working through issues

Conflict is a part of life, even among Christians. I remember Paul's words to Euodias and Syntyche. Most of the time everyone should be able to get along among us Christians. But there are times when there is either misunderstanding or wrong done in attitudes expressed in words. And both sides need to be aware that it's rarely if ever that one is entirely right and the other entirely wrong. And there needs to be no winner and loser. Both need to come clean with each other before the Lord at the foot of the cross.

I believe that if there is a problem between myself and another brother or sister, I need to go immediately or as soon as possible to them, to resolve it. When I do so I need to listen well to what they say and seek to be sensitive to where my attitudes and actions in word and deed may have contributed to the fallout. I also need to be in the attitude of not defending myself, but simply seeking to get to the truth and expressing it in love. Yet also be humble in knowing that we know in part, here; only God knows all.

We can't change others, nor can we change ourselves, though we are to cooperate in God's working in us through Christ. We must beware of the attitude that since I can't change someone I'll simply wash my hands clean of it, and try to avoid them. Instead we need to seek to be as Christ-like in love toward them as possible. Not condescending, either, but humbly accepting where we are wrong and are not as much like Jesus as we need to become.

Grace should reign among us as Christians. That means there has to be conflict resolution, and it should be done between the two parties who are in conflict with each other. If necessary it is good to bring in another party to help bring a resolution to the matter. We have to beware of harboring critical attitudes toward another. But that is where forgiveness comes into view. We've been forgiven in Jesus, and we need to extend the offer of forgiveness immediately to others- as well as our own repentance when needed, then we need to work through our attitudes so that we forgive each other from our hearts. The former needs to be done immediately, but the latter involves heart change and therefore a process we must be engaged in over time. Scot McKnight in his book, The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others, has an excellent chapter on forgiveness, "Forgiving in Jesus."

What might you like to add to this? What have you found true in your own life in this?

knowing our weaknesses

As we go through life, we become all too aware of certain weaknesses we have. "Besetting sins" is the old word, taken from Hebrews 12. It probably is referring to sin in general in that passsage. To understand our problem- indeed our sin- is important, if we're to confess it to God, and find God's deliverance for us from it.

For me one problem has been to overreact. I'm so thankful that I understand this well, and that overreacting is much weaker in me now. Just the same I have to be on my guard to avoid overreacting when bad news or discouraging thoughts come.

For all of us accountability is important, and especially so for anyone caught in sinful addictive behaviors. All the time God is working to break us free from anything big or little which we run to for our god to give us pleasure, soothe us, help us make it through the day. I'd be wary of calling cigarette smoking or the like a sin, though it certainly soon becomes a physical addiction. Aren't we all thankful, too, for God's ongoing grace in our lives!

It's wonderful to know that someday we in Jesus will be completely conformed to his image. And it is also wonderful to know that we're in the process of being so conformed, here and now.

What thoughts from your own life would you like to add here? Or what would you like to say?

grieving over our own sin

Some say we are human, therefore we sin. Not good since God created humans in his image as his Eikons (Greek word for image is transliterated, eikon). But as fallen humans, yes we do sin.

I know Christians who are sorry about their sins, but think that they can't help themselves. This is from an understandable, yet mistaken interpretation that we as Christians have two natures which are in a perpetual tug of war. And that according to Romans 7, we're going to do the bad we don't want to do, and we won't do the good we want to do; a tragic misinterpretation of that passage, which refers to all humankind in Adam, including Israel, under the law apart from the Spirit and grace.

There is that tension in this life in Jesus between moving in the direction of being conformed to the image of Christ, and instead being conformed to the pattern of this world/age. The two are polar opposites, but are experienced by us in Jesus in this life.

James minces no words about worldliness. And he tells us to grieve, mourn and wail over our sins. Not to accept them, but to humble ourselves before God. To grieve over our sins. And that as we do, God will lift us up.

We can't change ourselves, but we can confess our sins, knowing God will be faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

This is what I want to do. Instead of excusing sin, I want to meet it head on through Jesus by the Spirit, and in spite of all my weakness. I want to see God change my heart and make it more and more conformed to his heart.

