TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

2 Chronicles 29:1-36; Romans 14:1-23; Psalm 24:1-10; Proverbs 20:12

“In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Temple of the Lord and repaired them.”

“For we don’t live for ourselves or die for ourselves. If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”

“Ears to hear and eyes to see--both are gifts from the Lord.”

“Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter.”

A week ago, I was skiing in the mountains of New Hampshire with my two sons. During that mini-vacation, I was determined to continue posting daily entries into this blog. There was just one problem: the Internet connection in the place we were staying was very much hit and miss. I could be seen at various times carrying my computer all over our complex, trying to capture a viable signal. For those who are interested, I finally found one about 5 in the morning in our bathroom. No, it was not available at other, more reasonable times; I tried. And I am not going to tell you how I discovered its availability in the first place. Suffice it to say I spent the early morning hours hunkered over my computer on the bathroom floor, pounding out my usual hunt-and-peck style typing, continually feeling there had to be a better way to communicate.

Come to think of it, my circumstances in New Hampshire mirrored a situation I all too often also experience at home and wherever else I may be. I try to pray, try to effectively communicate with God, but keep experiencing technical difficulties. It’s just not the right time. I’m not “feeling” it. There are things I’d prefer to keep to myself and not share with anyone, let alone Jesus. I just don’t have the words. The hurt is too great. There are as many reasons not to come before the Throne as there are human beings to conjure them up.  But at the end of the day, any such technical difficulties have the same effect they do in any other application: we miss the opportunity if we allow them to stop us.

 Today’s Scriptures from 2 Chronicles and Psalms share a common theme. Each addresses technical difficulties, and the opening of the Temple doors which were required to overcome them. Hezekiah came to power on the heels of one of the most corrupt Kings Judah ever knew. His father, Ahaz, had shut the doors of the Lord’s Temple so that no one could worship there, in order to force the people to worship pagan gods. David prayed for the King of Glory to once more occupy the Tabernacle. We pray that the doors of our hearts will be opened to the love and grace of our Savior, Jesus Christ. In every case, the world tries to make an actual relationship with the Holy Spirit difficult. Christians, though, have a sure-fire way to overcome the technical difficulties that come between us and our Creator.

Honor the Lord, first and foremost. So often, our spiritual communication is limited to the ritual of ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication) or a literal to-do list for God to bless and assist that we forget to give Him at least equal time to speak to us. We need to remember that prayer and spiritual communion, like any good relationship, require time for mutual expression and response. Some technical difficulties are not difficulties at all, only reminders to put God and His Will first. Since we cannot truly honor anything to which we will not devote sufficient time, we need to stop rushing our relationship with the Spirit. We also should not forget that the Lord also probably has His list of things to address with us as well. Any good relationship takes time. We cannot claim to have a connection with our heavenly Father if we will not make time to talk with Him, rather than just to or at Him.

Second, we have to be willing to accept the answers we are given. Just because Yahweh chooses not to answer our prayers in a positive way does not mean our prayers have no force or audience. It just means “no” means “no.” If we are going to communicate effectively with God, we have to be willing to reconcile ourselves to the “nos” in our lives. They are not necessarily malfunctions in the prayer process.

Third, we have to make a commitment to be quiet. One of my favorite verses, from Isaiah, is “in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” Yet so often, we mistake volume and busyness for power and significance that we forget altogether that salvation can never be earned, only accepted. We give up most of our strength when we allow ourselves to become over busy or too loud. We must not get so caught up in accomplishment that we ignore the nourishment our souls require. For any achievement to have meaning beyond the moment, it needs to be shared. If we would share our efforts with our Father, we must do so in stillness and give Him a chance to get His Word in edgewise, too.

Finally, when attempting to overcome the “technical difficulties” which would separate us from the Source of Life, we must remember we are captives in a world not our own. Understand Satan will throw as much interference at us as we allow him to muster. The Prince of this world does not take kindly to those who would bypass him on the way to meet their Creator. He loves nothing better than the well-timed detour or the well-placed roadblock. He will do whatever he can to separate us from the love of God. If we allow it, then shame on us. We are overcomers, made in the image of the Lord Himself! As such, we have the right and ability to tell ol’ Slewfoot to take a hike. But we have to mean it, and we may also need to repeat it until we believe it ourselves. Satan does not given in easily, but he will surrender if we fight him clothed in the full armor of God.

A thoughtful prayer life may sound like an ideal from an earlier generation that has little or no relevance to people today, but nothing could be farther from the Truth. God very much wants to go one-on-one with each of us, and nothing makes Him happier than when, in His power, we say no to the Devil and His distractions. We were not created to be wimps, and it is time for us to quit acting otherwise. Be bold! Approach the Throne of Glory with expectation and exuberance.  There is nothing that cannot be overcome, and nothing that Christ will not overcome on our behalf if we give Him the chance. Technical difficulties only cause problems if we let them. Instead, let’s let the Holy Spirit transcend and overcome them, so that we might know and love the Father even as the Father has known and loved us from the beginning. He will graciously give us ears to hear Him and eyes to see Him; they are ours for the asking and guaranteed for eternity!

PLAYING OUR POSITION

2 Chronicles 26:1-28:27; Romans 13:1-14; Psalm 23:1-6; Proverbs 20:11

“But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall. He sinned against the Lord his God by entering the sanctuary of the Lord’s Temple and personally burning incense on the incense altar….Azariah the high priest went in after him with eighty other priests of the Lord, all brave men. …‘It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord…. The Lord God will not honor you for this!’ Uzziah, who was holding an incense burner, became furious. But as he was standing there raging at the priests before the incense altar in the Lord’s Temple, leprosy suddenly broke out on his forehead. … So King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died.”

“Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.”

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.”

“Even children are known by the way they act, whether their conduct is pure, and whether it is right.”

Truly, a haughty spirit goes before a fall. From monarch to pauper, no one is immune from the pitfalls of pride. It is a contagion. Let us begin feeling good about ourselves, and suddenly, we want more of everything. Particularly bad cases of conceit even invade the provinces of others. When we begin doing things for which we have no qualifications whatsoever, it’s almost a sure bet we are riding a wave of arrogance. Blinded by egotism, we see nothing clearly, least of all ourselves. Uzziah lost himself just like any person can do in the midst of great accomplishment and blessing. He quickly learned political achievement does not necessarily translate into spiritual authority. Uzziah had to learn, or relearn, to take orders from a higher authority. The most interesting thing, though, is how angry Uzziah got when told that incense burning was not part of his job description. Instead of being content with the authority and responsibility he did have, Uzziah became infuriated when he could not “have it all.”

