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.