Category: humility

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Taken, Blessed, Broken, Given Part 4

In Life of the Beloved, Henri Nouwen writes about the four words that helped him identify the movements of the Spirit in his life. Those words are, taken, blessed, broken, and given. In previous posts I have looked at the first three. Today, I want to look at the fourth word.

As followers of Jesus, we are to be bread for the world. As such, we are taken (chosen) to be blessed. We are blessed so that we may be broken. We are broken so that we may then be given. The chosenness, blessedness, and brokenness are not just for our benefit, although we do gain from it. Theses things happen to us so that we might be a blessing to others. The communion bread is given for the benefit of others. It is to be the same with us. We do not live for ourselves, we live for others.

Jesus commanded us to love others as he loved us. That means we are to lay down our lives for others. We are to live lives of sacrificial love. Ephesians 5:1 & 2 calls us to imitate our Father by living a life that is characterized by the same love that he showed to us. The Father’s love for us is a giving love. Abba loves us simply because he loves us. He gives us his grace regardless of what we do. We are his beloved children and he is pleased with us. Therefore, he loves us.

We are called to the same love that gives. If I do something for someone with an expectation of something in return, I am not showing love. That is a lesson that can be very difficult to learn, but it is necessary. Nouwen states that we find our greatest fulfillment in giving our self to others. I think he is right. After the fulfillment we find only in God, our greatest sense of worth comes when we are able to show God’s love to another individual. We can see this sense of fulfillment in those who don’t know Christ yet give to others.

This giving must be a conscious, deliberate thing. It is not going to happen automatically. We must determine day by day to give ourselves away. We can do this as we embrace being chosen by the Father, being blessed by him, experiencing brokenness, and realizing that all of this is so that God can give us to others. Paul writes that it is Christ who lives in us. It is Jesus who empowers us to give ourselves.

The giving can take many forms. It can be helping someone move, or repairing something around their house. It can be having them over for a meal. It can be something as simple as just spending time with someone and really listening to them without judging or trying to “fix” things (That’s hard for some of us). It doesn’t matter what form the giving takes as long as it is done for the good of another without expecting anything in return, simply because we love the other person. Being in community with other believers and sharing our lives with them will teach us to give, and to receive, as we interact as brothers and sisters.

As we live a life of sacrificial love, we can even give to others in our death. Our legacy can inspire others to give themselves as they remember the love that God showed them through us. A few years ago, a commercial for a pizza brand asked, “What do you want on your Tombstone?” A good thing for a Christian to be able to have on their tombstone when they die would be, “He showed us Jesus.” That would sum up a life lived as one taken, blessed, broken, and given.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

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Taken, Blessed, Broken, Given Part 2

This is the second post in a four part series. Part 1 is here.

In Life of the Beloved, Henri Nouwen writes of four words that helped him identify the movements of the Spirit in his life. In the first post I looked at the idea that we are taken by the Father. Today, we’ll look at the concept of being blessed.

As those who are beloved of the Father and chosen by him, we are blessed. We are not only blessed in the sense of having our sins forgiven and being at peace with God, but we are also blessed in the sense that God says good, true things about us. Our Father tells us that we are his beloved children, that we are adopted into his family and have all the benefits of heirs. We are in Christ, therefore we are co-heirs with Jesus. God tells us that he will always take care of us, that we can trust him to do nothing but good. While that good may not look wonderful to our eyes, we can know that it is truly good.

In a world that is full of curses and lies, we need to hear the truth that we are blessed. First, we need to hear from our Father. We do this by prayer. Not just talking to God, but also listening to him. It is hard to tune out the noise of the world around us and the lies whispered to us by our Enemy. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between the voice of the thief who can disguise himself as an angel of light, and the true Shepherd who gave his life that we might live life to the full. Being still and learning to hear the Shepherd’s voice is vital in our walk with him. Whether it’s a few minutes here and there, an hour or a day, we need to carve out time where we simply are still so we can know that he is God.

Another way we can hear the blessing from the Father is to cultivate presence. We normally go through our day-to-day with tunnel vision and miss the many blessings Abba brings our way. Some of those come directly from heaven, some come through other people. When we realize those blessings, we need to receive them and show gratitude. Sometimes receiving blessing from another is humbling. It forces us to recognize that we really do need each other. Unfortunately, this is as true in the church as in the outside world. We want to appear strong and able, so we tend to pooh pooh times that someone has met our needs and forget that we have been truly blessed. Many times, the simple presence of someone in our lives is a blessing that we miss.