Since the dawn of mankind, people have lusted after forbidden fruit. It matters not that we have access to all the other produce in the garden. Let us know that any one thing is off limits, and we suddenly want no other.  We do not like being denied anything, and when it happens, we become slaves to our frustration and greed.

The Holy Spirit gives us good counsel in today’s Scripture. Via the 23^rd Psalm, the Bible makes clear our lust for things we do not and cannot have is a completely useless emotion. Older translations admonish us, telling us that we “shall not want.” Of course, that’s a little like being told not to think of a blue horse. Over the years, our consistent inability to refrain from covetousness apparently led translators to a slightly different translation today, “I have everything I need.” The point is the same: don’t covet or lust after what we don’t have. However, the new translation gives us clear justification for the command. We already are complete in Jesus.

That bears repetition: we have Christ. Consequently, we have all we need. Whatever else we may work for or earn, the one thing we most desperately require has already been freely and completely given. All we have to do is accept it. There’s no need to chase after every recognition or accomplishment available, because we already know where we will stand on Judgment Day.

God created each of us with a uniquely individual purpose. Attempting things for which we are not equipped or called by God is just plain counterproductive. In fact, when we do attempt to “play out of position,” we are getting in the way of those who are qualified to do the job, and we rob them of the blessing of carrying it out. More personally, we can get distracted from our own mission when we try to do too much.

We need to resist the temptation to compete with our Christian brothers and sisters. Clothed with Christ, there’s nothing else we need. In fact, there’s just no reason to even indulge our fantasies of fame. What is human notoriety when the Creator of the Universe has already granted us a private audience and written a part for which we are uniquely suited? There’s just no reason to try to be something we aren’t. What we are is sufficient, for we are backed by the full faith and credit of the Holy Spirit.

TRANSFORMED - FOR BETTER OR WORSE

2 Chronicles 24:1-25:28; Romans 12:1-12; Psalm 22:19-31; Proverbs 20:8-10

“But after Jehoiada’s death, the leaders of Judah came and bowed before King Joash and persuaded him to listen to their advice. They decided to abandon the Temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and they worshiped Asherah poles and idols instead! Because of this sin, divine anger fell on Judah and Jerusalem.”

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 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 poor will eat and be satisfied. All who seek the Lord will praise him. Their hearts will rejoice with everlasting joy.”

“Who can say, ‘I have cleansed my heart; I am pure and free from sin’?”

Transformation takes place in a lot of different ways at a lot of different times. We go from child to teen to young adult.  We get married, go to work, or both. We become parents or begin taking care of our own parents. We have kids, or ulcers, or some of each, perhaps even one because of the other. We get sick, and we die. Each part of life is a transforming process. None of it leaves us unaffected or unchanged. We need to be careful, though, of how life would change us, and of the creatures into which we allow ourselves to be transformed. We are never left without a choice as to how life’s circumstances affect us. The problem arises when, in the middle of a transforming event, we forget to exercise our choice. When we do not actively work with the Spirit to help assure an outcome and transformation pleasing to our Savior, we allow circumstances more control over our lives than Christ, which is a very bad place to be.

This is exactly what happened to Joash. He began as a King who did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight. He was surrounded by good, supportive people, none a better friend than Jehoiada, his priest and mentor. But then Jehoiada died, and a transformation took place in Joash which turned him from disciple to heathen and murderer overnight. It would be no stretch to speculate that the death of Jehoiada so grieved Joash that he came to feel he could no longer trust God. In any event, no longer was God first in Joash’s life. Joash thus was seduced by those who advised abandonment of the Temple in favor of idol worship. In short, Joash did not effectively manage the transformation of grief and so became vulnerable to bad advice and worse temptations.

Years ago, I had a dear friend who lost a baby in childbirth. Previously a very spiritual man, this loss flummoxed him. He and his wife wrestled their despair for over a decade but never were able to reconcile their child’s death with the idea of a loving God. Their grief transformed them both into much more fragile, brittle and superficial individuals. Eventually, each became dissatisfied with the other’s ability to meet their needs, undoubtedly in large measure because neither could assuage the other’s sorrow. Both allowed misery to fester until it completely eroded their marriage. Adultery was the predictable result, and finally divorce. This sad – and completely understandable – story makes a critical point. Grief, stress and anxiety can all transform our personalities and desires as effectively as faith, love and mercy. It falls to us to decide how we will be transformed, and by what.

Change is inevitable. We grow or we die. How we do so has a lot more to do with the way we allow ourselves to be transformed than we may think. My friends did not choose to be changed as they were, to have their marriage and, to a large extent, their lives destroyed by the unspeakable tragedy of their lost child. But then, Satan rarely asks permission to take over our lives. He does not have to. He simply has to wait until we tire of seeking the Holy Spirit’s power and will for our lives and start trying to gut things out on our own. We weaken; Beelzebub cuts us from the herd of Christian fellowship; and we become victims of his nefarious plots to destroy us. It is that simple, and that deadly.

Paul doubtless also experienced the temptation to give up on Christ, to give in to the transformation of the Evil One. Persecuted, stoned, afflicted without relief, and rejected by those he most yearned to share the Gospel with, Paul could have become bitter and vengeful. We know he had it in him; he had Saul in Him. But Saul had been completely transformed by the work of Christ, and Paul had no intention of going back to that life. His salvation, therefore, was not a one-time thing. It was, in part, learned behavior. In the midst of every crisis, Paul was always quick to remind himself that the love and grace of Christ had saved him numerous times before and would continue to save him from the demons of personality he most rightly feared. Paul claimed his very body as the holy ground of God Almighty, the very dwelling place of the Living Christ. Together, he and Jesus made sure there was just no room left for Satan or Saul in Paul’s soul.

If we take Paul’s admonition seriously that our bodies literally are Temples of the Holy Spirit, it makes it a lot more difficult to give ourselves over to Satan and his influences. We can never be empty if we are filled with and by God. May we never forget that, for those who know Christ as Savior, this fullness is now our natural state of being. We are never alone, and never without HIS power to say no to the grief, stress and anxiety life throws at us, as long as we stay busy claiming the strength of our Lord. Only He can clean our hearts. Only He can keep our souls pure and free from sin. Only we can be certain He has the opportunity. 

THE WELL-LIVED, BLESSED LIFE

2 Chronicles 21:1-23:21; Romans 11:13-36; Psalm 22:1-18; Proverbs 20:7

““Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. No one was sorry when he died. They buried him in the City of David, but not in the royal cemetery."

"Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back? For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.”

“’Is this the one who relies on the Lord? Then let the Lord save him! If the Lord loves him so much, let the Lord rescue him!’ Yet you brought me safely from my mother’s womb and led me to trust you at my mother’s breast. 
I was thrust into your arms at my birth. You have been my God from the moment I was born.”

