being yourself

While we need to listen to what others might think, and take wisdom from wherever we find it, especially from friends and those in Jesus, we need to beware of thinking we have to fit into a jacket that really doesn't fit us.

This is a precarious balance to keep, because a critique or suggestion may sound like it is off, yet it may have something important to offer.

A blogging friend recently told me that I ought to quit reading so much of this and that, and concentrate on God's word and working that into my life. Ouch, of course! But I think they had a valid point, and one I've been working on anyhow, lately. That at least validated part of what is on my heart, and what I'm seeking to work better into my life.

At the same time I have to be who I am. I can't be like that person, or someone else. So that I gladly began to read and work through a most challenging book, part of the time last evening when my wife and I were playing Super Scrabble. A very fun evening, by the way.

While at the same time seeking to hold close to my heart how God seems to be moving me in my life, which includes slowing down, which I mentioned in a recent post.

I am thankful for my wife who lets me be myself and even blesses that. But she gets after me where I need it. But I want to hear others as well, from whom God may speak into my life.

What about you on this?

don't go back

I find during those inevitable low points that come, that I'm tempted to give up "good" ground gained when all seemed well in the sense of following on with the Lord. For me the key is whether or not I'm going on with the Lord. The arrows sent my way by the evil one, often challenge the good I see in my following of Jesus, even while at the same time knowing I've not (and never will in this life) arrive.

The point in this post: Don't go back. As Ben Witherington points out in the commentary I'm reading, the posture of the Christian in the spiritual warfare passage of Ephesians 6 is one of resistance and of standing in defending one's ground. This will involve struggle as the passage plainly says, and it certainly is not a kind of push button strategy to take care of the problem. We must be engaged- in the strength and armor of the Lord, with prayers.

So, don't go back. When you are in the darkness, don't abandon what God has revealed to you in the light. Or abandon the freedom God has given you in the light (I heard this said in the past, by Chuck Swindoll). And hang in there in the dark valleys. Hopefully I can learn to negotiate such valleys better, though I think I've come a long way in doing so over the years.

What would you like to share on this that can help us, or any thoughts about this?

wanting to, not having to

I'm rewriting this post because I thought what I wrote was unclear at best and a bit confusing at worst.

Wanting to do God's will is what God wants from us. Of course like Jesus we will have to pray at times, "Not my will, but your will be done." It is true that Jesus faced the ultimate test and trial that we won't have to (since he did that for us). But just the same we must live as Jesus did, and that includes accepting God's will over our own will in everything.

The occasion for this thought is from my practice of Bible reading. Too often lately I've been dragging myself through it. It is rather ambitious in how fast I go through Scripture (at least for me) and I have been trying to practice it when first getting up in the morning (not too bad, then) and before falling asleep at night (that can be more of a challenge). And it can take precedent over fulfilling it, as in visiting Deb at times (not in the morning since she works second shift and is not a morning person). Instead of trying to do it both times, I've decided I want to do it through the day as well, when I'm more alert and because I want to, not just because I have to. And not worry about days I may not do it as much. Other days I may do it more.

This leads me to make this application for me and for all of us in our lives in Jesus. The goal should be that I do the will of God because I want to. Now if I don't want to, I can pray that God will make me want to, of course. We do it anyhow, though all hell seems set against us and our own hearts may be frozen or unresponsive and hard to it.

Just a thought and I know it's an undeveloped thought here. But what might you say to help us think through wanting to, not just having to do God's will for us in Jesus?

Tomorrow: chapter 4: "Heron Road - suffering" from L.L. Barkat.

quote of the week

Ouketi hos does not mean "not only as" or "not merely as." Here it means "no longer as." The ouketi...alla ("no longer...but") contrast emphasizes that the former condition is to stop and that the latter condition exceeds and supersedes it. To suggest that receiving Onesimus "no longer as a slave" has no social implications and that Paul is merely saying what we hear in 1 Corinthians 7 (the Christian slave is actually the Lord's freedman) is to underestimate totally the force and content of Paul's rhetoric here. There was already a sentiment among the Stoics that all persons were created equal by God....Paul certainly believes that all persons in Christ are new creatures and of equal sacred worth. This clearly has implications for the way he treats Jews and Gentiles and men and women, and there is no reason to doubt it would have social implications for his views about relationships between Christian slaves and masters. Paul is perhaps here offering a statement of fact: when God sets people free, they are free indeed, no matter how people view them. Paul seeks, then, to persuade Philemon to view the matter from God's point of view. "The reality of the world as seen from within the world is replaced by the reality seen from within the church. For Paul there is only one reality."