Through these two ways we recognize and claim our blessedness. We are not blessed just for our sake though. The Father blesses us so that we will bless others. Claiming our blessing will give us a desire to bless those we come in contact with each day, from the brother or sister who needs help, to the cashier at the grocery store who is tired at the end of the shift. In a world that is full of curses and lies, people hunger for blessing whether we realize it or not. Jesus commanded us to love others as he loved us. As we are forgiven, we are to forgive. As we are shown grace, we are to show grace. As we are blessed, we are to bless.

We can only bless others as we tune out the noise of the darkness and listen to the voice of our Father and claim our blessedness. Then, as Nouwen states,

“…we can face our own and others’ brokenness with open eyes.”

That’s a topic for another time.

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Still More: Reposted

This was first posted January 8, 2008:

When we last left our hero, he was wondering what was going to happen next.

I was without work. I thought I was going to realize the fulfillment of a long held dream of coaching college basketball. So, I sent out resumes and waited. I talked to every coach I knew. And I waited. The summer came and went and still no coaching job. In fact, there were no jobs at all on the horizon. We didn’t feel free to move to another area because my parents and my wife’s parents had moved here to be near us and they were in declining health and needed our help. The search continued. As all this was going on, we had to give our cocker spaniel to the pound because he was old and had too much wrong with him for us to afford to have him treated. It was not a fun summer. About a week after we gave our dog away, I was out on yet another job search. As I drove past the animal shelter, I lost it. I began to pray, cry, and yell at God. I even cussed (I know that shocks some of you, but that’s the way it is). I told God that if I had anywhere else to go, I’d chuck this whole Christian thing. I realized that, like the disciples, I had nowhere else to go, that Jesus was the only one worth following.

In September of 2005, I was hired by a tour bus company to drive. I was glad because it would give me a chance to travel. As it turned out, the majority of the job consisted of leaving the house at 4:00 AM, driving to a National Guard camp eighty miles away, and shuttling troops back and forth from the camp to a nearby army base so they could be processed for active duty in Iraq. Most of the day was spent sitting on the bus and waiting for the soldiers to get their paperwork in order. I would usually arrive back home sometime after 10:00 PM. Because of this schedule, I usually only worked three days a week, so the income wasn’t real good. The company also had no health insurance for their employees.

At first, I wondered what I had done wrong, wondered why God had “put me on the sidelines”. I felt like I was in a desert. Sitting on the bus gave me plenty of opportunity to read, think, and pray. God began to teach me about trust and patience. He reminded me that he was the most important one in my life, and that my identity was in Jesus, not in being a teacher or coach. I began to rethink even more of my assumptions about God, church, and life. At the same time, God was teaching me increasingly to trust him. Jan and I saw God provide for us again and again.

In January 2006, I walked out of the desert. I was hired as a teacher’s assistant in a self-contained special education class at a public middle school. The kids I work with all have learning disabilities, some more severe than others. Many of them are from low income families. Quite a change from the Christian schools previously worked in, although not as much as I would have thought. Kids are kids wherever you go.

Also in January, both my mom and my mother-in-law went into a nursing home. Jan’s mom suffered a stroke, and my mom was suffering from advanced Alzhiemer’s. Our ministry to our parents changed somewhat, as we were visiting our moms and essentially being there for our dads. It was hard to go into a place full of people who were essentially waiting to die and visit Mom, knowing that she would never leave in this life.

I’ll give your eyes a rest and write more later.

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Working At Cross Purposes

Last week, there was a somewhat comical scene on the shuttle bus. There were two brothers sitting in the seat just to the right of my seat. A parent brought a snow cone machine for me to take to camp, so I asked the boys to move to another seat. That’s when the fun started. The younger brother, who was sitting on the inside, decided he was going to go first. As he headed into the aisle, his lunchbox became hung up on his older brother’s leg. The older brother could not move his leg because it was blocked by the younger brother’s backpack. The younger brother couldn’t move either, because he was hung up on the older brother’s backpack. All the while, I’m standing there with the base to a snow cone machine in my hands hoping for a place to put it down quickly. As I surveyed the situation, I came up with a solution. I began to direct the brothers on what to do, but they simply tried again to get out of the seat at the same time. Of course, the results were the same. After a couple of minutes of directing them, they finally extricated themselves and moved to another seat. My comic relief for the day had come early.

