The "C" Word

How do you react to the beginning of a new year? With hope? Anticipation? Great expectations? Many people make New Year's resolutions with full intent to keep them. Others have given up on that sort of thing. Me, I never really did much resolution making, at least, not that I remember.

Many people are familiar with the expression, "The paths of hell are paved with many good intentions." Resolutions and commitments are different. How are they different? Resolutions are intended commitments. Resolutions are what I intend to do. What I plan or hope to do. A commitment is what I promise to do—I give my word on it.

POP!

Pop! The sound of a cork escaping the confines of a champagne bottle. The brilliant explosion of fireworks across a deep black sky. A splash of brilliant color on a stark white page. Even the sound of Rice Krisipies in a bowl when fresh milk is poured over them. (Are you old enough to remember the old jingle, "Snap! Crackle! and Pop!"?)

All of these catch our attention for different reasons. They're different than the norm. Well, maybe not the Rice Krispies. I've read and heard that writers, bloggers, journalists, speakers, pitch men (err, pitch-persons) are supposed to start their verbiage with some attention-getting hook—some type of "pop!"

Thankful?

What are you thankful for? Are you thankful? I know, Thanksgiving is past, but I thought I'd ask after all the hoopla of the weekend. Sadly, a holiday set aside for national gratitude and reflection has been usurped. It's typically referred to as T-Day or Turkey-Day and has become an excuse for excessive eating and spending, with a lot of football watching and beer drinking. 

It's easy to become cynical and pessimistic about the state of the world around us, which inevitably breeds the same in our heart and mind. It leaks out through our words and permeates our thinking. The only solution and resolve is choosing to be thankful—grateful for what is good in our life. This was the intent of the first national observance by President George Washington, and the later proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. [For more historical insight, check out Wikipedia's Thanksgiving link.]

Stop It! But How?

I'm a product of the Jesus Movement of the early 70's. This movement was characterized by the common saying, "It's not about religion, but relationship." It is a relationship based on trust, trust in Jesus. Trust, an implicit, all-encompassing trust, is another way of expressing the idea of faith (see Hebrews 11:6).

A couple weeks ago I looked at the dilemma many Christian believers have with trying to be good Christians. It requires a lot of self-effort to do so, but is counter productive to walking by faith, that is, trusting in God. And so, there is a struggle with how a believer can grow in faith and spiritual maturity without a good measure of self-effort.

Stop it!

Bob Newhart has a hilarious comedy skit as a psychiatrist. His therapy is a simple, two-word solution for problems—"Stop it!" If you've never seen it, click on the link ("Stop it!") for a good laugh, but keep reading!

If only solving life's problems were that simple! Well, in some ways it is. But, alas, many difficulties in life continue to trouble us. Why? Why don't we just stop doing some things, or start doing other things? The Apostle Paul addresses this in his letter to the Roman church (Rom 7:15-19).

Our Story and God's Plan

The movie, “The Passion of Christ,” surprised many people with its success, especially its strongest critics. It’s vivid portrayal of Christ’s death stirred strong emotions and was spoken against by believers in Christ and nonbelievers. Its purpose and intention was misunderstood by many people.

Some spoke blasphemous, sacrilegious things about the movie and its content, while others saw it as sacred. It impacted all who saw it one way or another, shocked by the graphic portrayal of the suffering and death of Jesus the Messiah. Many were moved to great emotion both during and following their viewing of it, and it took a personal toll on the director-producer and the star who portrayed Jesus.

What Would Mom Do?

My wife returned from the Philippines this past week after six weeks. Nowadays we're blessed with the ability to communicate through Skype (when internet connection is sufficient), email, and texting. But it's great to have her home and by my side! We've been partners in life and ministry for forty years.


An element of our partnership is the agreement that I'm the spokesperson, the public persona of our relationship and ministry together. Adjustments have come over the years to how we relate to each other and even our roles at home. This was more apparent than ever while she was gone these past few weeks (overseeing our ministry in the Philippines). As I faced certain situations at home or with the family I often wondered, "What would Susan do?" And even asked my daughters when faced with domestic duties, "What does Mom do with...?"

How Do You Share the Gospel?

Over the past few years I've been writing and rewriting a book. I'm in the last major rewrite (hopefully) before I submit it for publication. I want to start posting some excerpts from time to time ahead of publication. So, here's an excerpt from the Introduction of the book...

How would you answer someone asking, “What is the gospel?”

Hasty Judgments, Wrong Assumptions

Katrina flooding in New Orleans–Win Henderson/FEMA

People, all of us, are quick to make judgments—we do this even without realizing it. It's more obvious whenever a great tragedy or disaster occurs—assigning blame and responsibility is all the rage, literally. The larger the event, the more blame is slung around. 


What concerns me most of all are the self-proclaimed prophets. Some foretell events that don't happen, while others are quick to claim it must be God's judgment. Depending on your own reactions, it's easy to fall into one camp or another of defending or blaming.

Remembrances

This past weekend was an important time of remembrance for Christian believers. Depending on how traditional one is, it can begin with observing Lent (40 days of fasting), Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday (Easter). And don't forget Passover, which has great significance for looking at the Gospel story through a Jewish perspective.* It's the precursor to the Christian observance of communion, and gives a greater depth of meaning to Christ's death on the Cross. The most important lens of perspective is celebrating the Lord's resurrection from the dead. I especially love sunrise services!

What Should We Do?

When John the Baptist began preaching and challenging the status quo of his day, he caused quite a stir. Nowadays it's called revival. He was a non-conformist, an independent preacher. But he was not self-ordained, he had a prophetic call upon his life—even before his conception (Luke 1:13-17). His role in life and ministry was preparing people for the coming Messiah. When he preached—and it was strong preaching—people listened and responded (Luke 3:3-9). After hearing the strong words of John's message the people's response was simple—"What should we do?" (Luke 3:10 GW).