One of my hidden and most concerning paranoias is that I will die and no one will come to the funeral. How desolate a thought that is! I remember my Grandma’s funeral. She was a saint. Everyone who knew her loved her, although she, like all of us, had her moments. But mainly, Grandma just had the misfortune to out live her peers. When the last of her bridge group passed, it was pretty clear she would soon follow. Bless her heart, she was ready. But that did not make the funeral any easier. Too small to even merit a funeral chapel service, we had her memorial in one of the conference rooms at the nursing home. It was almost embarrassing. But as I sang The Lord’s Prayer for the staff and family who had come to pay respects, I felt a strange peace and power, as well as a welcoming that was all for Grandma. I got it then. The well-lived, blessed life does not require either an audience or acknowledgement. Its rewards lie elsewhere. Grandma understood that, I am sure. But her grandson needed a bit of educating. And as all good education does, this lead to another question.

What does a well-lived, blessed life look like? The more I observe, the more I become convinced most of us don’t really understand the concept at all. We struggle until we stress over the idea of fulfillment, of personal realization. But insecure creatures that we are, we can be looking right at the life God intended for us and not even recognize it. Worse, of course, we refuse to accept it when we see it in front of us. If we aren’t careful, we waste a lot of time, energy and regret thinking about – and maybe even longing for – the life we never had. Usually, it’s a life that was never intended for us.

Frequently, such thoughts arise in the context of marriage. More than one soul has spent more counterproductive time thinking about the person they could have/should have married than the one they swore to love and cherish for life. Jesus was right: that kind of thinking is adultery. But perhaps even more significantly, it ruins the life we have based on an idyllic fantasy that never existed. The same thing can happen when we regret our jobs or our families or focus on pretty much anything that distracts us from the life we have now. I’ve been blessed. There has never been a single day in the last almost thirty years when I have questioned or regretted my choice of mate or the three wonderful kids we have been allowed to share with God over the years. But the job thing… now that’s another question entirely. Theater, psychiatry or theology, I couldn’t make up my mind. So I put them together, shook them up in a proverbial bag and “lawyer” came out. A strange combination it has been at times, too. Nor was it ever a secret that it was a compromise between the three things I really wanted to do, but for a variety of reasons, did not commit myself to accomplish. Almost since deciding on a legal career, I have wondered what God will say at the pearly gates. Will He welcome me as the fulfillment of the life He planned, or just graciously share His joy while He shakes His mighty head in some disappointment that I did not choose His path?

Considering this today (possibly, for the first time clearly), I realize what a stupid thing it is to think about at all. No wonder Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt for being unable to move forward without looking back! We worship a Master who “makes ALL things work to good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” The inescapable conclusion is that the particulars of our lives’ choices (the do/do nots) are of much less import than the purpose for which we pursue and carry them out. I do not know why it has taken 52 years to figure this out. Maybe it has something to do with maturity, with having passed through more than a few of life’s fires and come out the other side different but intact. Maybe I’m just tired of thinking so hard. Whatever the cause, I have finally realized I am right where I am supposed to be – in the love and grace of the Father. Whether I have made the “right” or “wrong” choices, He has made them work. The litigation I do has elements of all three of my original choices in it. Jury presentations, depositions and defense strategies, even in the civil context, all have major theatrical and personal counseling components, and I’ll freely admit to having worked Christ into more than one client conversation. More than that, though, as I have purposed my life in an attempt to match my Creator’s purpose for me, opportunities to do theater, counseling and especially teach and share the Gospel have eclipsed even what I dreamed at the start.

Grandma understood. The well-lived life is nothing more than allowing Christ to have His way with us. If we let Him, He will have it and carry it out in us almost in spite of our choices. We need not worry about being unfulfilled or missing our calling if we are truly focused on His purpose. He knows the plans He has for us. He knows the paths we will choose. Wonderfully, miraculously, He has the vision, grace and power to bring them together for those who love Him above all. What, me worry? Not about career choices, anyway; at least, not any more. The Spirit put me right where He wants me, in spite of myself. 

DISCIPLES OF OPTIMISM

2 Chronicles 19:1-20:37; Romans 10:14-11:12; Psalm 21:1-13; Proverbs 20:4-61

“Always think carefully before pronouncing judgment. Remember that you do not judge to please people but to please the Lord…. Listen to me, all you people…! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed.”

“But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, ‘How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!’”

“Rise up, O Lord, in all your power. With music and singing we celebrate your mighty act!”

“Many will say they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is truly reliable?”

There is a great deal I remember from my forgettable athletic career, but no memory is as ironic as that of my sophomore year in high school. Beyond my batting .333 (pretty good, until one understands it represented only 1 hit out of a total of 3 at bats), the greatest irony concerned one of the most admirable seniors on the team who had battled for a starting position all year. He finally got his chance about mid-season. Starting in right field, he played fine but was not tested until the bottom of the ninth. Facing two outs and two runs down, John stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and took the first pitch to deep left center, off the fence. By the time the center fielder corralled the ball and got it to the infield, John was on third, the bases were otherwise cleared, and victory was ours. Then, for the rest of the season, John rode the bench. He never played another out, never saw another pitch. Some reward. While John maintained the stiff upper lip and great sportsmanship for which the entire team had come to respect him, I came to really disrespect our coach. Not only was what he had done completely unfair to John; he had taken away whatever hope the rest of us benchers had of ever getting into a game. It would have been nearly impossible not to judge him. This story does not have a happy ending, either. Coach never explained himself. We did not make the playoffs. John’s heroics were wasted. BLAH!

What does a person do with a story like that? There is no way to pretty up the sad truth sometimes. Fairness and justice are in short supply on this earth, and there’s just no getting around that fact. The good guys do not always win; oft as not, in fact, they get the short end of the stick. “Nice” tends to get taken advantage of and left behind. How are we supposed to be able to avoid judging others in the face of clear wrongdoing or injustice? In God’s eyes, the answer is fairly simple: quit placing so much faith in people in the first place. This does not mean to quit trusting altogether, nor does it encourage cold-hearted cynicism. The Holy Spirit, if we allow it, will simply lead us to the inevitable conclusion that our whole faith and trust needs a more worthy repository than another human being. Faith should not rest solely in other individuals. It should rest in Christ. Only Christ has the power to elevate humiliation into true victory. Only Jesus could turn a lost battle into a won war.