(the quote at the end is from N. R. Petersen) (pages 79-80)

Ben Witherington III on Philemon 15, 16 from his book, The Letters to Philemon, the Colossians, and the Ephesians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Captivity Epistles

hilarity

Yesterday at a table in the breakroom a number of us guys had some good laughs. It was a good release for me, the hilarity, as life and the stress that comes with it, has been a little heavier lately.

I'm a believer in good humor and some downright good laughter, and it's especially nice when something seems genuinely hilarious, as was the case especially for me, today. Some were laughing in part, surely, from the genuine release of hilarity that was pouring out of me.

If we believe God is sovereign over all, then we can afford some laughter. Life doesn't depend on us, and we don't have to carry the world, not even our own world on our shoulders.

Ecclesiastes telling us that sorrow is better than laughter is in its context making the point that we need to empathize with others. Proverbs tells us a merry heart does good to us, like medicine. I know for myself today, it was a good release of pent up inward pressure, and the heaviness left me.

Life is a serious matter. Levity and constant lightheartedness can be the symptom of an inward emptiness or frustration towards life. It can be symptomatic of throwing in the towel as in, "What's the use?"

But at the same time having some consistent laughter and even some occasions of hilarity can indicate a faith and trust in a sovereign God, who himself made laughter. In Jesus we can know that while we live in difficult times, there is a good ending. And that God can take the burden we cannot carry- that in faith we can laugh, knowing he is God.

What would you like to add to this?

obeying God's commands

Obeying or keeping God's commands is a theme we find all throughout Scripture. It is supposed to be the food of God's people. It is what we're to do, even though all within us would do something else. And of course we're never to be negligent of obedience when all seems good.

I love the words of the psalmist in 119. To obey God's word is to be a passion and goal for us, as well as a way of life. We want to do so holistically (and that's much more than just referring to ourselves and our performance of it), not just mere outward performance, but from the heart. At the same time we obey promptly whether our heart is right or not. Of course repentance as well as a broken and contrite heart are to be common for us as well.

Only this, in Jesus, is the way of freedom. All other ways constrict us in the end. In the beginning this constricts us, but as we learn to live in it, and it becomes a way of life for us, we find a freedom that is unique to it. And one that will last forever. Yet at the same time we will have a sense of being on a different path than what is common in this life, though pleasantly we will find others who are with us in this, the Jesus way.

Are you eathing well, in Jesus? What would you add to this?

rivalry week

This week in college football my Ohio State Buckeyes travel to Ann Arbor to take on the University of Michigan in perhaps the biggest rivalry in all college football. Today I'll wear a sweat shirt (since I no longer have a t-shirt) with a Buckeye face. On Saturday I'll tape the game, but probably won't watch it live. It should be a good game.

I know firsthand all the sin that can go into watching this game. Fans hate the rival team. One of the sayings here in Michigan: "Oh how I hate, Ohio State!" And we had our special sayings in Ohio about Michigan. Even one of the traditional songs: "We don't give a ____ for the whole state of Michigan...'cause we're from O-hi-o."

I wonder how we in Jesus should look at all of this. Any readers may not really be into this. But you may be into something that has synonymous or related meaning, in which, like this, one can spend hours thinking about, and getting worked up over it.

I think it's great to have fun and enjoy a good game, and be happy if your team wins, and disappointed if they lose. But we in Jesus need to be careful not to imbibe the spirit of the world in all of this.

And at the same time, let's be involved wholeheartedly in those things that do matter. Not letting these lesser matters be blown up to be greater than the games or fun they're supposed to be. Or participating in something which undermines who we are in Jesus. This won't be easy for many, as many especially of us older Wolverine and Buckeye fans will admit (remember Bo and Woody?) and it involves taking a different direction in how we're involved.

Anyone with a prediction? Or better yet, some thoughts to help us on this?

misplaced focus

Sometimes when we are trying to overcome a besetting sin, we can unwittingly give it ground by building our whole life around it. Everything we do can be with reference to it. There surely are some unusual times when this kind of action is wise, and at some points in struggling against any sin, some drastic measures may be required. And we may need to spend some extra time in prayer and in reading and meditation concerning the matter. Though I'm becoming convinced that this time should not normally be prolonged.

We have to be careful not to make our sin the focus of our lives; Christ must be the focus, and along with that we must endeavor to carry on with a sense of normalcy according to the life in Christ that God's word calls us to. Of course we must have confessed our sin to God, trusting his word in Christ for our forgiveness. And we must walk according to wisdom. This may mean being more guarded with reference to the sin. But when our entire life is built around avoiding the sin, we can be easily drawn back into the sin, since our minds being on avoiding it, end up invariably thinking about the sin our hearts have cherished.

