So how do you explain that?

Yesterday I wrote about some of the worldviews that are out there, which seek to explain what happens in this thing called life.  Today, I want to dive in a little bit into what I have seen and observed from God and from His Word that truly seems to explain this the best, and which fits so much of our lives, even as we realize that there is far more going on than we can ever suspect.

Most worldviews struggle to answer the questions like, "Why do bad things happen to good people," and "Why do the wicked get away with so much and seem to prosper?"  These would seem to be anamolies in life, and yet, they happen with such frequency that we always seem to be asking the question.

Believe it or not, God reveals some things that truly do explain that situation far better than many others that I have investigated.  First, God tells us that He created us to be good, in His image.  We were created to perfectly love and care for others.  But then, God tells us that we lost that image by losing our relationship with God when the first man and woman disobeyed God.  Now, we became disconnected from God, and this thing called sin entered our human relationships.

This thing called sin now causes us all kinds of trouble.  We take advantage of each other, we hurt each other.  We want what doesn't belong to us, and we're not content with what we have.  Some of the problem is right there inside of us.  And then, God tells us that there are outside forces also at work.  Satan and his followers look to latch on to that inborn trouble spot and draw us even further away. 

Yet, the foundation of God's will and design for life were still alive in us.  That is found in the rules, or laws, of God.  Inherently, we know it's wrong to murder, or to steal.  Sure, the definitions of some of those rules may be different from one culture to another, but the essence of them is still the same.  You don't steal your buddy's wife, or stuff.  You don't just stick a knife into someone if they tick you off.  And there are times where we still respond appropriately to that design that is written into our lives.

Likewise, we also know that, if we tend to treat others one way, they will respond in somewhat of a like manner.  When we're kind to others, they have a tendency to be kind to us.  If we're a jerk to others, we probably shouldn't be surprised that they don't like us.  And yes, God does address all of these in His Word.

That's a big part of the reason why I hold so firmly to what God tells us in His Word.  It makes sense.  Sure, it's helpful that there are real places that correspond to what the Bible says, and it's great that archaeology has proven some of the Biblical facts.  But, in a sense, what God says just really does accurately describe life.  And that, at least for me, speaks volumes about why I should listen and follow in this particular way.

I Don't Like What I See

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."  2 Timothy 3:16-17

There are times when I read things that I don't like to read.  Sometimes, these are because the items I am reading about are things that bother me (slavery issues, sex trade issues, crimes, and the like).  Sometimes I don't like reading things because they point out things that I don't do well.  And that brings me to the next point I want to make in why we read and study the Bible.

We read and study the Bible, as Christians, because they show us where we fail to live up to God's will and design, or, in a more general sense, where we fail to live up to His law.  We find that God has a lot to say about what goes on in our lives, and truly, we may be surprised to learn that God has an active interest in every aspect of our lives.  He watches us every moment, and wants to be part of everything that happens to us in life.

However, not everything that we do lines up with what God wills and designs for us.  And that's where we encounter His Word, to be corrected, to be trained in righteousness, as St. Paul wrote in the words quoted above.  We encounter that Word of God to see what needs to be worked on in our lives, so that we recognize those areas where we fall short of what God says for us, and where we go against what God has designed and willed for us.

That's not an easy reading of the Bible, though.  In fact, though we read for this purpose, being corrected is only one aspect of why we read the Bible.  Yes, it points out our faults, sins, and shortcomings.  But it does that to graciously remind us that God has taken care of that, in Jesus.  It then shows us that, by God's Spirit, it is possible to improve this earthly life in line with God's will and design.  Not perfectly, but that we can, and should be, constantly growing in our alignment with His will and design.

Often, I don't like what I see when I read the Bible.  Jesus says that, to view a woman with lust is equal to adultery, and I don't like that.  However, God isn't merely trying to get me angry, but to drive me to the forgiveness of Jesus, and then, the Spirit-led reform of my life, where I strive to bring myself in line with God's will and design.

My Place in This World

"And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"  Elizabeth to Mary, recorded in Luke 1:43

What is man, that you are mindful of him, and the son of man, that you care for him?  Psalm 8:4

To get it out of the way right up front, there are many times in my life where I am taken by my own sense of self importance.  At times, I think of myself as essential to such things as my family, the congregation I am part of, and other ventures in life.  I start to think too highly of myself, that I am the linchpin that holds things together, and while there may be a small degree of accuracy in that, one thing I often need to be reminded of is that God's Church goes on, even as individuals of that Church pass on.  God's Church is bigger than any one person, except for Jesus.

That's why I need to approach God's Word in the Bible.  It reminds me of my place in this world.  Yes, it is great that I am one of God's highest parts of creation.  Yes, it is great that God has called me to an important role in the context of my family.  Yes, it is wonderful that God has called me to be a leader of His people in the context of His Church.  I have important roles in each of those, and I have to assume those responsibilities with a great deal of seriousness.

