It’s a Livin’

Have you ever needed to search for a job? It is among the worst things you have to go through when you are starting out in your career. There are so many hoops you are required to jump through. You apply, someone looked over your resume, you have a few discussions with the person that would become your boss, they evaluated your past experience / future potential, and ultimately, decide whether or not to take a chance on you.

Even though it’s rarely fun you want to earn your place. And once you’re there you try and show our worth and advance. Living in modern America this all feels like the standardized path that we have been given to follow. It’s just what you do to get ahead. 

However, as followers of Christ we have a God that turns this whole thing on its head. There is no lengthy evaluation process. God never asks about where your see yourself in five years. No, God looks at you, whether you are living in splendor or in squalor, and says, “I love you and I choose you!”

2 Timothy 1:9 tells us, “[God] who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.” Christian, God knew the choices you were going to make and the life you were going to lead before your grandma’s grandma’s grandma was even born. God knew the struggles, the triumphs, and the mistakes and says, “you are mine; I love you; and you are worth sending my one and only son to die on the cross.”

God never asks us to prove our value to the kingdom, He just loves us for being his children. God has called us to live for so much more than just a simple paycheck. He has given us a holy calling. We already in, we just need to start living like it. 

God’s love is a door without a key, a field without a fence, He’s made a holy fool of me and I've thanked Him ever since.

Muddy

Galatians 6:1-2 – Brothers and sisters, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore them in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

This is one of those passages that we can all agree is wholesome and important—a verse that we would all love to live out perfectly. However, it usually ends up as a passage that makes us feel convicted because it touches on something we lack. It is hard work putting our egos aside and helping others out of a mess they have made for themselves. It’s a whole lot easier to sit up on our high horse of perfection and look down on them thinking that they got what they deserved.

Yes, there is always a reason a person can find themselves in the mud. Sometimes it’s a small mistake that leads to disaster, sometimes they’ve been pushed, and sometimes they dive in headfirst not realizing how bad it can get. No matter how they got there, they need someone to help them get out. 

It is so easy to forget all the times we have needed someone to help us up after we have fallen into the mud. We put up our blinders to cover all the bad times and try to move on like nothing ever happened. Mud happens. And this is why it is so important that we bear one another’s burdens.

There will be times that you feel like you are sinking and need someone to pull you out. There will be times that the someone close to you is sinking and they need you to pull them out. Life is hard and it’s far too easy to get bogged down when you try to go it on your own. Thankfully, we can share our needs with the people who love us.

Sharing a burden always makes it easier. This is probably one of the easiest things to see objectively. If you’ve ever moved something heavy it is always easier when you have a friend who can help you. The hardest part becomes asking for or offering help. We feel embarrassed when we can’t take on the world, and we fear upsetting someone by implying they might need help. 

At no point were we called to do everything alone. We are called to be the body of Christ. We all have skills and talents that other people don’t, and we are called to use them together in unity so that none of our brothers and sisters fall alone.

We are in this together.

Harvesting

Matthew 9:36-38 – 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

There is a certain satisfaction that you only see at the end of a difficult or tedious task. Personally, I like to try and outsmart monotonous jobs by finding ways to make them easier, more efficient, or maybe even fun. Unfortunately, for some tasks, there’s nothing to it but to do it. I’m sure this is how farmers feel after a long harvest. They planted the seed, nurtured the plant, watched it grow to maturity, and carefully collected the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor. Watching that final product pile up must bring such joy.

When it comes to farming around here, unless you filled your backyard with greenhouses and vertical growers, you mostly just go to the store. Most of us like to skip all the hard parts and just have the pile of food. This also takes away our concept of timing the harvest. For most fruits and vegetables, there is a window in which they can be harvested so that the farmer gets the best product. If you miss the window, the food, you worked so hard to produce, dies on the vine.

And this is what Jesus is talking about here. The best way to ensure that you are getting all that you can is to have enough people to harvest the field in time. There are people in your life who would love to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. There just need to be Christians willing to do the hard work and tell them. We need to encourage one another to be bold in our faith—remembering that bold does not mean judgmental or cruel. We can be the ones who point others to the hope that we have.