The work of the Cross and the Resurrection give Christians their hope. Earthly accomplishments – or the lack of them – mean little when those who follow Christ will survive even death! What are a few innings on the bench of life compared to that? Not much…, unless we have never heard and accepted the Good News of Christ. Absent the Gospel, every setback becomes potentially catastrophic. If we have no hope of eternal life, then death really is the end, and our chances for redemption actually come few and far between.

This is why discipleship and evangelism are so important: people without hope generally are unaware there is an alternative. Maybe they’ve forgotten in the emotion of the moment that the Son is longing to lift them up and turn their shortcomings into opportunities for ministry. Maybe they never knew they have a Savior who is fully capable of overcoming even their specific world. Or maybe optimism just seemed like too much work, being so illogical in a world where pessimism and the powers of darkness rule. In any event, Christians are called out by their God to go and make disciples of everyone, especially those who have no hope, whatever the reason for their shortsightedness.

As we face the opportunities of discipleship, let’s keep one idea uppermost in our minds. There is no excuse for a pessimistic Christian! Several weeks ago, I caught myself totally focused on the loss and pain in the world. Disappointment in our leaders and those who took such blatant advantage of a mismanaged system to put the entire world in peril really dragged down my spiritual health. My whole outlook began to dry out. I lost sight of hope and found myself becoming cactus-like, hoarding what little positive I could find within myself and becoming all prickly, spiny and untouchable on the outside. But then, Christ spoke and challenged me once more to trust Him. (In my wallowing, I had totally neglected to do that – my bad!) Suddenly, the world did not look quite so dark. Hope remained. Power was available to over come the world. I just had to refocus.

The results have been nothing short of astonishing. The future looks much brighter. Anxiety, which had once more begun to raise its ugly head, was calmed and crawled back into its hole. Opportunities to build up others became more obvious, and my willingness to give of myself to make positive things happen came much more easily. I became convicted, big time. In the final analysis, there are only two ways to live life: hopeful, and hopeless. I want to be hopeful.

Even while he was sitting on the bench an ignored victim of injustice, John presented a positive witness to the rest of us benchers. He showed us that life, personal worth and self-image do not begin or end with baseball. We have the right and ability to choose our God. We need to put our faith in Jesus above all others. And we need to share His Good News with the world. Christ, after all, is the only hope of resurrection, recreation, forgiveness and redemption any of us have. It would be a shame if anyone lost hope just because we had not shared our Hope with them. We are called to be friends of the world by bringing the world the Light of Christ. We never need to feel sorry for ourselves, and we should not allow ourselves to do so. If Christ has entrusted His Good News to us, we have both a purpose and a reward to look forward to that makes all of this other stuff in the interim look pretty darn insignificant by comparison.

THE GRAND CONTRADICTION

2 Chronicles 17:1-18:34; Romans 9:25-10:13; Psalm 20:1-9; Proverbs 20:2-3

“Then Micaiah told him, ‘In a vision I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd.’ And the Lord said, ‘Their master has been killed. Send them home in peace.’”

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.’”

“May he grant your heart’s desires and make all your plans succeed. May we shout for joy when we hear of your victory and raise a victory banner in the name of our God. May the Lord answer all your prayers.”

“Their master has been killed. Send them home in peace.” What sense does that make? We all know what happens when visionaries die: countries destabilize; unity is lost; direction becomes confused; and people lose faith. Not infrequently, the death of a leader actually leads to war, not peace. Cut off the head and the body usually follows. How is anyone supposed to be at peace after the death of their master?

God has never looked at life or this world anything like the way we do. For the Holy Spirit, setbacks become victories. When we run out of gas, His power comes into play. We sin, He saves. We die, yet we live in Him. It almost seems as though the Creator’s real purpose in interacting with our world is simply to show us how very limited, and limiting, our own “rational” thinking is. Until we learn to see the world from Yahweh’s point of view, we will never experience lasting peace. We can’t, because we are living with a material viewpoint that conflicts with Christ’s. We will never see the possibilities and potential of the spiritual reality until we are willing to give up our stubborn addiction to all things tangible.

Just because we cannot see, feel or hear something does not mean it does not exist. It usually just means we are insensitive. In other words, we have to have hope when all we can see is defeat. We need to believe when all we feel is disillusionment. We need to trust when what we want to do is run and hide. If our lives are not living contradictions of what the world thinks and believes, we probably aren’t living out, or living in, faith at all. That’s a pretty sobering thought, particularly for anyone who battles insecurity.

Most of us spend too much time living out of our own individual strength. That is not the way we were designed to function. We were created to operate on Spirit power. We were meant to be so intimately intertwined with the Author of life that anxiety and insecurity would simply be incomprehensible, and pragmatically impossible. Who would even dare imagine such a lifestyle? Yet it is, in sum, the promise Christ gave us when He commanded us not to worry. He did not suggest or request. He ordered us to live anxiety-free. His underlying promise was that a life without worry was and remains possible, even today. And not just possible, either; a life free of angst is the very life we were intended to have. We messed it up when we decided to turn away from our Master. So, He died to turn us around so that we might again find peace. Our problem is that we refuse to repent or change. We are reluctant to live in faith. It sounds so intangible, so indefinite.  We find it hard to abandon our absolute dependence on the things of this world even when they don’t “work.”

We cannot know we are right with God, or honestly confess our salvation verbally, until we literally invite and allow Jesus to resurrect us from the ashes of our own failed attempts to live in peace without anxiety. Christ promises to make us new men and women – in fact, to make all things new – but we have a hard time buying into the idea until we have no other choice. Therein lies the grand contradiction of the spiritual life. We are never more alive than when we die to self. We are never closer to hope than when we give up our puny faith in the things of this world. We are never closer to (w)holiness than when we are completely empty. Granted, there’s not much that sounds logical about this particular line of thinking. But there’s nothing especially logical about a Savior who loved His wounded and flawed Creation enough to give up His own life, comfort and spiritual wholeness to save it, either.

OUR PIECE OF THE PUZZLE

2 Chronicles 14:1-16:14; Romans 9:1-24; Psalm 19:1-14; Proverbs 20:1

“The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”

“Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?”

How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

I love the idea that God is actually out in the world seeking people to strengthen. A whole lot of folks need his power right now. We are foundering, frightened and lost, though, so many of us don’t even know where to look. Those who have given up hope may not know to look at all. Thus, it’s a great comfort to understand the Lord of the universe is searching for us, to empower us with His unmatched strength. Good Shepherd that He is, He is more than willing to leave His flock and venture onto our home court. Assuming we allow Him to come near at all, we still have another hurdle to clear before any relationship with our Creator can really begin. We have to be willing to accept His strength and grace as He would give it, not just as we would like it to be.