But there is also another thing that I have to face.  I am not the glue that holds these things together.  That is God, working in Christ Jesus.  God is the originator and creator of all things.  While I may play a role in His creation, it will also continue on after me.  God is the originator and sustainer of my family.  While my absence would be a great loss to them, God still proves faithful to them in providing and caring.  And God is the originator, creator, and sustainer of His Church.  The ministry of the Word and Sacraments continues even in my absence, and when I one day must either move on or be called from this world.

After all, He is God, and I am not.  I tend to overestimate my importance in these roles.  And so, I approach the Word of God to be reminded that I'm not the one who makes the wheel spin, so to speak.  I'm actually part of the wheel itself.  Perhaps a very important part, but I still need to be reminded that I'm not the one who makes all things, preserves all things, sustains all things, and redeems all things.

So I approach the Bible to be reminded of my place in this world.  I am the creation, not the creator.  And that reminder is a regularly humbling thing, which I believe we all benefit from gaining.

The Form of My Life

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."  Psalm 51:10

"Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."  Psalm 119:105

As we think about the reasons that we read and study the Bible, I want to remark on a quotation that many of you may have read or heard before.  There is an acrostic of the word Bible which highlights that the word Bible could be listed out as "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth."  While this quotation has an admirable point to it, I also believe that it can easily be misunderstood.

As I have presented in a previous blog post, the primary reason for our engagement of the Bible is to know and believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that, by believing in His name and His work for us, we may have everlasting life.  And that is where I have come to believe that this acrostic fails.  It seems to point us to things that we do, and not to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.

Yet, at the same time, we cannot discount the basic assertion of the acrostic.  Truthfully, the Bible does indeed say a lot about the living out of our lives.  However, I do think we need to make this point very clear.  We align our lives to what God says after God has acted to make us His people.  We don't start our conversations about faith or life without first realizing that we are who we are because of what God has done for us in Jesus.

As people who receive the work and benefits of Christ, the Holy Spirit then begins His work in us of creating a new heart and a right spirit.  And that's where the word of God in the Bible enters in.  That new heart and right spirit search God's Word of the Bible to see what such a life looks like.  In that regard, the Bible becomes the lamp to our feet and the light to our path.  We do so, not because it makes us more worthy of what God gives, but because it demonstrates our love for a God who would do such things for us, and to then begin to love our neighbors, that they also may come to know this God, and what He has done for them.

So God's Word in the Bible does indeed form our lives.  But it does so as a response to God's gracious working and action in Jesus.  In fact, I would even go so far as to suggest that it is improper for us to enforce the form of our lives upon those who do not share our faith.  That would be trying to get someone to form their lives around things that they do not believe, which is something we Christians often complain about when others attempt to do the same to us.  We may see how society around us isn't in line with the form that God designs, but the aim isn't to change their behavior.  It is, rather, to work that God might create a new heart and a right spirit within them, so that they then form their lives according to what God has designed.

A Word To The Wise

"Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?  How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?" Proverbs 1:20-22

 We've all likely heard that there is a difference between wisdom and knowledge.  It's very true.  Knowledge may be helpful, but wisdom comes in to show you the value of your knowledge, and gives a guide to help you understand what to do with that knowledge.

Last week, I blogged about how we may approach the Bible to gain more knowledge.  We can acquire quite a bit of knowledge about God, about His will and design, and other such matters, like salvation.  However, merely "knowing stuff" isn't necessarily the main point of us reading the Bible to gain knowledge.  That knowledge needs to have a grounding in real life, in what it means for us as the people of God.

That's where wisdom enters in.  Another reason we read the Bible is to gain wisdom for the living of life in this world.  And believe me, there is much wisdom in the Bible.  Knowing what it means to forgive someone is one thing.  Having the wisdom to understand and implement forgiveness into your relationships is a completely different thing.  Knowing that God desires for us to love our neighbors as ourselves is one thing.  Wisdom is found in growing and learning how you actually go about that, and reveals what it looks like, as well as what it doesn't look like.

So we read the Bible to know more, but we also read the Bible to learn the application of that knowledge.  And that is where wisdom enters in.  Wisdom connects the dots of knowledge and real life.  Wisdom applies what we learn from the Bible into our lives.  And you probably shouldn't be surprised to know that such wisdom and application is led mightily by the Holy Spirit, who comes to us in our interaction with the Bible.

I hope that, as you regularly engage God's Word, you don't do it merely to understand more of what God is saying, but that you also look to see how it applies to your life, and what it means for you.  Pray that God will give you wisdom by His Holy Spirit, and then, be ready to see how God may open your eyes to that wisdom and its application into your life.

Trivial Pursuit

I remember watching the TV show "Cheers" in its heyday.  Cliff Clavin always struck me as a fascinating kind of person, mostly because I actually know several "Cliff Clavin's" in my life.  You know the kind.  People who know things that astound you, but the things they know actually serve no purpose other than to dazzle you with how many meaningless things that they know.