Do I excuse any sin? Do I just chalk it up to being a sinner- which we have to acknowledge we are, since we do sin in this life-? Is sin something one can accept without consequences?

Or do I grieve over my sin before God, confess it to him, and want to by God's Spirit, put it to death?

Not a pleasant post, but not all of the Bible is pleasant. But it leads to a pleasant and good end for us, and for the world, in Shalom, in the true life through Jesus, that is real and enduring.

What might you like to add to this?

meltdowns

At times we can all fail. It's like we're cornered in our minds, with no way out; we feel trapped and think there is only one response. When that's not really the case at all!

When I say something I shouldn't, which normally happens with those one loves the most- sadly, then I not only want to get forgiveness immediately, or very soon. But I also want to learn from my sin and error. Sometimes that means I have to work through something, maybe with another, and maybe just with me and God.

Such times often bump us with the reminder of what we have been neglecting as of late. Quiet times in the word and in prayer before God. Seeking to draw near to God. Though we want to avoid meltdowns, they can work to our favor as we confess our sin to God, and to the offended party, and seek to start anew in our walk in Jesus in this world.

It's always good as well to be reminded of our weaknesses, so that in God through Christ and by the Spirit we can find his strength. And good for us to find our errors, so that we can find the truth as it is in Jesus.

What thoughts might you have on meltdowns?

where is our heart?

After Peter's denial of Jesus, and before Jesus reinstates Peter in love we read that once the disciples realized it was the risen Lord who was on the seashore, that Peter jumps into the water to get to Jesus.

The words from Michael Card's song, Stranger on the Shore (both recordings are great, but I especially like the original recording) come to mind:

The one who had denied Him,
who had once walked on the water
Jumped in and swam to Him
to be confronted on the shore
Chorus
You need to be confronted
by the stranger on the shore
You need to have Him search your soul;
you need to hear the call
You need to learn exactly
what it means for you to follow
You need to realize
that He's asking for it all

This presents the question to us, Where is our heart? Though Peter had to be full of guilt and remorse because of his denials, there was still a living faith, hope and love that lingered. We can only imagine the peace and joy that settled on Peter, after the Lord reinstated him in love, and in spite of the Lord's words as to how he would die so as to glorify God. We are indeed called in this life to share in Christ's sufferings, if we are to share in his glory.

Where is our heart? James speaks of the double-minded person, unstable in all they do. Peter tells us that now that our hearts are purified we are to love the brothers and sisters deeply.

The world says, "Follow your heart." But that's only good if your heart is leading you in a good direction. Left to ourselves our hearts always do go astray. But because of God's grace in Jesus and by the Spirit, God gives us a new heart, which can only be satisfied in finding itself at home in God through Christ. Meaning in God's good will.

So Peter ran, as only Peter would (though I know at least a couple of guys who remind me of Peter!). I'm sure there were tears in his eyes while Jesus was reinstating him, just as there had been at least after Peter denied Jesus. Peter could never be the same. Indeed a broken and contrite heart God will never despise.

What if we could get our way in our hearts at times? We can ask ourselves for a good test, Where is our heart in this? Our hearts can easily deceive us, and if we don't believe that, then we don't believe it when Scripture tells us repeatedly that we can deceive ourselves. I like the words of Rich Mullins in the song My Deliverer (from The Jesus Record):

I will never doubt His promise
though I doubt my heart, I doubt my eyes

If we're struggling in our hearts, the great penitential psalm, 51, is a good place to dwell. Like Peter we can find our heart's home back into the arms and joy of our Lord, then out into the world, in sevice to him.

What would you like to add to these words?

honesty

I admire honesty in people, even when it hurts. My post this morning reflected honesty that could have been misunderstood as me having a sin issue with pornography. Not so, thank God! I simply was listing that as an afterthought behind drugs and alcohol.

But I do have my issues, and sometimes they can get you down. Anxiety, frustration, despair; these all can get me down. Yet I've learned not to let them take me out, and more and more reckon on the truth in Jesus that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12). So that I've seen God move in and through me during times I've felt broken in myself. Such as this past Sunday at the nursing home, when I prayed to be filled with the Spirit while we were singing. And the Lord in his grace gave us a wonderful time in song and in his word.