I’m convinced this is the very heart of burnout. We reject or fail to accept the role Christ has planned for us, so we prevent ourselves from claiming the power He would provide to accomplish it. Instead, we maintain our own course in our own strength until we eventually realize we have no strength left. We fancy ourselves becoming the square peg that will fit – or be made to fit - the round hole, never appreciating that God made us as He did for a very specific reason.

No plan of the Holy Spirit’s comes off an assembly line, and the parts He uses are all custom made. Therefore, when we do not follow the path He has chosen for us, we are not well-equipped to do anything else. Our lives become conflicted and dissonant. Nothing works smoothly or well. Frustration can build until we give up on Yahweh altogether. We rarely stop to consider the problem may be our refusal to accept the roles for which we were created. We want to be successful. Christ desires that we be eternal. We want to be secure. The Holy Spirit designed us to be reliant. We want good physical health; God wants us holy. We strive for perfection. Jesus offers grace. In short, we can become so overwhelmed trying to act like what we want to be that we forget we were actually created for a uniquely different purpose altogether.

Inevitably, we blame God when things don’t work out. We question why He did not move adversity out of our way. We challenge His authority over our lives. We resent Him not creating us more athletic, handsome, intelligent or witty. We pout when we don’t get the one break separating us from our heart’s desire. Overall, it should be no surprise when we live unfulfilled and underutilized lives if we are filling our days with such anger or mere busyness which was never intended for us. Our personal significance does not come from the amount of time we spend in activities, be they work, recreation or even service. Our personal significance comes from the amount of time we allow the Holy Spirit to spend acting through us.

I have a suspicion that, if we will reconcile ourselves to the persons we were created to be, we will be able to relax a lot more and enjoy - instead of struggle through – our existence. I know that, for me, life is too often a challenge match offering a prize I shouldn’t want and a penalty for losing that wounds my soul. There is just no profit in trying to be anybody else or in taking on roles for which we really aren’t equipped. I don’t think God necessarily wants to make things easy on us, per se, but I do believe He wants us to fill the roles and opportunities He designed us to fit. The Lord made us the way He did for a reason. No one is better qualified or more gifted to do the job Jesus has for us here on earth. It only makes sense, then, for us to stop trying to do everybody else’s job and quit attempting to fix the world. Our time is far better spent learning and using the gifts we were given, rather than trying to develop talents our earthly bodies simply weren’t built or meant to house. Life’s a lot easier when we fit into it rather than fight it.

ALL IN

2 Chronicles 11:1-13:22; Romans 8:26-39; Psalm 18:37-50; Proverbs 19:27-29

“But he was an evil king, for he did not seek the Lord with all his heart.”

“No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

“If you stop listening to instruction, my child, you will turn your back on knowledge.”

Boy, it sure seems that Scripture has a different definition of “evil” than mine! “That which is morally bad or wrong, or that which causes harm, pain, or misery” always seemed like a perfectly good description of the problem. However, a careful look at Scripture compels me to admit looking at the concept all wrong. Certainly, there is such a thing as affirmative evil, just as there is affirmative good. But the resemblance and any balance between the two ends there, because in addition to being assertive, Scripture also teaches that evil is a default position. Evil is what we choose when we do not actively and aggressively choose good. Evil is what we do when we do not actively do good. Yikes! But there’s no arguing with the Bible. Rehoboam “was an evil king, for he did not seek the Lord with all his heart.”

We need to be very clear on this, I think. It may be a matter of life or death. Evil is the result of spiritual inertia. There is no middle ground with the Holy Spirit, no gray area. Something is either positively good or it isn’t. If it’s not good, it’s evil, period. “Evil,” as the Lord defines it, is just the absence of wholehearted good. Apathy or abstention are not options when one deals with Christ. We are in the family, or out. And being out is an evil place to be, by definition.

I’m not sure I ever truly understood this spiritual truth until I started playing with fire one day. Literally. Well, with a candle, anyway. I noticed it was a whole lot easier to see the light of a single flame from far away than I expected. That glow allowed me to navigate around barriers I never would have seen, as long as I was patient enough to allow my eyes to adjust to it before moving. But the converse was also true: the absence of light was an evil thing indeed. Try as I might, there was just no way to see where I was going or to avoid stumbling. So I learned two things. First, it doesn’t take a whole lot of light to dispel the darkness. Second, though, if the light goes out, we are quickly overwhelmed and lost. In the same way darkness is the absence of light, evil is the absence of good. Without some source of external power or combustion that makes us good, our lives can never be lights, and the night will eventually triumph.

But wait! No less than the Lord of heaven itself has called us the light of the world. How can that be? None of us is smart enough, spiritual enough or wise enough to ever be affirmatively good all the time (at least, not in this life). Even trying to be is fraught with danger, as any honest person will admit they are not always anything like good. We know we can never work our way into heaven. So how does Jesus get away with calling us the light of the world? Again, the lesson lies in the candle. The candle itself is not the source of the light; it is fuel for the light. In fact, left to burn long enough, little will remain of the candle but some residual goo and char. The candle itself is used and consumed by a force – heat – much greater than itself, but only in combination with the candle does the heat radiate light.

No wonder the Holy Spirit works on us by working through us. Like heat to a candle, it is His interaction with His people that brings light to the world. I suspect, though, an even deeper truth. In His infinite love and grace, while using us to bring His Light to a dark and broken world, Christ also consumes anything in us that is not worthy of His Light. That could be a scary thought, until we remember there is no fear in love, and that in Christ, all things are made new to live forever.

In poker, there’s a term that signifies ultimate resolution, “All in!” The player puts all he has into the pot, betting on one last shot at fortune or failure. Lose, and nothing’s left. Win, though, and a proverbial new life is the reward. No doubt there will be those put off by any gambling metaphor. But those who know the game understand “all in” for what it is: the last gasp of a player out of options. It is exactly the bet Christ asks us to make on Him. He invites us to put our faith completely and totally in Him. There can be nothing half-hearted about an all-in commitment to Christ. Only such a radically sold-out position allows the Holy Spirit complete and unfettered access to use us as we were created to be used. Some may fear the purification of the Flame. But for those who feel that way, Paul has an answer:

… I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We have nothing to fear from the flame. But we will lose much in the darkness. 

NOT YET THERE

2 Chronicles 8:11-10:19; Romans 8:9-25; Psalm 18:16-36; Proverbs 19:26

“And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you…. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, ‘Abba, Father.’ For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children…. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved.”

“The Lord reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters.”

“We’re not there yet.” Ever since I was a little kid, that phrase has both dogged and delighted me. Like probably every child who ever lived, I ritually pestered my folks on the way to Grandma’s or some special event with the ritual question about destination. I remember eagerly anticipating our goal and the joy and fun times that awaited. Actually experiencing them when we finally did get there made subsequent journeys back all the more deliciously frustrating.

