blind spots--one theological and one practical.
Theologically, people mix God revealed truth with manmade nuances to deal with some of the tensions in following God. Jesus redeemed me from sin, but the struggle with sin remains. Left to ourselves, we seek and find a designer point of view that allows God and sin to happily coexist. "Not so fast," says John. Taking them back to his eyewitness testimony of Jesus' teaching, John reminds us that God is light, in him is not even a shred of darkness. As we live in this sin infected world, the character of God--not culture, our friends, family or even church--should be our reference point for evaluating our conduct. To be his child is be set on a path to becoming like him.
Practically, this verse confronts a more subtle, yet dangerous blind spot. I remember a day when again I read and pondered the absurdity of verse eight when the Spirit of God whispered, "When was the last time you confessed your sin?" The reflex in my mind answered back, "What sin?" BINGO! Though I'd never be foolish enough to claim I have no sin, the absence of confession in my life betrayed a blind spot--the supression of the convicting and cleansing work of God's Spirit. To confess is literally to label sinful behavior as God sees it, not to ignore, rationalize, justify, or blame others for it. To deny sin in confession free life is to deceive myself not only about sin's presence in my life but its impact on every aspect of my world, especially my relationships.
A blind spot is refusal to see what we must see. We all have them. Our "feel good about yourself," positive thinking culture nurtures them. However, inviting the examination of God's Spirit (Psalm 139: 23-24), owning what it reveals and confessing it to God liberates us from the life stealing affects of sin. One of the great promises in the Bible is found in the verse immediately following verse eight:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1: 9
To deal with your blind spots is to live the eternal kind of life!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Treasure
Watching the daily reports on what is becoming a global financial melt down, I find myself experiencing a range of emotions that move from shock to denial to disgust. Along with many others, I've watched our kid's college savings and my retirement plummet in value. Not even government rescue plans or rate cuts seem to be slowing the descent. As Steven Colbert noted on Comedy Central Monday night "As bad as it has been, we still have 9000 points in the Dow to go." Comforting. I guess you either laugh or cry!
This morning I let my mind wander. What if things did get worse? What if our bank, starved for cash called in my home loan and the reserves that would allow me to pay off my mortgage were swallowed whole in the markets. What if the donor base that supports my organization dried up! It reminds you how fragile our treasure this side of heaven actually is.
Our current events make a prophet out of Mortimer Zuckerman who in an editorial in U. S. News and World Report last year called the 90's and early 2000's a golden age of prosperity in America that is unlikely to be repeated. Clearly, many people thought and lived like it would go on forever.
Poignant are the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:19. The audience to which he spoke was a large crowd of the down and outers--the sick, oppressed, marginalized, and spiritual outcasts. These were not the self-sufficient, but those that had nothing to lose (today we might see ex-Lehman Brothers employees or retirees that have lost their nest eggs). In Matthew 5-7, Jesus is sharing what spiritual reality is like . . . the reality that is always there but obscured by the physical reality we live in and the pseudo-realities we like to construct. In Matthew 6:19 he speaks of treasure: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourself treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and thieves do not break in steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
This is spiritual reality: life offers two treasures--one fragile, vulnerable, and fleeting; the other measured in spiritual capital and eternal. I've nodded to this truth and even let it shape some major life choices. Instead of a quest for security and a corner office, I choose downward mobility and a life of service. Even so, the recent financial meltdown has betrayed a reliance upon and preoccupation with treasure. I still care about stuff and security in things more than I would care to admit. At the same time, I've been reflecting upon my portfolio as it relates to spiritual treasure. It has challenged me to think about the people that by God's grace I've influenced . . . people I've encouraged, shaped, or even challenged to live beyond themselves and for a cause that transcends the skirmishes and quests of this world.
I find encouragement in the reality that I can still build a portfolio of eternal treasure with no diminishing returns. I'm used by God to bless a person that blesses another who in turn blesses others, etc. While there is little in my power that I can do to recover what I've lost in my earthly treasure in recent weeks, NOTHING can threaten or diminish my heavenly treasure! It keeps building! It keeps benefiting others . . . inviting and bringing them to "the eternal kind of life."
This morning I let my mind wander. What if things did get worse? What if our bank, starved for cash called in my home loan and the reserves that would allow me to pay off my mortgage were swallowed whole in the markets. What if the donor base that supports my organization dried up! It reminds you how fragile our treasure this side of heaven actually is.
Our current events make a prophet out of Mortimer Zuckerman who in an editorial in U. S. News and World Report last year called the 90's and early 2000's a golden age of prosperity in America that is unlikely to be repeated. Clearly, many people thought and lived like it would go on forever.