And of course as we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

As my good blogger friend Allan Bevere commented, on what I posted this morning, "It is always best to be on guard, but to always remember that the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives can conquer anything, if we are willing." How very true!

This might be my weakest post ever, but it's simply meant to say that while I know I don't have it all together, I'm not living in defeat, either.

during difficult times

Yesterday was a difficult day for me, and really this week. Though Deb is a strong, good support, and we had a nice and fun time Tuesday evening. While good fellowship and working relationships remain, work has had its challenges for us. I have a couple friends who have cancer. And I've had challenges on a personal level.

I was thinking of these words from this psalm this morning:

From the ends of the earth I call to you,
I call as my heart grows faint;
lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

In seeking to honor the newness of the new covenant, while acknowledging differences between the Old and New Testaments, I believe we sometimes draw false lines between the two. In this psalm is the fear of the Lord, and vows made to God. The former is just an intrinsic part of knowing God. God is a father, and a god of all grace, but he is not a god to be trifled with. His name and person (in three persons) should be held in reverence and awe. And vows today are replaced with our simple words. We should make commitments and carry them out.

That is important because we need to understand this prayer in context. We don't simply pray for a lifeline from God and then go on living our lives in our own ways, apart from God's will, in disobedience to him. And as we were reminded at my work in chapel yesterday, in our weaknesses we can find God's strength.

So it's important for us both to be those readily acknowledging our need to God, and committed to living in faithful obedience to God. We certainly will fail along the way, and that's where confession of sin and God's continued forgiveness to us in Christ comes in. But it is a mistake to believe that we can't live lives of faithful obedience to God. That can become a pattern of life for us, deviations from it being exceptions.

Does this make sense to you? What would you like to say here?

repentance that matters

According to Byard "repentance is a vanishing concept today, even in the church." We have mentioned something of this before, but what stood out to me yesterday, as we worked through some news paper articles for discussion on this is the truth that "the person repenting must have a firm purpose and a definitely expressed resolution immediately to break with this specific sin ('I have hated my iniquity')."

Byard talked at some length of how we can have deep emotions and sorrow over our sin, yet fall short of true, biblical repentance. And words spoken, or not spoken do matter. We looked at cases where the person made excuses, shifting the blame on someone else for the wrong they had done. Another expressed concern over the way their open sin was handled, while church leaders called on others not to judge.

So we're reminded that when we do sin against another we need to take full responsibility without excuses. And we need to express a resolve to not do the sin any longer, and to change. Of course grace is needed, but it's offered to all from God through Jesus Christ. And the church is called to hold sinners accountable for their sins.

This kind of teaching is needed. And as we hear it, it helps promote godliness in us all. While we examine our own lives and seek to prayerfully call those who have fallen into sin, to true repentance.

What would you like to share on this?

repentance, continued

By request, Byard continued on repentance, and there was much discussion.

What stood out for me is how true repentance must have a God-ward focus. In other words one is not repenting because they're sorry about some loss they've received through their actions. But only because it offended God. That indicates, as Byard pointed out, a love for God.

Byard also noted how today in our society there is no agreed standard by which people can be held accoutable. Repentance among most any given group of people in our society therefore makes little or no sense. Everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes.

Part of the solution is for people to somehow get a vision of God. But that must begin with God's people. We can only understand God's law and the grace extended to us in Christ when we catch a glimpse of God, receiving a sense of God's holiness, sovereignty, goodness and love. We need to look to the "face" of Christ. In that face we see in contrast our sin, but we also see our salvation, God's love and forgiveness in Jesus.

That is why a true, healthy repentance- little by little (piece by piece, not dumped on one we've sinned against all at once) at the right times in God's timing does not shrink back from telling all: a frank, full confession. Only in that is there true and full salvation.

As I look at the handout we receive yesterday, I note that there may be more wisdom on this yet to come (the previous paragraph, one example). Our series on Ephesians continues to be interrupted, but considering repentance in depth anytime is a good thing, and is particularly fitting during Lent. 

