losing what is good for something new

In some ways change doesn’t bother me. It is after all a part of life. We think about it especially when our children are growing up. We say they are growing up too fast. Soon that baby, that cute little boy or girl, that delightful child will be pushing out more and more on their own, and at last they’ll be gone. All too soon, for sure. So we get used to change, even if we don’t like it.

There are changes though that challenge us nearly, if not completely to the core of our being. Perhaps something which we may end up changing after years and even decades of practice. This is especially hard, and we need special grace for it, each step of the way.

Changes that are peripheral to me, I mean circumstantial, even to the point of vocational, probably don’t bother me that much, not to deny that they may bring significant and even great challenges themselves. Yet they aren’t to be compared to changes which come close to my heart. Perhaps a certain way the Lord has led one, which now seems open to change. Losing someone, though that’s another subject altogether. I’m thinking here more in terms of losing something which in and through God in Jesus, we’ve come to depend on.

What we can count on is that through all the changes of life, God will be present with us in Jesus. And God will help us through. Even when such change brings great weakness to ourselves, God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness, in and through his sufficient grace in Jesus.

I am challenged today over a major change in my life, even if it’s only in the thinking, theoretical stage at this point. I am not even sure how to look at it. It seems to touch the core of my being, but in a certain sense it does not do that at all, nor change anything. I have to remember the constant we have in the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And in the good news of King Jesus for us, for the world, and for all creation.

God is faithful. We may not want to go where it seems we have to, but God will be with us each step of the way in and through Jesus by the Holy Spirit. That is the constant our faith must hold on to. And the grace that God gives. Through this life, together in Jesus in and for the world.

meditation for Holy Tuesday: what is needed, a change of heart

When Jesus came and God’s kingdom in him, not only was there to be a change contradicting the world’s system, but at bottom there was to be no less than a change of heart. It does little to no good to change systems or laws when there is no change of heart corresponding.

That week Jesus was telling his disciples that they would all fall away because of what was about to happen to him. Peter denied it emphatically, showing what little he knew. The Lord corrected him, telling him that he would actually deny him three times. Peter then protested that even if he had to die with Jesus, he would never deny him.

We know what happened afterward. In the garden Jesus had told the disciples not only to watch and pray with him, but to pray that they would not fall into temptation. The disciples fell asleep, and then Jesus’ rebuke, wondering that they could not watch with him for one hour. With the warning: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

The Lord had told Peter that Satan had asked permission to sift all the disciples as wheat. But that Jesus had prayed for Peter. With the directive that when Peter would turn back in repentance that he should strengthen his brothers. We know how that happened. Peter does return, and then the Lord asks Peter if he loves him three times. Perhaps the change in the last of that questioning from the verb form of agape to phila love mattered. But Peter broke down in grief. This was a time of deep soul searching and transformation of heart.

Jesus came to give us a new heart. Our hearts are often hard and unmoved. We don’t want to do what we know we ought to do, or we do what we should not because our hearts are unchanged. Scripture tells us that a broken and contrite heart God will not despise. Jesus said that on the outside people can look good, while the inside can be full of evil. White washed tombs with dead people’s bones inside.

I can be slow at heart to believe and obey. It is good when one finds it joyful to obey in love. Jesus came and walked that dreadful way of the cross to give us a new heart. In his high priestly prayer, Jesus prayed just prior to his suffering, “For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” This was a setting apart to God in sacrifice, in order that his followers would also be set apart as his followers in the same way. In heart and life.

Paul prayed that the believers might know the depths of God’s love in Jesus, that they might be filled to all the fullness of God. We are being remade in and through Jesus into the very image of God through and through. In calling and in heart.

In the end tradition tells us in keeping with Jesus’ earlier words to Peter, that Peter was to die on a cross, even as his Master, Savior and Lord had died. Peter insisted that he was not worthy, and that therefore he should be so executed on a cross, upside down. A heart which was soft, contrite, sensitive to all that is wrong not only in the world, but in one’s self.

Yes, we need a change of heart. “Change my heart oh God. Make it ever true. Change my heart oh God. May I be like You.” By Jesus and God’s love in him in and through his death for us. Together in Jesus for the world.

prayer changes things

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

James 5

We sometimes hear the saying that prayer does not change circumstances, but us. I’m sure there can be some truth in that. But it is surely partly in error. Indeed, somehow in God’s working in the world, our prayers can and do make a difference, if what we see in the narrative of scripture holds true today.

Over and over again, we see it. James cites the example of Elijah, a human being just like us. But he was not only a man, or person of God, but a person of prayer as well. I would think the two go hand in hand. Elijah prayed it would not rain, then he prayed that it would. All with God’s honor and will in mind. And God answered.

During the time I have left on earth, I don’t know what is left for me to do other than loving God and my family, and seeking to follow Christ in the fellowship of his church as a witness to the world. But I would like to become a person of prayer. One who prays along with others, and sees God intervene.

Such prayer must be surrounded with an endeavor to walk with God in fellowship with his people in and through Jesus. And the desire, yes- commitment to do so in love. And this means humility on our part. Willing to receive- seeing our need for that, as well as to give.