Past history can give the future even greater promise. As I grew up and became a contributing member of the family, I looked forward to sitting at the “big peoples’ table.” It was a special thrill the first time I was allowed into that mysterious society at Thanksgiving dinner. (A distant aunt and uncle had to cancel, leaving a chair or two open for my brother and me.) My parents made the mistake of telling us their plans to move us into the “big leagues” before we’d even begun the trip to Grandma’s, and it no doubt was the longest journey of their lives. My childlike enthusiasm was insufferable, I’m sure.

Finally, though, the big day arrived. The family gathered; the meal was served; and I ascended to my designated throne, feeling like the master of all I surveyed. Once I had tucked in well to the meal, I recall sitting back to catch my breath and actually listening to the conversations that surrounded me. My family may as well have been speaking Greek! The discussions were so far over my head there was no way to meaningfully interject. Their joys, issues and concerns were simply outside my ability to comprehend. I wasn’t just uncomfortable; I was downright embarrassed. I had reached my destination but was totally unprepared for it. Feeling foolish and ignored, I did what most kids do in that situation: I tried to speak of adult matters, ended up generating unintended mirth and then threw a tantrum. At least in that selfish moment, I was back in familiar territory. I never really understood why it took another two years for me to get back to the adult table… until today. Funny how perspective impacts understanding, isn’t it?

It’s easy to see I wasn’t ready for my promotion to adult back on that long ago Thanksgiving. I needed to give myself the opportunity to be a child and not ignore the fact that I had not yet gained the maturity or experience necessary to be anything other than a pretender at the adult table. I needed to be patient and simply enjoy the privileges I did have in the family instead of lusting after more.

So I think it is with God’s family. We need to allow ourselves and our Savior the time to turn us into full blown disciples. More than one enthusiastic new convert has joyously thrown himself or herself into Christian service for which they were not prepared only to burn themselves out trying to be something they were never intended to be, or do something they were ill-prepared to do. I personally know several converts who put on a great front and lasted years in the ranks of the godly only to fall away when enthusiasm waned and the spotlight of new spirituality moved onto others. They just didn’t have the depth of relationship necessary to make Christianity a lifestyle instead of an extended fad.

This world is full of deep waters, some of which run fast with hidden currents. Make no mistake: we are called to enter those swells and rescue those who are foundering. But first, we must prepare and be prepared. Otherwise, it is too possible that those we set out to rescue will simply pull us down with them. We may find ourselves confused and lost. There is no disgrace in sitting at the children’s table while we wait for God to grow us in grace. The Holy Spirit is indeed a miracle worker, but we still have to give Christ the time to prepare us instead of charging ahead heedless of the need for spiritual discipline and preparation. Some of us just aren’t there yet. The good news is we do not have to be. Jesus will get us where we need to be when we need to be there. In the interim, it’s still nice to know we are part of a family. We have much to look forward to. Let’s give our enthusiasm and hope the time they need to fully mature into an appreciation of grace and forgiveness that will sustain us for a lifetime. Consider the time spent an investment in ourselves - interest, if you will, on the price Christ already paid to free us from the compulsive need to get ahead of ourselves.

MIND CONTROL

2 Chronicles 6:12-8:10; Romans 7:14-8:8; Psalm 18:1-5; Proverbs 19:24-25

“Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”

“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”

“I love you, Lord; you are my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.”

Today’s selection from Romans is, in my opinion, one of the most powerful, important, practical and complex excerpts of Scripture to be found. A very human saint still struggles with dark spiritual issues which threaten to tear him apart. A take-no-prisoners battle is being fought in Paul’s soul as his “natural” and “spiritual” sides vie for control of his head and heart. Paul is caught between warring forces he can neither avoid nor control on his own. An impotent victim, he clings to the only thing that is tougher and more powerful than the legions within - Jesus Christ:

“Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.”

Even knowing he is free in the power of Christ not to sin, Paul still finds himself coming up short. His emotions bounce between the hope of the Holy Spirit and the frustration and frailty of his humanness. He doesn’t sound free. His mind keeps returning to his failings like a dog returning to its vomit. Given his history, Paul’s penchant for this kind of vulnerability is more than understandable. As Saul, he had done horrid, deplorable things. No amount of prayer likely ever erased the visual images of his martyred victims. Whatever Scripture or Christ Himself says, self-condemnation is a hard habit to break. As long as we remain focused on our weakness, our eyes are off Jesus, and odds are we will just repeat our sins, continue to feel guilty and condemn ourselves.

I know a thing or two about self-condemnation. It’s slow poison. Raised in a highly performance-oriented environment, I’m not sure I was ever really clear about the difference between simple failure and sin. A “B” in handwriting, a missed pop fly in the outfield or a lie all merited the same consequence: condemnation. Not being good enough became a personality flaw with which I was all too well acquainted and from which there seemed to be absolutely no escape. I worked desperately to save myself but remained miserable in my failures and my sins. Success was quickly forgotten when the next hurdle could not be cleared.

Until I got to Romans 8; it caused me to start thinking about what I think about. What I came to understand is, Christian or not, it’s simply impossible to ever get past condemnation as long as we continue to allow our shortcomings and perceived lack of talent or ability to dominate our thoughts. Romans 8 gives us some solid alternatives.

First and foremost, NO CONDEMNATION! None, zero, nada, for those in Christ Jesus. If the Lord says we are not to be condemned, why do we still wallow in it? I venture to say it is because we don’t feel worthy of our freedom from its clutches, so we keep returning to it. Satan - and sadly, other people and our own minds, too - keep us feeling guilty. They do not want our focus turned outward in any respect. So, Paul finally finds his answer, and gave me mine, in Romans 8:5-6. Perhaps not so surprisingly, the secret proved to be that we both just needed to stop thinking so much:

“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”

It comes down to this: what would happen if we really were diligent about letting the Holy Spirit do our thinking for us? I’m not talking about mental abdication or surrender, exactly. I am talking about an intentional focus on giving God the first and last word, and every word in between, when it comes both to our view of ourselves and the decisions and actions in which we engage. If we were to adopt God’s view of us after Christ, failure would become valuable experience. Guilt truly would be wiped out by grace. Insufficiency would transform into just another opportunity for divine intervention. We would see the Spirit working through us more clearly and understand our value to the Father more perfectly. Armed with that knowledge, we really would be free to live the life for which we were created.