Anyone have a thought to add, or wonder about anything here?

tough love

Tough love holds people accountable. Too often I think we Christians sweep sins under the rug that we really ought to confront in love. It's true that "love covers over a multitude of sins." I think there are surely plenty of times when we need to look past sins of others. But there is a time to lovingly confront a brother or sister who is sinning.

We do each other no favor by simply ignoring sins. I do not grow if I'm not called on the carpet for sin, neither does my fellow Christian grow if I don't seek to help them see their fault and need for change.

This is exceedingly hard. And it's better to remain silent and pray, than to come on in a harsh manner. Better to empathize and ask questions than ramrod "the truth" down the sinner's throat. 

But at the same time unless the error of one's ways is not brought to light, there can be no hope of repentance unto life. I think of one sin prevalent among so many of us: the sin of the tongue. We grumble against each other, we talk about so and so, etc. I learned to hate such sins early on, since I saw firsthand the damage they did to others. Though I can fall into the same sin as I take apart those who are so sinning.

Unless we're willing to confess as well as be corrected in the Body of Christ, we really are not living out the community in Jesus that we in Jesus are. Tough love means we are willing to be held accountable, and willing to hold others accountable- before God and before each other.

Much more to say on this. Would you like to add something?

repentance

Repentance is another subject not popular in our culture. It is important, actually vital to our lives in God now. Without repentance there is no salvation. Of course one might push back at me with the truth that we are saved by grace through faith. And I agree. Only, this faith is a submissive faith, one that is obedient in receiving the message and then continuing on in a new life of obedience to God through faith.

Essentially I see repentance as a change of life. The word from the Greek in the New Testament means a change of mind, and that's important for starters. But unless that becomes a change of life, it really doesn't matter, because true repentance is about the whole person, and it involves a 180 degree change. And a change that is ongoing. 

This has come alive in my life. In regard to a troubling relationship in which I harbored attitudes which I felt were justified, yet were not right. I struggled. But finally I acknowledged my sin to God and to the brother, and then I kept my mouth shut, seeking God's help in a number of ways. It's amazing, the new relationship I have now with this brother. And this entire scenario has impacted my life, I hope for good. So that I'll never be the same again. While realizing that God's work in me is ongoing, and a long way to go toward the goal of becoming more and more conformed to the image of Jesus.

Am I talking about sinless perfection here? Of course not! What I am getting at is that while being sorry for the right reason is good, it's not enough. While believing I'm wrong, that's not enough. What is needed is no less than a change of life. I must be quiet, pray, wait on God, and seek by the Spirit, to live in the new way in Jesus. I may have to get other Christians to pray for me, the first for me being my loving, faithful wife. And we may need counsel from some brother or sister.

And when we somehow get off track from the way in Jesus, we simply need to repent and ocnfess our sin sometimes to our pastor, or a good brother or sister, who can then tell us that we are forgiven in Jesus ("the power of the keys"- Luther, but more importantly, Jesus, here and here). We go in assurance of those words that our sins are indeed forgiven upon confession through the blood of Christ. And we pray "the Lord's prayer", or the "Our Father" prayer for the forgiveness of all sins we are not aware of.

So repentance is ongoing. And at the heart of it is change. Change for a new life! The life God has for us now, in Jesus. 

What might you like to add to this?

coming back

I find God's grace amazing in how God not only converts sinners to his way, but how he brings them back in his grace time and time again. How many times in big and little ways do we get off the way onto our own way? Plenty. But God puts us back on, not with us kicking and screaming, but by his work of grace, so that we want to get on and are sorry when we fail to remain there.

What we do does matter. We need to keep that in mind. Sometimes that means confession, and I mean confession of sin to others and before God. If I sin in front of someone, then I need to confess it to God. On Saturday I was quite peeved as we were stuck in a parking lot in which we could hardly turn around due to snow drifts that had not been cleared out. I wasn't in the best of moods, because in spite of the good in the movie we saw, I was put off with all the wrong in it (But why should I be surprised? What should we expect from "the world" and from sinners?). And then this. But my words and attitude were quite unedifying to Deb, and when I saw how it was grieving her, I apologized and led us in prayer to God confessing my sin. We ended up continuing on with a nice day in celebrating her birthday.

