Peace

• Which memory is harder to shake: Rejection or guilt?

For me, it's guilt. I've had to deal with rejection before, and while it's not fun, you can at least attribute that to the actions of someone else. It's much harder to deal with when I am the one who screwed up! That's the kind of stuff that keeps me awake at night and causes me to lose weight (the wrong way--I tend to lose my appetite when I'm stressed).

• Which is harder to accept: Mercy or judgment?

Wow! That's quite a question! I must admit that judgment may be easier to accept. Humans tend to be able to take what they deserve (good or bad). What we struggle with is getting what we don't deserve. If we are treated unfairly, our hackles raise. If we are treated well when we should have been treated badly... well, we often don't know how to react or process it.

Read Genesis 50:15-21. It's the story of Joseph reassuring his brothers (after their father's death) that he wasn't going to pay them back for the wrongs they did. It's the story of undeserved mercy.

The brothers were afraid. "What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?" (verse 15).

What do we do when we're really afraid? Pretty much anything we can to escape that which we're afraid of.

"Your father left these instructions before he died: 'This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.' Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father." (verse 16-17).

Maybe I'm wrong, but this seems like an act of desperation. Genesis 45 paints a picture of a brother that already forgave them and even welcomed them to Egypt. You could read into the whole story a spirit of revenge if you wanted to I suppose, but I just don't see anything very obvious from Genesis 45 onward.

• What do you make of the brothers' fear? Is it justified?
• How does Joseph's story reveal the truth of verses 19-21?

Here's what Sarah Young writes in Jesus Calling.

"If you learn to trust Me--really trust Me--with your whole being, then nothing can separate you from My Peace. Everything you endure can be put to good use by allowing it o train you in trusting Me. This is how you foil the works of evil, growing in grace through the very adversity that was meant to harm you. Joseph was a prime example of this divine reversal, declaring to his brothers: "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.

"Do not fear what this day, or any day, may bring your way. Concentrate on trusting Me and on doing what needs to be done. Relax in My sovereignty, remembering that I go before you, as well as with you, into each day. Fear no evil, for I can bring good out of every situation you will ever encounter."

Point well made. Joseph had already learned to lean on God. He had already learned to take whatever came his way... judgment or mercy... and "roll with it" in the arms of God. His brothers? Lesson still to be learned. But who better to teach them than the one who already had such experience? In Joseph, the one they persecuted, they saw a man who trusted in God's sovereignty. Now, they could learn to do the same.

• What low lights and highlights come to mind for you when you think of Genesis 50:19-21?
• When have you been tempted to replace God in judging others? In judging yourself?
• What could keep you from walking in God's peace today?

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4)

Strength or Fear?

"The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." (Isaiah 12:2)

FEAR: (verb) to be afraid; to expect or worry about (something bad or unpleasant); (noun) an unpleasant emotion due to be anticipation or awareness of danger; an anxious concern.

STRENGTH: the quality or state of being physically strong; the ability to resist being moved or being broken by force; the quality that allows someone to deal with problems in a determined and effective way.

Typically, these two words don't work together. They combat each other. Strength overcomes fear, or fear is too much for strength (meaning strength is no longer really a strength). Sometimes, fear can give a person strength, usually due to an adrenaline rush. How else could average human beings lift a car that was about to crush a child (one of the miraculous stories you hear about from time to time)?

Each day we face something that we do not have the strength to overcome. It's the world. More specifically, it's sin, thrown at us by a devil who hates us and is much more powerful than we are. He may not physically beat you up, but he knows your weaknesses and takes advantage of them whenever it's possible to do so.

I dont' know about you, but I don't have the strength within myself to fight the devil... alone. Left to myself, I have reason to have a lot of fear.

Here's what Sarah Young wrote in Jesus Calling...

"Don't be afraid. I am your Strength and your Song. I am your Power and your Joy.

"What does it mean to have Me as your Strength? I simply spoke and the universe was created! Mountains soared up out of the earth! The sun and stars lit up the sky! My Power is absolutely unlimited. And I am able to take that same Power and make you strong.
"Think of it: I am on your side. I will guide you, protect you, and even fight for you if necessary. So don't let yourself bcome filled up with fear. Fear only blocks My Strength. Instead of being afraid, trust Me--remember that I am your Strength!

"I am also your Song. I want you to grab hold of My Joy. Celebrate! Shout for joy because I am right beside you!"

How well does your joy match your walk and your talk for God?

When have you most keenly felt God's goodness? His love? His strength?