As I thought about it later in the day, I realized that the problems the brothers had were a good picture of what happens so often in our lives. It can happen in the workplace, in the home, in relationships, or in churches. Sometimes it seems that we are just working at cross purposes with other people. We think we know what needs to be accomplished and how it needs to be done, but we just can’t seem to get the other folks to see things the same way we do. We also can’t see past our narrow perspective. Fortunately, the brothers on the bus didn’t do what we so often do. They didn’t get mad at each other, start hitting each other or flinging cross words. Neither of them walked away from the other and refused to sit with him. The rest of the week they got along great with each other. Unfortunately, we often do those very things, even in the church.

The brothers just needed someone to direct them and tell them what to do. Of course, they also needed to listen to the directions, or the results would have the same old same old. We have One who has given us directions to follow when our purposes and those of others end up getting tangled. Jesus gave us a few things to keep in mind that I believe will help us keep peace at the very least, and will allow us to do what is really important. Our Master told us to love one another as he loves us, to lay down our lives for others. That may include giving up our plans and trying to see another’s perspective. We are told to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness first. I’ve found that tends to radically change my way of looking at things. We are called to consider others better than ourselves, and to have the same humble, sacrificial attitude that Jesus had. Paul also tells us that what really counts is faith working itself out in love.

An attitude of sacrificial love will enable us to work together with others to solve problems that come up. I believe that this can work in every area of our day-to-day. I especially believe that it is a mandate for the church. Those outside the church don’t have the same command or motivation to love, but those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus must seek to settle differences and try to work together for the good of the Kingdom. To do otherwise is to give the world a reason to wonder if we really belong to Christ.

God help us to submit our purposes to our King, for his glory

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Sermon on the Mount

In our Sunday gatherings in our house, we’ve been looking at the life of Jesus. We’ve been going through the Gospels in chronological order. About 4 weeks ago, we came to Matthew 5, where Jesus teaches about the kingdom of God.

Growing up, I was taught that the teachings about the kingdom of God were essentially for the Jews of Jesus’ day, and that when they rejected Jesus that kingdom was essentially postponed until the Millennium. They were not really for the church, other than as an example for us to follow. We were taught that if we became poor in spirit because of our sin, we would then mourn over that sin, and so on. All of these things would lead to us being “right with God.” The other teachings were pretty much new laws for us to try and follow. Still, not a lot was said about the kingdom.

In recent years, as I’ve studied Jesus and his kingdom, I’ve come to different conclusions about these teachings in Matthew, and in other passages. I believe that Jesus is teaching about the kinds of people who are welcome in his kingdom, and through whom the kingdom will come. The poor, the left out, the outcasts, are the ones who are in the kingdom, as opposed to the elite, the self-sufficient, those who have it all together. These are the ones through whom the Spirit moves, and the way these folks carry out there day-to-day is completely different from the way those in the kingdoms of this world operate. Instead of pride, there is humility. Instead of “justice,” there is mercy. Instead of revenge, there is forgiveness.

We also saw that so much of the way God’s kingdom works on this earth has to do with relationships. We are told that seeking forgiveness and reconciliation is more important than worship. We are told that treating others in a loving, forgiving manner is more important than following some rules that allow us to avoid love. We are taught that a righteousness that comes from inside is better than one that is simply external.

Jesus took the “traditional” definition of God’s kingdom and turned it upside down. He said that the kingdom was here, but not in the way it was expected. The religious leaders (the righteous) missed it. It was the “sinners” who got it. It was not the best and brightest who followed the King. It was the folks who had been told they were not good enough. The early church was full of these. Somehow, we’ve taken Jesus’ teachings and basically forgotten them. We follow the preachers who are the most articulate speakers, the ones who can command an audience of thousands. We use others for our own purposes, rather than love them. We want God to give us everything we want, instead of being willing to suffer for Jesus’ sake.

If Jesus is the King, if we are part of his kingdom, our lives will be such that the world will think us strange. Our values, the way we treat others, will seem upside down. Our righteousness will go far beyond a righteousness that is determined by law. It will be a righteousness that comes from inside, from the Spirit that is in us. We will indeed be agents of a kingdom that is not from this world, and a King who has already conquered the powers. As we look for the ultimate setting right of all things, we will see, and provide, glimpses of that final, full fruition of the kingdom of God.