Over the years, I've also been amazed at how many facts people can know about the Bible, its history, and its content, and yet completely miss the main point of it all.  And this brings me to the heart of today's blog post.  One of the reasons that we study the Scriptures is because we want to know the things of God more and better.  Knowledge of who God is, of what He has done, of what He continues to do, and of who we are is an important thing. 

So we encounter God's Word to grow in our knowledge.  However, even as I say that, one of the things we must have pointed out to us is that knowledge alone is insufficient.  To paraphrase a verse in the Bible, even the demons "know" about God and who He is and what He has done, but that knowledge isn't gaining anything for them.  Merely knowing what God has done is insufficient for what God intends to do through His Word.

That's one side of the coin.  Knowledge merely for knowledge's sake isn't really that much gain, especially since the central key to the Bible is Jesus, and what He has done, and, as the last post mentioned, to guide us to belief in what He has done for us.  However, we can be found in Christ Jesus through faith, and yet still have a warped intent on gaining knowledge from the Bible.

A believer who encounters the Bible to know more about the things of God is commendable.  A believer who doesn't take that knowledge and "do" anything with it, though, falls far short of God's intent for the Scriptures.  Yes, God wants us to know more about Him as He reveals Himself.  Yes, He wants us to know what He has done.  Yes, He wants us to know how He has acted. 

But God doesn't intend for such knowledge to merely serve the function of expanding the brain of the one who reads.  One of the reasons for reading the Bible that we will address is that of making God known to others.  If we study the Bible only for our own personal edification, in a sense, we still fail some of the purpose of the Word.  Yes, we need to know about God so that we can share it with others.  And perhaps that right there is the key.  We approach the Word to know, with the intent that the knowledge is not merely for our edification, but for the building up of the community of faith.

Why Read?

Why read?  Of course, you might be asking yourself why you take up your valuable time to read these scatterbrained words here, but that's not the point I want to make.  The big question I have, that we will be looking at over the next number of posts, is simple.  Why do we read the Bible?

As we dive into this topic, there is something that I believe we should be clear about up front.  There is not one and only one proper, correct answer to this.  In fact, as we work our way through this series of posts, one thing I hope you come to realize is that God has given us His Word, and that Word does a variety of things to us as we engage that Word.  But today, I think it might be helpful to start with one very basic thing.

We read the Bible in order to know who Jesus is, and that He is the Christ/Messiah.  In John 5:39, Jesus is quoted as saying, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me..."  At the end of his Gospel account, in John 20:31, John reiterates this point.  "...these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." 

We Christians read the Bible because it tells us about Jesus.  That goes for the Old Testament as for the New.  We see in the Old how God prepared the way, and how the themes of God all come together in Jesus, in what He did, and in what that means for us.  Jesus is the heart and soul of the Bible.  We cannot truly understand the Bible if we do not understand Jesus, and we simply do not understand Jesus if we do not understand the Bible.

But even in that, there's more to it.  We don't read merely to know who Jesus is.  As John points out, what we read about Jesus is to guide us to believe in who He is, and in what He has done for us.  We could know who Jesus is, but if we don't believe in what Jesus has done and continues to do for us, we actually haven't gained anything.  Knowledge is okay, but faith takes precedence.

Of course, we'll hit on these keys again.  But as we start off today, we do so remembering that one of the many reasons we read the Bible is to know and to believe in Jesus.

That's Not What I Wanted

After a few posts, it starts to get a bit depressing to realize just how much I am a slave to so many things in life, especially as I realize the hold they have on me, and that they tend not to be very God pleasing at all.  But, in a sense, I'm also a slave to my sense of holding to the course, so to finish the week out, here's another area of life where I find myself a slave.

I am a slave to getting what I want.  Now, that doesn't sound so bad on the surface.  In fact, that's an idea that is drilled into our heads from the time we are young.  "You can be whatever you want."  "If you want something, work hard and it can become yours."  And so the drive to get or to become whatever you want can become a very powerful motivating force in a person's life.  But is that necessarily a good thing?

When I got married, I faced quite a dilemma.  I had quite a few things that I had been doing in a particular way for a while, and now they had to change.  I had to take another person and their desires into account.  I couldn't always get what I wanted.  I would go to the movies whenever I wanted, to see whatever show captured my fancy.  When I got married, not only did I have to work with another person who didn't exactly share my same interests in movies, but also had a very different view of movie watching than I did!

I'm a slave to wanting to do things that I want to do.  The thing is, one of the correctives that God puts in place in our lives is that we live among other people.  We cannot simply go forth to get our way, especially as we live in relationship with others.  And that is actually a very good thing.  God teaches us that our lives are not our own, despite what our American upbringing may declare.  While God often grants us the freedom to choose things like career, occupation, and spouse, He doesn't leave us as slaves to our desires and whims.  We simply have to take others into account.

