IKEA

I had the opportunity to assemble a bunch of Ikea furniture shelving recently. While I find this a somewhat enjoyable task, I know other people find the prospect daunting and scary. I knew of one pastor who included assembling a bookshelf as part of the curriculum for his pre-marital counseling. He said it brought a lot of stuff to the surface to know what the couple needed to talk about. I think it was an excuse to get people to build his bookshelves.

In theory, it should be easy. The pieces are all there. The hardware is all there. The instructions are laid out step-by-step. And the whole process is ruled by the national symbol of Sweden: the tiny Allen wrench. Part A goes into part B. Oops grabbed the wrong screw. Which piece is next? Here we go, oh I think it’s upside down. Maybe? WHY AREN’T THESE HOLES LINING UP!?! Followed by a series of long increasingly frustrated sighs and salty language.

Eventually it all works out and your stack of boards becomes a beloved piece of furniture. I think Ikea furniture can be a metaphor for our own sanctification (growing in holiness). We start out easy by dwelling on the words of Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Then our resolve gets tested, and we need to remind ourselves of who we are called to be. Then face a time when you fall flat on your face, and it can feel like you’re starting over from scratch. And we remember the next verse, Galatians 2:21 “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

We get better by allowing God to work in us and through us. We can’t follow enough rules but we can hand the tools over to God and allow him to build us into what he would have us become.

Back to School

I was talking to a parent recently about the trajectory of summer. Kids get out of school in June, and everyone is happy to be together as the schedule can relax a bit. July comes around and maybe you take a vacation or a trip to the shore. By August though, everyone starts getting a little itchy and by the end of the month school can’t start soon enough. If they announced that summer break was going to extend another month there might be riots in the street.

Whether you are a kid, or an adult, comfort is found as you settle back into a known routine. You know what to expect. You know what you’re supposed to do. The best thing about routines is that you can add them to your daily life whenever you choose. You can choose to work out, but to get stronger you need to do it regularly. You can desire to speak another language, but you need to study it regularly. You can grow in your faith, but you need to work on it regularly.

Spending time in the Word has never been easier. You can read or listen to the Bible from your phone. You can find Johnny Cash reading the entire New Testament on YouTube. You have access to sermons and lessons from the greatest pastors and Bible scholars that have ever lived. You just need to add them as a part of your routine. Spending time growing closer to the God that loves you, could become part of your day.

In Matthew 4, the devil is tempting Jesus to throw away his heavenly calling for the trappings of the world. Jesus had been fasting for a long time, so naturally the devil tells him, ““If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” This is something Jesus could have easily done, and we would justify it as okay because he was hungry.

But Jesus replies in verse 4, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” It’s easy to miss how much better our lives are when we spend time in the word of God or with the community of Christ.

As you head into the fall, what routines do you need to add to your life? What small steps can you take to feed your hunger for something greater than bread?

Resilience

Resilience is the ability to bounce back after something goes wrong. In our modern world, it is celebrated as one of the most important qualities needed to get ahead in life. “That actor/singer/inventor, everyone told them no, but they were too resilient to quit and pushed until they achieved their dream.” It’s a story we hear all the time. It’s an encouragement that we should never let anything hold us back!

Unfortunately, the lesson of resilience has been skewed. Once it taught us that we can still be successful after a setback. But many people have turned it to mean that nothing should ever affect me. Or more colloquially, “never let them see you sweat.” It makes me think of the story of Job. We don’t have room to get into the full story; suffice it to say he lost everything: home, livestock, children, even his health.

As he’s going through it, Job is visited by his three friends. Job 2:11-13, “Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place…They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes…And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.”

If you know the whole story, then you know these three friends eventually ruined this gesture of kindness by giving speeches about why this is all happening and that it might be Job’s fault. But they started off with the right spirit. They saw that their friend was suffering and came to comfort him. They sat with him for seven days listening to Job and weeping with him.

Sometimes that’s exactly what we need. Sometimes you need to let your friends know what you’re going through and allow them to spend time with you. God never called you to be the picture of resilience, you don’t need to immediately bounce up from every set back. The events of your life will affect you.

And if you don’t need to be comforted right now, I bet there’s someone who could use some comforting by you. Find them. Sit with them.

Do They Exist?

In John 15, Jesus is teaching his disciples and letting them know that he would soon be separated from them as he is moving towards the cross. In some of his clearest teaching about who he is, Jesus gives them instructions on what is going to happen and what they should do next. He is preparing them to do the ministry he interrupted their lives to do. Above all, he is reminding them (and us) to remember the call he has put on our lives, to remember the relationship we have with him, and most of all to show the love we have received to the people around us.

Jesus in John 15:12-16 says, 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends…15 No longer do I call you servants,…but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide…”

To love others as Christ has loved us is a monumental task. There is no such thing as a half measure with Christ’s love. Jesus loves people wholly and completely without conditions or qualifications.

Jesus asks one question, “do they exist?” If the answer is yes, then they are loved. While this comes easy for Jesus it takes effort for us to live this way on our part. Drive in New Jersey for 30 minutes and you’re bound to encounter someone that you kinda start hating. However, that is just the person you need to start doing the work of love.

You don’t need to lay down your life for them right away. But maybe you could think of any reason you could tolerate them as they to drive that way. Maybe there’s a medical emergency, maybe there’s a bathroom emergency, whatever can move your lifelong ire into a more equitable disdain, or maybe even into forgiveness. And this is just one small area where else are there people in your life that are hard to love?

We are called to be small versions of Christ for people to experience. How can we do that in small ways to the friends and strangers we encounter?

Grandma

Psalm 112:1-6

    Praise the Lord!
Blessed is the one who fears the Lord,
    who greatly delights in God’s commandments!
2 Their offspring will be mighty in the land;
    the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in their house,
    and their righteousness endures forever.
4 Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;
    they are gracious, merciful, and righteous.
5 It is well with the one who deals generously and lends;
    who conducts their affairs with justice.
6 For the righteous will never be moved;
    they will be remembered forever.

When I read this passage, it makes me think of my Grandmother. Mother of three, grandmother to seven, she raised her family through good times and the hard times to grow in their faith. Sure, Grandpa was the preacher, but if you’ve known anyone in ministry, then you know his ministry wasn’t possible without her ministry.  And though it may have been quieter than someone standing in a pulpit, its reach may have gone even further.

When you have children, you spend your life teaching them what is important. Either by explicitly explaining your values and why you follow certain traditions (“we are learning to speak this language because it connects us to our family heritage”). Or implicitly through your actions (you never watched cricket growing up so it’s not an important sport to you). Good habits, bad habits, the way you talk, the way you treat people: your kids are experts at sussing out what is actually important to you.

From my grandmother, all her children learned about the importance of being active in their faith. Even now, when everyone’s gotten old but me, they still pass on the lessons she taught to them. They’re all involved in passing on the faith to their children, their friends, and their neighbors. They were taught the importance and value of sacrifice.

I pray that we can all have a legacy like my grandma. The people around you can see what you hold to be most important. Let us do our best to keep our focus where it needs to be. Let our legacies be remembered forever.