Kid Tested, Mother Approved…

In 1978 the General Mills company introduced a new slogan for one of their products. That slogan was, “Kid tested, Mother approved.” They were appealing to parents. They were promising that this cereal, Kix, was loved by kids. When you’re a kid your only requirement for food was that you liked the how it tasted. You weren’t concerned about calories or grams of protein. However, if parents just let the kids choose it would be candy breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So, parents must make hard choices even if the kids don’t like it while it’s happening.

In the gospel of John, Jesus is speaking to his friend Martha. Jesus had just arrived at the memorial service for Martha’s brother, and one of his best friends, Lazarus. Jesus had received word that his friend was on his deathbed and that he should come quickly so he could see and hopefully heal this friend. Jesus, upon hearing of Lazarus’ condition, decided to stay longer in the place where he was. (John 11:6) 

By the time Jesus arrived Lazarus was already buried in his tomb and had been in there for four days. Martha, upset that he did not arrive sooner, tells Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus replied that Lazarus would rise again. He ordered that the stone be rolled away. Martha reminded Jesus that Lazarus was dead four days and there would be an awful smell. Jesus answered, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” (11:40) 

Jesus looked to heaven, prayed and called Lazarus out of the tomb. John tells us that after this event, many of the Jews believed in Jesus. Mary and Martha knew Jesus had healed the sick and raised the dead. They had seen it first-hand. Yet, when Jesus arrived they thought he was too late! In their minds they believe that Lazarus was fully and completely dead, so they were out of luck. They believed that Jesus missed his opportunity. Their faith had never been tested like this. Jesus could have shown up earlier and healed Lazarus’s illness, but then people could write it off as Lazarus not being that sick. Jesus knew that the glory of God would be illuminated by raising his dead friend. 

We know what Jesus can do. We have seen it in scripture and we’ve experienced it in our own lives. So why do we still have trouble keeping the faith? You really start to see God’s influence when your faith gets tested. If you look back on your life where do you see God coming through in those tough times? When you struggle with doubt, remember that those where our faith gets tested are opportunities to see God moving.

But My Hands Are Full

I remember watching my kids play and learn when they were younger. Watching them interact with their environment brought endless entertainment. One of my favorite things to watch was when one of them would have a toy in each hand and want a third one. Instead of putting one down, they would often try to grab the third item not realizing that they couldn’t because their hands were full. They had to let go of what they were holding to grab something new.

The Apostle Matthew writes in chapter eighteen, “Then Peter came up and said to him, ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.’” (Matthew 18:21-22 ESV) What follows is the parable of the unforgiving servant. Essentially there is a king looking to settle his accounts and he discovers that one of his servants owes him 10,000 talents (1 talent = 20 years’ wages). The servant pleads with the king to not go to prison and the king forgives his debt. That same servant runs into a peer who owes him wages equal to 100 days, he chokes him and throws him in debtors’ prison. When the king learns of this, he scolds the servant and reinstates his debt placing him in prison.

We all have our own debts, our sins, and deserve judgement from God. However, we have also been given the great gift of forgiveness from God. Knowing all the things we have done and how much we have been forgiven shouldn’t we be able to forgive others as well. Too often we are the wicked servant in this cautionary parable. We hold too tightly to the things we need to let go of and forgive. 

So many of us are walking through life with our hands full, burdened by unforgiveness. We know how much we have been forgiven, and that God offered up His Son, Jesus, as our payment. God wants us to be forgiving. In knowing this we need to be able to put down the bitterness and hurt we are holding and pick up the opportunity to forgive others. It’s not easy. When the wicked servant was forgiven such a sum he could never repay, he should have been able to share that blessing with his friend. When you consider all that God has forgiven I hope you are able to share a small glimpse of that to the people that have done you wrong.

Fill ‘er Up

Over the summer I visited some friends in another state. While I was there I needed to put gas in the car I was driving. For a split second I sit at the pump waiting for someone to approach my window asking what I need. The issue is, unless you are in New Jersey (or Oregon), no one cares what you want at the gas station. They might get mad if you block the pump, but other than that you’re on your own when it comes to making sure you’ve got enough fuel in your tank.

Having a full tank in your car also give you a strange feeling of security. You know that for the next few days you have one less thing to worry about. In our lives we have a number of mental and emotional tanks that we must fill and expend to make it through the days. 

You mostly become aware of these when they are starting to run dry. I’m sure it’s easy to point out the last time something like your patience tank ran out, or your working hard tank, or your dealing with other people’s…um…nonsense tank. But the tank I’m most concerned about is your spiritual tank.

