I've been reading/studying the book of Acts recently. For those unfamiliar, the book of Acts details the experiences of the early church including it's persecution and explosive expansion after the resurrection of Christ. Most recently, I've been in Chapter 8 which takes place as the early disciples fled Jerusalem due to persecution and the gospel spread to where ever they went.
In addition to reading the actual passages of Scripture, I also have been using my spiffy new Study Bible notes to get a deeper understanding of the text. And though I generally love my Study Bible, the note I read today really got stuck in my craw. Here it is:
Persecution forced the believers out their homes in Jerusalem, and along with them went the gospel. Sometimes we have to become uncomfortable before we'll move. We may not want to experience it, but discomfort may be best for us because God may be working through out hurts. When you are tempted to complain about uncomfortable or painful circumstances, stop and ask if God might be preparing you for a special task.
I don't know that I take issue with the whole note. Because parts of it are right, you know. Like I enjoy comfort, if I am comfortable I am not likely to uproot my life and move. Certainly the discomfort of facing persecution, literally forced these people from their homes. So in some sense, this note is true.
I don't know... I just get this bad feeling in my stomach when two things happen: (1) when we explicitly or implicitly place God as a author of suffering and (2) when we make suffering into a "teaching moment."
Specifically, it seems to me that God did work out the expansion of the church through the dispersion of the early disciples (i.e., persecutions ultimately facilitated godly aims). But I don't think it is a fair read to say, God inspired persecution to make these brandy new believers uncomfortable so they would get off their duff and move. Nor do I think God was trying to teach them a lesson. Or prepare them for a task. Ultimately, I don't think it was about THEM at all. It was about God. It was about bringing about God's kingdom to the Earth.
What I believe is that when we surrender our lives to God, we say "God, my life is Yours. Use it to bring about Your purposes. Use it at You see fit." Thus, God was using each of their lives (surrendered to Him of their own volition), as they dispersed from Jerusalem to bring His message with them.
Sometimes I think we (DEFINITELY MYSELF INCLUDED HERE) see suffering from such a self-centered lens. If I am suffering it must be because I am being punished or I need to learn a lesson or I am being developed. When I am pretty sure if God allows suffering, especially suffering of the magnitude of persecution, it is because of aims far bigger than any one of us. In the case of the early church, this is suffering for spreading of the message of hope and redemption, of God's unconditional love for the world and everyone in it. Not whether or not Sally Disciple was "ready" for some task or not.
I mean don't you want to know that the suffering you face/have faced has more meaning than just you?? Cause some of the sufferings that exist and are endured cannot be accounted for on selfish, self-centered terms (i.e., how does my suffering work out to benefit me). Instead, it can only be understood in the context Christ's kingdom coming. Specifically, if we will turn over our lives (sufferings an successes) to God, He will weave them into the story that spells Redemption for the world. That's right...THE WORLD.
Not just you.
Not just me.
The World.
His kingdom coming to The World.
If we could just remember that God has a plan for The World (all of creation) not just us. That He has a plan for us, but not ABOUT us. That we have a part to play, but not THE part to play.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Forgiveness is the lynch pin
I recently went over my old, unposted posts here on the blog. Most of them were half written, incomplete meditations or things that ended up feeling too raw to share in this forum. But I also happened upon one about forgiveness. It was during a season when I had been thinking a lot about forgiveness. Examining it from a variety of angles (i.e., personal, psychological, historical, theological, etc.) - it seems like I understood something for a minute there. Something I was glad to be reminded about.
Below is the post (edited a bit). I hope it resonates for you.
I've been thinking about forgiveness a lot lately. I remember when this current meditation started. I was at the Christmas Tea at Calvary Chapel Spring Valley and the speaker was talking about the importance of slowing down and reflecting on the Christmas story rather than running around completely distracted. It was a good talk, but in my case at least, she was preaching to the choir. I want to have SLOW DOWN tattooed on my heart. So I was tuning in and tuning out - but then she said something that really stuck out for me. She was making the point that Jesus was the perfect gift and she said something like, "If our problem was a lack of knowledge, He would've sent an academic. If our problem was financial, He would've sent an economist. If our problem was political, He would've sent a politician. But our problem is sin, and so He sent forgiveness in the form of a savior."
This really got me thinking because my tendency is to see the world's problems as so multifaceted as to be nearly unsolvable. You know... I tend to think that war, starvation and injustice are the result of socioeconomic factors, historical pressures, unequal distribution of wealth, corrupt politicians, physical conditions, biological differences, etc - I do not typically see them as all tied to a singular root, much less the single root of sin and un-forgiveness. Yet this is what she was saying... and so I started spinning it around in my mind. Thinking about my life, thinking about my clients lives, my friends lives and trends between cultures and times.
And I gotta tell you - the more I think about it, the more I think forgiveness is the lynch pin in the whole redemption plan.