Waiting

"Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me." (John 14:1)

"Waiting, trusting, and hoping are intricately connected, like golden strands interwoven to form a strong chain. Trusting is the central strand because it is the response from My children that I desire most. Waiting and hoping embellish the central strand and strengthen the chain that connects you to Me. Waiting for Me to work, with your eyes on Me, is evidence that you really do trust Me. If you mouth the words 'I trust You' while anxiously trying to make things go your way, your words ring hollow. Hoping is future-directed, connecting you to your inheritance in heaven. However, the benefits of hope fall fully on you in the present.

"Because you are Mine, you don't just pass time in your waiting. You can wait expectantly, in hopeful trust. Keep you 'antennae' out to pick up even the faintest glimmer of My Presence."

(From Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young)

"Wait on the Lord; be of good courage and He shall give you the desires of your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord." (Psalm 27:14)

I did not do a lot of dating as a teenager. I was more into playing basketball and music, and I wasn't what you would call the most smooth guy around (awkward teenage boy would best have described me). I got a little flak for it at times, how I was missing out and what I should do differently. Early on in college I attempted to do a bit more, seeing as I was closing in on 20 and some of my friends were already getting pretty serious in their romantic lives. More to the point, the guys and girls were snatching each other up, and I was starting to feel like a third wheel more and more! I also attended a school affectionately nicknamed "Southern Matrimonial College," and was a pastor-in-training to boot (there's a bit of a stigma attached to unattached pastors even to this day).

It was after my sophomore  year that I finally decided to quit trying. If it was going to happen, it would happen in God's time, not because of my efforts (which were sometimes directed toward women that would have probably been terrible matches for me anyway, and I wouldn't have been any better for them).

Funny thing... when I actually started waiting on the Lord in my relational life, the pressure went away! Even funnier, it was that summer, while working at a summer camp in California, that I fell in love with the woman who would be my wife four years later! The cheesy thing to say is that it was a "match made in heaven," but in actuality I know that was a true statement, cheesy though it may sound.

There just isn't a substitute for Jesus. When we wait on Him, the best is yet to come. When we do not, then we wind up accepting something less than the best. Now, that's not to say He cannot recreate and redeem something. There are people who have great marriages and friendships out there who went about it in all the wrong ways. The point I am making is that waiting on God brings about contentment with who you are and what is going on around you. Why? Because you know the best is yet to come! It strengthens hope, which is a crucial thing for those who follow Jesus.

We wait for Jesus to come and claim His bride... His people... the Church! That's anyone who is a follower of Jesus. It stinks sometimes. It's hard, awkward, and frustrating. The whole creation, according to Paul, waits like a woman in labor. If we don't wait on Jesus, however, we wind up grasping for substitutes even for His kingdom. Here is a bold statement to go with it: anything less than the Kingdom God has planned for us is a demonic fraud! Not trusting in Christ, not waiting for Him, not hoping for Him... it all leads to something far less than the best.

Have you ever suffered for settling?

When have you experienced "delayed gratification"?

What have you learned in your life from waiting on the Lord?

Greater Than the Force

The cultures and religions surrounding the stories and writers of the Bible fascinate me. Just a basic, working knowledge of that stuff can really open up your eyes to why writers wrote the way they wrote, taking truths God inspired them with and writing them out in ways God's people, and the people around them, could grasp. Like any great preacher or author today, they just knew how to do it.

John, the disciple Jesus loved, is a pretty cool example of this. He wrote about things that Jews would understand from their history in order to explain present reality--such as all the sanctuary imagery you find in The Revelation of Jesus Christ (I try and use the whole title there so as not to forget what the intention of the book was). But he did pretty well at capturing the imagery of the surrounding cultures and religions outside Judaism as well. John 1 is a good example of this. In brief, as I've been studying it this week, here's how I am seeing this. I admit that Wikipedia has helped out with this some, so it bears noting that it's a good idea to look into this for yourself and broaden the research a bit, but here goes...

Stoic philosophy was something that developed in Athens in the 3rd century, BC. Stoicism taught the errors in judgment led to destructive emotions. A person of moral and intellectual perfection (or a "sage") would not put up with such destructive emotions. They were very concerned with the relationship between "cosmic determination" (fate) and human behavior. They were one in a long line of philosophies that placed a lot of emphasis on "logos.." This is a word that is literally translated as "word," or "knowledge." They defined it a step further as "reason." So, logos had to do with the reasons why people do what they do, and how it relates to "cosmic fate" (sort of).

The Stoics had this thing called "logos spermatikos," which was to them the generative principle of the universe (the creative reason that generated matter and life). This would one day heavily influence Neoplatonism, which taught that God is "supra rational," and could only be reached through ecstasy (not a drug) and perfection. He is the primeval source of being, the formless One, the cosmic force from which life and being flows.