Yet, I find myself rebelling against that from time to time.  Sure, most of the time I see the value and wisdom of my wife and my daughter, and in what they call for from me.  But there are times where I just want to do what I want to do.  And when it doesn't happen, I realize my slavery to such things as I become surly.  I pout.  I try to find a way to do what I want, hoping that it won't interfer with what others want.  But at heart, I realize that I am a slave.  I want to do what I want to do.

Help! My Mouth Leaks

As I reflect on my life, there are a lot of things that I find myself enslaved to.  One of the more unfortunate ones is my desire to always be talking.  Prior to meeting my wife, I used to babble and chatter nonstop.  If someone said something, I usually thought I had to say something in response.  I can imagine that it got quite old for people to hear one person say something, then I respond, someone else say something, I respond, and so on.  A conversation in which one person speaks every other time tends to get quite dull after a bit.

The problem isn't so much the speaking, though.  The problem is the thought process that goes behind the speaking.  The truth is, I thought that what I had to say was more important than what others had to say.  So I would simply speak what came to mind because, to my way of thinking, I had something important to say, and they all needed to hear it.  It didn't matter if it was informed or not, I had to say it.  And still today, even after having this pointed out to me, and with many intentional efforts to be a better listener, I still find that I'm a slave to my desire to want to say something and think that it's the most important thing they need to hear.

I truly find it fascinating how often the Bible emphasizes that wisdom is found more in keeping your mouth shut than in speaking your mind.  The Proverbs are filled with this kind of wisdom.  And truthfully, it takes a great deal of self control to keep from flapping my lips all the time.  Even though I am engaged in an occupation and vocation in which speaking is a big part of the job, I still find that, when I say less, I usually end up saying more.

Think of it this way.  If you feel you have something to say on everything, what tends to happen is that other people start to tune you out.  On the other hand, when you don't speak all the time, often people will listen to what you say, especially if you prove to have something wise to contribute.  We've all known that person in life that, when he or she spoke, you knew true gold was coming out, and so you paid attention.  You've also known that person who opened their mouth so often that you started to dread when you saw their lips part.

I'm a slave to wanting to say something in response to everything someone else says.  Even though, outwardly, I may have tamed that instinct some, it still lives within me.  I'm a slave to the thought that my thoughts are worthy of having everyone hear them, invited or not.

When is Enough, Enough?

I had a brief moment of angst this morning.  I had gotten the call that one of God's dear children had been called to recieve her eternal life.  Since it was morning, I was in the process of my morning routine.  You know, shower, eat breakfast, get dressed, that sort of thing.  And I decided to put on a red button-up shirt, in my mind a symbol of Christ's blood shed for that dearly departed sister in Christ.  So I went to my closet with my dress shirts and started looking.  I saw a sort of burnt orange shirt, but it wasn't the one I was looking for.  I saw a couple of really dark shirts, but they weren't my red shirt.  I saw a lot of blue and pastel colored button up shirts, but I couldn't find the exact red shirt I was looking for.  That is, until I started looking in between shirts.  There it was, having been slightly pushed back by the weight of the other shirts pressing against it.

It struck me again right then, as it has so many times in recent years.  I have too many shirts.  That closet space that I was looking in was merely one part of one closet of mine.  Yes, I have many more shirts, and they all hang there the same way.  So many packed in that, when you put a bundle of shirts away, they push the ones back that hang right next to them.  I have too many shirts.

I am a slave to having stuff.  I have purchased practically every shirt that hangs in my closets, along with the countless Tshirts filling drawers, and so many other things crammed around my closets, under the beds, and in boxes.  I am a slave to having things.  And that's when the words of Jesus so clearly ring in my ears, when I am confronted by all my stuff.

"Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required."  "Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat' or 'what shall we wear'?"  And then, in an encounter with a young man versed in God's law, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treaure in heaven; and come, follow Me." 

I'm a slave to my stuff much more than I'm a slave to Jesus.  I like to have stuff.  I have stuff in places that hasn't been used in a year and a half.  At some point, I felt that I needed it.  But now, it sits unused.  And the troubling thing is, the value of that stuff would probably be enough to feed small villages in other parts of the world.  But my heritage is that of so many others in this nation.  I need stuff.  I want stuff.  And I even get stuff that I don't use.

When I think about how painful it would be if Jesus were to say the same thing to me that He said to that young man, it really does rip at me inside.  But that's so often how God confronts those things that enslave us.  He puts us in conflict with them, and exposes how we so often want more stuff rather than want God and His will.  Stuff in and of itself isn't bad.  It's our desire for that stuff that ultimately threatens to enslave us and draw us away from our Lord Jesus.

I hate that I am a slave to stuff.  I actually do look forward to the day when Jesus completely and finally frees me from that slavery, even if it means passing through the doorway of death, or welcoming Him back as He re-creates this world.  Until then, Lord Jesus, keep me uncomfortable in my slavery to my stuff.

I Am A Slave

Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin."  John 8:34

I am a slave.  There are many times in my life where I don't want to be a slave, and there are many times where I actually don't mind being a slave all that much. 

