We Do Not Know Hardship

I saw this today, and couldn't help but share it. I have often thought of what it would have been like to live in the early 1900s. It was a period of so much progress, and yet so much suffering and death. You think about some of the achievements - from the invention of the airplane in 1903, to on the moon in 1969, being just one example, but all also all of the war and evil:

"Imagine you were born in 1900.

When you're 14 years old, World War I begins and it ends when you're 18 with 22 million people dead. Soon after, the Spanish Flu appears, and kills another 50 million people Worldwide. You're still alive when that's over and you're 22.

When you're 29, you survive a global economic crisis with the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange, which causes unprecedented inflation, unemployment and famine for the next several years.

When you're 33, the Nazis come to power in Germany and when you're 39, World War II begins. It ends when you're 45 and 60 million people worldwide have been killed, including 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. The Cold War begins shortly thereafter.

At 50, the Korean War begins, at 64, the Vietnam War begins -- and that war doesn't end until you're 75."

I truly believe that anyone my age (36) or younger has no idea what 'hardship' really means, on a social scale anyway. In fact, we are so far removed from real, world-scale, problems that American society has invented new ways to fight and new enemies to hate. "Cancel culture" and social media are a perfect example of this. Can you even imagine if a popular politician got up today and uttered the words that JFK said years ago, in 1961, "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country"? This idea is completely foreign now.

The current pandemic is definitely inconvenient for most of us - but I think we all need some perspective. This isn't the end of the world and comparatively, this isn't even a big deal. Whether you agree or disagree with the policies that are being enacted to combat this virus or even whether you're afraid of COVID or not - this is nothing compared to previous times of strife and struggle in this world.

We need to focus on what is important. Paul, in Romans 2 says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will." The 'renewing of your mind' is devoting yourself to the study of Scripture and to prayer and fasting. It is keeping what is actually important on the forefront of your mind and not letting the concerns and troubles of this world (the weeds) grow up and choke your faith out.

Some food for thought today!

The Storm

Luke 6:46-49 (Blessed Hope Translation - see sidebar for a link)
"Now, how foolish it is for you to address me with, "Lord, Lord," but not do what I command. Anyone who comes to me and hears my teachings and obeys them - I will show you what he is like. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundations on bedrock. Now when a flood came, the torrent struck that house but was unable to shake it, because it had been built well. If someone hears my teachings and down not obey them, however, he is like a man who built a house right on top of the ground without any foundation. As soon as a torrent struck it, it collapsed. And the ruin of that house was great."

Matthew 7:21-27
"Not just anyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in the heavens. Many people will say to me in that Day, "Lord, Lord, it was in your name that we prophesied, wasn't it? And it was in your name that we drove out demons, was it not? And yours was the name in which we did many miracles, was it not?" And at that time I will publicly declare to them, "I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!" Given these things, if anyone hears these teachings of mine and obeys them, he may be compared to a wise man, who built his house on bedrock. The rain fell and the floodwaters came and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the bedrock. But if someone hears these teachings of mine and does not obey them, he may be compared to a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. The rain fell and the floodwaters came and the winds blew and struck that house, and it fell. And its fall was great."

I've heard many sermons over the years on what we call "The Sermon on the Mount". There are two accounts of it and I have shared the same excerpt from both versions. Typically, when someone is preaching on this section - they refer to the 'flood' or the 'storm' as the "storms of life". That we need to be well-grounded in order that we not lose our Faith in the trials of this life. While that may be one application that can be made, I don't believe it captures the spirit of what Jesus is saying here. First, a couple observations:

a) Jesus' crowd here is his followers, otherwise known as his disciples. Earlier in Luke 6, verse 20, we read that, "Jesus, then, directed his attention to his disciples and said..." Certainly The Twelve would have been there, and these teaching would have been directed at them, but also there was a greater multitude that was following, who were not considered the inner circle, but were nevertheless disciples.

b) The entire tenor and tone of this sermon is eschatological, meaning, it is about a) what Jesus' eternal Kingdom will be like and b) what Jesus will be looking for upon his second coming. From the beatitudes at the beginning, ("blessed are you who are hungry now, for you WILL in due time eat as much as you want"), to the clarifications of the law in the middle section ("truly I tell you, these have received their reward"), to the very clear exhortations to "obey" at the end - all of it is pointing to a future reality.

