Love. A more excellent way.

Just a piece of a devotional I recently gave about Love. Happy Valentines Day.

Paul's first letter to the Corinthians is mostly corrective, written to a bunch of infighting, competitive, backbiting Christians. I am glad, because I keep meeting groups like this today. Nice to have relevant scripture in those contexts. I have imagined that the title of the book should ideally be "When you come together..." as in: when you come together, stop fighting, don't be proud, avoid offense, don't deny anyone's gift... etc.

It seems like this last thing was a big deal. Spritiual gifts and who was allowed to use them, and how much time was given to practicing different ones. Basically, Paul responds with a big "be free" statement. Bring your prophecy, bring your hymn, bring your encouragement, be ready to give. All of you. The point, he says, is that these things that God has blessed us with are all for the purpose of touching someone else's life. That strips away the clamour and wrong desires. Tongues, prophecy, whatever..., if God has blessed me with it, then it's value exists when someone else's life is blessed and touched by it, not by what it does for me!

So, how do we get there? The secret is in 1 Corinthians 13. LOVE. Wouldn't it be great if the motivation of all of our doing was always out of the idea that we just so jealously desire the good of others over our own needs and desires? And it must be. Otherwise my tongues are a noisy gong, my prophecy is a clanging cymbal. Or worse.... nothing.

Love. It sounds easy. Yeah. Think of that fellow Christian who rubs you the wrong way. Got their face in your mind? OK. Ready? Let's go. Now repeat after me.

For the sake of (their name) I choose love. I will be patient and kind. I won't envy what God is doing in their life. I won't act boastfully or arrogant or rude toward them. I won't insist on my own way. I will not be irritable or resentful. I won't rejoice if they do wrong or if something wrong happens to them. I will stand for truth in their life. I will bear all things that are part of my relationship with them. I will believe God for all things good for them. I will hope that their life goes well and that they have success and grow in Jesus, and no matter what, I will endure all things for their sake. And I will do it always, because love isn't a project and neither are they.

I don't always know what that looks like. But then I don't know a lot of things. I only know some things, but there is a day coming when perfection will be real, and all this partial guessing will disappear. So, I choose to set aside my petty, competitive, selfish childish ways, reaching toward perfection in Christ, when I will know fully like he knows me.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.  

Out of love.

Anticipation

This Christmas season always brings the word "anticipation" to my mind. While a lot of the anticipation is directed toward the celebrations that the season brings, it is the symbolic anticipation of the season that I like to ponder. 

When Jesus, Son of God, sent as the Word made flesh first came to dwell among us; the anticipation of a coming Messiah was common among his people. The appearance of Gabriel to Mary began a quiet anticipation of a coming child to her and to all her family. The appearance of signs in the heavens signaled to wise men the anticipated coming of a King. The shepherds were told by angels that they could anticipate finding a child in a manger.

These events are our points of reflection each year as we celebrate them and remember them. But they all point forward, with anticipation to the promises that "this Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

Today we live in a time between the times, the presence of Jesus, by his Spirit continues to dwell among us. We reflect back on His first advent, not simply the birth of a baby, but the life of a Savior and his astonishing work of grace in giving his life for us. We also anticipate forward his coming again.

Without these promises, that "I am with you always" and "I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also;" the Christmas story really falls flat. Today we live in a world where increasingly people in their "logic" are finding reasons to deny the story. They focus on this detail or that, but miss the point. It isn't just about a baby. It is about the world changing forever, about life transformation, about a kingdom emerging that is "not of this world" but that draws people from everywhere. It is about the presence of God among humans and a faith that has no cultural or ethnic limitations. It is about a relationship with God who invites us to be part of something far bigger and more significant than any organization or nation.

So with that, I wish all a very merry Christmas, and with it send my hope and wish that you may all know Jesus and the joy of anticipation that continues for those who await his return.

blessings,

Paul

Be Real

I love reading and re-reading the teachings of Jesus. Today I opened yet once again and began thinking about that short passage at the beginning of Matthew 5 that we refer to as "the beatitudes." That term causes a bit of loss in meaning, in my opinion, as if these are just some random "blessings" that Jesus throws in to launch his sermon.. These are actually statements describing eternal reward and participation in the age to come. You could say that the following people get to partake in Christ's eternal kingdom:

• the poor in spirit- those who do not see themselves as very spiritual people. 
• the meek- those who do not see themselves as mighty and strong. 
• those who hunger and thirst after righteousness-who do not pompously view themselves as already having attained it.
• the merciful-who are motivated in life by the needs of others. 
• the pure in heart- who may be judged or rejected by others for some "blemish" but whose hearts are after the right things. 
• the peacemakers-who pursue right relationships 
• the persecuted- whose devotion to God is despised by others 
• the reviled-about whom lies have been told because of their relationship to Jesus.