But over other matters as well, I am thankful to see God's hand and heart of grace touching my life. So that I want to rise and sin no more. And I know I'll continue to need that grace throughout this earthly sojourn.

What would you like to add to these thoughts?

truth a part of us

In Scripture truth is both said to necessarily dwell in us in Jesus, and we in the truth (as found in Scripture and in Jesus). Truth must become nothing less than a part of us.

Head knowledge can be both underrated and overrated. It's important that we keep working at loving God with all our minds, along with all the rest of us. But head knowledge alone is not enough. We must work the truth of God in Jesus into our lives. We must seek to live out the truth as it is in Jesus. Both individually in our private and public lives, and together with other people in Jesus in this world.

Christians are notorious for professing truth yet not living it out well. Hypocrisy is the word here. This is why we're to keep working at getting rid of all deceit in our lives. The truth of God in Jesus we find throughout Scripture can help expose us so that we can deal with the lies in our life. If my heart is moved in a certain direction away from God's will then I must repent and believe in God's deliverance for me in Jesus. It's important to see not only the truth exposing us, but the grace of God in Jesus bringing forgiveness, cleansing and new life. Grace and truth together in Jesus is what can change us. Only by grace can truth become a part of us.

Of course this is ongoing. We don't arrive in this life, and we do need both private and corporate confession of our sins.

Sometimes I grow weary of what I know is wrong inside of me. I know that my heart or my life is not measuring up with the truth revealed in Scripture. Sometimes I can feel as hopeless as humankind in Adam, rhetorically depicted in Romans 7. But I must not give in to that. We're not in Adam, but in Christ. It's a matter of life and nothing directly to do with how we're feeling or not feeling. And it's available to us through God's grace for us in Jesus. And it takes time; this is ongoing.

What might you like to add to my meandering thoughts on this, here?

humbling ourselves

Augustine in the book I quoted from in Sunday's post has some good words on humbling ourselves. I really don't have permission to copy the words, and it makes me wonder about my "quotations of the week". Don't know what to think on that, as I believe in obeying every law, and this just occurred to me yesterday.

Augustine says that we ascend by descending, as followers of our Lord. We must descend into the valleys, before we can ascend into the mountains. It is really quite good, and spoke to me clearly today. I would have liked to copy it for here.

I find this true, but can do it falsely, left to myself. Self-deprecation is not helpful here. Obedience to Christ in letting God be God in our lives, as we seek to trust and obey, owning up to our sins, and in all this, embracing the way of our Lord Jesus, in all of life, is key here.

And it's not just a one or two event matter. It's to be a daily and regular ongoing practice and way of life for us. We must let go of all pride and humble ourselves. Whenever we are aware of pride, we should immediately confess it to God and forsake it. And we may need to confess it to another, if it has shown up in our actions or words. Just today a sister in the Lord pointed out to me a fault I have. I was glad for her help, because I failed to see it, or appreciate it for what it really was. This can help me set a new tone and goal for my life in that area.

What about you? What have you learned about the grace of humility in Jesus, in your life, which can help us?

Tomorrow: "Lava Rock - witness" from L.L. Barkat, Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places

quote of the week - Michael Card: lament in confession of sin

Depending on which commentary you pick up, you'll read that from one-third to over one-half of the psalms are laments. With the exception of one psalm (88), each lament turns eventually to praise, revealing an important truth that has been lost; lament is one of the most direct paths to the true praise we know we have lost. In fact, lament is not a path to worship, but the path of worship.

[There is] a time to weep.
ECCLESIASTES 3:4, NIV

But there exists within American Christianity a numb denial of our need for lament. Some theologians go so far as to say these biblical laments no longer apply to us. And so the language of confession sounds stranger and stranger to our ears. It is heard less and less in our churches, and when it is voiced, rarely are our sins genuinely lamented. Through lament, we regain both a sense of awareness and a language to express the hopeless depth of our sin. We discover a way to enter the Presence and there experience the despair that comes as a result of unconfessed sin. After all, can sins be sincerely confessed until their lamentable-ness is deeply felt by us and submitted to God for forgiveness through the blood of Jesus?