It seems clear that the flood or storm that Jesus references at the end of this sermon has to do with a coming time of great distress, or 'tribulation' if you want to use a Biblical word. One indication is that the storm strikes everyone - both the one who built on the bedrock and the one who built on the sand...not only that, it is described as the same kind of storm (just 'flood' in the Luke account and 'rain', 'floods' and 'wind' in the Matthew account). The storms that each of us face in this life are very different. Some people tragically lose children, some people lose parents painfully to accidents or sickness, some people go through life with debilitating illnesses or conditions, and some people seem not to have much tragedy at all in their lives. So this can't be talking about the regular 'storms of life' that each of us faces, because those are very different, person to person. Sure - those storms can certainly test our faith in the God of the Universe, but with time, we usually heal, or the pain becomes more bearable.

But what about THE Storm? As someone who has only recently started wading into the waters of the different opinions on what 'the end times' will be like...I can't claim to know much of anything. I know there are pre-millenialists, post-millenialists, pre-tribulation rapturists, post-tribulation rapturists, and a hundred other (seemingly) positions that people take. I don't know much about any of that, but I know what the Bible has to say about The Storm, the great and terrible Day of the Lord:

Matthew 24:21
"For then [at the second coming] there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be." There is a parallel verse in Mark 13:19, "For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the ginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be."

This passages above seem to be a reference to Daniel 12:1, which says,
"At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time."

Joel 2:31
"The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the mood to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes."

Luke 21:34-36
"But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and care of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."

Revelation 3-19 has a lot to say about what this period will be like (but again, a reminder, that I do not yet understand much of the nuance of the debate as to the timing of various parts of this such as rapture, resurrection of the dead, etc):

Revelation 6:12-17
"When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree shreds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb..."

Think about this - six million Jews were exterminated in Nazi death camps during WWII. Millions and millions of soldiers died fighting for their countries and millions more civilians were killed as a result of bombings, starvation, etc. AND YET - the Bible promises a period of distress and suffering that will be unparalleled in human history. The Bible says that every human on the face of the earth at that time (and some would argue, anyone who has ever lived) will experience 'it' (Luke 21:34-36 above). The pain and suffering experienced throughout the world during WWI and WWII is incredible - but to think there will be a time worse than that...

I wonder if I'm ready for The Storm. Oftentimes, I doubt that I am. I feel weak in my faith, or I doubt my ability to suffer. It sobers me up - it makes me realize that I have work to do, to prepare myself. The normal storms of life will come, no doubt about it, but will I allow those things to press me in to Jesus and God's promises? Or will I become increasingly focused on myself and my own pain? I talked in a previous blogpost about how we counsel one another through difficulty...and while we certainly need someone, at times, to sit with us in our pain, we also need people who remind us that this isn't all there is. That no matter what happens here in this life, even if death should come for us, it isn't about THIS LIFE. It's about the life to come - it's about faith in Jesus and in the promises of God and about His Kingdom. Paul put it so perfectly in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (a verse I have quoted often here): "There we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day. For our light and temporary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that far outweighs our troubles. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Let us, together, fix our eyes on what is to come - and not allow the cares and concerns and troubles and afflictions of this life weigh us down and choke out our faith.

Confronted With Objective Truth

Two words: Objective Truth

In a world that constantly blares the message "YOU DO YOU" and seeks to make truth individualistic, objective truth has gone WAY out of style...unless you are Ben Shapiro. In his case, objective truth is his weapon ("The facts don't care about your feelings")...but I digress. My thought today is, "how many of those of us who call ourselves Christians realize that our message to the world, provided we are consistent in our thinking, is an objective truth?" An objective truth is a truth that is independent of one's beliefs about it. Whether you believe in Jesus or not, He is coming back - He will judge the living and the dead, and He will crush His enemies and throw them into an eternal lake of fire that we call Hell.