This is important. It is not those who think they are spiritual, who see themselves as mighty, who declare their own righteousness, who focus on their own desires, who trust in lineage or rank, who strive with others, or who seek to avoid any loss of reputation who will inherit the kingdom of heaven, be comforted, inherit the earth, be satisfied, receive mercy, see God, be called the children of God, and gain great reward.

It is those who see themselves as they truly are, and in humility call on God who alone can give them hope.

Hope

I love the coming of spring. Mostly because I love to garden, to work in my yard, and to be outside. I wasn't born for Minnesota winters, they sort of come with the territory of following God's call and walking in obedience to His will. I would gladly exchange them for a tropical climate. With spring, of course, comes hope. but when spring seems to never come, when we get that feeling of hopelessness, it sometimes feels hard to hang on.

Other things trigger that hopelessness in us. Unexpected events, unanticipated issues which dampen hope. I have discovered a secret fact of life...things don't always work out. You make plans, you think you know what is happening, you have expectations, and then, it just doesn't happen. Things get in the way, people do things that cause you to have to change your plans, people actually disappoint you. They do. Really.

There is a lot of pop theology out there, one such stream says "trust in God and everything will always be fine." Back in the 70s it came in the form of "name it and claim it" The idea was, if you had enough faith, you could say what you wanted and it would happen. It was pretty disappointing for me though. I never did, it seems, have enough faith. Stuff just didn't happen. The result was self-condemnation. If only I was good enough, or had more faith, then my hopes would be met. The real problem, of course, was the focus of my hope. I never realized how self-absorbed it was. I wanted what I wanted, my hopes to be fulfilled, my expectations to be met, and God, it seems, was just someone to be used to provide those. 

Romans 5:1-4 (ESV) talks about hope this way: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

There are three things that stand out to me when I look at that verse. It says that because of the work of Jesus, we have peace, we stand in grace, and we rejoice in hope. The peace we have here is peace with God, an end to our prior stance of enmity, a position of reconciliation. Our past has been washed, covered over, made right; we have a new start! And through this peace, which comes from Jesus, we now have access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. Grace is this constant working of God in our lives that deals with today, keeps us on track with God, allows us to stand clean before God and in so doing allows us access to the power of the Holy Spirit for life today.

Because of all this, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Note that the focus of our hope is on God and the revealing of his glory. It is a hope that reaches forward and says that he is in control, that he knows what he is doing, that he is being glorified by what is happening in my life right here, right now. 

I have faced deep disappointment, loss of hope, numbing despair. Dark, ugly, uncomfortable, unfriendly, lonely and barren. Which, it turns out, was a really really good thing. I actually got a blessing from the hand of God, its called "doubt." Doubt led me deeper in to try to understand why my petty faith didn't meet my expectations. And when I went deeper, I met God. In the midst of my hopelessness, I found Jesus. Somewhere in the midst of the blackness, God spoke to me and all he said was, "Paul, in the midst of your pain, I am holding your heart" It was enough. It gave me hope. Not hope in my expectations, not hope in my plans, not hope in my friends or work, or anything else. It was hope in God. I went through that darkness to the other side and found out that God can "make the Valley of Achor (pain) a door of hope" (Hoseah 2:15). I don't regret the journey.

So, I have hope. Not a petty, insignificant hope, not a fleeting expectation, but a solid trust in the glory of God that does not disappoint.

With you in the journey

No religion here

Spirituality is relational.

I used to think that I would become spiritual as a result of religious self-discipline. To me it was a task-list item, "There, I did my spiritual development for the day," along side flossing my teeth and exercising (none of which happen with some force of effort).

But spirituality isn't like that. We grow spiritually because we connect spiritually. When we talk of spiritual growth, we are ultimately talking about increasing connection and building context with the Holy Spirit of God. Funny, we don't use the same terminology in our relationships with other people. "So, how's your friendship with Bob?" "Oh, I am growing relationally." Really?

