The Loneliness of Conviction

One of the sides of leadership that I have never been able to prepare for, and really have always inadequately dealt with, is the loneliness that comes from conviction.  What do I mean by that, you ask?  Great question.

The Loneliness of Conviction comes when you know that there is something that needs to be done, or an issue that needs to be addressed, and you realize that you are the one who is being called upon to lead the charge.  Others may think or feel the same way that you do, but they have not been given the opportunity or strength to speak up or stand up.  Yet others may see your conviction as unnecessary, needlessly causing conflict and stirring up the pot from their normal, known, often comfortable ways.  Some may even stand actively against you, whether they (or you) are right or wrong, but simply find comfort in where they stand.

I will admit that this particular matter, the loneliness of conviction, has led to more sleepless nights than I would ever have hoped for.  I will also admit that even typing these words causes me to question myself.  The vulnerability that I admit to having in being lonely and in, at times, wanting not to be the one who has such conviction, is truly gut-wrenching.  However, I also have come to believe very firmly in what Paul wrote when he wrote that, in weakness, the power of Christ is revealed.  Vulnerability truly does have a way of opening up doors for the Spirit that power, pride, and confidence don't.

The loneliness of conviction is not something you typically learn when dealing with leadership.  We often want to think that we will be able to win the argument, to persuade others to our side.  We want to think that our influence will change their minds and their actions.  And, truthfully, sometimes our conviction is simply the conviction of a better way to do something, but the "old" way is known, comfortable, and may even be showing signs of life, however faint.  The conviction to move out into the unknown is not something given to everyone.  Why do you think the people grumbled against Moses when they were out in the wilderness?  Moses had the conviction that this was from God, and yet, even as badly as the people had it, it was easier to grumble against it.  And even Moses struggled with the loneliness of conviction.

The loneliness of conviction is real.  Perhaps it is something that you have never thought of before, and if you are reading this, I hope you don't go away disheartened.  Yes, the loneliness of conviction is hard, but often, it means that God has prepared you for this moment (think Esther, as her cousin Mordecai would tell her that God may even have put her in the position she was in for just a time as this). God has also redeemed this, as Jesus Himself knows the loneliness of conviction, eventually being completely abandoned by all as He bore the weight of the sin of the world and the wrath of God, only to overcome it with His resurrection.  It is His strength that flows.  Will we fail?  Yes.  Will we doubt?  Yes.  Will we be lonely?  Yes.  Will we feel guilty if we fail to act or stand on our convictions?  Yes.  And yet, there will be a Savior there who has scars of His own and who can tell you that He can and has redeemed even this moment.

A New Creation and An Old Man

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."  From 1 Corinthians 5:17, though please read 1 Corinthians 5:1-21 to get the whole context.

"Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God."  From Romans 7:4, though read Romans 7:1-25 to get the whole context.

Yesterday, I wrote about the new thing that happens when a person is baptized into the Christian faith (more accurately, into the name of Jesus).  From conception, a sinful person (from now one, the Old Man) was present.  But in the washing waters of baptism, a new person is born from God.  That new person is a new creation, the one spoken of in the verse from 1 Corinthians 5 above.

As we live as both a sinful "Old Man" and as a new creation, we have a struggle.  Both battle for supremacy in our lives.  And so we are guided back to the things that God has spoken to us over the ages (i.e., the Bible) to see what He has to say about this struggle.  And that's when something happens that can actually be kind of confusing to us.

We hear God speak words of comfort in many places.  It's good to hear those words.  We often find that we need comfort, since so much in life beats us up and wears us down.  But then, in other places, God speaks words that aren't so comforting.  He even condemns certain things, saying that they are not to be done.  And as we read through those different words, we wonder which one reveals the real heart and intent of God.

Actually, God intends both messages.  However, an important thing for us to know is that they speak to the two different "people" that we are in Christ Jesus.  As the "Old Man", we hear that God says we are doing things that we should not do, and that we are failing to do things that He created and commanded us to do.  As we realize our failing in this, we hear the word of condemnation.  We hear that our actions, thoughts, and words have consequences.  We even hear that we cannot escape those on our own.

But then, we also find times that God is speaking to the new creation.  God is comforting that new creation, letting us know that we may struggle now, but God has everything in His hands.  His will shall indeed be done.  And that new creation looks for guidance from God when it comes to living the life of faith.  It looks to God's Word to see what that new life looks like, and how it is lived out.  And guess what?  That new life often finds that the same words that bring condemnation to the "Old Man" serve to give guidance to the new creation.  The same words, yet very different application.

