Category Archives: Following

Laying the Smack Down

Posted on by
Reply

Who’s doing that?

Eugene Peterson.  That’s who.

Here’s a few recently-read words…

The devil does some of his best work when he gets Christians to think of themselves as Christian laypersons.  In the ordinary use of our language, the term layperson virtually always means not-an-expert.  A layperson wouldn’t dream of walking into surgery, picking up a scalpel, and removing a diseased gall bladder from an anesthetized body on the table.  Nor if I were the body would I permit it!

We demand competence, expertise, and know-how in people in matters that really count.  We also require confirming evidence–certifications, diplomas, badges, uniforms, and endorsements.  When we are dealing with anything that matters, we want the best–which means we don’t want a layperson.

He goes on to talk about how some of this is simply a part of life here and now.  Information is simply growing so fast in so many fields… no one can  hope to know everything.  We must trust some realms of life to experts.

However, he goes on…

This is a perfect setup for the Devil.  If I can be convinced that layperson designates who I am and not just what I know or can do, then I am a wide-open market for experts who are ready to tell me how to live my life and, in some cases, even live it for me.  Because God is the core of who I am and what I do and there is far more to God than I can ever learn and deeper mysteries in the workings of God than I can ever figure out, I’m quite willing to employ an expert to take care of these matters for me.

And so I end up delegating the operations of my soul to the experts.  I no longer deal with God myself–I’m a layperson, after all.  I still, of course, engage in the usual range of God-related activities and retain a considerable vocabulary of God-referencing words and phrases to which the experts guide me.  I’m quite happy to be enlisted in God-projects and  often pleased to be recruited to play my part in contributing and helping the trained and certified professionals–but always with a self-deprecating awareness that pastors and professors are my superiors in these matters.

Following Jesus gives way to following Jesus-experts.  It isn’t long before I have acquired all the habits of a consumer in relation to God, letting someone else supply all the essential goods and services.  I’m a religious consumer, that’s true, but a  consumer all the same–a soul condition deeply marred by passivity.

Zing!

Eugene, why do you have go saying stuff like that?  You know: Stuff that cuts.  Stuff that’s sharp.  Stuff that’s true.

Why, man?!

License to Go

Posted on by
Reply

If you’ve ever wondered what God wants you to do or which fork in the road to take, here’s a perfect answer.  But beware.  It’s one of those answers that doesn’t neatly solve your problem or spell anything out for you… but you know it’s right anyway.

Yeah, this is one of those.

“If it pleases you, always and only, to do what pleases God,–you can do as you please!” 

Living in the Story

Posted on by
1

I read this just now.  It’s from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book called “Life Together”.  He’s talking about how important the Word of God is to any form of Christian community.  Placing emphasis upon our need to move beyond ourselves, he challenges us to enter into the complete story of God’s.

An example…

“It is not in our life that God’s help and presence must still be proved, but rather God’s presence and help have been demonstrated for us in the life of Jesus Christ.  It is in fact more important for us to know what God did to Israel, to His Son Jesus Christ, than to seek what God intends for us today.  The fact that Jesus Christ died is more important than the fact that I shall die, and the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead is the sole ground of my hope that I, too, shall be raised on the Last Day.  Our salvation is ‘external to ourselves’.  I find no salvation in my life history, but only in the history of Jesus Christ.  Only he who allows himself to be found in Jesus Christ, in his incarnation, his cross, and his resurrection, is with God and God with him.”

Am I the only one shocked by the bold part?  Doesn’t Dietrich realize that it is about me here and now?  Is he actually suggesting otherwise?

Yes, I believe he is.

That Darn Jeremiah

Posted on by
2

That’s not fair.

I can’t even blame him. In 20:7, he charges God with having overpowered him. A bit later (20:9), he clarifies that God has placed His word so deep within him that it burns like a fire if it’s not spoken: “I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.”

I liked blaming Jeremiah. It’s an easier option than where I’m going next.

It’s not like blaming God is something new; as old as Adam actually. Still, it’s not ground I love to travel, even if it is well-travelled.

My friend Dave had a troubled but honest post on his blog a while back. No, Dave, I didn’t forget the email you sent me either! I’d link to his blog entry, but it seems to have been deleted (it wasn’t that troubled). What it said was this…

This might be a totally uncalled for post. In fact, I’d rather some people not read it, even though I’d like to hear from some…. heh… I guess you don’t have that luxury online.