Jesus sees the people of this world as sheep without a shepherd. However, he doesn’t judge them or call them dumb. Jesus has compassion, the same compassion that we should be showing. There are people whose hearts are opened to hearing the gospel, they just need to meet someone who is willing to tell them.

The harvest is plentiful, get your hands dirty.

No Sunshine

Joshua 1:9 - Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Once when I was living in the Pacific Northwest, the sun only came out seven times in the first one hundred days of the year. It was a cold, dark, drizzly winter. The effects of living away from the sunshine are well document. It’s bad for you. Beyond just simple vitamin D, we want to feel the warmth on our skin, see the reflections and shadows of the world around us, and appreciate the beauty of a sunset.

All of this was blocked by overcasting rain clouds, but this didn’t mean that the sun was gone. Since you were about 8 months-old you knew that just because you couldn’t see something doesn’t mean it ceased to exist. The sun still did it’s thing, turning hydrogen into helium. And objectively, you know the sun will be there when the clouds break, but at times it can feel like the sun may never come out again.

This happens in our faith as well; things are going fine and then the clouds roll in. The clouds of work stress, family drama, health stuff, or any of uncountable number of things that can make us feel lost and alone. The book of Joshua reminds us the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

This was a stressful time for the nation of Israel Moses, who has been leading them since they left slavery in Egypt, has just died, and God is calling Joshua, his assistant, to take on the leadership role. This situation is filled with stress! Joshua just lost a friend/mentor/leader, and in the midst of dealing with that lost he has people looking to him to make tough decisions and lead.

It is in the times when the clouds feel the darkest that we need to remind ourselves that the sun is still out there. When we feel mired and buried in stress, we can know that God is still out there. God still loves us. God is still with us in the midst of it. It is all too easy these days to just see the clouds that surround us, take a moment to remind yourself of the sun that is there no matter what you face.

The sun may come out tomorrow!

Make Do and Mend

Ecclesiastes 4:9-11 – 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

In the early 1940s the UK was under constant threat of attack because of the war. As part of the war effort the UK government came up with, what our modern eyes would see as, an ad campaign. These were slogans that the British citizens could rally behind while trying to live life in the face of an unpredictable hazard. The most famous one, because of its recent renewal (and subsequent abuse) was: “Keep Calm and Carry On,” evoking that classic British stiff-upper lip mentality. All these slogans were to help the citizens see that they were all in this situation together.

My favorite of these rallying phrases is “Make Do and Mend.” I love it because it reminds us that we need to maintain the things that are important to us. Our present day struggles with throw-away culture and planned obsolescence have driven us down a road where mending isn’t really a part of our daily lives anymore. The trouble arises when this thinking worms its way into everything including, our relationships, it’s easier to leave someone behind than to help them along.

Every relationship will have some level of making do—which has the beautiful definition of managing with the limited or inadequate means available—because none of us are perfect. This is easy for us to accept most of the time. It’s the second half of the phrase that makes us uncomfortable. 

Mending is hard, especially mending relationships. Sometimes you have to be the bigger person and apologize first. Sometimes you need to be brave and tell someone they hurt you. Sometimes you need to show love to someone with whom you fundamentally disagree. As the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us, we need each other. There will be times when you fall down, and you need someone to help you up. There will be times that you will need to be the forgiver, however, there are also many times that we will need to be forgiven. 

We’ve all known people who live with a “my way or the highway” mindset. Eventually, most people choose the highway. Cultivate a soft heart with the people you are close to. Let us be the ones that are quick to forgive, and even quicker to mend our relationships.

We need each other.

Snowed In

This week tons and tons of snow covered New Jersey. In drifts and valleys, whole neighborhoods were given fresh blankets of cold, soft, quiet. It is a sight to behold in the moonlight, when you’re cozied up with some hot chocolate, in your PJs, or next to a fire. It’s truly beautiful, until you need to get the shovel out. Once you have the shovel in your hand snow stops being fun. It’s heavy and wet, and instead of being beautiful it becomes a responsibility that you need to address.