Sin and insufficiency always begin in the mind. If we allow our thoughts to be possessed by the Holy Spirit, we have nothing to worry about. It’s only when we, like Peter on the water, take our eyes off Jesus that we begin to sink. The Holy Spirit is our life raft on the rough seas of life. If we are going to be obsessed with anything, let’s be obsessed with keeping Him in the center of our thoughts and hearts. Let’s allow the Spirit to control our minds. We can fool ourselves about our worth and our talents. Only our Creator gets the true picture, and He died to show it to us.

HOW GOD LOVES

2 Chronicles 4:1-6:11; Romans 7:1-13; Psalm 17:1-15; Proverbs 19:22-23

“Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices and praised the Lord with these words: ‘He is so good! His faithful love endures forever.’”

“When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produce sinful deeds resulting in death. But now we have been released from the law, for we died with Christ, and we are no longer captive to its power. Now we can really serve God, not in the old way by obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way, by the Spirit.”

“Save me by your mighty hand, O Lord, from those whose only concern is earthly gain.”

“Loyalty makes a person attractive. And it is better to be poor than dishonest.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about love lately. It’s hard not to when you are reading the Bible every day. But I’ve also been teaching a series on marriage and have been putting a little extra effort into making my wife feel loved in the process. Don’t get ahead of me; she has not been my homework assignment per se. But in all honesty, I figured that if I didn’t actually do and use what I was teaching, the lessons weren’t going to have much credibility, and it was likely to be pretty obvious when I was talking about something I did not know from experience. (Isn’t it always?) Anyway, I’ve been doing a few things differently for her, whether she’s noticed it or not. I think I am speaking her love language. But one thing lead to another and, selfish oaf that I am, eventually, my thinking led back to me… and God. Specifically, I got to thinking about how God loves me. I know He does. It’s just that sometimes, I don’t know or recognize how He does it. What I’m saying, I think, is that I suspect I leave a lot of love on the table when I don’t pay attention or actively claim it. Probably, if I was more intentional about seeking and claiming Christ’s love, I would know Him better and appreciate Him more. Just maybe, I would feel better about myself, too. I’m not interested, today, in the universality of the Spirit’s love. Every once in a while, things need to get personal. It’s O.K. to ask what’s in it for me when the answer holds the key to heaven or hell.

Hmm…, let’s see. God loved me first by helping me love others. Left to my own devices. I found that love was, at best, pretty darn inconvenient. I had places to go, things to do and lots of softball to be played, and when I had to think about others, there was just never enough time. But, yuck, the self-centered life is an ugly, lonely life down deep where it counts. Jesus showed me that – somewhat against my will, actually – but then He also gave me many reasons to change. A wife, kids, friends, family: I have a deeper appreciation for all of them since I began needing them. That doesn’t mean “need” in a “needy” way, if you catch my drift. I need them because Christ performed a heart transplant, and this new heart needs something to do besides pump blood.

God’s also loved me by quieting my anxiety. Quieting, not killing, unfortunately, is exactly what I mean. I’m still faced with the same uncertainties as when I began this blog, for example, and maybe even a few more. But I lie awake at 3 AM a lot less now, and when I do, I have something else to think about besides my worries. I’m usually writing a Bible blog. I don’t think that’s coincidental. The early mornings have become, by and large, times of peace and security rather than times of anxiety and strife.

God’s loved me by giving me new chances to grow. They don’t always feel like blessings at first. Some “character building experiences” have given me more character than I wanted. But on the other hand, I’m not easily bored. I enjoy the challenge of change. (Now, there’s a great blog title! Maybe later….) More important, I feel I’m getting a little closer to the me He had in mind in the first place. I’ve quit worrying so much about talent and qualification and have started focusing more on opportunity and calling. It’s a little disconcerting when there’s no match between calling and talents going in, but it seems that’s usually when and how true gifts get developed. If it was all about us, we probably would not appreciate Jesus’ part in the growth. Our reach needs to exceed our grasp, and I am glad we have a loving Creator who has understood that from the beginning, even when we much things up in the process.

Oh, I’ve just gotten started. Simply asking the question has started an internal dialogue that could go on for pages. But there’s personal, and then there’s personal. If I need to come back to this, I trust the Spirit will let me know. I don’t know if today’s entry will be helpful to anyone else, but it’s been a hoot to write. I certainly hope it doesn’t turn anyone off, because the very point is that blessings and love are very personal things. Our Abba (Daddy) knows just how to love each one of us individually, and no two “packages” are the same. What’s important is that each of us knows there is a package with our name written on it. Christ is just waiting on us to claim the Gift and begin unwrapping it. He knows, better than we ever will, that it is indeed more blessed to give than to receive!

FREE NOT TO SIN

2 Chronicles 1:1-3:17; Romans 6:1-23; Psalm 16:1-11; Proverbs 19:20-21

“God said to Solomon, “Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, or even the death of your enemies or a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people—I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested. But I will also give you wealth, riches, and fame such as no other king has had before you or will ever have in the future!”

“We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin…. Sin is no longer your master…. ”

“Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge. I said to the Lord, “You are my Master! Every good thing I have comes from you.”

“You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.”

Most of life is a choice. Certainly, there are things over which we have no control, but true character is revealed by the way we control the things we can control. We choose our mates. We select our jobs and friends. We decide when to tell the truth and how much to say. We even pick our Gods. However, the most important decision we make on a day-to-day basis is often the intentional decision to sin. Even Christians tend to think sin remains inevitable, whether salvation has occurred or not. They are wrong, and when we think the contrary, we leave one more door open for Satan to return. When Christ is accepted as Lord and Master, we are truly, fundamentally freed from the power of sin. We are no longer “hard wired” to do it. If we continue sinning, it is a matter of choice: we have chosen to hold something back from the Lord, or have decided to affirmatively allow Satan to continue his reign over certain areas of our lives. So, reread today’s selection from Romans. Sin after salvation is no longer inevitable. Even the most oft-quoted Scripture establishing the reign of sin in our lives, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” is stated in the past tense. We no longer have to sin!

Gulp! When I first discovered this fact, it initially brought a sense of incredible relief, and then a foreboding guilt. First, the idea that I did not have to sin, that I was really, really free, blew me away. It was as close as I will ever come to flying. The weight off my back was immense… until it came back with a vengeance, seemingly ten times heavier than before. There’s no arguing with Scripture. Out of the frying pan, into the fire! I was still sinning, although I had accepted Christ as Savior. Consequently, I immediately began to doubt my salvation and my commitment to Christ. What I forgot – or more accurately just completely missed – is that sin, like any behavior, can be learned. Unchecked, it gets to be a habit. And habits, by definition, are hard creatures to break. They actually have to be unlearned. So while I no longer inevitably sinned, I still had to learn how not to sin, or how to break the very real physical and emotional habit of sin. It’s a lesson I’m beginning to suspect will take the better part of a lifetime. Clearly, I’m not much of a student. But as I have focused on owning the habituality of my sin, that honesty alone has caused me to take more than one step away from the abyss.