The philosophies of the age also taught that darkness was but the absence of light, and that darkness, in and of itself, did not exist.

Sounds to me like George Lucas borrowed a bit of material for "Star Wars, but that's just my opinion. Of course, the "dark side" of the force was in opposition to the good side of the force, but I digress...

You might say that John knew something about this stuff too, but His departure from other philosophies was pretty dramatic.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." (John 1:1-5)

John was great at this. His "son of thunder" reputation came out sometimes in his writings too. What he does here is say, to the Jews and to the prevailing and developing philosophies of his day, "JESUS IS WAY BETTER than that rot!"

"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

"He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:6-13)

You philosophers who know so much, you people who founded this Stoic movement or Platonism (or Neoplatonism)... there was this guy who preached in the desert and ate honey and tree-beans ("locusts" probably doesn't actually refer to bugs) and wore camel-skin clothes... he knew something you didn't even conceive of!

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)

Greek philosophies didn't teach about the "life-generating force" becoming a human being. They didn't talk about God coming down. They didn't believe in the "supra rational" taking on a visible form! All they could think of was a formless God-force emanating life (might as well have been the "big bang" if you're going to buy that) and human beings working toward ecstasy and perfection to reach Him (or it... or whatever).

Jews taught of a the One true God. They knew of a coming Messiah. But they could but conceive of a savior that returned to them their earthly rule and riches, not the One that would bring peace between created people and a mysterious and perfect God.

Considering all he was surrounded by in his life, and his experience with Jesus, I can only come to the conclusion that John was writing something radical here. He knew the ancient Jewish teachings and the philosophies of pagans that were taking hold in his days. Rather than shouting them down, he showed how Jesus was greater.

Greater than the force. Greater than any other created human being. Greater than an earthly king. Greater than ecstasy and "achieved" perfection.

And get this... if you are to believe John, they actually were eyewitnesses of all of it... "we beheld His glory..."

Know that when you experience Jesus, you experience the greatest thing there ever was. Creator. Personal (not just a force). Fully God. The reason for existence.

Jesus. ALL.

Have you experienced Jesus in any of these ways?

I don't believe any of it changes the fundamental truths about God and His plan, but just how the writers approached communicating inspired truth. However, is there any other insight (new or corrective) you have on the relationship of culture, religion, history, and philosophy, and how it impacted the way Bible writers wrote?

Injustice and How to React

I hate injustice. If I am guilty of it, I can beat myself up pretty badly. If I witness it, I feel like putting up the dukes. If I am victimized by it, I rage inside.

So, as I read today about Jesus' suffering of injustice during His trial, I was struck by His reaction to it. Silence. As a lamb led to slaughter. Ellen White writes really well of His dignity, His regal demeanor, His compassion for His abusers. His reaction to the abuse meted on Him--greater than any abuse any other individual has ever endured--is a such a rebuke.

But don't downplay His reaction to the abuse meted out on others. He busted out a whip once and laid the smack down on some unscrupulous guys in the temple once. He sent demons packing all over the place. He embarrassed Pharisees and religious types when they tried to trap Him, argue with Him, or when they used other people as pawns in their hateful agenda.

It seems that He acted when others faced injustice and oppression. But He took it when He was challenged to compromised. You see, He had to face this as a human being. If He were to ever expect you and I to stand up for our faith, He had to set the example.

That's tough. I can't say that I'd show the same qualities if it were me. This is one of those ways in which Jesus is going to have to do some work on me! I get offended too easily. I am too sensitive. I want to go and hide or run into a fight when someone's unfairly treating me.

I think the difference is ego, quite frankly. If I take myself too seriously, I am more likely to fight back. If it's about me, I focus on my hurt feelings. But if it's really about Jesus, I keep my eyes focused on Him, stick with principal, and don't worry about what happens to me.

Ego is not worth compromising Jesus over. Here is a man who came to be my neighbor. His ego meant nothing to Him, considering how much He gave up to move into the human neighborhood. My ego has to become less. Until then, He'll never become more.

How can you take yourself less seriously, so that when you are challenged to compromise faith or face pain or loss, you'll stand with Jesus?

What strengthens your faith the most, so that you know that standing for Jesus is an honor worth any abuse?

Thinking Too Highly of Self

We like to think that we are important, powerful, and wise. It's interesting to see so many of the arguments on Facebook these days. A body cannot post something about a cute kitten anymore without someone else flaming them with a diatribe about it being fake or pointless. We call those people "trolls." Either they really think they are that smart and entitled to share their smartness with you, or they're just jerks.