Think about it like this - sin and un-forgiveness are intricately tied such that to some degree every sin is tied to an unhealed (and most likely unforgiven) wound. Since the first sin, there has been a (generally) uninterrupted pattern of broken (sinned against) people hurting (sinning against) other people.
To make this personal, when you are sinned against - you are hurt. Without forgiveness, that hurt drives you to act on your own behalf to either (1) get revenge or (2) insure that "never happens to me again." Problem is revenge immediately hurts the other (sin as a reaction to sin - increasing rather than decreasing our overall problem) and trying to insure that it "never happens again" still eventually hurts others.
How exactly does that happen you might ask? How does protecting myself from being sinned against actually cause me to sin against others?
I think when ever we resolve to completely avoid taking one relational role we necessarily take it's complementary role. So for example, if we resolve to never be the victim again, we become the perpetrator.
The way this really resonated for me was through a conversation I had with a Jewish girlfriend of mine this past week. She was talking about how she and her husband had parted ways with Jewish tradition because they couldn't understand the unmasked hatred toward the Palestinian people. She also shared some of her experiences growing up Jewish where the motto was "never again" referring to the losses in the Holocaust and Russia due to genocide. Specifically, she described the Jewish people as determining to prevent their own oppression by building up physical (a huge and elite armed force), intellectual (a large number of highly educated people), and financial (accumulating wealth) power. Power they will now use to scare, manipulate or buy their safety. Sadly, this plan "to protect" looks eerily like the plan originally used to by their oppressors.
From my perspective, the cost of unforgiveness in this situation is incredibly high - without forgiveness the only choice was to become (or at least resemble closely) that which they hate.
And I don't think this plays out on only a political level either. I am pretty sure it boils down to the personal level as well. By seeking to avoid being abused, you become an abuser - to avoiding being controlled, controlling - to avoid being rejected, rejecting. And perhaps its not always so clean and parallel but it seems highly likely to me that all the wounding comes from wounds.
Thus, what did we need - an economist? an academic? a therapist?
No, we needed to start forgiving each other. A reason to start seeing each other as broken people in need of love, wounding us out of a place of brokenness.
We needed Jesus. We needed someone to model and live a life of radical love and forgiveness. We needed some one to say, "You have heard it said: 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." But more than that, we needed someone to LIVE IT! A man that would carry a cross for nothing. Who would be "pierced for our transgressions" and still say "Father forgive them, the know not what they are doing."
We still need Him. I need Him every single day. I need Him so that I can remember why I need to forgive. I need Him so that I have a prayer of remembering even when I am persecuted, even if when I am diminished, even if when I am aching that it is NEVER my job to make sure it doesn't happen again. It is my job to forgive.
Below is the post (edited a bit). I hope it resonates for you.
I've been thinking about forgiveness a lot lately. I remember when this current meditation started. I was at the Christmas Tea at Calvary Chapel Spring Valley and the speaker was talking about the importance of slowing down and reflecting on the Christmas story rather than running around completely distracted. It was a good talk, but in my case at least, she was preaching to the choir. I want to have SLOW DOWN tattooed on my heart. So I was tuning in and tuning out - but then she said something that really stuck out for me. She was making the point that Jesus was the perfect gift and she said something like, "If our problem was a lack of knowledge, He would've sent an academic. If our problem was financial, He would've sent an economist. If our problem was political, He would've sent a politician. But our problem is sin, and so He sent forgiveness in the form of a savior."
This really got me thinking because my tendency is to see the world's problems as so multifaceted as to be nearly unsolvable. You know... I tend to think that war, starvation and injustice are the result of socioeconomic factors, historical pressures, unequal distribution of wealth, corrupt politicians, physical conditions, biological differences, etc - I do not typically see them as all tied to a singular root, much less the single root of sin and un-forgiveness. Yet this is what she was saying... and so I started spinning it around in my mind. Thinking about my life, thinking about my clients lives, my friends lives and trends between cultures and times.
And I gotta tell you - the more I think about it, the more I think forgiveness is the lynch pin in the whole redemption plan.
Think about it like this - sin and un-forgiveness are intricately tied such that to some degree every sin is tied to an unhealed (and most likely unforgiven) wound. Since the first sin, there has been a (generally) uninterrupted pattern of broken (sinned against) people hurting (sinning against) other people.
To make this personal, when you are sinned against - you are hurt. Without forgiveness, that hurt drives you to act on your own behalf to either (1) get revenge or (2) insure that "never happens to me again." Problem is revenge immediately hurts the other (sin as a reaction to sin - increasing rather than decreasing our overall problem) and trying to insure that it "never happens again" still eventually hurts others.
How exactly does that happen you might ask? How does protecting myself from being sinned against actually cause me to sin against others?