I saw a post on Facebook today and it read, "Where did religion go wrong when gay kids grow up fearing God's wrath, but racists don't?" While that may be a provoking line, it seems to me like it is asking the wrong question. What Bible are people reading that would allow them to excuse their own sin, regardless of what that sin is? I've talked about this before - but in order for God to be the embodiment of righteousness, it has to follow that He absolutely cannot co-exist with unrighteousness. Several times in the Scriptures, it says that God loves righteousness but hates wickedness. Jesus says very directly, "he who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather me scatters." (Matt. 12:30). So whether it is practicing homosexuality, or hating one's neighbor - both are sin. If one does not repent and turn from those sins, they will have the wrath of God on them at the judgement.

In ancient times - when a new king conquered or took power over a new land, typically there was a grace period where non-military citizens of the recently conquered land had an opportunity to declare their fidelity to the new ruler. Your life, the here and now, is your opportunity to bend your knee to Jesus. In his surpassing love and mercy, he has offered this opportunity. The writer in 2 Peter argues the same thing saying, "The Lord is not slow about His promise [Jesus' return, the establishment of his Kingdom], as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) God is love - and yes, He loves you - but the simple, objective truth is that now is the opportunity to embrace His love for you and bend your knee to Him, but there will be a day in which that period of amnesty is over. In that same section of 2 Peter, it says, "but by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgement and destruction of the ungodly." (2 Peter 3:7) Throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament, there is a warning. Those who are not following Jesus - those who have set themselves against Jesus and his commands, they will be destroyed - thrown into eternal torment in an un-quenchable fire. Christian - do you believe this?

I was thinking the other day about why the early Apostles were persecuted. When you read about them, they went from town to town healing people and sharing "the good news". Why would that offend people? Jesus says that anyone who would follow Him must take up their cross. I would argue that to carry the true message of Scripture is to carry a very confrontational message. In a world that loves subjective truth, it means carrying a message of objective truth that a lot of people aren't going to like. It makes me think about what love is - is it loving to know that someone is headed in the wrong direction but instead of telling them that, you placate them to try and make them feel like everything is going to be ok? Is it loving to see someone headed towards destruction and not tell them? If my 2-year-old ran out into the street and there was a car coming, would it be loving to just stand there? Of course the answer is no...but some segments of the Western Christian Church seem to be more focused on making people feel better about themselves than they are about getting people to take a serious self-inventory about whether they are actually disciples of Jesus or they are simply members of Church club (aka Converts).

I'm not trying to use this stuff as a way to beat people. Jesus obviously had compassion for people who were broken, in both body and spirit, but he didn't hold back from telling the Truth...which ultimately offered Eternal Hope. I think about the Samaritan woman at the well (see the scene from "The Chosen" series below, so powerful) - who Jesus knows is sinful and broken. He doesn't hold back from telling the uncomfortable truth to her, but it is ultimately about offering hope (living water!). Where my heart is in all of this is in looking around me and seeing my brothers and sisters who don't have well-grounded faith. That sounds judgmental, but I know from personal experience - I know how my previous theology was doing a poor job at spurring devoted discipleship - I was wishy-washy at best, confusing acknowledgement of God's ways for actually following them. I always assume I am not unique - that if I'm struggling with something, more than likely there are others struggling with the same thing. I think part of my issue is that I didn't understand how serious this all is. God takes sin very seriously - and we don't get high marks for "doing our best". Jesus makes it very clear what He is and will be looking for: true faith evidenced by being His disciple. He sent the Holy Spirit to help us do what is impossible for us to do on our own...to lay down our lives, to repent and bend our knee in submission to the King of Kings. Without that - we have no hope. Without the Holy Spirit, we will not make it and we are certain to face wrath on That Day.

"For we are to God the sweet aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one, we are an odor of death and demise; to the other, a fragrance that brings life." 2 Corinthians 2:15-16

Social Justice Gospel? Hold Up.

I see a lot of pastors and Christians these days talking about social justice and about racism in general and using the words of Jesus to justify their positions and I'm here to say - the Gospel may have something to say about Social Justice, but it is not primarily about Justice or Social Justice, on this side of Heaven. In fact, the only true justice that the Bible speaks of, is the justice that Jesus will oversee when he returns in Glory and sits on his throne, judging the living and the dead, in Jerusalem (Isaiah 2). I think Christians and Pastors walk a dangerous line when they make statements like, "if you call yourself a Christian and don't have a social justice mindset, you might be following the wrong Jesus". That's a paraphrase of sentiments I've heard and read lately and to me, it's a slippery slope that confuses the true message of the Gospel.