How am I a slave?  In the sense that Jesus spoke about in the verse I quoted above.  Whoever commits sin is a slave to sin.  I sin.  I am a slave.  And the reality that I live in shows that this is indeed a very complicated situation.

There are those things that I really fight and battle against.  I see the sin in my life, and I don't want it to be there anymore.  I struggle with it.  I ask others to help in the struggle.  I come before God, admitting that I'm a slave to these things, and praying for His forgiveness and His Spirit to work toward their conquest in my life.  I don't want to be a slave to these, and so I engage in a battle against them.

The problem is, there are also those things that I am a slave to, but they don't really bother me all that much.  I'm going to post about what some of these look like over the next few days, maybe not in particularly specific ways, but to show how invasive and pervasive some of this slavery really is.  I'll be looking at how I don't really mind being a slave to some of these things because being a slave is actually fairly comforting.  However, it becomes a whole lot less comfortable when I encounter what God says about them, and have to view them from the lens of my redemption and my faith.

But in many respects, this all starts as I realize the truth of what Jesus spoke so many centuries ago, but still applies to my life, and the lives of all people who ever live.  I am a slave.  I don't want to be one, but I am. 

It's hard to understand

Have you ever read something from the Bible and wondered what it was talking about?  Good news.  You're not alone!  In fact, I would dare say that every single person on the face of this earth would have to say the same thing (providing that they actually did read through the Bible).  We simply cannot understand some of the things that God communicates with us.

Personally, I think the book of the Bible that best personifies this is the last one.  The revelation of Jesus that was given to John has been one of the more confusing books of the Bible for a long time.  I would even dare to say that this is especially the case for those of us who were raised in the "Western" way of thinking.  I say that because the way we are taught to think greatly impacts how we understand what we read, and if our way of thinking is different from that of the writers, then we truly have a difficult time understanding.

In recent years, much has been made about the differences between "Eastern" and "Western" ways of thinking.  These are actually very helpful when it comes to our understanding of the Bible.  We "Western" people tend to like things that are presented in a logical fashion.  Such letters as Paul's to the Romans and the Galatians are popular because they are presented in such a fashion.  They move from point to point in a way that makes sense to us, and therefore, they appeal greatly to us.

But what happens if we try to enforce our way of thinking onto a section of the Bible that isn't fitting for it?  I would suggest that's what happens quite often with Revelation.  It's written in a style familiar to Eastern ways of thinking, but not Western.  So if we apply our "Western" way of thinking to it, we come out with something far different than what it was written to convey.

Take the idea that Revelation paints a timeline of world events.  That is taking a "Western" mindset and applying it improperly to the book.  In one sense, it's easy to point out why this is wrong.  If you take it as a timeline of world events, the problem you encounter is that the world ends three times in the book!  And yet, this approach continues to be prominent in the "Western" world, made popular by such books as the "Left Behind" series.

Next week, I'll present a bit of a different approach that will help us see a little bit better what is going on in such a book as this one.  But prepared to be challenged, because it will take thinking in a way that is unfamiliar with our way of thinking in which we were raised.  But who knows?  You might learn something as we do that!

What do you mean?

Okay, keep up with the following statements if you can.

--The other day I saw a bat flying through the air.

--I always love talking about the fall.

--I can't bear to see a bare bear.

What do all these statements have in common?  They have words that have multiple meanings.  In the first one, am I talking about a baseball bat flying through the air, or a rodent out hunting insects?  Talking about the fall, is it the kind of fall like when someone falls down (or the fall into sin), or a season of the year?  And in the last one, we get not only the same word with two different meanings, but another word that sounds the same!

Now, just imagine that you were reading a poem or a story about bats at a baseball game, and you didn't know if the writer was talking about the wooden bats or the living bats.  How would you be able to tell which one he was talking about?  What if he was intentionally trying to make it confusing by not making it clear either way?  Do you think that you might end up a bit frustrated as you tried to figure it out?

I bring this up because this kind of thing actually happens fairly often in the Bible.  Large sections of the Bible are poetic, and one of the things poetry often tries to do is play on words with different meanings, even if they happen to be the same word.  So sometimes, as we read sections of the Bible, we find that the meaning of the particular section isn't as clear as we would hope.

So what do we do when we find ourselves wondering what the author meant?  Well, sometimes, we admit that there may be a reason for it.  The author may have been doing a word play in the original language of the Bible, and we have a tough time 1) figuring out what he means and 2) deciding how to best convey the sense of that in another language (English). 

I mention this because it's worth us struggling with the text of the Bible to figure out what it's saying.  It just seems as though God knows that we're going to get more out of it if we have to struggle to figure it out than if He just simply said, "Here's what I have to say."  Sure, He does that at times, too, but since we've been talking about learning, it really does seem that we learn more when we have to work with the words and struggle with the words, and maybe that's part of what God is trying to communicate to us, as well.