I think when ever we resolve to completely avoid taking one relational role we necessarily take it's complementary role. So for example, if we resolve to never be the victim again, we become the perpetrator.
The way this really resonated for me was through a conversation I had with a Jewish girlfriend of mine this past week. She was talking about how she and her husband had parted ways with Jewish tradition because they couldn't understand the unmasked hatred toward the Palestinian people. She also shared some of her experiences growing up Jewish where the motto was "never again" referring to the losses in the Holocaust and Russia due to genocide. Specifically, she described the Jewish people as determining to prevent their own oppression by building up physical (a huge and elite armed force), intellectual (a large number of highly educated people), and financial (accumulating wealth) power. Power they will now use to scare, manipulate or buy their safety. Sadly, this plan "to protect" looks eerily like the plan originally used to by their oppressors.
From my perspective, the cost of unforgiveness in this situation is incredibly high - without forgiveness the only choice was to become (or at least resemble closely) that which they hate.
And I don't think this plays out on only a political level either. I am pretty sure it boils down to the personal level as well. By seeking to avoid being abused, you become an abuser - to avoiding being controlled, controlling - to avoid being rejected, rejecting. And perhaps its not always so clean and parallel but it seems highly likely to me that all the wounding comes from wounds.
Thus, what did we need - an economist? an academic? a therapist?
No, we needed to start forgiving each other. A reason to start seeing each other as broken people in need of love, wounding us out of a place of brokenness.
We needed Jesus. We needed someone to model and live a life of radical love and forgiveness. We needed some one to say, "You have heard it said: 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." But more than that, we needed someone to LIVE IT! A man that would carry a cross for nothing. Who would be "pierced for our transgressions" and still say "Father forgive them, the know not what they are doing."
We still need Him. I need Him every single day. I need Him so that I can remember why I need to forgive. I need Him so that I have a prayer of remembering even when I am persecuted, even if when I am diminished, even if when I am aching that it is NEVER my job to make sure it doesn't happen again. It is my job to forgive.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Fear of God
David and I have been on the road a lot the past two weekends. We left Miss Syd with my brother in Marion for a week, which required us to make the trek ourselves four times in total. We talked about a lot of topics over the rides to and fro. We also listened to a lot of good music... and some not so good music. You see, David loves Rick Springfield.
Yes... I mean "You know I wish that I had Jesse's Girl" Rick Springfield. I am also perfectly aware that it is not 1985 or even 1993. Still, the man likes what the man likes. And as a supportive wife, I bear through 3-4 minutes of sound pollution (ok, I am exaggerating) to demonstrate my love.
One Rick Springfield song I found particularly offensive, was called Like Father, Like Son. And in the chorus was a line I found particularly unsettling "Fear of God and the feel of the rod will raise a good boy."
Yuck - bluck - spitting feeling in the mouth gross. I am picturing Tom Hanks wiping his tongue after he eats caviar in Big. "Nuh-uh!" I want to say, "Fear of God and the feel of the rod does not raise good children. It raises future therapy clients."
And that is how I have felt about fear of God in a nutshell for the vast majority of my life. Fear of God damages people, it interferes in their relationship with God. The phrase "fear God" in the Bible is better translated "stand in awe of God." Done. Settled.
Accept.... it's not.
Ironically, after I had my disgust reaction to Rick Springfield I found myself in a long conversation with my brother and nephew about the Church in America. About it's supposed political marriage with issues of intolerance, oppression and greed. About my rage, at the sheer hypocrisy of so many folks - that folks who publicly identify as my brothers and sisters refer to the poor as leeches or make racial or sexual slurs. Not to mention the endless supply of pastors who get caught cheating on their wives, using drugs or embezzling church funds.
I found myself saying things like - "You know... I am not talking about folks outside of the church. I am talking about people who claim to take the idea seriously that there is an Everlasting, Eternal, Holy, Righteous, Omniscient and Omnipotent God. How can you spit in His face?!? How can you so egregiously disregard His Word?!?" Which at the end is really... They ought to fear God.
We ought to fear God.
Not just in the "WOW isn't He big, like the ocean" kinda way. If we confess to be Christian, we ought to fear Him.
Now here's the problem - people fear God for all kinds of wrong reasons. For example, We ought not to fear him because He is mean - because He is kindness. We ought not to fear Him because He is punitive - because He is merciful. We ought not to fear Him because He is unloving - because He is love.
So what is to fear? Well God sealed my understanding on this issue by directing me to the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5: 1-11.
You see Ananias and Sapphira thought they could pull one over on God and everybody else. They sold a field and thought they would look super generous by giving "all the money" to the church. Accept it wasn't all the money. They lied. The Bible is unclear about why they lied; but we can guess that personal accolade was a huge motive. "Won't we look so big and bad to all of our friends at the church."
And do you know what happened. They were both struck down dead.