Let me be clear - do my statements above suggest that I don't think Social Justice is an important issue? No. By no means. I will explain further where I believe the nuance lies, but I am not dismissing the history of oppression and marginalization that blacks, Native Americans and others have suffered in the United States, over it's history. I am not saying that anyone is free to wipe their hands from doing hard work related to racial reconciliation; that is important work that needs to be done, of that there is no question.

Jesus makes many statements in the Gospels about what our attitude, as disciples, should be towards the poor, the widowed, the sick, the prisoner, etc. Matthew 25 comes to mind, "whatever you did for the least of these brother and sisters of mine, you did for me." Luke 4 also comes to mind - the scroll that Jesus reads when he emerges from the wilderness, which is a quote of Isaiah 61, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Others for consideration: James 1:27, Galatians 2:9-10, Matthew 6:1-4, Proverbs 14:31)

In talking about Luke 4, there is some nuance, and the nuance lies in the 'when' - if you are a Kingdom Now type of person - what evidence do you have to point to that Jesus' Kingdom is being established right now? Do we have any less strife now, on nearly any level you want to talk about, than we did 500 years ago? To boil it down all the way, was Jesus saying that he came to proclaim freedom for the prisoner, now? Was he saying that he came (the first time) to reverse oppression, now? I would argue that the unequivocal answer is no. I think what Jesus is saying in Luke 4 is that He came to give hope - to proclaim that there is a day coming when the prisoner will be free, when the oppressed will no longer be oppressed - when the blind will see and the lame will walk. In other words, Jesus came to tell us exactly what his Kingdom will be like, to show us glimpses of what His Kingdom is like (with miracles) and to tell us how to we can be a part of it. Most the miracles that Jesus performed during his ministry were related to provision and healing - the 'first fruits' of what His kingdom will be like - a window, if you will, into what is to come. Were those miracles performed in order to suggest that we can have all of that now...no, it was to say, "hey guys, I'm going to do what I've said, all along, that I'm going to do and it's worth persevering in your faith to see that happen, whether in your earthly lifetime or not."

And what about the suffering that Jesus PROMISES to those who follow him (Matt 10:38, Matt 24:9, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23)? How much social justice will Christians feel when the tide of public opinion turns against them (which it most certainly will at some point) and they are shouted down, beaten and killed for faith in Jesus?

I think it is more than fine to preach messages about how we are to care for our fellow man - but if that message is not paired with the Gospel - we are only shallowly teaching people to save others from suffering in this world, and potentially delivering them to an eternity of suffering in Hell. Let me say that again in a different way - if anything that we do in the service of others, as Christians, is not paired with the eternal hope of Salvation that can be had by trusting and believing in Jesus' sinless death on the cross, then we are simply alleviating temporary suffering on this side of His return and potentially damning people to eternity of suffering in hell. The true message of the Gospel, which Jesus preached, is "repent and believe" - it is the same message that John the Baptist preached and the same message taught by the Prophets in the Old Testament. There are certainly ways we can emulate the life of Jesus in caring for the poor, sick, widowed, imprisoned and oppressed, but none of what Jesus did in those efforts was ever devoid of telling people the Truth about the coming Kingdom.

Paul is very clear that in this world - our problems will continue on until Jesus returns. Sickness, death, and suffering will all be present right up until Jesus restores everything. At the end of 2 Corinthians 4, Paul says

"But we have treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. [...] So we do not lose heart. Through our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." (7-12, 16-18)

Paul and the disciples were not suffering beatings, imprisonment and death because they were going around caring for the poor/widowed/imprisoned and healing people. No, they were suffering because of the truth about the Kingdom - for the message they carried that says that in order to inherit the Kingdom, we have to submit ourselves and our very lives to His authority; that we have to take up our crosses with Him and follow Him.

 

As a result of everything I have just said, the Church has an extremely difficult job. If taken too far, the issues of the world become distractions that take us away from truly following Jesus. As my pastor likes to say, the gospel is Jesus + Nothing = Salvation. In very emotionally heated times, it can become easy to get caught up in a good cause, without remembering that the only cause that will ultimately matter is that of the Gospel. Does this abdicate anyone from responsibility? No - but that is the difficulty. How do Christians be in the world but not of it? To truly care for our fellow man is to sit with them in their suffering, yes, but also to share the hope of something better - to share with them the hope that one day the King is going to return and set everything right. It is an acknowledgement, inherently, that everything in this world, good and bad alike, is temporary. It is an acknowledgement that try as we might, without Jesus, nothing will truly be fixed - that suffering, injustice, sickness and death are a part of this fallen world until He returns.