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Come and Die

One the things that has become a tradition for us is the annual Good Friday Stations of the Cross here in Rock Hill. This year the event was held on the campus of the university in town. It is always a meaningful time. This year was more special than others.

This past year has not been the best for Jan and me. There have been some very good things happen, but also some things that are not good at all. This year has seen us experience the death of two communities of faith we were involved in, the second after only a few months. In the last three months we have also gone through the very messy death of what we thought was a close friendship. All of these things added to the usual stresses of life have been hard for both of us, but especially hard on me.

Today, I had the opportunity to help carry the cross from the first station to the second. As I was walking along, I could sense Jesus saying to me, “This is what I want you to do.” I have read the verse where Jesus says that anyone who follows him must take up their cross, but this was the first time it had hit home that Jesus meant me. I am the one who is to take up my cross and die. It’s a fine concept to think about, to debate, and to teach, but I’m finding that actually taking the idea and living it is not easy at all. In a sense, I have died a little bit this year. To be honest, it hurts. It is one of the hardest things one could go through.

As I continued on the walk this afternoon through the different stations, I was again struck by the realization that Jesus knows exactly what I have gone through, because he has experienced the same thing to a much greater extent. In Gethsemane, he agonized over the death he was facing, asking the Father if there was any other way. Recognizing that the cross was the only way, he faced it. Fortunately, that was not the end. After death came resurrection. Jesus conquered death and brought life. As he said, a seed must go into the ground and die before it can yield a harvest.

After the walk, as I sat at the foot of the cross and reflected on what Jesus had said to me, I knew that he has called me to come and die. But as the song below states, he “bids me come and die and find that I may truly live.” There can be no joy on Sunday morning without the pain and death of Friday. There is no resurrection without death. There is no salvation without the cross.

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You Want Me to Do What?

In John 13, Jesus washes his disciples’ feet. The Master washed the feet of  his followers! This was something that was was normally done by a household slave. When guests came to a house one of the slaves would wash the dust and dirt off their feet. It was an act of courtesy in that day. I can’t think of anything we do today that would be comparable.

We can’t grasp the significance of this ordinary show of hospitality. In the first century, most people walked everywhere they went. The roads on which they walked were dirt, and were either dusty or muddy, depending on the weather. There was also the good chance that they stepped in some animal droppings along the way. So, to be the foot washer meant that you would have to clean the feet of folks who had dust or mud, mixed with sweat, mixed with who knows what on them. It was not at all like taking someone’s hat and coat as they come into your house. It was a dirty job. Peter knew this. He possibly felt shame and humiliation at his Lord taking on one of the dirtiest jobs in a household. Peter told Jesus that he was not going to wash his feet! Only after Jesus told Peter that he had no part in him if he refused did Peter submit.

In John 13:14 & 15, Jesus says that he was setting an example for us to follow. Some groups take this as a literal command and have services in which they wash each other’s feet. I believe that there are a couple of layers to  this example. One is connected to Jesus teaching that those who lead in the kingdom are to be those who serve. Jesus said that if he, their Master could serve them, they were to serve each other. Paul wrote in Philippians that Jesus took on the form of a servant, and that we are to have the same mindset. Paul also wrote that we are not to think too highly of ourselves, but rather be willing to do menial work. This example of humility is one most of us think of.

I believe the example of foot washing and service also is connected to the command to love others. In Luke 7, we have the account of a sinful woman, possibly a prostitute, crashing a dinner and washing Jesus’ feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, and putting expensive perfume on them. Jesus, in talking to the host about this, says that it was her great love that drove her to do this. She loved much because she had been forgiven much. In John 15, Jesus says that the greatest love is (disagreeing with Whitney Houston here) when a person lays down their life for their friends.

Jesus calls us to love others in the same way that he loves us. That means we are to be willing to lay down our lives for them. I believe that laying down our lives for our friends means that we are willing to do whatever it takes to do them good. That means we may have to do dirty jobs, jobs that no one else would even think of doing. It means that we should be the first to humble ourselves and take a lower spot on the totem pole.  It means that we put our brothers and sisters first, even when it may cause us pain. We do this because of the great love we have for Jesus. That love is to extend to all the other members of Christ’s Body. We are to be like the woman in Luke 7, who loved much because she had been forgiven much, not like Simon, who loved little because he thought he had little to be forgiven.