So let's get real. I don't want spiritual growth as some sort of life category, I want to be closer to God! My goal is not simply to learn about him, gain theological insight, or develop some sort of personal discipline of devotion or show that I am righteous. My goal is to KNOW Him and amazingly, his goal is for us to KNOW him as he already knows us. He wants us in HIS presence! I find that overwhelming. 

In spite of this reality, we still tend to put spirituality as a non-relational activity. We schedule time to get more spiritual and miss the point. What we need is to recognize him more, know he is on the journey with us, listen to his voice, explore who he is and see what he does.

This isn't religion. It is a relationship. Let's act like it!

What's in a name?

Choosing a name for a blog that holds significance and isn't already taken can be tricky. The name I have chosen for this blog, however, worked the first time.

So why did I choose it? First, I realize that it could have an unintended meaning. We live in a day and age when the word "judgment" has been misappropriated and carries a primarily negative connotation. Failure on the part of the Church to consistently live out the gospel has left the world judging us, categorizing us as judgmental. Putting the word judgment together with the word sober is seemingly just asking for trouble. I am not here to bring sober judgment on others.

The term comes, however, from Paul's letter to the church at Rome, chapter 12, verse 3 where he says, "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned."

Sober judgment is the ability to reflect critically on yourself, to look at yourself and carefully assess what is true and real about yourself. It means being honest about who you are and who you are not, what you can do and what you cannot do, what you know and what you do not know, and which talents and skills you have and which you don't. In the passage it stands in contrast to Paul's admonition against thinking more highly of yourself than you ought.

The reality is, we are all weak people. We stumble, fall, fail, err, offend, etc. We have amazing capacities given to us by God but we don't fully use them, or don't use them well. When the Spirit of God comes to live within us, when we find ourselves abiding in Christ, we realize that we have indeed, as Paul also said, "this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us" (2 Corinthians 4:7).

Thinking of oneself with sober judgment is really to put the real self forward. Of course, in order to do so, we have to identify that real self. We live in an age when narcissism has become a cultural value, happiness is elevated to a prime goal in life, and the expectation that the world should look at ME is a major motivator. Sober judgment sets that aside, chooses not to think more highly of oneself, and instead determines what it truly is that I have to give to others.

What a unique thought... what do I have to give to others? What do I bring to the community? What benefit can my life have in the lives of others? How can I serve them? Hidden within that is the idea of my weakness as well. I need to know what I am not capable of, what about me might be potentially harmful to the community, and what about me should remain discreet.

I hope that in this blog I can explore various aspects of that. I believe sober judgment to be at the core of our interactions in community, to be what enables us to continue "submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Ephesians 5:21). Sober judgment allows us to build a solid philosophical perspective on the world because it allows us to answer some questions with the simple but profound phrase, "I don't know."

So, here I am, on this journey, and I hope you enjoy coming along.

How big is your God?

I was recently reading Brennan Manning's The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus where he quotes from Jim Wallis' The Call to Conversion "Modern conversion brings Jesus into our lives rather than bringing us into his" (80). This is an intriguing thought. We have been taught to say, "have you accepted Jesus into your heart?" In so doing it is as if we imagine some little corner of our self where we might just allow Jesus the privilege to take up residence, and perhaps even allow him to rearrange the furniture if he wishes. We could then meet with him there and he could give us all sorts of great advice about how to be better and more moral or righteous human beings. Maybe he will even give us some special benefits, like less problems or more money. Not a bad idea, having God hang out with us.

We perhaps ought to be asking whether or not we have come into the life of Jesus. We don't tend to ask it that way because we have so little of an idea of what it means to be lost in the vastness if his heart. But the reality is, He calls us to abide in him (John 15), to see our lives as hidden in his life (Col. 3:3), to measure together with all the saints the eternal dimensions of his unending love (Eph. 3:18).

If we just see Jesus just as filling something in our lives we miss the point of salvation. Salvation means that my life is put into His life. that my direction is a response to the move of His heart. It isn't about us coming to the place where we decide that we might have enough trust to let him in to our life, but rather, enough trust in him to allow ourselves to lean back and rest in the ocean vastness of His overwhelming love. He doesn't dispense advice here on how to be a better person. Instead he expects that his life now flows through ours as we understand our place in him. Surrounded and overwhelmed by his love, I will not simply become a more moral person, I will react out of love to those around me, putting their interests ahead of mine, seeing their need, moved by compassion and inviting them to also bring their life to rest in the arms of Jesus.