So how are we counseling people? Are we pointing them to Jesus - are we most concerned about their souls, with everything else coming second? Are we willing to sit with someone in their suffering and deliver a true message of hope?

The Racial Conversation is Broken

Let me preface this by saying, I'm not getting into the particulars of the George Floyd killing. The video makes it clear what happened and while there is certainly reason to question why it took so long to bring charges against the main officer who had his knee on Floyd's neck or why the other officers involved in that incident weren't also charged, that is for the wheels of justice to sort out. This post is meant to take a broad look at things, which I feel is especially fitting given that fact that so much of the 'race' narrative in this country is about painting with as broad of a brush as you can. To start, here are some statements:

Statement: Some white people like Nickelback, so therefore most white people must like Nickelback.

Statement: Some black people like fried chicken, so therefore most black people must like fried chicken.

Statement: Some white people think that Corvettes are cool, therefore most white people must think that Corvettes are cool.

Statement: Some black people think that Michael Jackson is the greatest singer of all time, so most black people must think that Michael Jackson is the greatest singer of all time.

Statement: Some white people come from rich families and have more access so therefore most white people must come from well-to-do backgrounds and have more access.

One can easily see the ridiculousness of the first 4 statements. People, of all races and colors, are complex. Just because some white people like Nickelback doesn't mean most do, and it certainly doesn't mean that you have to be white to like Nickelback. Nickelback sucks - on that fact, most of us can agree! Similarly, just because some black people like fried chicken, doesn't mean that every black person likes fried chicken or that you have to be black in order to enjoy fried chicken. Some people like Corvettes while others like Mustangs and still others like Cadillacs. Some people who like Cadillacs would never buy a Corvette, they just don't like them. A lot of people, from a lot of different backgrounds believe Michael Jackson to be one of the greatest artists of all-time - but some people don't like his music. Some people like old-school rap, or they like metal, or they like hip-hop or even classical (gasp!).

Why is it so easy to see how ridiculous the first 4 statements are but not see how ridiculous the last one is? And this is the broad brush I'm talking about. I grew up in suburban Minneapolis - Brooklyn Park, just northwest of Minneapolis. My high-school, Park Center, used to have a nickname, "Dark Center". It was a racial moniker that told the story of how diverse the student population was (and still is, as far as I know). The population surrounding that school was solidly middle and lower-middle class. It was easy to see how some kids came from stable families and other kids came from broken homes, but that divide wasn't necessarily along racial lines - I knew plenty of white kids who were fatherless or who had been abused growing up.

My parents taught me and my siblings to respect everyone, no matter their station or color of their skin. My neighborhood itself, about 2 miles from the school, was as diverse as you'll see in the suburbs. From an early age, the mix of kids that one would find on any given summer day consisted of several races and colors.

When I was in 7th grade, I was walking home from school after track practice and I saw two older kids behind me but could tell from the way they were eyeing me that something was up - it was like they were watching me. I switched sides of the road, they switched sides of the road. I did it again, they did it again - finally, I stopped, turned around and asked them what they wanted. They said they wanted my money and I said, "I'm in 7th grade, I don't have any money!" - they asked about my Casio Ironman watch I was wearing and I said, "you can have it, just leave me alone!" Naturally, this incident rattled me some as a 13-year-old kid. The two kids happened to be black, but I didn't harbor any resentment against all black people because of this incident. I understood that these two kids likely came from a home that didn't look like my own, that they didn't have parents looking after them and caring for them like mine did, and that their actions were their own.