I'll continue to expand on this in future posts, but this one is lengthy enough already. 

I Struggle With Myself

Before you read on today, you may find it helpful to review the words of Romans 7:13-25.  (I believe you can simply scroll over it in this blog entry and read it.) 

There are times in my life where I find myself in a struggle.  It's the kind of struggle that I'm pretty sure most of us are acquainted with.  We know the good and right thing to do.  We even want to do the good and right thing.  But when the moment arrives, we don't do the good and right thing.  Our friend confides something in us, and for some reason, our mouth has a hard time keeping it quiet.  We see the lady whose groceries have just fallen out of their bags as she's loading them in her car, but we really don't want to be bothered to stop and help.  We know that others will not like the language that comes from our mouths, but we fail to put the filter into place and just allow those words to slip out.

I could add many more things to this list, some much more terrible than the ones I have already mentioned.  But that's a struggle we find ourselves in.  We know what's right, but we fail to do the right.  We know something is wrong, and we try not to do it, but we cannot keep it from slipping out.  It's not a unique battle to any one of us.  We all go through it.  And as we read these words, it should also be comforting to know that Paul went through the same thing.  (As a brief aside, I know we often tend to make the biblical people more holy than they really were in their lives, and sometimes think that they didn't go through the same struggles and doubts that we do.  Rest assured, there were not somehow more super-human than us.  They went through the same things.)

I want to do the right thing, the good thing, but so often I find the wrong thing, the bad thing, actually taking place.  It's the struggle that I have with myself, and that you have with yourself.  And for those who are Christians, God tells us that we shouldn't be surprised at this struggle.

When God made us His very own in the washing waters of baptism, we suddenly found ourselves in a new position.  The old, sinful self was still very much alive and present within us, as it had been since we were conceived.  But now, something new was present.  The new life, the new creation that we are in Jesus, came to be present within us as well.  And suddenly, we became a battle ground.  These two fight against each other.  As we live our lives, sometimes it seems as though one is winning, and then the other one seems to gain the upper hand.  It's kind of like the kid's game of tug-o-war.  One minute the Spirit and our new life seems to pulling harder, and then the next, our sinful nature seems to gain more strength.

Over the next few weeks, I want to spend some time reflecting on these two "selves" that we find within us as Christians.  Different parts of God's Word speak to one or the other, and sometimes to both.  We apply the things we read in the Bible to each one in different ways.  And so I intend to walk us through some of these differences, since there is a lot of confusion out there in our world when it comes to talking about our life in Christ Jesus.  As always, throughout these moments of me thinking out loud, I welcome your thoughts, comments, and questions.

Spiritualizing Faith

During the time of the Reformation, there was a group of people that Martin Luther regularly made as his targets.  Granted, you could say that there were quite a few groups that he targeted, but for today, I want to focus on the monastic orders of his day.  There seems to have been a prevailing thought that, if you offered your life to God and then went away to a convent or abbey, you were serving God in a far "higher", holier way than anyone else. 

The problem with this, as Luther saw it, was that the individual who did this basically left the rest of society in order to focus on God.  While the focus on God part wasn't bad in and of itself, Luther did take exception to a couple of things that this gave birth to.  First, such an action started to be seen as far higher and holier than any other act of faith.  Second, it took people away from their relationships with their neighbors.  Their faith, in essence, started to become a thing between them and God, without any interaction with those that the Bible rightfully would call their neighbors.

Faith was becoming spiritualized.  Your "rightness" with God came to be seen as how much you could focus on Him rather than in living out your faith in the relationships that God has given in life.  So Luther went to battle against this idea.  He would point out that, for example, a husband who loved and cared for his wife and family was fulfilling God's will and commands far greater than the man who left society behind to focus only on God.  The milkmaid who milked her cow to provide for her family and neighbors was doing far more in fulfillment of God's law than those in the convents and monestaries.

What was Luther's basis for this?  It basically boiled down to one major point.  God tells us in the Bible that we are to care for our neighbor and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  One can hardly do that by separating oneself from the neighbor.  God's Word doesn't command us to go off and live life separated from everyone, but does speak much about our relationships with one another.  From that basis, Luther asserted that it's far better to do the things that God's Word does say rather than to invent things that may seem more holy, but aren't actually spoken by God.