I saw a saying once: "All I want is a constant and exaggerated sense of my own importance." Isn't that the truth? None of us want to believe that we're worthless, stupid, unimportant, and unwanted. If we aren't made to feel important by others, we often do things to make ourselves feel more important. Left unchecked, this can get dangerous. We get puffed up, big-headed, and to others, insufferable.

It's the guy in your church who's always telling everyone what the church should be doing, or what it should not be doing, and why the leaders are terrible and should be ousted. It's they person who seems to have ordained herself as the spiritual policewoman of the church, and she has a litany of quotations and texts to back up her ideas (the ultimate expert in what is called isogeses: I have an idea or belief, and I go to the Bible to back it up, rather than allowing the Bible to teach me what I should believe and do, which is called exegesis).

Such people can be pretty annoying. But as I read this story in John 13 about how Jesus handled Judas (and the supplementary materials from The Desire of Ages, Chapter 75), I see this perfect man who handles a truly obnoxious situation in a way that I would struggle with mightily. Jesus does not out Judas directly. He does not put up a fight against him. Rather, He allows Judas to betray Him for the price of a slave. Jesus doesn't argue. He takes it! And even when Judas makes a plea for Jesus to be saved, Jesus says, "It's for this reason I came!"

Even Jesus' betrayer was, without even knowing it, accomplishing God's will.

There are always going to be annoying, obnoxious, know-it-alls in your life that have a high opinion of themselves. To look at Jesus is to see a man who suffered such people, called them out if necessary, and simply proved Himself to be Who He was without trying to argue them down.

People will eventually show themselves for who they are. There is no point in behaving any differently than Jesus did. Show kindness and love. Correct only as the Holy Spirit leads, and with great humility. Keep your eyes on Jesus and do what He's called you to do to make disciples. The rest is His to handle.

Ramped Up

"Don't get mad. Get even!"

Popular words for the one who cannot really take a hit. Really, a lot of people aren't satisfied with getting even. They really want to get a "leg-up" on someone else and make sure they're in the dominant position when it's all over with.

The cycle continues. Enemies ramp each other up.

I've been reading Bill O'Reilly's book, Killing Kennedy. I just finished his take on the Cuban Missile Crisis of October, 1962, thirteen days of intense worrying by many in the United States (including Kennedy himself) that a nuclear holocaust was imminent. Today, most of us probably have no concept of how close how close we came to not having a United States by Christmas of that year. Or a USSR. Within minutes, millions of people in this country (and in another thousands of miles away) could have been killed if either Kennedy or Kruschev had given the go-ahead.

What strikes me about this is the rhetoric that was going back and forth. It was forceful and scary. And behind all of it was an unstated thing, it seems--neither wanted to look like the fool in the eyes of their respective nations or in the eyes of the rest of the world. Neither wanted the other to have the upper hand. "Don't get mad... get better!" may have wiped out whole nations.

The ways of Jesus just don't go with the ways of this world. Before the Sanhedrin, as they spat at him, beat him, and falsely accused him, hardly a word passed his lips, save that which acknowledged him as the Son of God, the Christ.

He didn't get mad! That's the thing that amazes me. The most abused man in history did not get mad. He did not retaliate or even hint at retaliation. He could have initiated something much more powerful than a nuke. But he just stood there and took it, the "Lamb led to slaughter" that Isaiah had written about centuries before.

If ever there was One who will not ramp up the rhetoric, incite a mob himself, or strike back at persecutors, it is Jesus. I have to wonder what the world would be like if we truly did the same. That's tough! This nation, "under God," has retaliated swiftly and decisively against those who have done us harm. I get it. "What are we supposed to do, just roll over and expose our belly? Should not those who do unjust things get what's coming? What of the abusers? The child-molestors? The terrorists? Rapists?"

Scripture doesn't tell us that those who do others harm should just be allowed to continue doing harm. Consequences for actions are inevitable. That's not what I'm talking about. The vulnerable deserve to be protected.

But what if we, on individual levels, chose to react differently to those who persecute us? Wrongly accuse us? What if we stopped trying to "get even" or "get ahead"? What if our response to wrong was kindness and prayer, as opposed to lashing back out?

Not that I'm any good at it myself. I have plenty of Walter Mitty conversations where I'm lashing out (in my head) at someone I'm not happy with. I cannot tell anyone to change how they react without asking God to change how I react. This isn't just some global, peacenik rant. It's personal. It's individual. Unless we choose to react differently on an individual level, nothing on a grander scale will ever change.

Lord, help me to respond to attackers, abusers, and those bent on injustice with Your love, Your calmness, and Your dignity. I cannot do it without You.

Jesus. ALL.