Snow masks the land; holes and hills get evened out, and all the little imperfections are hidden beneath a veil. We know in our hearts that it won’t be this way for long and no matter how beautiful it is or how hard we try, we can’t keep the snow forever. I think we see the way snow hides imperfections in the land and try to do the same thing with our lives.

We hide the things we don’t like about ourselves with traits we wish we had. Hiding insecurity with over-confidence, fear of not being good enough with perfectionism, loneliness with shallow relationships, and the list could go on and on. Even as Christians we sometimes feel the need to hide that we are sinful people (just like everyone else) by putting our holiness on display. Acting as though seeing our perfect lives is what saves people rather than Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

Snow doesn’t last. Keeping up a thin layer of perfectionism / false confidence / saintliness is exhausting; eventually you will slip up and show people the real you. We all have the mark of sin on our lives, we all need a savior. So why not skip all the trouble and just be your authentic self? Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” 

Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is what ultimately covers your imperfections. Lean into that salvation and let it bring good news to your heart when you feel the need to put on a show for the world. The snow will melt. Our masks will fall. And just like the hard work of digging ourselves out after a blizzard, we need to be willing to do the hard work of being honest with the world and say, “I am a sinner saved by grace. I am trying to do better; failing just means I need to try again.”

No Natural Talent

Have you ever known someone who was expertly skilled at something? Maybe they could play an instrument beautifully, fix a car easily, build things well, or solve a puzzle quickly. We look at what they can do and think, “I could never do something like that.” The trouble is that we are seeing those skilled people at the end of a journey that started in the same place we are right now.

No one sees a guitar for the first time and immediately starts shredding. It takes time, and patience, and practice. You need to be willing to overcome the struggle with being a blank slate as you learn the basics. When you get those down, you stretch yourself a little more to learn something new. And this is the great thing, there is rarely a ceiling on how much you can learn about something as long as you just keep practicing.

This is why doctors “practice” medicine or lawyers “practice” the law. In medicine bloodletting used to be cutting edge technology, “You have a cold? It’s probably because you have too much dang blood in you!” In New Jersey it is illegal to slurp soup in public, so let’s go to court. Neither of these things are top of mind for either of these groups because the fields are always growing to use the best knowledge we have.

This is how our faith should be, ever-growing. We all start at the basics; God loved me so much that He sent his only Son to die on the cross for my sins. With this knowledge we are supposed to share that love with the people around us. We can learn more about the history of our faith. We can find new ways to apply our faith. The first readers of the scriptures probably never thought about people studying them over the internet or listening to someone read it anytime anywhere. But here we are reiterating and remixing the old and the new in wonderful and interesting ways.

We just need to keep practicing, using the scripture we learn to grow in our faith. James in 1:22-24 writes “22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, they are like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.”

We have a limitless potential to grow in our faith. We just need to put in a little bit of practice. We don’t need to look at other people and think, “I wish I could be like them.” We just need to decide to start.

The Waiting

Have you ever been waiting on an important phone call or an email? Anytime the phone rings or you get an alert your hopes go up a little thinking, “THIS IS IT! THIS IS THE ONE!” And when it’s not you get frustrated and want to tell everyone to keep the line clear, even though that isn’t really a thing anymore.

In our current circumstances we are impatient for the news that everything is fine again. We want someone, whose authority we trust, to say this is all over and society can work together to claw our way back to a world we recognize. Unfortunately, that news isn’t ready to break yet, and we are being asked to wait, to have patience.

Anytime we are asked to wait, even for something of far less importance, there is a small part of us that turns into a toddler. We want to throw our arms down at our sides and do that weird, pouty sway, and whine, “I dooonnn’t waaaaannnnna.” It can make us feel weak, especially when there is no way to influence how long we are required to wait. Some things just take as long as they take.