We can still find ourselves in this same dilemma, though.  It's far easier to tell someone that we will pray for them than to actually find a way to help them in their need.  And this is part of the reason why I think Luther explained the commandments in his Small Catechism the way he did.  For almost all of them, he doesn't just explain what God wants us to avoid, but he then adds a part of what it actually means that we do in fulfillment of the commandment.  Not murdering doesn't simply mean that we don't kill our neighbor, but that we lift up our hands to help him in every physical need.  Not bearing false witness doesn't mean simply that we don't lie about our neighbor, but that we seek to build him up with our words and how we talk about him. 

In many respects, our faith is between us and God.  However, the realm in which that faith is lived out is always in the context of our neighbor.  So I encourage you today to think about how God gives you the opportunity to put flesh and blood to your faith in your relationships with your neighbors.

Seriously!?!?!

The title word for today's blog post is one that comes from my mouth fairly often.  Usually, it's while I'm driving, especially when I see someone do something that just simply doesn't make sense.  For example, last week I was driving along one of our local neighborhood roads and was behind another car.  We were driving along a residential area road, and there was a person on the side of the road who wanted to cross the road.  The car in front of me stopped in the middle of the block (without a crosswalk or any other sign indicating that the pedestrian could walk there) in order to let the person walk in front of them, even though no one was coming the other way, and that car and I were the only ones on the road.  They stopped merely to be "nice" to the pedestrian and not have them wait the extra 5 seconds it would have taken for us to pass and for that person to walk across the road after us.  And out of my mouth came the word: "Seriously!!!"

As a Christian, there have been any number of times when I have had to say this about something that I have done which affects my relationship with God and with my fellow man.  As a student of God's Word, I know a great deal about what God says we should be doing, what we should be avoiding, and how we should be acting toward one another.  And yet, despite that knowledge, every once in a while I find myself doing something that calls for me to say "Seriously!?!?!?" to myself.

I also see this in the lives of so many other Christians.  In one way, it really is quite shocking how often we do things that are blatantly against God's will and word, things that we expect that we should know better than to do.  And I have uttered that word "Seriously" on more than one occasion when I have witnessed how God's people act regarding their faith and the living out of that faith in their lives.

In some ways, I expect that God desires for all of His people to take their faith and the living out of that faith seriously.  It's not merely an expectation on my part, but it's found throughout the Bible.  God calls for His people to be holy people, to be perfect as God is perfect.  Granted, we all know that we are incapable of that, a condition which the Bible calls sin.  And yet, when God's people fail to take their faith and life seriously, history shows us that God will often allow us the quite firm reminder that being His chosen people doesn't mean we don't take Him or our faith seriously.

Let's face it.  It's easy to fail to take our faith seriously.  Instead of being kind to another person, it's far easier to say what we are really thinking about them.  Instead of recognizing our neighbor in need, it's far easier to find an excuse not to take the time or effort to help them.  Instead of taking time to pray or focus on God's Word, it's far easier to find time to do other, more enjoyable things.  And the list could go on and on and on.

I think this is one of the reasons why so many see Christians as hypocrites.  It's not that we fail to do these things, but rather, we present the image that we take these things seriously, but then, when people look at our lives, they don't see the evidence of it.  If we were seen to be honest and admit that we fail at it more than we actually succeed, and that we turn to God for forgiveness, the charge might be much less daunting.  But when we put forth the image that we are doing it, and yet, the evidence of our lives presents the contrary, then we are far more open to the charge of hypocrisy.

That's why I need the frequent reminder that I need to heed this word too.  When it comes to my faith and life, I really need to take it more "Seriously!"  I think it's something that all Christians can grow in, and so don't be surprised to see it popping up as a common refrain on this blog. 

So I close today with one simple question.  How seriously do you take the living out of your faith?  And as you answer that question, just picture me looking at you saying, "Seriously?"

Finding Joy!

Yesterday, something really fun happened in my life.  My favorite baseball team growing up won their playoff series and advanced in the playoffs.  Last year, I had a great deal of joy as they made it all the way to the World Series for the first time ever (up until that point, they had won a total of one playoff game, and had never advanced).  For those who may be wondering, my favorite baseball team is the Texas Rangers.

I remember growing up and finding a great deal of joy and happiness when the sports teams I supported did well.  When my favorite football team, the Dallas Cowboys, had some good years in the 1990s, I celebrated, and in many cases, my joy in life ebbed and flowed depending on how well my teams did.  When they won, I was happy.  When they lost, I was sad.