And we’re told in scripture not only to pray, but to keep on praying. Not giving up, or giving in to something less, or in opposition to the will of God in Jesus.

Jesus himself is our great example in this. He would get up early, at least occasionally, and spend significant time with his Father alone in prayer.

I have seen it make a difference in bringing about some things, or the start of some things in which seed I trust is planted. Which in God’s good time and way will bear eternal fruit in another’s life.

So yes, true prayer does begin to work change in us. If we keep at it. But it can work change in others. God himself is the one who brings the change of course, in answer to our prayers, according to his will in Jesus. Through us for each other and for the world.

Advent is about change

In the story of Joab in the account of David, it’s sad that it seems like he never changed. I hope the same is not true for me, through the greater David, Jesus.

Advent is about change. God came directly, personally, fully, intimately, forever in commitment- to earth in the person of this baby Jesus. The promise of Abraham through Israel was beginning to be fulfilled. A promise that is as wide, high and deep as life itself. Fulfilled in terms of earth, and yet not according to this world system, which is in alliance with the flesh and the devil.

Jesus came as the promised one. The Messiah for the world. Yes, in the hearts of those who accept him. Ultimately to turn everything inside out and right side up. That heart and systemic change is to be evident and taking place now in his Body, the church. Yes, the church worldwide, and also local churches, each of which can be said to be the church.

From the church the world is to catch a glimpse of the change that is in the air. A change which can impact society now. But never to be brought into alliance with the world system, which is invariably at odds with the kingdom of God come in Jesus.

Advent is about change. Beginning with that angelic announcement to Mary. The baby boy wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Shepherds hurrying to see what the heavenly angelic hosts had proclaimed to them. Completely down to earth. Countering the power and wisdom of this world through the cross. Destined through the resurrection to reign in the new life on earth. In and through Jesus.

May I be a part of that change even now in and through Jesus. With others in Jesus. As we remember the great change that came when our Lord and Savior was born.

contrition

a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.

from Psalm 51

It is interesting, and actually rather disconcerting when one can be sailing along with little care (of course there are always deep concerns in this world) only to be hit by something unexpected which challenges one’s sense of well being in grace, I mean even one’s holiness, to the core. You’re left shaking inside, not at all reconciled to the development, realizing that you’re lost on this count. And apparently not as holy as you thought. Not that we should think that anything at all is anymore than a gift to us. But character transformation is to be occurring in Christ.

That is when it’s good to bring the matter to God in prayer and then just leave it sit. We can’t change ourselves. It is God who changes us. Of course we do change then, but that takes a working of God, nonetheless. Surely God wants us to sit with our sin, to realize our weakness and failure, indeed lostness at a certain point. And this may go on for a time. Before God gives us a certain sense in thought, conviction and movement by the Spirit toward new growth in Christ.

This all normally takes place in the context of relationships. God is interested in building up his people together because community and relationships are inherent in the God who is Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

So instead of “kicking against the goads”, I want to be willing to lay low, and be still during such times. Knowing that whatever I’m kicking against involves something that is not right nor holy in me. And that I need whatever change would come from God through Jesus in this. This can involve intervals of change, or a longer, drawn out process we’re working through. As we do so, we have this sense of God’s grace active and at work in our lives.

God does not despise a broken and contrite (or crushed, repentant) heart. Neither should we, and we should submit to God in this, and let him do his good work in our lives. In and through Jesus, together for the world.

 

love in Jesus trumping all

Oh yes, we have our political differences, don’t we. Our theological as well, sometimes pretty serious, though much of the time not really all that significant. Often in matters that are inherently disputable. But sometimes one does seem dead wrong. We think so much in terms of right and wrong. Even though life often makes it much harder to sort that out than we might think.

There is a love that has entered this world which can overcome all barriers. It is the love of God in Jesus. No matter what the barrier is, that love can work through it, indeed shatter it. And in that working, God’s salvation in Jesus can be made known. Not only in terms of entering in that salvation, but in living it out.

Most of the time how this is worked through may parallel a woman in labor pains before giving birth to her child. Or in watching a suspenseful even perhaps action filled movie. And there are those rare (from our vantage point) times when tragedy strikes in the midst of this; I’m thinking now of the Jim Elliot story, and the wonderful results that followed.

It isn’t just love I refer to here, but the love of God in Jesus no less. By faith we need to put ourselves in the posture by which this love can break through. Yes, even through our lives and into the lives of others. And in and through us all at the same time. Certainly of God through Jesus by the Spirit.

Yes, I’ve seen and am seeing this love break through and change situations. Indeed lives are changed, really all of our lives, through this amazing love of God in and through Jesus. I have to keep working at not resisting this love. Of remaining open, which means seeking to be sensitive to God, to his convicting work in my life, to his leading according to his word.

All barriers can be broken down. As in faith we let God in Jesus do the work of change which he alone can do. Helping us through together in Jesus. A help for the world, which loves to the very end.

when waiting

Psalm 40 has come to mind lately, so I’ve been endeavoring to spend time in it, and meditate on it. What came to mind was the first verse, perhaps especially the first line:

I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.

The psalm is a picture of danger and even despair. There is no hope for the psalmist apart from God. Is that where God wants to bring us as his people? I think so.

