I used to be a rabid political guy. I once believed we could change the culture with the correct political leaders. I was right to dream about changing our culture but I was wrong about the best method. Even if I could get my “dream team” elected we would still have a problem in our world. Sin. Politics and legislation don’t change the inconvenient truth that we have an inherent human heart problem. Jesus gave us a perfect example of what it looks like to be a good citizen while recognizing what really changes the heart of man. The religious legalists (the Pharisees) were trying to trick Jesus to get Him in trouble with the Roman government. Nice try. “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?”
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I recently finished a free online course from Dallas Theological Seminary taught by Dr. Stanley Toussaint. His application from the Parable of the Good Samaritan was simple and positively convicting. ”You can tell how a person loves God by how they love people.” Ouch. My defensive response included an excuse about how difficult it is to love some people. Come on Lord. You know them better than I do! Later that day I cued a Spotify country song list and up popped a tune by bluegrass singer Rhonda Vincent. God has a sense of humor. The song is called “You Don’t Love God If You Don’t Love Your Neighbor” and the lyrics begin like this. There are many peoplewho will say they’re Christiansand they live like Christians on the Sabbath day But come Monday morning, til the coming SundayThey will fight their neighbor all along the way. {chorus}Oh you don’t love God, if you don’t love your neighborif you gossip about
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It is more than a little disconcerting to see the division, anger, and hatred we are witnessing in our country. I experienced a similar season in the late 1960’s but this one seems even more intense. Perhaps social media and 24 hour news exacerbates the tension. As a self-righteous know-it-all back then I thought we would be able to fix everything my parent’s generation had messed up. We had great hope that we would change the system and fix the problems. We thought that hope would be realized with the right leader or a political party. In retrospect I see that I was putting my long game hope in all the wrong places. The word hope is used about 80 times in the New Testament. The first appearance of the word in the NIV New Testament translation pretty much lays out my belief that my hope is not found in the houses of power. “In his name (Jesus) the nations
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I think forgiveness is the most challenging thing Jesus commands us to do. I sometimes ignore God’s Word about forgiveness and whether someone “deserves” mercy. Scripture can be so annoying! Paul threw down this difficult challenge to the Ephesian church. Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32, NLT) That is a very tall order and one that is impossible to do without remembering how much I have been forgiven. If you say something nasty about me and ask for forgiveness, I will probably grant it. If you do it again and ask forgiveness, I might forgive you again. If you do the same thing again and ask forgiveness, I will most likely respond with skepticism and ask you to “prove” you are sorry. Yet that illustration is exactly what I do in my relationship with God every day. I have asked Him to forgive the same sin dozens, even
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Bill Withers wrote and recorded a song that we could sing in church on Sundays. The lyrics talk about the pain we all endure and the need for community to help us through. Sometimes in our livesWe all have painWe all have sorrow Lean on me, when you’re not strongAnd I’ll be your friendI’ll help you carry on I write a lot about grace in community. Some say too much. To be honest, I have had moments when I wondered if living in community with messy people is worth it. I have come to understand why legalism is so much easier than grace. Legalism allows me to assess the situation and then apply a verse, assign a task, and move away in self-righteous expectation. If that person rejects that Biblical admonition or task then legalism allows me to withdraw because they are disobedient. Grace does not give me that option. Grace demands that I move toward the struggle of my
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Valuing everyone is how Jesus lived. He modeled that value with women, children, people with physical and mental challenges, lepers, social outcasts, and sinners. He served the weak and loved the unloved. He created the template for the New Testament church. How did the early church explode and multiply against all odds? By serving selflessly, recklessly, and fearlessly. There was nothing comfortable about spreading the news about Jesus in the days, months, and years after His resurrection. The Apostles understood after the Cross what Jesus had been trying to tell them earlier. That the world measures greatness on an entirely different scale from the one that God uses. Remember that debate among the apostles? They had the criteria for greatness completely wrong. They began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest among them. Jesus told them, “In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called ‘friends of the people.’
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I love this quote from E. L. Doctorow about writing: “It’s like driving a car at night: you never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” That is profoundly simple and true. I think this principle applies to writing, living, and especially for living a life of faith. Life is like driving in fog. I wish I could see farther ahead on my journey, but the truth is, I cannot. I can see only as far as the light that illuminates my path. Because I’m a Christian, that is all I really need to know. Christ, my Light, reassures me that I can (and will) make the whole trip in that way. But there is fear in the unknown of the future, and it is easy to dwell in the predictable events of the past. Not dwelling in the past is a huge issue to address on my journey to trust God even in
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