The racial conversation in this country is broken. People talk about 'white privilege' as if they can even define what that is in a country of 330 million people. What does it mean for someone like me? That because I have good parents who raised me well, that's white privilege? What about the black kids I knew who had good families growing up? Do they have privilege? Do all kids who have supportive parents turn out great? Did I have any inherent advantage because of my white-ness? If I did, would there be any way to quantify that? Would there by any way to quantify someone else's disadvantage? I went to a college where being a white male meant that I had the lowest chance of getting accepted (preference was given to women and people of color). I have a job that doesn't require a degree of any kind and for which the entry barriers are low, anyone could do what I do and be good at it if they put their mind to it. White privilege doesn't cause the silence of three police officers (two of whom weren't white!) against their colleague...no, that's just people of low character...that and a culture of fear, which has been perpetuated within the police force of this country, that promotes protectionism.

The fact is, there are bad people in this world, and that is a story as old as Cain killing Abel. In my opinion, the real problem, or at least one that is something we could actually make great strides toward fixing, is the issue of protectionism that exists within the police force. They need to do a better job of looking at each other objectively and better at rooting out the bad ones from within. I say 'they' because you and me, regular Joe, don't typically have many interactions with the police. We don't know who the goods ones are vs. the bad ones. If I'm a bad dude, and I'm just some Joe Schmoe IT guy or a plumber or accountant, my opportunity to actually hurt (much less kill) someone is not very high. If, however, I have a gun and the weight of the law behind me and I'm a bad dude, the chances of that leading to a situation where someone loses their life become much higher. Are there regular-guy nut-jobs out there who are raving racists? Absolutely, no question. But does that describe your typical person? By no means. 'Racism' is too big a problem to tackle - which isn't to say we shouldn't be working to eliminate it, but it will take longer that we have in our lifetimes. We need to focus on solvable problems. To stand there and scream that everyone that doesn't look like you is racist against you just turns off every reasonable person you're trying to reach. Similarly, shouting that everyone else that doesn't look like you must have some inherent advantage also causes reasonable people to stop listening. For some of those people it may be true, but for a majority of us, we don't see the evidence of that in real life.

My silence is not complicity - me adding my voice at this moment, will help nothing. George Floyd's death is a tragedy on a number of levels. Period. The voice I raise is with my children - by teaching them to respect all people, no matter their background, and to teach them of the sanctity of human life. It means being introspective about my feelings and attitudes towards other people and being honest with myself in asking if I treat other people well, no matter their background or status. It means speaking up in a situation where I can have direct influence - if someone is either a) espousing a racist attitude to me or around me or b) treating someone else unfairly or unjustly in my presence.

I have no problem with peaceful protesting - people have a 1st amendment right to speak up and quite honestly, the Minneapolis Police Department deserves every bit of criticism they are facing right now. The looting and rioting though? Don't call that a protest - don't give those people the dignity of such a label. They are animals - whether white, black or whatever - anyone who would destroy another person's property or hurt someone else because they are angry, is acting like an animal. Being angry is no excuse. Besides, they are distracting from the fact that an innocent man was killed. The anger is understandable - but it is not an excuse to perpetrate crime.

We need to be taking a serious look at the culture of law enforcement in this country. If protectionism exists, how do we reduce it or get rid of it? How do we promote a culture of high character and accountability? How do we make sure that people who shouldn't have a gun and a badge don't ever get one? We could ask that about a number of levels of government while we're at it. Until we start to ask these questions - I predict this parade of tragedies will continue. Raving about white privilege will not fix anything because if it does indeed exists, it's too pervasive, it's a mountain of a problem. Some of the toxic elements within the culture of law enforcement? To me that seems like a smaller problem to tackle - still large, but a more feasible thing to fix.

A Prayer of the Heart

Lord Jesus - I feel such a heaviness lately...a weariness with the on-going pandemic, an angst for friends and family that I know whose livelihoods are being threatened in a variety of ways, and all the while a deep desire to return to something that more closely resembles 'normal life', we we can interact together face-to-face without the need of masks and distance. Father, my heart also hurts for the racial division in this country. First - that a man lost his life at the hands of another whose job it was to protect it. Second for the open wound of racism in this country and for the pain that it continues to cause day after day. Third, for the small business owners and employees whose storefronts and livelihoods have been caught in the crossfire of anger. Lord, have mercy on us Father - please remember us in our time of need, as a nation.