Poignant are the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:19. The audience to which he spoke was a large crowd of the down and outers--the sick, oppressed, marginalized, and spiritual outcasts. These were not the self-sufficient, but those that had nothing to lose (today we might see ex-Lehman Brothers employees or retirees that have lost their nest eggs). In Matthew 5-7, Jesus is sharing what spiritual reality is like . . . the reality that is always there but obscured by the physical reality we live in and the pseudo-realities we like to construct. In Matthew 6:19 he speaks of treasure: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourself treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and thieves do not break in steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
This is spiritual reality: life offers two treasures--one fragile, vulnerable, and fleeting; the other measured in spiritual capital and eternal. I've nodded to this truth and even let it shape some major life choices. Instead of a quest for security and a corner office, I choose downward mobility and a life of service. Even so, the recent financial meltdown has betrayed a reliance upon and preoccupation with treasure. I still care about stuff and security in things more than I would care to admit. At the same time, I've been reflecting upon my portfolio as it relates to spiritual treasure. It has challenged me to think about the people that by God's grace I've influenced . . . people I've encouraged, shaped, or even challenged to live beyond themselves and for a cause that transcends the skirmishes and quests of this world.
I find encouragement in the reality that I can still build a portfolio of eternal treasure with no diminishing returns. I'm used by God to bless a person that blesses another who in turn blesses others, etc. While there is little in my power that I can do to recover what I've lost in my earthly treasure in recent weeks, NOTHING can threaten or diminish my heavenly treasure! It keeps building! It keeps benefiting others . . . inviting and bringing them to "the eternal kind of life."
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Here we go!
Friends have encouraged me to write something for years. Most of the time I'm so caught up living life that there hasn't been time to reflect on it in print. On occasion I make entries in my journal and from time to time discuss life with friends over coffee or breakfast. Yet the time seems right to start a dialogue about "life."
What the scripture refers to as eternal life is actually a reference to a kind or quality of life. When I first heard about eternal life as a boy, I admit to thinking of it as an REALLY long worship service . . . and not being really excited about it (Still, it was better option than going to hell). Even as a new Christian in my early 20's, eternal life had strong religious overtones as I learned to adapt to a subculture that was foreign to me. To be clear, when I gave my life to Christ there was a profound sense of freedom I experienced. Without question the orientation of my heart and life was different. Yet there was something deeper that seemed to be eluding me. The gospel of a "wonderful plan for my life" was littered with old struggles, habits and emotions, and with those things, doubt about the authenticity of my faith.
It was when I began to understand the grammar of the New Testament that I discovered that eternal life was qualitative. Eternal life wasn't something I cash in on after I die, it was something I get to enjoy this side of heaven! I began to understand that this life wasn't the fruit of religion, or neatly compartmentalized spirituality, but the result of a day to day abiding relationship with Jesus. Through learning to walk with Jesus each day, I laid hold of the eternal kind of life . . . a life full of godlike joy, peace and power, yet authentic enough to allow for and redeem the dark things in my heart and the trials that invaded my life!
So let's explore "the life" together, not from 30,000 feet above the fray but in the midst of the journey with all the twists, turns and questions.
What the scripture refers to as eternal life is actually a reference to a kind or quality of life. When I first heard about eternal life as a boy, I admit to thinking of it as an REALLY long worship service . . . and not being really excited about it (Still, it was better option than going to hell). Even as a new Christian in my early 20's, eternal life had strong religious overtones as I learned to adapt to a subculture that was foreign to me. To be clear, when I gave my life to Christ there was a profound sense of freedom I experienced. Without question the orientation of my heart and life was different. Yet there was something deeper that seemed to be eluding me. The gospel of a "wonderful plan for my life" was littered with old struggles, habits and emotions, and with those things, doubt about the authenticity of my faith.
It was when I began to understand the grammar of the New Testament that I discovered that eternal life was qualitative. Eternal life wasn't something I cash in on after I die, it was something I get to enjoy this side of heaven! I began to understand that this life wasn't the fruit of religion, or neatly compartmentalized spirituality, but the result of a day to day abiding relationship with Jesus. Through learning to walk with Jesus each day, I laid hold of the eternal kind of life . . . a life full of godlike joy, peace and power, yet authentic enough to allow for and redeem the dark things in my heart and the trials that invaded my life!
So let's explore "the life" together, not from 30,000 feet above the fray but in the midst of the journey with all the twists, turns and questions.
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