When patiently waiting for the Lord, as this psalm encourages us to do, lesser things fall by the wayside. What occupied us before doesn’t enter our minds now. We long for something else. Yes, deliverance in the words of the psalm. But not only from destruction or ruin, but to life in God.

But make no mistake about it, God puts us, or allows us to be in between a rock and a hard place. We are taken out of our comfort zone, away from our false comforts, so that we might finally know God’s comfort.

Do I like this? Yes and no. My experience is unsettling, and just downright uncomfortable. But I sense in it something good. Something quite humbling. God’s hand in my heart and life, at work to change me.

To change circumstances? That would be nice. Ultimately in the end we know that is so. But first and foremost a change in us. That no less is what’s needed, and that is what God is all about, and will do as we seek him, seek his face and his hand in our lives in the way of Jesus. In our own lives, along with others in Jesus for the world.

 

 

remembering

Recently in our team devotions at work we were reminded of the importance of remembering, from Peter’s words in 2 Peter. Proverbs speaks to this as well, the importance of taking wisdom to heart and life. We find in Jesus’ words, and in scripture, repetition, surely in part for this very reason.

I am amazed at how I can experience, every once in a while, a kind of life-changing moment through a realization which God seems to be giving me, into nothing less than a breakthrough of sorts. Just as amazing, however, is how a few weeks, perhaps even days later, it seems like I need to learn at least something of that lesson all over again. Somehow I had not kept it in memory and practice. Or else there is the need for further growth and development in that very area.

I think part of the problem is the very nature of who we are as human beings. We are forgetful, and we tend to gravitate back to something of what we were before. Faith tends to stretch us at certain points, and that’s an important aspect of it. But another aspect of faith is the importance of finding a daily rhythm in which we live, and continuing in that day after day. In what we might call a new default position. All the while being open to change, even radical change.

It is interesting how change involves the renewing of one’s mind. We’re not to be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our minds. We need to endeavor to grow in our understanding, and indeed to hold on to that understanding. Although it is God who gives us understanding, we need to apply ourselves for this to happen. We’re acted on by God, but we act as well. Along with passivity pronounced at times in our actively waiting on God, seeking God, praying for change.

Maybe a big part of remembering is in how we listen. Jesus mentioned that. He tells us to be careful how we listen. With hearing comes responsibility. It is not a luxury item given to us for our enjoyment, but part and parcel in our growth, in following Jesus together in and for the world.

in your bones

Paradigms can be powerful, bringing paradigm shifts. A paradigm carries with it the idea of ideals, or ideology which shapes us. Paradigm shifts end up remaking us. That is what God is about in Jesus in this world.

People in the days of the early church complained that the message of the Christians was turning the world upside down. Indeed it was. But first of all those Christians had to be turned upside down, and one might say inside out (as well as outside in).

The good news of God in Jesus in God’s grace and kingdom come in him is nothing less than a paradigmatic matter. It is good news for the world, for every person, and for every aspect of the world beginning here and now. It is why we in Jesus remain here. Yes, we are to grow up in Jesus, but we’re here primarily not for ourselves, but for the world. Though the process of growing us up involves our living in this world.

Truth in Jesus must get into our bones, no less. And it does, given time. It becomes a part of who we are, what we are about. What life means to us. It is not simply something which blesses us and lets us go on our way. Instead it brings us into the Way in Jesus. Yes, we have our own way along with others in Jesus, but it is only in the Way. I say we have our way, because how we live out this Way in Jesus is unique to each of us and to the times and places in which we live.

The change goes on, and with it how we live in this life. I try not to over-analyze it, but simply note its presence. Which actually is an encouragement, since change does indeed seem hard. This change in Jesus overtakes us in time, so that we realize we are different in radical ways, in the Way in Jesus. And we look forward to more change in this life, before the time comes when we will be like Jesus, since we will then see him as he is. But now by the Spirit, Jesus is made known through us to a world which along with us, needs this.

learning the ropes

It’s interesting in the story of David, we find the young David rejecting the armor and weapons Saul was going to give him for his encounter against Goliath, and instead chose what he was comfortable with, a sling and stones, which he had grown used to when he protected sheep against bears and lions. And yet further along, and actually relatively soon, David learned (all too–I say) well conventional warfare for that time.

This says something for us, I think. We need to go with what God has given us in the encounter we have against the world, the flesh and the devil. Of course faith with reference to the faith, grounded in the good news of God’s grace and kingdom come in Jesus is at the heart of this. For each of us, how we live out that faith, and stand in it will look a bit different.

And yet at the same time, we also need to be open to conventional ways we can learn from those who are battle tested over the longer haul. Or perhaps more traditional ways. Of course I am referring to spiritual warfare no less.

David had to learn the new way, but it seems like he adapted well, since success marked whatever he did in warfare.

I am in a situation which is pushing me out of my comfort zone into having to do something in a way I’m not accustomed to. I intend to do what is required of me, but in the way I’m used to doing things, as much as possible. I’m confident it will be a growing experience. It may or may not change me substantially (or much) for the longer haul. But I pray I’ll be open and learn from God through it.