Powerful Learning

How many of you have a story about when you really learned that you have fingerprints?  Well, I do.  It happened because I was a curious little boy.  You know how you can tell a child over and over again that something is hot, but for some reason, they don't really seem to catch on until they touch something that's hot and learn what hot really means?  Well, that's part of my story.

I grew up on a farm.  One thing you often find on a farm is a welder.  I had always been told that the metal was hot when it had just been welded on.  But one day, I must have decided that I needed to discover that for myself.  So I leaned down and picked up a piece of metal that had very recently been welded upon.  Needless to say, it was pretty hot.  I remember my fingers hurting (Thanks be to God that I only picked it up with the tips of my fingers.).  And as I looked down at my fingers to see the damage and to figure out why they hurt so much, I noticed something.  I had patterns on my fingers.  At first, I thought that they came from the metal.  So I watched over the next few days, but they stayed there.  Thus, I learned that I had fingerprints.

In a way, this story emphasizes the point I want to make today.  It's great when we learn from what others tell us.  However, more often than not, we seem to learn through experience.  That is, we have to experience something before we really learn it.  I learned how hot metal gets when I touched it, even though I had been told many times that it was hot.  For some reason, that just seems to be how we humans are.

In that same vein, we also learn when we have to come to the conclusions for ourselves.  In one way, I believe that is why Jesus so often spoke in parables.  When you have to think about the story and figure out the point, that's when learning is most effective.  Simply being told "this is what you need to know" so often doesn't seem to get through.  Sure, it does for some, but for many of us, we learn as we think things through.

Too often, preachers seem to lose sight of this.  We get up there and tell you what the problem is, how God has solved it, and what that means for you.  While helpful, I also believe that it is appropriate at times for God's people to have to come to the conclusion on their own.  Leave things hanging a bit.  Let them wrestle with what exactly it means or says.  I'm convinced that God's people, through the leading of God's Spirit, will often be led to what God is saying, and that will make it stick even more than if the preacher had simply stated it outright.

Agree?  Disagree?  Comments and thoughts are welcome.

What??? Change my mind???

"When was the last time you ever had your mind changed by what you read in the Bible?"  That was a question that the main presenter made at my annual pastor's conference earlier this week.  For those who don't know what these things are, every year, the various districts of my church body hold conferences for pastors and church workers to go and be challenged and encouraged in their ministry and their ministerial formation.  So for the past few days, that's where I have been, having my mind and thinking sharpened while being challenged to continue to grow.

That's a great question.  When did you have your mind changed by something you read in the Bible?  I have to confess, there are times when I start to read a part of the Bible, and since it is so familiar, I already "know" what it's going to say.  I already have in mind the "applications" for those teachings.  Sadly, when I do that, there are times when I miss something simply because I'm so familiar with the section.  Maybe it's a nuance that I haven't picked up before.  Or maybe I simply haven't realized how it says something that applies to what I have been thinking all along, but is even greater or more in depth than I had thought before.

I do have to say, though, that over the past several years, there have been frequent times where I would read, and suddenly the Spirit would open something new up in my mind.  It hasn't often shown that I was thinking wrongly before (though that has happened once or twice), but rather, it has shown me a richness and deepness that I had not previously thought or seen.  Or, in a few occasions, it has shown me that there is much more going on than what I had previously thought.  At those times, it's been humbling to realize that something so familiar can contain so much more than what I can ever fully comprehend.

There are some things that I know the Scriptures reveal that will likely not change.  However, I also realize that God's Spirit, working through those words, will constantly be working to change me.  I'll never know fully while I live in this world and have all my human limitations and nature.  So I constantly look forward to the next time God reveals more going on than what I had previously thought or suspected, which leads to even more joy in the next time I engage God's Word.

Who ya talking to?

There are a lot of people out there who claim that the Bible has contradictions.  Now, I'm not going to harp on how they often don't actually know what those contradictions are, and that they are typically just mouthing an argument that they think holds water.  But I do want to acknowledge that there are statements that often seem to be at odds with each other, especially when you pull them out of the context and simply compare one verse to another, especially when they both come out of the mouth of the same person.

Now, I've already given away part of my thought in that previous paragraph.  One thing that many "contradictions theory" people hold is that Jesus says different things, or that the Bible says different things.  I will readily acknowledge that.  For example, in one story, Jesus tells a person caught in sin that He doesn't condemn that person, and then, in another, He pretty much seems to blast what seems to be a fairly minor thing.  Or, in once case, He says that those who aren't against Him are for Him, and yet, in another instance, He says that those who aren't for Him are against Him.

So we might want to say, Jesus, You seem to be speaking out both sides of your mouth.  But here's the rub.  We have to look at the story in which these different statements are offered to understand why the Bible says the thing it does.  In one case, Jesus is speaking to someone who seems to have been set up merely to try to prove a point to Jesus.  In another case, Jesus is talking to people who take great care to count their tithes, but forget things like God's mercy and forgiveness.  In one case, Jesus is speaking to those who want to stop someone who is acting in Jesus' name, and in another case, Jesus is speaking to those who are actively working against Him.