Then, I had to confront the truth that I usually sinned simply because I wanted to sin more than I wanted to please God. This intentionality of sin probably isn’t much of a revelation to anyone who actually attempts to engage and struggle with sin. But it is, in my experience teaching and counseling other Christians, a largely unspoken horror, and so it was with me. To admit the depravity of that struggle seemed like it would be admitting the futility of salvation itself. Until that thought chased me all the way back to where I’d started, and I realized it was an incomplete thought. We are no longer bound to choose sin. That much is true. But that’s still very different from saying we have the power on our own to choose not to sin every time. Here’s the rest of the story. The decision to affirmatively sin – or not - is no longer a choice I have to make at all.  It is a decision I can completely give over to Jesus, and when I do, the results are a foregone conclusion.

The actual mechanics of battling sin as a “new man in Christ” still strike me as more than a little mystical at times, but they certainly helped clarify my thinking on the subject. I always thought it remained up to me to say no to sin, even after (especially after) I accepted the grace of the Crucifixion. But actually, I’ve come to believe it means nothing of the sort. That kind of thinking is self-defeating and puts one right back into the Old Testament performance-based, legalistic theology. Jesus proposes something completely different; He proposes to make the sin/not sin decision for us. We cannot decide not to sin in our own power, but in His power, we don’t have to. All we have to do is give Him the authority to decide for us, and that we can do.

Like so many ethical and spiritual decisions, the decision to sin or not is actually far more simple than it seems. It’s not about how much to give, what sacrifices to make or how to change our lives. The most important “do/do not” decision we’ll ever make is not about performance at all. It’s about being. Being Christ, specifically. More accurately, it’s about being an empty vessel through which the Holy Spirit can flow unobstructed, cleaning out our spiritual pipeline on the way to minister to others through us. Again, Paul is extraordinarily clear, albeit a bit hard to actually put into action. He reveals a mystery: we really do have the power and authority to think with the mind of Christ!

Life is a choice. In fact, almost all decisions ultimately resolve into or are determined by a single choice. Who we choose to be preordains what we will do. Joshua’s famous quote, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” was really more a statement of identity than hoped-for accomplishments. We are called Christians, not “do-gooders.” We are defined by what we believe, not by our works. We believe that Christ can and does live and work in and through us. Being free not to sin just means letting ourselves be fully captured by Jesus. He’s already proved He has the power not to sin. He will share that power with us if we let Him. Choose wisely.

THE ESSENCE OF WORSHIP

1 Chronicles 28:1-29:30; Romans 5:6-21; Psalm 15:1-5; Proverbs 19:18-19

“And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him.”

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.”

“Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends.”

“Discipline your children while there is hope. Otherwise you will ruin their lives.”

Worship is a process, not an event. It is a lifestyle, not an experience. It is about God, not us or our needs. And because many Christians either do not understand this or won’t accept it, much of worship has been corrupted and watered down to a once a week passion that is more about show than substance. For many, worship – especially so-called “contemporary” worship – is more about good theater than doctrinal theology. How else could congregants rationalize their decision not to attend because they don’t like the preacher or “just don’t get anything” out of church? As hard a word as this may be, when people put their own agendas ahead of God’s when preparing for and participating in worship, they lose the very heart of the process. Inadvertent or not, putting our own interests first is an inherently selfish act fatal to all true worship. Focusing on our needs and desires places our personal emptiness front and center and actually displaces the bounty and grace of God as the object of our worship. We can discipline ourselves and our children easily enough to know when we go wrong in this regard. We can tell we’re off the track when, if Christ fails to tell us what we want to hear the way we want to hear it, we stop listening. Under those conditions, unsurprisingly, we usually miss the inspiration and power He would share with us through worship. We fall into a vicious cycle of need and frustration the Spirit will not forestall until we change priorities.

There’s a very old joke that pretty much sums up the problem with the way most of us worship. From a church somewhere in America’s heartland, Janice MacGruder’s reputation spread into something of a regional legend. A fervent and passionate soul, Janet loved her church. Every week, she could be counted on to sit smack dab in the center of the congregation and act as the preacher’s self-appointed cheerleader. Suffice it to say she vocalized freely, enthusiastically condemning sinner and praising saint as the sermon dictated. She made a great show of her offering, too, noisily digging through her purse and loudly praising God whenever she found the smallest contribution to “give back to God His bounty to me!” By the time the pastor was winding things up, there was not a soul who didn’t know Janice by voice, if not by name. But it was in her finale where Janice’s enthusiasm really set tongues wagging. Every Sunday at 12:00 sharp, whether the sermon was quite finished or not, Janice would stand and race down the center aisle shouting, “Fill me, Lord! Give me your Spirit!! FILL ME up to the brim!!!” Her goal was always the same and just a touch too predictably theatrical, as she fell to her knees before the altar and would not move until the minister provided her a special blessing. One old codger who had seen this for years finally had enough. As Janice sped down to the front shouting her usual “Fill me!” to beat the band, he, too, stood up to shout a counterpoint: “DON’T DO IT, LORD – SHE LEAKS!!!”

It is beyond ironic how often we attend worship in order to be filled when what we need to be doing is emptying ourselves of ourselves and allowing Christ to simply do as He would with our lives. The spiritual truth is this: when we accept Jesus as Lord, we give Him complete license to do with us as He – not we – pleases. He can quite literally buy us, sell us, sacrifice us or otherwise use us as He sees fit, and our role is just to willingly submit, not demand. What else could being a slave of Christ mean? Oh, yes, He may also choose to fill us in the process, but we must never forget it is a process over which He – not we – has complete autonomy. He does not answer to our expectations, and He does not owe us any explanation for leaving us spiritually bereft any more than He has an obligation to justify it when He does choose to dramatically inspire us. The bottom line is that we are not in control, and this is never more true than in real worship. We come to give ourselves to Him, period. What He chooses to do or not do with our gift is up to Him. We do well to leave the decision in His hands. Otherwise, we risk substituting cosmetic signs of worship – raised hands, tears, Amens and other oral ejaculations which do more to distract others than bring anyone closer to the Throne – for the real thing.

The Spirit actually wants to give us a living and helpful day-to-day relationship. In other words, if the only place we find or feel Christ is in a church building, we need to start doing a better job of seeking Him out every day of the week. The essence of worship does not occur on Sunday mornings or on Wednesday or Saturday evenings, for that matter. The essence of worship is presenting ourselves to God as a holy and living sacrifice at His disposal every second of every day.