Thankfully we can be encouraged by these words from the Isaiah 40:29-31,
29 He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

We know that we are going to face hard days from time to time—sometimes hard months or even hard years. It is in these times, when we are just waiting for it to be over, that we must lean in and let the Lord be our strength. It can take effort to recognize that we can’t do things all on our own. No one ever called you to white-knuckle your way through life.

You have a Heavenly Father that loves you. And when you reach those times when you can’t do the hard things by yourself anymore, have patience and wait upon the Lord. He wants to renew your strength. Even when it feels like it’s taking forever it’s only a matter of time before He will help you run again.

Strength will rise as we wait upon the lord.

Sailing on

Matthew 5:44-47 - 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 Indeed if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even tax collectors do that, don’t they? 47 If you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the unbelievers do that?

An analogy that gained popularity over the last year says, “we’re all in the same storm, but we have different boats.” It’s describing how there are things in our world that don’t care who you are or what you have they will affect you. Things like the weather—rich or poor, black or white, man or woman—a rainy day is a rainy day. The differences arise when we start talking about how prepared “the boat” you live your life within is prepared for these times.

When you can afford a decent place to live a rainy day is at worst an annoyance, you are safe and dry within your four sturdy walls. However, if you don’t have those four walls a rainy day can be a time for panic and a fight for survival. It is this difference in boats that we all must learn to recognize and empathize with.

One of the biggest problems we have as a society, and the church, is not recognizing how important something is until we need it. I know someone who hated the idea of people being paid unemployment. He thought they were lazy mooches that should just go out and get a job. That was until he fell on very hard times, realized that he needed it, and saw how it helped his family.

If even just the people of the church could make compassion their knee-jerk reaction, there would be a revival that could not be stopped. In these words of Jesus, He tells us rainy days and Mondays are going to happen: no matter what boat you’re living in, no matter where you put your faith. What does matter is how you face those storms and help people along the way.

We see a lot of division these days. There are “us” groups and there are “them” groups, and if we see all members of “them” groups as irredeemable then we will never live up to our calling of sharing the gospel with all people. Don’t lose hope for people that you see as totally lost. We’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Thankfully we have savior that came to do the hard work to save us.

Who should you be praying for?

New Year, Who Dis?

Titus 2:7-8 - Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.

This is the week that millions of people around the world look at the calendar and decide that this is the year that I am finally going to [FILL IN THE BLANK]. This is also the month when millions of people realize that doing that is hard and give up. When we set goals, or make resolutions, we need to be sure that they are actually helpful, and just things that will make us feel bad about ourselves down the road.

And it can come down to something as small as the phrasing. Think of the difference between these phrases: “I want to lose ten pounds,” and “I want to be healthier;” “I want to read one book a month,” and “I want to read more;” “I want to quit smoking,” and “I want to smoke less.” The first side has a pass/fail conclusion, you either did it or you didn’t, while the second side has degrees of success!

When we make resolutions, we set ourselves up to fail by making our goals too specific. Too often, the opponent mentioned in Titus lives in our own heads and has plenty of evil to say about us. 

We beat ourselves up over mistakes that we might be the only ones who still remember. And this is why we strive to have our lives known for the good we do. It won’t erase the mistakes, but hopefully we are able to move past them and endeavor to not make the same ones in the future.

As we move into a new year, take away some of the stones your own self-doubt has to throw by working on an overarching theme to your year rather than a black and white objective. How will you set your goals broadly so success can be a path rather than a destination?

Maybe The Time is Right

Philippians 3:12-16 - 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own.13 Brothers and Sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

The year 2020 is down to mere hours. In the blink of an eye the calendar will flip over and instead of looking back at the year that was we will be looking forward at a year that will be. While many a buzzkill like to point out that the switch from one year to the next is placed without rhyme or reason, we can still look to it as a symbol of hope. New Year new you, New Year’s Resolutions, and any number of slogans that encourage us to enter this changed calendar with hope and vigor.

After the year we’ve had in 2020, it feels like we are putting a lot of pressure on 2021 to be the best year ever. We all know people that have their bucket lists ready for when quarantine and restrictions finally end. Oh, the places we’ll go, the people we’ll see, the things we will do! However, as you plan all these things do not neglect the person you will be.