It is more clear than ever that the very core of man is sinful. Our earthly bodies and minds are continuously ravaged by a desire to make ourselves the center of existence. Lord, we are not worthy to call ourselves your sons or daughters, and yet you love us anyway. In your lovingkindness, Father, you have made a way for us to know you and relate to you. Help us to remember that we were once lost Lord, that we were once your very enemy, but that you were so generous, loving and kind to us and didn't stop pursuing us. Help us to remember this when we want to lash out at others in anger, either in deed or in word. Help us to see the best in others, even when their teeth are gritted and tensions are high. Help us to see other people as you see them Lord, as literal creations of the God Most High, endowed with the very likeness of you Lord. Help us to remember that you said, "greater love has no one than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends." To love one another is to love you Lord Jesus.

Father, my cry is "Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus"! I feel the brokenness in myself and I see it in others. Lord, I confess that I am weak and that I am easily distracted by the cares and concerns of this life. That I quickly lose sight of how unsurpassingly great and powerful you are and begin to doubt. Like Peter with one foot out of the boat, I start to think about the waves all around me and lose sight of where I am going...to take the very hand of God. Lord, please use this time of worldwide upheaval to strengthen my faith and the faith of those around me, to ground us and root us in your truth and promises. Give us boldness to proclaim with our mouths all that you have done for us.

Lord, I pray for your people Israel as well - Lord, that you would hasten the bringing in of the fullness of the Gentiles and that you would begin to turn the hearts of your people Israel back to you. Lord, if there is something I can do, send me, I'm willing.

Father - please be merciful to us; help us to see what you are doing around us and give us a willing spirit to join in with that work. Help us to keep our eyes fixed on your return and Lord, give us revelation and guidance through your Holy Spirit to keep us on the narrow path that leads to righteousness. In Jesus name, Amen.

The Father of Lies

I was thinking about how people are led astray (with my own self very much in view) - and how subtle it typically is. If Satan came around the corner with bright flashing lights and huge warning signs, a serious disciple would see it a mile away and take steps to resist... We don't give Satan enough credit - he is called the 'father of lies' for a reason.

I think about the sin in my own life and it's etiology almost always has its roots in a) something good or b) something small. When I think about how wayward theology is adopted, the same two dynamics are also often at play. Let's take the 'Prosperity Gospel' for example. You can find many origin stories for the Prosperity Gospel, but whether it started in the late-1800s, 1950s or the 1970s, the basic framework is the same - the story is that it started with healing and the idea that one could be divinely healed. In an of itself, there is nothing wrong with that, that is a very Biblical idea. Then others came along and built upon that the teachings of "ask and you shall receive" and "give and it will be given back to you" and slowly the focus became on the things of this life, rather than on the things of God. Where exactly things went off the rails can be debated, but the core of it is, people started putting far too much of their focus on the blessings of God, rather than on who God is and what the totality of Scripture says about how a disciple is to live. The subtlety is that while the blessings of God are good, no doubt about it, they are not everything.

How about small things? My dad had an object lesson for me one time (he says he doesn't remember this, btw). I had told a small lie and he had caught me in it. He took my arm and the eraser end of a No. 2 pencil, and he started oh-so-gently rubbing a spot on my forearm with it. At first, you could barely feel it - it certainly wasn't painful. After a few minutes of this however, it started to burn a little bit and turn red and if he would have kept it up, I'm sure that it would have turned into an open sore. This is exactly the idea that Satan uses in 'small things'. He whispers into your ear, "oh come on, it's not that bad, it's just a little _____, no one will know." Or, he will say, "come on, you deserve this, you had a really hard week and you need to take care of yourself." Or, he will say, "you had a good reason for doing it, so-and-so has been so annoying lately and I needed someone to talk about it with - they'll never find out I was talking about them behind their back". For me, he will say something like, "you are sooo tired, you should just stay in bed this morning, get an extra hour of sleep - you can read your Bible and pray later today when you get a break." Folks, I've struggled with smoking for over 10 years - I didn't start out with any addiction to it - it started out as something I did here and there, socially. I've actually quit two different times for over a year. I'm not here to say that I think smoking in sinful (though there may be a case to be made there). My point is, what is at best a very bad habit started out small. Same with pornography. We are lulled to sleep by the things of this world. Pretty soon, we start to justify our actions and behaviors and in those justifications, are the very lies of Satan himself. Here's a quote from the "Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis that speaks to this:

[one demon teaching another demon on how to be effective]

"You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out in the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."