In other words, context actually serves to clear up most "contradictions" in the Bible.  We could simply ask the question, Who ya talking to?  If Jesus was talking to someone who was convinced that they were right with God on their own, He's going to answer very differently than He would to someone who recognized their sin and asked for forgiveness.  If Jesus was talking with someone who was content with their sin, He would say something far different than He would to the person who felt great remorse over his sin.

To whom is this statement directed?  That's a great question to ask when supposed "contradictions" are brought to our attention.  And honestly, I think it should fall on the shoulders of the person who brings up these contradictions.  In that sense, it's obvious that they need to do their homework.  They need to point out the specific incidents that they are talking about.  And then, they need to examine those to see why the statement is made at that time, in that place, to that particular person or group of people. 

You might notice that this requires them and us to have a decent working knowledge of what the Bible actually says, and to go even further in knowing the context in which these things are found.  Yes, a pretty tall task, but I honestly don't recall God or Jesus ever saying that the life of faith would be easy.

The Old, Dusty Bible

There's a thought out there that I go back and forth on a lot.  It's a thought that is impacted by a lot of things.  First, we live in a very literate society.  The Bible is available to read in many different formats, versions, sizes, levels, etc.  Lots of churches have Bibles that they will give out to people if they need one.  Access to the Bible is not typically a problem.

That has led to an emphasis on regularly reading the Bible.  The phrase you often hear is, "get into the Word."  It's a great idea.  Read what God has said.  Not only do you grow in knowing what God actually said (since there a lot of things out that there are supposed to be from the Bible, but that actually aren't out there, such as 'God helps those who help themselves'.), but you also give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to nurture your faith.

The thing is, such an emphasis has often seemed to lead more to guilt than to building up people in faith.  The Bible is available, and yet, so many have a remarkably difficult time creating time to actually sit down and read it.  I honestly wish I had a quarter for the number of times I've heard something along the lines of, "I just haven't had the time."

Part of me wants to point out to people that it's a matter of priority.  However, there is another part of me that works in my mind.  It's the part that thinks about the centuries of illiteracy.  For a bulk of Christians who are part of God's eternal kingdom, access to the Bible wasn't something that they enjoyed.  They didn't have the opportunity to have one or more sitting around at home.  Even if they did, they couldn't have read them.  So saying that they really need to be in the Word would almost be a laughable statement.

Were those Christians worse off than us today, because of their inability to regularly be reading the Bible?  Sure, they may have heard longer sections during their worship times, but still, we have so much better access now.  And yet, do we think that their faith life was somehow inadequate?  Were they "less" of a Christian because they didn't have the opportunity to read and study as we do?

Granted, different times, different ages, different expectations.  Plus, God makes it pretty clear that we don't get welcomed into His eternal kingdom based upon how much we know or read or studies, or how much time we devoted to His Word.  And so, I really do struggle at times with telling people that they should be reading their Bibles.  Are they "lesser" Christians if they don't?  Are they dishonoring God if they aren't reading?  And if we assume they are, then what about those who didn't have the ability or opportunity?

It would seem, in the end, to boil down more to our attitude toward what God has said, much more than the opportunity that God provides.  What if pre-literate people valued what God said more because it was less accessible?  What if we don't value it as highly simply because it is at our fingertips most of the time?  We could access it at any time, and so we downplay the opportunities we miss because there will be more of them.  And then, they just keep getting pushed off again and again and again.

In the end, it seems like the discussion revolves more around our attitude toward the Bible than in our reading of it.  Yes, the benefits of reading it and spending time with it are incalculable.  However, if we spend five minutes at the beginning of the week memorizing a verse, and then spending the rest of the week reflecting often on that verse, it would seem a far better thing than if we said we would read for 10 minutes a day, but not really process what we read because we were more intent on just getting through with the reading.

As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Do I Have To Go To Church?

There's a story I remember hearing a long time ago.  It's Sunday morning.  The lady shakes her husband awake and tells him that he needs to get up and get ready for church.  He grumbles a little bit, then rolls back over and goes back to sleep.  Ten minutes later, she shakes him awake again, telling him that he needs to get up and get ready for church.  It's very important for him to be there.  Once again, he grumbles, and then rolls over and goes back to sleep.  Finally, ten more minutes later, she shakes him awake and says that it's now urgent for him to get up and get ready.  He sits up, looks at her, and replies, "I don't want to.  I don't like the people there.  They don't like me.  I just don't want to go."  His wife looks back at him and replies, "You have to go.  You're the pastor!"

Sure, you might have gotten a few chuckles from that.  I have to admit that there have been more than a few mornings where I have been less than enthused about getting up on Sunday to go through the whole usual Sunday morning thing.  It's not that I dislike my career or anything.  In fact, I really enjoy pretty much everything I get to do in the context of a Sunday morning.  But yes, there are just some mornings where your get up and go has just got up and left.