Here's where we need plenty of wisdom from God. We must not only put off the old self in Adam with its sin, but we must put on the new self in Christ. This is not to be something ostentatious, purposefully put out into the open for all to see, as if we're proving something to ourselves and others with reference to our sin. But it needs to be as those whose lives are hidden with Christ in God. In other words our lives in Jesus are to simply take on the character of Jesus, the one who said that he was gentle and humble in heart. It needs to be unobtrusive, there but hardly noticed by others, except by God. I say this in terms of the sin one has been succumbing to and fighting against, as well as how we live out this life in general. Maybe another way of putting it is that this new life in Jesus becomes more and more a natural part of who we are.

The picture needs to become changed so that the sin, and the object of that sin is in a different part of the picture. That object or subject is still in the picture, but in no way is it in the middle of the picture. It is there in its proper place along with other objects and subjects. Of course these objects and subjects can refer to people or things. We can be struggling with reference to a specific person or persons. Or we can be struggling over certain matters, many not necessarily sinful in themselves while others are.

Somehow in all of this, by grace and through the work of the triune God, Jesus needs to be at the center of this picture. When this is more and more the case, then less and less will objects and subjects be out of place.

This suggests to me that our focus in some way in overcoming our besetting sin must be on Jesus. Only in Jesus can our lives begin to take on the order intended by God which will renew and remake us towards the true humanity through this new creation, made by God.

What does this look like in our lives? I think it looks like a life of simple yet profound faith. It takes shape by simple, humble obedience to the word of God, and a dependence on God of submissive trust. I order my world seeking to be through the blood of Jesus in rightful fellowship with God and with all others.

Again, in certain special cases I do believe we'll have to take drastic measures, and initially in many cases we may have to take drastic measures. We may need special help for a season, receiving prayer and counsel from others. Certainly always and in all things we are in need of the special grace of God in Christ.

What might you add to this sketch about misplaced focus?

freedom

True freedom is found really only in Jesus. "In Jesus" means more than just being in Jesus through faith in Jesus, though it certainly starts there. It involves truly following him in all of life as part of his Body in this world. And out from that following, together or in the context of God's people, comes this freedom.

This freedom has to do with being free to do and live in God's will. This frees us up to fulfill why we were created in the first place, as well as what it really means to be human. We're free to begin to move in the rhythm, music and rhyme of the love dance of the Triune God: Father, Son and Spirit. We do this as creatures here on earth, and we do it in all of life, no matter what it is we're doing. This is at the heart of what freedom is and where it comes from, as well as what it's all about and where it's going.

Freedom in this world is not always pleasant. It may mean martyrdom, which has been and continues to be true for many Christ-followers. It will mean for all of us, denying ourselves, taking up our crosses daily to follow Christ. Only as we do that are we truly Christ-followers and can we truly live in this freedom.

So many things in us as sinners and in this fallen world cry out against that. That "freedom" we pursue ends up only in a bondage that won't let go. So when we're struggling with that, we may need to make a radical stand and cut off what in part may be entirely all right. It's just that we must live in this freedom if we're to truly follow Jesus in this life.

Getting there is not always pleasant, but it's worth it. We need to come with the attitude that we would rather be a humble servant in the house of God rather than living it up in the tents of the wicked or in the way that seems right to us.

Which will it be? Will I follow or not? And will I keep following no matter what?

from bondage to freedom (and back?)

Reading the naked pastor last night I ran across some thought provoking posts on freedom: here are two of them. The one I couldn't find simply stated something to the effect that people can be in bondage to the Bible, but instead need to be led by the Spirit, and in doing so they will end up finding themselves living out the truth in the Bible. I hope I'm not misrepresenting David Hayward's thought here.

This is neither an endorsement nor a censure of this Vineyard pastor's blog, but just thinking through his thinking, a bit. In reading Paul's letter to the Galatians we find that the freedom we have in Christ is a freedom not to indulge the flesh, but to humbly serve one another in love. We are to walk in the Spirit and to thus bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, which at the heart is love, as opposed to the works of the flesh.

I think David has a good point in that we can put people under bondage with human made rules or expectations, when people can grow only in the freedom that God brings to us in Christ. We need to be present for each other -and sometimes we need special help in the form of prayer or words spoken to us- but we must be careful not to take away this freedom.

I wonder if David's thoughts and practice on freedom reflect what we read in Scripture. We may agree or disagree in certain aspects of what he's about, but in the end we do seek to see all in the light of Scripture with the help of the Spirit. It may be that in the cultural context in which David finds himself in, this is a way that helps people to break away from bondages imposed on them by others, even other Christians, and find (be sure to click!) the true freedom which can come only through Christ.

The freedom we find in Scripture is freedom from the slavery of sin and slavery to righteousness and God. Really learning to live as humans in the love in which we are meant to live together, in Jesus.

What might be your take on this?