If you are new to the faith or dipping your toe in the water checking out church on Sunday or looking into parts of the Bible is enough. However, if you fully believe in the promises made by God through Jesus you are called to do much more.

James 4:5-8 says,
“…do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. When our spiritual tanks start feeling depleted we need to do the difficult work of self-examination. When’s the last time you read your Bible, spent time with the Christian community, or even gone to church. God loves you. God wants to spend time with you. God wants to fill your tank to overflowing so that the joy and fullness you experience is shared with everyone around you. But like any relationship it takes work on both sides.

Draw near to God. Let him fill your tank.

All You Need Is...

There was a cartoon I remember from when I was younger that, in a very 90s fashion, had a cartoon within a cartoon. The cartoon within the cartoon was a parody of the heavy-handed wholesome children’s television of the past and featured a group of bears that were all about getting along. Each episode would have them trying to make a decision, immediately agreeing, and then singing a song which said, “We are the [something] bears. We always get along. Each day we do a little dance and sing a little song. If you ever disagree it means that you are wrong.We are the [something] bears we always get along.”

Many of us act as if we are duty-bound to argue. We see the line above and our gut says it’s ridiculous while our actions make it true. And we feel the need to argue about everything: from the high stakes of politics to the low stakes of toppings allowed on pizza. We want to be right, always.

However, as Christians, we are never called to be right. At no point in the Bible are we commanded, “go forth and make other people feel dumb by proving them wrong.” Instead, we are called to love people, even people with whom we disagree. 1 Corinthians 13 is a pretty famous discussion about love. Even if you’re not a Christian you’ve probably heard it at more than a few weddings, but it’s about so much more than just the love between two people. The love Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 13 is the high standard Christians are called to strive for.

1 Corinthians 13:2-3 says, “…if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” We can have and do all these great things for our faith but if we can’t love our fellow humans it doesn’t matter. 

Paul continues to define love in verses 4-8, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends...”

Some people are easier to love than others, but we don’t get the luxury of picking and choosing. We are to share the love of God everywhere we go. It’s challenging, it’s difficult, but how could the world change if Christians were known more for how well they listened than how much they attacked. 

Like the old hymn says, “they will know we are Christians by our love.”

You May Ask Yourself, “How Did I Get Here?”

Esther 4:14- “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Every year on our anniversary Christi and I have a variation of the same conversation reflecting on life, where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going. It’s not something we plan, but I think it happens because our anniversary is less than two weeks after my birthday, and I’ve entered into that period of mid-life where every year that passes is another opportunity for me to analyze and question all of my life-choices.

The three parts of this annual anniversary conversation progress in difficulty. Talking about where we’ve been is easy, it has already happened, and we can recount the memories, laugh at the mistakes, and remember not to take ourselves too seriously. Talking about where we are at in the current moment is a bit more of a challenge. There are the objective realities that we can identify: the house we live in, the jobs we have, the organizations we’re involved with, the age of our children, and so on. However, there is also the philosophical task of interpreting all of those things. “Why did life line up this way instead of that way?” “What are we supposed to do with these responsibilities?” “How do we enjoy this season of life more?” These are the questions that fuel the majority of our annual conversation. And of course, that all leads to the question of “where are we going?”

My guess is that there are times where you are unsure how you got to where you are, and times you definitely don’t know where you are going. No matter how wise or hard-working we consider ourselves to be, much of our life and our current circumstances can remain a mystery to us. We know that somethingwe’ve done has contributed to our situation, we just don’t know which part or to what degree. We’re left to wonder not only why we are where we are, for what purpose, and what our future might hold.

Queen Esther faced a similar dilemma, as told in the Biblical book of Esther. She has been chosen by the King to be his Queen, partially because of her great beauty. But there is more to Esther than beauty: she is wise, she is loyal, she is empathetic, and she is also Jewish (a fact that becomes astonishingly important when an enemy of the Jews comes forward and tricks the king into issuing a decree that the Jews all be killed, and their goods stolen). Esther likely wondered how she had gotten to such a privileged position, now she likely wondered what the future would hold, and that’s when she got that encouraging word from her friend Mordecai. He asked her, “Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

The implication is, you don’t know, but God does. The application is, be faithful, and stay the course.

When you come to that place where you wonder why you are where you are and where you might be headed, you can have the same type of confidence as Mordecai. If God has been faithful this far, surely, he will continue to be moving forward.