Paul in his letter to the Philippians has just finished giving his resume. In the previous section, he tells them all the things that make him a “Hebrew of Hebrews.” He checks all the boxes of worldly righteousness. Rather than encouraging people to try and do the same, he tells them that it’s not enough. Rather than rest on his past accomplishments, Paul takes the humble position and says, forget all that because we all have a greater goal ahead that we can reach towards!

This new year, I hope your resolutions are more about the person you are striving to be instead black and white tasks you want to accomplish. I pray that you, “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Happy New Year!

The Year of Hope

Most of the world has not had a great year. Since we care about our neighbors many of us have surrendered traditions that, any other year, were been guaranteed: trips, holidays, or any number of things we do without questioning because “we always do that.” This year however we have been required to wait and put our hope in a future where the world could get back to something that resembles normal.

This year Christmas feels different. Time has seemed to pass in random fits and spurts. Weren’t we just complaining about summer heat yesterday, and now it’s Christmas! How did that happen? The days are long, but the months feel short. Be that as it may, in just a few days we celebrate the birth of Christ, the savior of the world.

As Christians we have been looking towards a future hope for a long time. We look forward to a time when God will strive to put right what once went wrong. Sadly, that time isn’t here yet, but at Christmas we celebrate the start, the time when God so loved us that He sent His only son to take on flesh and save us all from ourselves.

Until that time comes when all is put right we must do our best to hold fast to hope and live up to what Paul describes as the marks of a true Christian in Romans 12:10-13:

10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

This year that has been 2020 has not been easy or fun for most of us. However, there are people that will mark this year as the best they have ever had. Whatever your year has looked like we can all join together in celebrating our future hope.

Merry Christmas!

Couldn’t Miss This One This Year

“'Bah, humbug" no, that's too strong
Cause it is my favorite holiday
But all this year's been a busy blur
Don't think I have the energy
To add to my already mad rush
Just cause it's 'tis the season

This is the opening of “Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses, the only (famous) new wave Christmas song. And though it was written almost 40 years ago I think these lines might be more relatable than ever in the year that has been 2020. There has been a weird sense this year that the days are long, but the months are fast. Back in March we thought we’d hunker down for a little while, then we blinked, and now it’s Christmas time. Without hitting the normal rhythms or milestones of the year it can be hard to just switch on our festive face and get ready to celebrate.

It’s easy for Christmas to become a checklist of things to do. Put up a tree? Check. Hang lights? Check. Buy presents? Check. Recognize that born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord; a Savior who will save his people from their sins. Maybe check?

One of those seems a little more important that the others. This year, this 2020, though it has been awful for many valid reasons, the year when all we want is to rest from the stress and anxiety and chaos we have been feeling, ends with a reminder of hope to come. Hope born in a manger and wrapped in rags. I pray that you can look to that hope and find the strength to celebrate the true meaning of this season.

Paul prays for us in Ephesians 3:14-21,

“14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

Pa Rum Pum Pum Pum

Generally speaking, I’m a bit of a Christmas music Scrooge. If it wasn’t for Halloween and the Monster Mash holding back the tide, I fear we would be inundated with the same five Christmas carols from Labor Day through New Year’s. Don’t get me wrong I love celebrating the birth of Christ. Unfortunately, everywhere you go you hear slightly different versions of those same 30 songs they wrote in the 1950s about Santa and chestnuts.

One song that was the focus of my ire until recently was “Little Drummer Boy.” I admit I didn’t like it because I misunderstood it. My assessment was of a kid that showing up to the manger and thinking, “what do babies like? Drum solos!” and then he wails away. However, if I had bothered to read the lyrics, I would have seen a much deeper and relatable story.

The Drummer Boy arrives at the same time as the Wise Men and saw the lavish gifts they offered. They brought luxurious things like frankincense and myrrh and actual gold. The Drummer Boy felt low because he didn’t have anything fancy like that, nothing fit to give a king. But he had his time and his talents, so he gave our newborn king the most important gift of all: his best.