Yet, I still get up and go.  True, I have less of an option than most.  My presence or absence will be noticed more acutely than most.  However, I suspect that there are a great number of people who truly wonder about the vale of regularly attending worship.  I've heard some of the reasoning.  "I can worship Jesus wherever I happen to be."  "I love Jesus, but His followers annoy me."  "It's too early."  "I don't get much out of it."  "It's too boring."

We humans are great at making excuses.  And yet, it's still there.  In fact, it's one of the ten words that God spoke through Moses.  "Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy."  What does this mean?  We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it. 

I would even go a bit further with encouragement for worship.  In the context of worship, we receive God's gracious gifts to us and are strengthened by His Word and Spirit.  But even that still focuses on us as an individual.  Worship is just as much about the community as it is about us as individuals.

We gather to worship for the additional purpose of strengthening and encouraging one another.  We don't exist as a branch separate from the trunk, or from one another since we are all connected to the same trunk.  The Bible uses different pictures to show our connectedness, a vine and branches, members of a body, a gathering of people called to a specific purpose, and the like.  Also throughout the Bible are the exhortations to be with one another, to encourage one another, uplift each other, carry each other's burdens, and the like.

In other words, we are to be active in gathering with God's saints, and it's as much about their need for us as it is our need for God's gifts of grace.  We also need them and the support that they bring.  So when you ask yourself, Do I have to go to Church, just remember that being in worship is not only about you.  It's about God, His grace, and helping and supporting your neighbor in every need.

So Tell Me About Labor

For those of you who are mothers, no, I am not asking about the process of bringing your children into this world.  While I love hearing stories about such things, that's not the topic for today.  Instead, I want to focus once again on the kind of labor that consists of the work we have to do in this world.

The thing is, I want to argue that we, today, in our North American culture and society, have far too narrowly defined work or, to use my word, labor.  We tend to equate it with our work, or our career.  In fact, we do this at the expense of other roles that we  also "work" at, roles such as being a husband or wife, son or daughter, mother or father, caregiver or provider, brother or sister, and many other such roles.

Over the past several years, I've really had my eyes opened to just how in depth God goes when talking about our labor in these other roles.  God has much more to say about how fathers are to treat their children, for example, than in what men should do in their chosen careers.  He talks a lot more about how we relate to one another as neighbor far more than He ever mentions anything about our career.  And yet, in our skewed view of existence, we tend to place the greater importance on the career, often for the simple (and wrongful) reason that it brings home the money on which we live.

There are all sorts of roads I can go down with that, but suffice it to say, God created us to have labor in this world, but labor far more involved than simply our chosen careers.  And God so often seems to take those other labors far more seriously than He does our career.  Without disparaging our career, it truly does seem like being a good father carries far greater implications than in being a good manager, marketer, etc.

If we were to ask God, so, tell me about labor, it truly seems like He would point us to things that are so often not spectacular, but are instead foundational.  And so it shouldn't surprise us when the chief labors of our lives happen to be those things that we are involved in every single day, always in relation to other people.

A Labor of Love

I remember someone once either saying or quoting to me something like this: do what you love, and find a way to get paid for it, and then you're getting paid to do what you love.  In a sense, if you can find a way to get paid to do the things that you most love in life, you'll always love your labor, and your work won't feel much like a burden.

I share these sentiments in some ways.  Actually, in a lot of ways.  I love the labor in which I am engaged.  I find joy in sharing what God has to say, in encouraging and exhorting people, and in teaching people what God says and what that means for their lives.  There is a great joy in that.  Sure, there are some parts of the labor that are a little more tough, like comforting people in loss, supporting them in sickness, or helping them to find solutions to the challenges of life, but really, I more and more believe that God created me with the desire to do that, and I'm very fortunate that it's part of the task to which I am called.

However, I do think that we, in our North American culture and society, have gone too far in one way.  We tend to think of our vocations as merely those places where we go to work.  In a simple, mathematical way, we think Vocation=Work.  And while there is some truth to that, I would argue that God's Word in the Bible displays a much deeper approach to vocation.

Think of it this way.  God doesn't really have a lot to say about the individual directions that we should go in regard to our work in this world.  Whether I work to install carpets, fight fires, stay at home with my child, or minister to people with God's Word, doesn't seem to make that huge of a difference to God.  Sure, He creates us with certain talents, abilities, and desires that tend to work better in one field than another, but overall, it sure doesn't seem that we can choose the "wrong" career in God's eyes.  (Of course, I should mention that any careers which are blatantly sinful would not be included in this category.  I'm sure you can think of a few on your own.)

However, there are a great number of "vocations" that God does say a lot about in the Bible.  Tomorrow I plan to touch on a few of these to show us that God really does have a much greater scope of the thought of vocation than what we tend to apply.  So stay tuned!