Learning, Listening, Leading

Last week I bandied about some thoughts on WWJD and my own acronym WDJD. This week I'm looking at what got me thinking about all this. The point of last week's post is not wondering what Jesus would do in a given situation, but learning what He did do. The Gospels reveal plenty of situations applicable to those arising in our own lives each day.

WDJD?

Several years ago there was a flood of WWJD merchandise on the market. The WWJD stands for "What Would Jesus Do?" It's based on the classic Christian book, In His Steps, by Charles M Sheldon. The book recounts a whole town brought into revival because people began asking themselves this question in the process of daily life. It's been a while since I've read it, but the author, the pastor of a church, challenged himself and his congregation to live out the Gospel in their daily lives by answering this question. The book started out as a message preached in 1896. It's well worth the read if you haven't already done so.

Exceptions to the Rule

Ever wonder where certain expressions and sayings come from? I do. I often look up the origin of sayings I hear, many times finding that the expression is being used in a wrong or unintended way. One of those expressions that gets used differently than its original form goes something like, "that's an exception to the rule." Wikipedia explained it this way, "The exception [that] proves the rule" is a frequently confused English idiom. The original meaning of this idiom is that the presence of an exception applying to a specific case establishes that a general rule existed. [http://goo.gl/I3GqV]

Lane-Lock

I don't do a lot of driving, but there are a few routes I take pretty often in and out of town. While driving I've observed a common behavior that at first perturbed me, and then gave way to some pondering.

I noticed how people would line up in a lane, sometimes miles before necessary, to exit onto another road or offramp. This seems to hold true for right or left-hand turns. Of course, this impedes traffic and causes congestion along the way. But this is not a post about traffic habits, it's an observation on life—and faith.

Altar or Throne? (3)

I hope those who have followed the past two posts have thought about this simple, yet vague question—altar or throne? It is easy to oversimplify and generalize some truth, making it trivial. Yet, I have found simple questions useful in stirring up thought. My basic philosophy of learning is that unless a person (myself included!) struggles to think something through—that is, process it—they won't fully understand it or internalize it.

Let me review a couple main points. The presentation of gospel truth (the good news) is most often given in bits and pieces within a western cultural context. Yet a cursory review of the New Testament (NT) reveals the gospel is presented in five narratives— 4 Gospels and a history of the early church (Acts). The remainder of NT books is the explanation of this gospel narrative for those unfamiliar with the larger narrative of God's Story, as it unfolds throughout the Bible. Even the last book, Revelation, is a heavenly narrative of how God's Story will conclude at the end of the Age.

Things I'll Miss...

Having lived and worked (ministry service) in the Philippines for fifteen years, it will always be home to Susan and I. We have a nice home in our home country (culture) and all of our children and grandchildren live nearby. We enjoy our church body and the area we live in. But there are many memories and relationships that are still an important part of our life here (Dumaguete City, Philippines).

Our Double Bind

I'm amazed how a somewhat obscure Scripture will catch my attention, as the Lord begins speaking to my heart. It's often subtle and easy to glide past, until the Lord begins adding insight to it. I was reading through Zephaniah in my daily devo's and thinking about all the imagery and somewhat obscure reference to historical events. They're obscure unless you're an ancient history buff, which I'm not.

In the wake of Christmas celebrations and end of the year news re-caps, I came across Zeph 1:5-6– "...those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Milcom." What caught my attention is how revealing it is of human nature—not just unbelievers, so much as believers. Many of us get caught in a double bind, one Jesus addressed in Matt 6:24, about trying to serve two masters. Nowadays we call it being distracted, but it's more like being "torn between two lovers." For example, doing something on a smart phone while listening to someone. Sound familiar?

I Want You to Know Me

We humans tend to complicate the simple and reduce what is great to something ordinary. It's done with all manner of things, including politics, religion, and relationships. The current political scuffle, or should I say spitting match, is a prime example. Everyone knows what needs to be done, which is basically—live within our means. Of course, we haven't been doing that for a long time, but that's pretty obvious. What complicates it all is the political lack of will to do what is right and just. It's shameful and no one is free of blame.

The point is—it's only complicated by those who don't want to do the simple but hard things. On the other hand, there are those who'd like to "solve" the immigration dilemma with a big wall and "kicking out all those illegals." Ah, it's not that simple, and we are dependent, as a nation, upon the immigrants (legal and illegal) that have come into our country—after all, we're a nation of immigrants.

Unfortunately, Christians do pretty much the same thing. Why else would there be so many different denominations and groups claiming (in essence)—we've got it all right, but the others don't. Too often, theological truth, which has great depth, is reduced to what is palatable for the masses. And yet, all sorts of "laws" are set up (formally and unofficially) that complicate and restrict the practice of Christianity—the do's and don'ts that turn many away from the church.

Willfulness

At its heart, willfulness is self-exaltation—making our self most important. This includes pursuing selfish interests and making them of highest value. We do this, or they become such, by the amount of time and energy invested in them. OK, nothing new with that observation, but what's behind it? What drives this want, this desire, this consuming lust? Why does it become greater in value and importance than anything or anyone else?

Grabbing for Candy at Rainbow's Christmas Party

This willful drive is seen as early as toddlerhood with the learning of "no" and insistence of self-will, in spite of its self-destructive possibilites. Currently, in the US, it's being demonstrated by those involved in the "Occupy" protests, the shameless stalemate within Congress and with the President, along with the continuing greed of financial institutions, as with the latest revelation of exorbitant bonuses for mediocre performance. So, is it just simple greed or pride that drives this willfulness? It's deeper than that.