Our inability or refusal to enter into personal lament betrays the fact that we do not recognize the depth of our sin. We stubbornly refuse to have our hearts broken by it. The only result is that our sins continue to break the heart of God. It is only after lamenting our sin that our eyes can be truly open to the glorious truth that we stand forgiven, with the righteousness of Christ, and realize that we are in the Presence of the One who has heard our cries with tender and sympathetic ears.

Apart from lament, you and I are robbed of our true identity before God. We remain unaware of the depth of our fallen identities as sinners and blind to the reality and depth of the costly forgiveness that is offered to us through Jesus Christ. Confession is lament for the sin that began in the Garden. The painful honesty confession demands is the fabric of all lament, as is the deep need for forgiveness and restoration to God's Presence. It is as if worship and confession are one holy fabric held together by strands of lament.

The laments of Scripture can help us relearn this lost language. Characters like Job, David, Jeremiah, and even Jesus provide us paradigms of lament. They all freely spoke the language of lament that in the end cost them so much. They demonstrated for us lives lived in the freedom of lament. This book is simply an attempt to look at their lives and listen to their laments. This is not a book about some new way to get what we want from God. Rather, it is a biblical exploration of the spiritual lives of four broken men who gave up all they ever wanted to discover what it was that God wanted most to give.

Michael Card, A Sacred Sorrow: Reaching Out to God in The Lost Language of Lament, 21-22

quote for the week: Cornelius Plantinga on sin

The gifts of God - vitality, love, forgiveness, courage against evil, joy at our depths, and everything else that flows from the terrible work of Christ - may be found only in the company of God. And we keep company with God only by adopting God's purposes for us and following through on them even when it is difficult or initially painful to do so. To place ourselves in range of God's choicest gifts, we have to walk with God, lean on God, cling to God, come to have the sense and feel of God, refer all things to God. Contrary to our self-interested impulses, we have to worship God with a disciplined spirit and an expectant heart.

But just here lies our main evasion, the one we have all practiced a thousand times: like the Israelites indicted by Jeremiah, we "forget God" (Jer. 2:32; 13:25; 18:15). For weeks at a time we go through the motions, never seriously attending to God, never focusing on God, never - with all the weight of mind and heart - turning ourselves to God. The thought that by such negligence we keep on wounding the only being who loves us with a perfect and expensive love, the thought that we are deeply entangled not only in our sin but also in the bloody remedy for it - these thoughts become bearable and then routine. At last we put them away and sink into functional godlessness. When we are in that state, God does not seem very real to us. So we do not pray. The less we pray, the less real God seems to us. And the less God seems real to us, the duller our sense of responsibility becomes, and thus the duller our sense of ignoring God becomes....

We could describe our situation like this: we must trust and obey in order to rise to the full stature of sons and daughters, to mature into the image of God, to grow into adult roles in the drama of redeeming the world. God has in mind not just what we should be but also what, one day, we could be. God wants not slaves but intelligent children. God wants from us not numb obedience but devoted freedom, creativity and energy. That's what the grace of God is for - not simply to balance a ledger but to stimulate the spurts of growth in zeal, in enthusiasm of shalom, in good hard work, in sheer delicious gratitude for the gift of life in all its pain and all its wonder.

In short, we are to become responsible beings: people to whom God can entrust deep and worthy assignments, expecting us to make something significant of them - expecting us to make something significant of our lives....

...shalom is God's design for creation and re-creation and...sin is a blamable vandalism of shalom... let's expand that image: by the sins of attack we vandalize shalom; by the sins of flight we abandon it. When we flee responsibility, we turn our backs on God's presence and blessing, we walk out on the one work project that will outlast every recession, and we begin the slow process of converting ourselves into derelicts. We "hate the light and do not come to the light" (John 3:20). Instead, we gather all we have and make our way toward a far country, toward the outer darkness, toward a place of self-deprivation, a place of our own making.