I don’t want to see something that’s not there, but I wonder if Jesus statement to Peter that if he didn’t let Jesus wash his feet he didn’t have any part in him could be seen as saying those who refuse to humble themselves and love others enough to lay down their lives and serve others don’t have any part in Jesus either. I don’t know. I just know what Jesus commanded.

 

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Doing Great Things For God

When I was growing up, I heard a lot about doing great things for God. In Bible college we were regaled with stories of those alumni who had gone on to be senior pastors in large churches, or youth pastors with large followings, or presidents of Bible colleges. These individuals were held up as the standard. As a teacher and coach in Christian schools, I told my students to dream of doing great things. I dreamed of winning state championships, of having former students and players go on to be leaders. I even dreamed of becoming a college coach and having a huge impact for Christ with my players, all while winning a lot of games.

Fast forward a few years. I now work as a paraprofessional in a middle school and an assistant basketball coach at a local high school. Over the years I have sent out a whole lot of resumes, added to my educational credentials, and done everything else I could to do something great. Nothing panned out. There have been many times when I felt as if I had missed my chance to do great things, to make an impact for God’s Kingdom. I would look at others who did what was considered great, and wonder why it wasn’t me. I felt let down, by God and by myself. I tried to soothe things by being “humble.” You know, the whole “I’m just one of those folks that just tries to serve God any way I can” schtick. I would venture to say that there are a whole lot of Christians who have felt the same way.
Over the past couple of years, through Scripture and the encouragement of my family and close friends, I have come to change my definition of greatness. John Wooden used to tell his teams at UCLA that true greatness consisted of doing the best you can all the time (I know that’s a rough paraphrase, but you get the idea). I believe that is also true in our walk with God. The Father does not expect us to “do great things,” especially as the world defines greatness. He simply asks us to be faithful to the task he has given us. The funny thing is, that actually is doing great things. As followers of the King, and citizens of his Kingdom, we are involved in what C.S. Lewis called an invasion. We are representatives of a King who is in exile, and we are called to bring his Kingdom to bear in a world that is controlled by our enemy. That makes everything we do as followers of Christ significant. We are part of a great story, the story of the restoration of Creation. Jesus said that even giving a cup of cold water in his name was a great thing. Wow. That really changes a lot of things.
Don’t let anyone sell you short. Don’t buy the lie that you are insignificant, and the things you do don’t matter. You are a child of the Creator of the universe, and God’s Spirit lives in you. Your heart has been, and is being transformed. The Father has given you gifts and talents that he wants you to use to bless others. Even if the “only” thing you can do is love others as Jesus has loved you (and that’s really pretty doggone huge when you think about it), you are playing a role in the greatest story ever. You are doing great things.
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Justice, Mercy, and Humility

In our gathering on Sunday, we were looking at Micah 6:8. This verse tells us that the thing that God requires of us is to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.” We talked about how the first priority is to do justice within our relationships. As I thought about the discussion, I thought about the command that Jesus gave us to love one another as he loved us. I believe these two passages are essentially the same.

Jesus calls his followers to love others as he loves us. Think about how Jesus treats us. He always acts justly toward us, he always does what is right for and to us. We many times think of justice as making sure someone gets what they deserve. In the world’s system, that is the definition, but even that doesn’t happen much of the time. The phrase “do justice” can also be translated “do what is right.” Sometimes doing what is right doesn’t fit with how most folks normally see justice. Sometimes doing what is right means sacrificing our rights, our opinions, our comfort, our life. But doing what is right is a part of loving others as Jesus loves us.
Doing justice in our relationships will require loving mercy. As we seek to love others as Jesus loves us, there may be conflicts. Relationships are messy. There is no way to escape it. In order to love people we will have times when we have to love mercy in order to do what is right. Think of the mercy that Jesus showed, and continues to show. That is the same mercy we are to love and to extend to those around us. Showing mercy is always right.
The third part of the verse tells us to walk humbly with God. Humility is also a part of doing what is right and loving others. To love as Jesus loves us can not be done with a proud heart. We can not go to another and do what is right, and extend mercy to them if we are putting ourselves and our interests first. We must have the same attitude as Jesus. Although he is the King of Kings, he humbled himself and served those around him while he was here on this earth. We also are called to serve those around us, rather than seek to be served. That takes a humble walk with God.
May God help us to love each other as Jesus loves us by doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God.