Identifying and rooting out lies, sin and deception in our lives takes a lot of introspection and self-examination (and most likely other people to help us along the way). We have to be willing to look deeply into the motivations behind the things we are doing and into what we believe. Before the last year of theology I studied, I had no idea I was a Supersessionist (someone who believes God has transferred the promises made to Israel, to the Church). Furthermore, I had no idea what the implications of that were in the way I was reading the Bible, in my concept of who God is...none of that, I had no clue. It wasn't until I was willing to deconstruct what I had learned that the Truth became evident to me. Was it sinful to believe what I had believed before? No, I don't think so - but the subtlety was that Supersessionism was affecting how I viewed God and how real and grounded my faith was.

As one example, I was prone to presuming upon Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross. I had no idea how seriously God takes sin. I had been fed a steady diet of 'grace' without hearing enough about His 'wrath'. I thought to myself, "eh, God loves me, He will cover my sin, he knows I'm only human." Friends, make no mistake, God is indeed gracious but that type of thinking is a complete lie. In Hebrews 10:26-27, we read that there is no covering for intentional sin. That is to say, there can be no forgiveness for sin that isn't repented of. How can I repent properly if my attitude is flippant towards Jesus' death for my sin? We know that Grace itself wasn't cheap - that it cost Jesus, the Son of the Living God, his very life. Satan has been telling us a lie - getting us to overemphasize God's grace while simultaneously down-playing God's wrath and coming judgement. We should be holding both in the same hand - God is both loving AND just. He is the very embodiment of righteousness and because of that fact, he cannot call something that is evil good. And yet, because of his mercy and goodness, he gives us every moment up until our death or His return to turn, to repent and believe. After that point, however, there are no more chances. The period of amnesty is up and if we did not bend the knee, then we are an enemy of God - you stand accused like everyone else, but with no sacrifice to pay the penalty for your sin. It's either Jesus life, or your life - a price must be paid in order for justice to be served.

As a final example of subtlety - I was considering the question, "how could a good God send people to Hell" and it occurred to me, that it's the wrong question! "Goodness" is a relative term - the question we should be asking is "how can a righteous God allow unrighteousness into his Heavenly Kingdom?" God is good precisely BECAUSE he is righteous. He has been telling us since the beginning of human history that we are neither good nor righteous, and that nothing we can do will make us righteous in His eyes. The only hope we have for righteousness is to put our faith and hope in the one thing that can cover us and make us righteous in God's sight - the blood of His son Jesus. The Good News is that there is a way to be saved! Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life - no one comes to the father except through me." (John 14:6) Jesus is the way - but that also necessarily means that all other paths lead to death.

"The Messiah, you see, while we were still helpless, at the appointed time died for the sake of the ungodly. It is hard enough to imagine someone dying for an upright person; for a good person, maybe, someone might just stir up enough courage to die. God, however, shows the depth of his love for us in the fact that the Messiah himself died for us when? While we were still sinners!" (Romans 5:6-8 BHT)

Another thing that occurred to me was that whether a person lived in 1200BC or 2020AD, we are all fundamentally putting our hope and trust in the same thing. Hear me out - that person who lived in 1200BC was putting their hope in something not seen, but ultimately in God. What is said of Abraham in Genesis 15? "Abraham believed the Lord, and God credited it to him as righteousness." What did he believe God about? That God was going to do for Abraham what He had promised. Abraham put his trust in God, but the key part is that it was God who credited it - it was God who deemed that trust/faith to be righteous. We know a little more history here in 2020AD, but fundamentally, we are in the same boat as Abraham. John 3:16 - a verse memorized by millions reads, "for God so loved the World that he gave his one and only son that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life." We are trusting God that our trust in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross will ultimately be credited to us as righteousness. We are counting on Him to follow through on his promise in that regard, even though we didn't see any of this play out with our own eyes (just as Abraham did not ultimately see the fulfillment of God's promises to him).

I got off the rails a little there - my main point is just a reminder, to both myself and anyone who reads this, that Satan is not new to this game. In fact, he's one of the oldest players in the game and he has mastered the art of subtlety...using things that aren't necessarily bad in and of themselves, and slowly turning them on us in ways that lead to sin.