As followers of Christ this is all we are called to give. There will be people who have more, more time, more money, more talents, but our focus need only be on what we have and how we use it. As we cheerfully give of our time and talents, however vast or meager they maybe, we become a beacon to the world shining a light and directing glory towards God.

In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus tells us, 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

People will notice how we use what we have. Even if all you have is a drum solo the king will smile at you because he knows you have given your best.

Crash

I heard a story the other day about a couple, sleeping soundly in their bed, who were awakened by the terrifying crash of their neighbor’s tree tearing through the roof of their bedroom. Through no fault of their own, their night and their house were ruined. If this isn’t a metaphor for 2020, I don’t know what is. In January/February we heard about this nasty bug that was going around in Italy, and by March were all in lockdown. 

Out of nowhere this thing came along and ruined our year. Thankfully we are the people of hope and we have someone to turn in these times of trouble. Psalm 147 says,

1 Praise the Lord. 

How good it is to sing praises to our God,
    how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
    he gathers the exiles of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
    and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars
    and calls them each by name.
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
    his understanding has no limit.

Though we are scattered, exiled if you will, we know and can find comfort that the Lord will gather us together in the future. Though our heart breaks from cancelled plans and opportunities that feel lost, we know that our wounds can be healed. We worship a God who has counted the uncountable, and if God can know them so well how much more does God know us?

When this current trouble passes (and it will). You are not required to look back at this time fondly. The year 2020 doesn’t need to be celebrated as a time we all hunkered down to watch too many hours of television and assemble more puzzles than we have done in the previous decade. We can grieve it and grieve it together. However, in that grief we know that there is a God that will gather us from this in-home exile to be together once again.

How good it is to sing praises to our God!

I Rejoice and Complain

For a lot of people, tomorrow is going to stink! Out of compassion, many of us have made the hard choice to cancel plans, visits, get-togethers, and parties. We want to travel and gather with those most precious to us and share a feast celebrating the good times we’ve had this year. There might not be anything more 2020 than making us rethink our yearly celebration of gratitude. Thankfully, we serve a God who wants to be with us in the hard times and the good.

Through the gamut of emotions we experience, we can call out to God and he responds with love and understanding. As I was listening to a singer the other day, she wrote in her song about the loss of her friend, “I know there's a God and He hears either way / And I rejoice, and complain / Lift my voice, that I was made / Somebody's listening at night.” 

Jesus says in Matthew 11, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” He doesn’t call us to get dressed up or perfected. He calls us when we are dirty and worn out, stressed and frazzled, weary and over-burdened. As we collectively limp through the last few weeks of 2020, I hope we can find our rest in the savior who is ready to listen when you rejoice and listen when you complain.

1 Peter 5:6-7 says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because he cares for you.” 

As you go around your Thanksgiving Zoom call, racking your brain for something to be thankful for in this no good, very bad, awful, dumpster-fire of a year, I hope at the very least you have found a way to cast your anxieties on the Lord. While it may not remove them, I pray that you know that you don’t need to face them alone.

Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful for you!

Afflicted

There is an affliction that can happen at any time, but really starts hitting people hard this time of year: comfy bed syndrome. This occurs when you wake up in the morning already knowing it’s going to be cold outside. You curl into the blankets a little tighter, and start thinking, “5 more minutes” like back in high school. The stresses of your daily life haven’t reached out to grab you just yet. The bed is warm and soft and safe. There is no cure for comfy bed syndrome because we use it as the remedy for so many other things.

I hope you have a comfy bed. I hope there are times that you can find good rest. However, most mornings, you know that you must leave that comfort and start your day, the world needs you. You can get a small reprieve from actually starting, but comfy shower syndrome is a discussion for another time. I don’t want this to sound like a trivial decision. Leaving the warmth of your blankets, while a small one, is still a sacrifice. A sacrifice we are willing to make because of the greater things it will lead to.

In 2020 we have been asked to sacrifice a lot: vacations, going to restaurants, time with family, work opportunities, normal church services, and the list goes on and on. And we do this for the greater good because we have been called to love. In John 15:12-13 Jesus says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down their life for their friends.”