Cornelius Plantinga Jr., Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, 195-197

quote for the week

Many Christians tend to concentrate on one [vice] list or the other; one knows of Christian communities that would be appalled at the slightest sexual irregularity but which are nests of malicious intrigue, backbiting, gossip and bad temper, and conversely, of others where people are so concerned to live in untroubled harmony with each other that they tolerate flagrant immorality.

(N.T. Wright, Colossians and Philemon, Leicester: InterVarsity, 1986, p. 183)

It was the great American Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." Doubtless he was right, but in fact impartiality and fairness to all are not small virtues. All sin should be taken seriously, whether a sin like gluttony, greed, or egocentrism or a sexual or theological sin of some sort. The leader of the Lambda chapter at Vanderbilt asked me at a forum on homosexuality whether he would be welcome in my church. I told him that everyone is welcome to come as they are into the church, that is meant to be a hospital for sick sinners not a museum for saints. But equally no one is welcome to stay as they are. As Paul says so clearly in Colossians, everyone must repent and leave behind their old selves, their old ways. This included heterosexuals leaving behind homophobia and gay-bashing, both of which are serious sins, and homosexuals leaving behind the kind of sexual actions which are clearly condemned in the Bible - namely same-sex sexual sharing. I agree with Bishop Wright in the quotation above that neither extreme should characterize the church. But it is also true that the existence of a blind spot in one's recognition of a certain kind of sin does not mean one should stop preaching against all sin on the basis of it being unfair. Rather one's conscience should be raised so that one becomes an equal-opportunity critic of all sin, calling all persons equally to repentance.

Too often the condemnation of hypocrisy (including the straining out of small virtues while swallowing major vices), which is proper, has led to the silencing of the prophetic critique of sin altogether. All Christians should be calling all other Christians to moral accountability for their behavior. This is why, for instance, James 5 encourages us to confess our sins to one another - not merely to the priest or counselor or friend. There needs to be a community of saved sinners that is forming into an accountable body of Christ, helping each other to grow in grace. Instead of pointing fingers, we need to hold outstretched hands and help each other follow all the proper moral paths for the Lord's name's sake. Tolerance of sin is no more a virtue than hypocritical condemnation of selective sins. We are called to accountability, and will have to render account to Christ one day as well.

We are also called to speak the truth in love, neither merely speaking the truth nor merely indulgently loving. Paul calls for the balance that leads to what he calls "the perfection of love" (Colossians 3:14).Love is a sanctifying force that leads one to be one's best self, not allowing one to settle for behaving badly. Paul's call to love is not separated from the call to holiness and sanctification. Love without holiness is mere indulgence and permissiveness. It never leads to moral rectitude. But holiness without love is mere censoriousness and leads to condemnation and guilt rather than to growth in grace and in stature.

Ben Witherington III, The Letters to Philemon, the Colossians, and the Ephesians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Captivity Epistles, pp. 211, 212.

quote for the week

The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets call shalom. We call it peace, but it means far more than mere peace of mind or a cease-fire between enemies. In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight - a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be....

In biblical thinking, we can understand neither shalom nor sin apart from reference to God. Sin is a religious concept, not just a moral one. For example, when we are thinking religiously, we view a shopkeeper's defrauding of a customer not merely as an instance of lawlessness but also of faithlessness, and we think of the fraud as faithless not only to the customer but also to God. Criminal and moral misadventures qualify as sin because they offend and betray God. Sin is not only the breaking of law but also the breaking of covenant with one's savior. Sin is the smearing of a relationship, the grieving of one's divine parent and benefactor, a betrayal of the partner to whom one is joined by a holy bond.

Hence in the most famous of the penitential psalms, traditionally ascribed to David after his adultery with Bathsheba, the author views his sin primarily, perhaps exclusively, as a sin against God....

All sin has first and finally a Godward force. Let us say that a sin is any act - any thought, desire, emotion, word, or deed - or its particular absence, that displeases God and deserves blame. Let us add that the disposition to commit sins also displeases God and deserves blame, and let us therefore use the word sin to refer to such instances of both act and disposition. Sin is a culpable and personal affront to a personal God.