That's what makes it a bit incredible now.  I'm happy for my baseball team, but my joy and happiness does not depend on how well or poor they happen to be doing.  While I would still consider myself a big sports fan, I have come to realize that joy in life comes from many different things, and especially, from my relationship with God and my fellow believers.

In a letter to Christians in a town called Philippi, Paul writes that they should "rejoice in the Lord always."  (Philippians 4:4)  When I daily think that God has made me, and He has molded me to be the person that I am, I find a lot of reasons to rejoice.  I am given the opportunity to work and use the gifts that He has given me, and I strive to do so in a way that points to Him.  So I find joy that my life, in some small way, points to my God.  I find each day that I stand in need of His forgiveness, grace, and mercy, and rejoice to find that He has a never-ending supply of those to pour into my life because of Jesus and the cross.  Each day, I find countless opportunities to be a neighbor to others, to demonstrate love for my neighbors in so many different ways, and I take great joy that I recognize some of them and see God's hand at work when I do so.

I also see how God pours out joy into my life.  I see it when I spend time talking to my wife, and discovering daily just how much God loves me by having her share my life.  I see it when I have regular interactions with people that I enjoy being around, with whom I enjoy talking, and being able to share in their joy, even as I share my joy with them.  I see how God has created many relationships through my frequent runs, and how He has opened the door to many wonderful conversations through those relationships. 

All of these bring much greater joy to me now than how well my baseball team may ever do.  Yes, if my Rangers win the World Series, I will be jumping up and down, and may even buy a T-Shirt to remember the occasion.  But no matter how happy that kind of event might make me, it pales in comparison to the daily joy that I see God providing around me, through me, and to me, in so many ways.

A Beginner's Guide to Spiritual Discipline

Last week, I listed out a number of different ways that we use the word "discipline".  Over the next few posts, we will take a look at spiritual discipline to flesh out what that means, what it might "look" like, and how we can continue to grow in Christian maturity by disciplining ourselves.

Spiritual discipline would be a dedication or commitment to spiritual matters that grow us in relationship with God.  Yes, God is the one who originates this relationship, as we would not know God unless He told us about Himself in the Bible.  From nature, we can see that there has to be "something" that made everything, but that in itself does not tell us about the nature or characteristics of God.

So God tells us about Himself.  As Christians, we believe that He does this through the Bible.  The Bible is God's way of telling us about Himself.  So, it would stand to reason, if we want to know more about God, or to understand Him more, we would do so by checking out what He tells us about Himself.

This is one big reason why pastors constantly encourage God's people to grow in their discipline of reading the Bible.  It's the only place that we learn of God as a loving God, a merciful God, a forgiving God, a God who takes a very intense, personal interest in our lives.  The spiritual discipline of reading God's Word is intended to guide us to a deeper relationship with God.

At the same time that we do that, the Bible tells us that God's Spirit does His work on us as we read.  God's Spirit is the one who plants, grows, and nurtures faith in the Christian.  When we read God's Word, the Spirit continues this work inside of us.  So, even as we may engage in the action of reading, God is working to bring us into closer relationship with Him through the Spirit's work.

That's the importance of this spiritual discipline.  God draws us to Him, tells us about Himself, and then works in us as we read His Word.

Meditation and God's Word

"My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise."  Psalm 119:148

What comes to mind when you hear the word "meditate"?  I dare say that, for many, some sort of mystical image comes to mind.  A person sitting on the floor, legs crossed, arms on the knees, and some kind of "mm, mmmm" sound being made by the person meditating.

If that is the image that many have of meditation, then what does Christian meditation "look like"?  Does it involve emptying the mind, focusing on some image, or making strange sounds while sitting in a strange position?

The second of Martin Luther's "rules" for growing in God's Word is to meditate upon that word.  Frequently, Psalm 119 makes use of the word meditate, with David emphasizing how he took time to meditate upon God's laws, statutes, commands, etc, just like we see in the verse above.

Christian meditation involves hearing God's Word, and then intentionally thinking about what God is saying in that word.  Luther would even say that speaking that word out loud, hearing it again and again, is what meditating consists of.  Reflecting not merely on the meaning of the words, but upon what God seeks to convey through those words is what Christian meditation is about.

Why not try that for a few moments today?  Pick out a short Psalm, maybe one in the 120s or 130s.  Pray for God to guide and instruct you, as yesterday's post discussed.  Then, reflect and meditate upon that Psalm.  Speak it out loud a couple of times.  Ask what God is trying to say to His people through that Psalm.  As you do this, you are actually engaging in Christian meditation.