As the people of hope we have an eternal view. Following the calls for safety and having a church service / birthday / wedding / Thanksgiving that is a far cry from the one we want or envision is okay because we lay down our desire for our friends out of love. We can be uncomfortable because we know it is only temporary.

I hate wearing a mask. I have a giant head, beard, and glasses—three strikes! It is a discomfort that most of us never knew before this summer, but we can make the small sacrifices today because we see the large gains that will happen for the brothers and sisters around us tomorrow.

They will know we are Christians by our love.

Love Simple

You ever use the internet? It’s pretty wild you can find information and entertainment and someone willing to argue with you about literally anything. It is also an amazing distraction machine. You think you have one quick thing to look up and in the blink of an eye you’re 12 pages deep on some clickbait article and they still haven’t told you why you never see “former celebrity” anymore. And social media has the desire for “one more swipe” down to a science.

How much more productive could we be if we could ignore all the distractions? This happens in our lives as Christians too. We have been given fairly simple instructions on how we should live as followers of Christ. Jesus put it plainly in Matthew 22,

35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”37 And he [Jesus] said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

That’s it. That is what we are called to do: love God, love others. The people who know that their sins are forgiven, the people who understand the sacrifice made on their behalf should be the people who are excited to bring others into that kind of peace. But we get distracted.

We fall into the temptation of being the go-betweens of grace, “Don’t worry creator of the universe I can decide who really deserves your love.” Unfortunately for us, the scripture never told you to love the “right” neighbors. It just says you need to love your neighbor. Full stop, no loopholes, no exceptions.

When we allow distractions like who they voted for, what they look like, or how much money they have determine how much we can love them, we have already failed. Loving people, while stated simply, is hard. We need to put away all the stuff that, eternally, doesn’t matter. 

Love God, love people. It really is that easy.

High Road

Philippians 4
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Paul wrote these words to the church at Philippi as a reminder that we are all in this together. There was some minor disagreement between a couple people about the best/correct way to move forward on an issue. This probably wasn’t some life or death decision that would determine the future of the church. Unfortunately, many people who have grown up in the church can think of times where these types of issues have caused a major rift.

And it is in conflicted times like this that we must remember that we are called to take the higher road—called to lay down our preferences for the sake of gospel unity. We all have ideas on how we think things should be, and we have to choose how we express those opinions. Do you do in such a way that that makes the body of Christ stronger? Or do you resort to demands, or temper-tantrums, or just being a general discouragement? 

Being a Christian in our modern world is hard. We are surrounded by distractions, and obstacles, and people who don’t understand our faith. There is enough of that in the world, we don’t need more of the same in the church.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. And as you think on these things share them with your fellow Christian.

We are all in this together!

One Way or the Other

Romans 15:13 - May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Next week a lot of people are going to be mad. As we make our way to the mailbox or polling station, we cast our ballots for the person we want to be president for the next four years. This election, like every other election I can remember, is being called the most important election in history. And while it is important for the country that we make the better choice, we also shouldn’t be putting all our hope in a sinful human to fix the world.

You’ve heard all the metaphors that we use to describe opinions, and most of them are correct: they stink. Thankfully, our opinions don’t have any effect on what is true. You are loved by God and He wants the two of you to grow ever closer together. God loves your neighbor too, and that means that He might want to use you to show that love through the kindness of His children.

It doesn’t matter who we vote for if we know and trust that God is in control. Our hope is not in an elected official. In the last six weeks have you spent as much time extolling the love of Christ as you have the merit of your favorite candidate? We can abound in hope that our life on Earth is temporary and these people we put in power have no influence on eternity.

As you think on the elections, ask yourself what is most important to you. Whether your favorite person wins or loses, you can still be gracious and kind. The Bible never called us to be good Americans, we are called to be citizens of Heaven and heralds of the most high. If the sign in your yard causes you to sin pluck it out.

No matter who is elected, please be generous, thoughtful, compassionate, benevolent, humane, charitable, and kind.