But once we possess the concept of shalom, we are in position to enlarge and specify this understanding of sin. God is, after all, not arbitrarily offended. God hates sin not just because it violates his law but, more substantively, because it violates shalom, because it breaks the peace, because it interferes with the way things are supposed to be. (Indeed, that is why God has laws against a good deal of sin.) God is for shalom and therefore against sin....In short, sin is culpable shalom-breaking.

Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, by Cornelius Plantinga Jr. (pages 10, 12-14)

praying our sin

In weekly team "devotions" at work, we're going through certain psalms and prayer with reference to them. Now we're on Psalm 137, entitled "Praying Our Hate." The psalm is beautiful lyrically, but ends in an awful note, asking God to do what others had done to them. While this may have justification in the old covenant, praying that God would avenge or punish victimizers as they had done to their victims, we find this changed in the new covenant in Jesus, so that we probably should at least be slow to pray down judgment, but should rather, pray down reconciliation, the reconciliation of God in Jesus, upon enemies. We do want God's intervention against all evil, but we also would like to see all evildoers repent and believe, and be reconciled to God and to others.

This leads me to the point I want to make in this post, beginning with a question: Is it good for us to pray our sin to God? Of course we know that if we cherish sin in our hearts, the Lord will not hear our prayers. Therefore we can't come to God in prayer while we hold on to sin in our lives. Yet at the same time God wants us to come to him just as we are. And yes, we are sinners in need of grace. So just how can we pray our sin to God and that be legitimate?

To attempt to clarify this, a bit, let's give an example. Let's say someone is getting to you in what they're doing against you. You're sometimes angry with them, or at least tired that you can't get anywhere with them to resolve the problem. How would you pray about this to God?

I have found that as I pray to God about that which I know to be sin in my heart and life, and I do so acknowledging my need for God's grace in forgiveness and cleansing, then God meets me, and I find his help. I've also found that I have to keep coming back to God with the same things at times. Though at other junctures I see that I've grown in being less tempted and taken in by a particular sin. Of course growth is so gradual that we often lose sight of where we were a year ago. We may have made some progress in an area which we little realize now. And this may lead us to ask God to show us other areas that need worked on so that we can pray those as well.

Of course praying our sin here is when sin has got hold of us. As we pray the Spirit is at work in us, interceding to God on our behalf, as well as changing an shaping our hearts according to God's will.

So I guess the lesson for us in this is simply this: When struggling in sin, don't run away from or avoid God, but instead, come to God in prayer. Pray exactly how we think and feel at the time. God will be present to help us.

Any thoughts on this?

deception

Deception is all around us everywhere. We live in a world permeated by it, after the Fall. Of course deception through listening to the lie, then actual willfull, careless disobedience after Adam and Eve's choice to sin, entered into the world. Humankind in Adam and Eve let themselves be taken in by the serpent's cunning to clearly cross a line God had set, by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The result was firsthand experience of sin and its effect and impact: fear, alienation, shame- whatever the tree of the knowledge of good and evil actually means.

Even as one in Jesus, I find that I can get near that line and be sorely tempted to cross it at times. Or not think I'm sorely tempted, yet it's thrown in front of me in my mind in a way that distracts and for awhile may even bring some disorientation. This can be a part of our spiritual warfare in this life; I'm convinced that it is. And sometimes it's a part of our not being diligent to put on in Jesus what we have for that battle. Or failing to walk humbly by the Spirit, in the grace and truth of our Lord.

We all sin; we read that if any of us thinks they have no sin, we then deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. So we all experience some deception on some level. This is where we need the senstivity from God to recognize it in the light he gives us in Jesus, as we endeavor to walk/live in the light. And as we do, then we can confess it to God, get his forgiveness, cleansing and strength to carry on.

The alternative to deception is to live in the Truth, in Jesus. This means a following that is relational to the core in loving God and loving others. It means sometimes not knowing but trusting, not having all or any answer at the time, but seeking God and his will and way in Jesus.

But we must ever be aware of this pesky intruder. Part of our spiritual warfare, and part of dealing with our sin, in this present life, in Jesus.

What might you like to add to this?