As I read their latest newsletter this morning, it dawned on me that there are likely some who don’t even know about this organization. I have found their work to be very significant in acting as a link between Christians around the globe… particularly in respect to telling the stories of those who are not in postion to speak for themselves.
Check them out at http://www.persecution.com. Sign up for their free monthly newsletter… your eyes will open wider.
In prepping for an upcoming lesson, I came across an article by Tony Campolo. Actually, it’s an interview that he did for Youth Specialties. While it’s specifically geared towards those who work with youth, there’s definitely something here for anyone who’s trying to figure out how Jesus would want his followers to treat their money.
If you dare(!), the interview is HERE.
As well, there is a fantastic podcast that I found lately… more of Tony’s views on money–very helpful, I think. Click the link to listen… Tony Campolo on Money.
I bought it years ago for $2.25. Not the sheep; a book.
I figured it would be a good read someday. That day has come.
“A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23”… surely, a fellow could find something he’d previously missed in a book like that. I mean, c’mon, there are hardly more famous passages of Scripture than Psalm 23. What hasn’t been seen there before?
But I also mean, c’mon, I’ve never been anywhere near a shepherd. In fact, aside from some petting zoos in my childhood, I’d have to plead total ignorance if “The Daily Lives of Sheep” ever popped up as a Jeopardy category. Alex’s money would be safe for those five questions.
In the very first chapter of this book, the writer talks about the awesome thing that it is to declare that ours are lives shepherded by Yahweh. Imagine the countless times that David must have looked out at his flock, fully aware of the consuming task that it was to care for them. His entire days were about being guide, provider, planner, doctor, search-and-rescue worker, feeder, and more. Then one day, it dawned on him: “Everything that I do for these sheep, everything that I am for them… Yahweh is that for me.”
Thinking of God as my Shepherd in times of trouble, when I desperately need a Shepherd… that’s one thing. We’re fairly quick to do that. Choosing to be led by Him, fed by Him, and submitted to Him for every step along the path… now that would be the life we’re called to.
That would be living our days with Yahweh as the Shepherd of our lives.
A few words from C.S. Lewis…
“Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light.”
A reading like that is good for the soul every so often. It reminds me that the big deal is not how I appear to be; the big deal is how I am. Even if one desires deeply to be genuine and sincere and real, the tendency to gloss over and dress up realities that should not exist runs oh-so-deep in each one of us.
And at moments like that, a good shot of truth stated boldly can be just what the doctor ordered.
I used to be drawn to the idea of self-denial. I went through a phase when the word “ascetic” struck me as a beautiful word. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve been through church history classes. I’ve heard the stories of monks who lived in trees for a year, who mutilated their bodies, who lived as animals punishing themselves–and yes, I sat wide-eyed and swallowed hard as I concluded that they were insane. Or at least misled.
All the same, somewhere in the mix, I admired the fire of such men and women. “Lukewarm” would never be a label stuck on them. Jesus himself is the one who told his followers that we must “deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him”, and I’m not often convinced that the Western Church in general (and myself more specifically) knows very much about that critical idea.
Today, I came across this blurb on the subject…
Sixteenth-century spiritual director Francois Fenelon clarifies a confusing biblical concept:
“Self-denial has its place in a Christian’s life, but God doesn’t ask you to choose what is most painful to you. If you followed this path you would soon ruin your health, reputation, business, and friendship.
Self-denial consists of bearing patiently all those things that God allows to pass into your life. If you don’t refuse anything that comes in God’s order, you are tasting of the cross of Jesus Christ.”
And that is what we are meant to taste of… of the “tree of life”.