I just finished sending off an email to my friendly neighbourhood innocent unsuspecting minister who is thousands of miles away from me, letting him know that its his job to fix the way I think of the Bible.

…and a thought came to mind. A horrible, ugly, little thought.

You see, as I travel around with the choir, these children who’ve come from such desperate circumstances, a lot of people say the same thing… that seeing these children in person has made the statistics they read a lot more personal… it has given it a face, and they say that the statistics mean a lot more now, and look a lot different.

I wonder, then… how our perspectives would change… how the statistics would seem to us… if we could ever see the face of just one of the thousands of innocent children slaughtered by the Israelites in the Old Testament. If we not only read of their death, but we saw the actual act. Picture it for a minute. A grown man… a soldier… trained and ordained… swinging his sword into a little baby. I shudder as I write this.

Joshua and Jesus, I’m told, actually have the same name. Right now I’m having a hard time believing they had the same God…

Dave’s point along with a million other people’s… what do we do with a God who called for His people to strike down entire cities as they took the Promised Land? It’s not like those people asked to be God’s enemies, right? Where do we stick that on a framework that recognizes God as being good, loving, and merciful? That’s a question that’s downright unnerving. It can feel like a breaking point in our minds.

Want the kicker?

Jeremiah pushed me farther last week.

I was reading chapters 19-22. The king of God’s people approaches the prophet, and God replies with this in chapter 20:

1-2 God’s Message to Jeremiah when King Zedekiah sent Pashur son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to him with this request: “Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has waged war against us. Pray to God for us. Ask him for help. Maybe God will intervene with one of his famous miracles and make him leave.”

3-7 But Jeremiah said, “Tell Zedekiah: ‘This is the God of Israel’s Message to you: You can say good-bye to your army, watch morale and weapons flushed down the drain. I’m going to personally lead the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans, against whom you’re fighting so hard, right into the city itself. I’m joining their side and fighting against you, fighting all-out, holding nothing back. And in fierce anger. I’m prepared to wipe out the population of this city, people and animals alike, in a raging epidemic. And then I will personally deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his princes, and any survivors left in the city who haven’t died from disease, been killed, or starved. I’ll deliver them to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—yes, hand them over to their enemies, who have come to kill them. He’ll kill them ruthlessly, showing no mercy.’

As I read those words and more like them, I wondered.

Yeah, I wondered, “Why?” Of course. But that’s the easy wondering.

Mine wouldn’t stop that day. Here’s where I ended up.

If I think my senses are stunned by the unthinkable thought that God would command His people to fight others with such ferocity, then I’ve seen nothing yet. Look upon a God who goes beyond that; look at Him who would fight His own people with an equal ferocity.

I was a touch surprised not to feel disgust or fear as I considered such a God as this. Rather, my dominant feeling was a humility before and an awe of a God who possesses a holiness that has seldom been understood even by those claiming to follow Him. This is a God whose desire for righteousness burns hotter than any passion of men. This God over all… His very nature is a love of a type that is so far beyond human affection, emotion, or feeling that it could appear as insanity in our small eyes.

Whew.

Now that doesn’t answer the question.  I know.

But it leads me to one that needs even higher priority on my list.

What am I to do with that kind of a God?

Sigh and submit.  That’s all I’ve got.  And for now, I’m all right with that.

And thanks to Jeremiah, that’s where I arrived on ‘just another Tuesday’.

What a Task!

Posted on by
Reply

I read these words from Jeanne Guyon this morning.  Ever considered what it would take to actually bring ourselves into connection with God?  This morning, she made me think about it:

“To unite two things so opposite as the purity of God and the impurity of the creature, the simplicity of God and the multiplicity of man, much more is required than the efforts of the creature.

Nothing less than an operation of the Almighty can every accomplish this, because two things must have similarity before they can become one.  The impurity of dross cannot be united with the purity of gold.”

She proceeds to challenge that feeling deep down in each of us that we could actually do something towards this end aside from the passive movement of yielding control to One who truly can work.  He alone is Purifier and Shaper.

Some things are just better off when we remove our hands.  Our own lives might be like that, according to my friend Jeanne.