Whoa... *deep breath*
Holy crap! God just struck people down dead! In the New Testament! Whoa!
Why?!
Well, hear is my take. God sees us. I mean it - there is no, No, NO b.s.-ing Him. He is also capable of revealing that true nature at any time.
This was true for Ananias and Sapphira... God saw them and what he saw was their true selves: spiritually corrupt and destitute - DEAD. Here they were trying to come off as super-spiritual, pillars of the Christian community and God saw what was going on in them. And, in this case, He exposed them both through knowledge (i.e., Peter saw and announced their deeds) and in their physical consequences (i.e., you are not alive but dead).
So... Fear God. Why? Because He sees you and He can (and eventually will) expose you. We ought to fear God because He is Truth and we - well - we are often liars.
Dearest Creator God,
You are Truth. This is a scary fact, when I have bought into deceit, when I have perpetrated deceit. You are Light. This is a scary fact, when I want to hide in the darkness. Push me forth. Compel me. I renounce my alliance with deception. Forgive me. I offer my heart to the Truth. Help me to lead a life of transparency and clarity, so that I have nothing to fear in You, Author of Life.
Amen.
Yes... I mean "You know I wish that I had Jesse's Girl" Rick Springfield. I am also perfectly aware that it is not 1985 or even 1993. Still, the man likes what the man likes. And as a supportive wife, I bear through 3-4 minutes of sound pollution (ok, I am exaggerating) to demonstrate my love.
One Rick Springfield song I found particularly offensive, was called Like Father, Like Son. And in the chorus was a line I found particularly unsettling "Fear of God and the feel of the rod will raise a good boy."
Yuck - bluck - spitting feeling in the mouth gross. I am picturing Tom Hanks wiping his tongue after he eats caviar in Big. "Nuh-uh!" I want to say, "Fear of God and the feel of the rod does not raise good children. It raises future therapy clients."
And that is how I have felt about fear of God in a nutshell for the vast majority of my life. Fear of God damages people, it interferes in their relationship with God. The phrase "fear God" in the Bible is better translated "stand in awe of God." Done. Settled.
Accept.... it's not.
Ironically, after I had my disgust reaction to Rick Springfield I found myself in a long conversation with my brother and nephew about the Church in America. About it's supposed political marriage with issues of intolerance, oppression and greed. About my rage, at the sheer hypocrisy of so many folks - that folks who publicly identify as my brothers and sisters refer to the poor as leeches or make racial or sexual slurs. Not to mention the endless supply of pastors who get caught cheating on their wives, using drugs or embezzling church funds.
I found myself saying things like - "You know... I am not talking about folks outside of the church. I am talking about people who claim to take the idea seriously that there is an Everlasting, Eternal, Holy, Righteous, Omniscient and Omnipotent God. How can you spit in His face?!? How can you so egregiously disregard His Word?!?" Which at the end is really... They ought to fear God.
We ought to fear God.
Not just in the "WOW isn't He big, like the ocean" kinda way. If we confess to be Christian, we ought to fear Him.
Now here's the problem - people fear God for all kinds of wrong reasons. For example, We ought not to fear him because He is mean - because He is kindness. We ought not to fear Him because He is punitive - because He is merciful. We ought not to fear Him because He is unloving - because He is love.
So what is to fear? Well God sealed my understanding on this issue by directing me to the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5: 1-11.
You see Ananias and Sapphira thought they could pull one over on God and everybody else. They sold a field and thought they would look super generous by giving "all the money" to the church. Accept it wasn't all the money. They lied. The Bible is unclear about why they lied; but we can guess that personal accolade was a huge motive. "Won't we look so big and bad to all of our friends at the church."
And do you know what happened. They were both struck down dead.
Whoa... *deep breath*
Holy crap! God just struck people down dead! In the New Testament! Whoa!
Why?!
Well, hear is my take. God sees us. I mean it - there is no, No, NO b.s.-ing Him. He is also capable of revealing that true nature at any time.
This was true for Ananias and Sapphira... God saw them and what he saw was their true selves: spiritually corrupt and destitute - DEAD. Here they were trying to come off as super-spiritual, pillars of the Christian community and God saw what was going on in them. And, in this case, He exposed them both through knowledge (i.e., Peter saw and announced their deeds) and in their physical consequences (i.e., you are not alive but dead).
So... Fear God. Why? Because He sees you and He can (and eventually will) expose you. We ought to fear God because He is Truth and we - well - we are often liars.
Dearest Creator God,
You are Truth. This is a scary fact, when I have bought into deceit, when I have perpetrated deceit. You are Light. This is a scary fact, when I want to hide in the darkness. Push me forth. Compel me. I renounce my alliance with deception. Forgive me. I offer my heart to the Truth. Help me to lead a life of transparency and clarity, so that I have nothing to fear in You, Author of Life.
Amen.
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