Satisfaction

I was reading the account of the Samaritan women at the well recently. One of those well known passages in Christianity. But I was struck by several verses:

The first:

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

John 4:10b

I was struck by this verse because Jesus seems to say to her: “if you knew who I am” in a way that–to me–sounds like he thought she at least might have a chance to figure it out. Maybe even a little provocative: “duh! c’mon, can’t you figure it out?” In other words, it isn’t as though he excuses her from being blind to his true identity; she had at least a chance of figuring it out. I suppose its mostly interesting to me because I have been thinking a lot about what it means to see Christ lately. I’ve written about it before. I realize that I arrogantly assume that, because I am a “good” Christian, I of course would recognize Christ in the flesh if I saw him. The more I am reading the gospel accounts, however, the more I have doubt in my real ability to see Him. Most people, including this Samaritan woman, really seem to have no clue when they saw him. I doubt I could have done much better in their shoes, really. (Not that I think it is impossible either, I just realize that I must not “lean on my own understanding”)

But really more interesting is that this is his response to her question, of basically, “why are you, a Jew, even talking to me?” Jesus doesn’t just come out and tell her. Why? It seems like it would have been so much easier to say “because I’m God” or something like that.

The other verse that struck me was the disciples prodding Jesus to eat some food:

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, ”I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, ”My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work…”

John 4:31-34

Simple enough, his disciples are concerned about him. Earlier, at the beginning, it said he was tired from his journey. But he gives them a strange response: “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” They, of course, take him literary, which just completely baffles the disciples. Then, Jesus gives an explanation: ”My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”

What a picture of true satisfaction! Can you imagine being so immersed in God’s will, that you considered that food? Life? Can you imagine be so concerned about the concerns of God, that you  forget the needs of the body? No, I don’t wish to promote aestheticism, but I do wish I were more focused on doing the work of the Kingdom rather than promoting my own interest–which is, I’m pretty sure, what 90% of my time really ends up being about: me.

Anyway, the entire passage is beautiful, in my opinion, and probably could feed an entire series of writings. But I’ll leave it there for now. May you and I seek to recognize Christ as he is, be satisfied in the work of the Father, and may we be open to his leading.

True Freedom

Independence day. Undoubtedly, many of us are celebrating today by enjoying time off and spending it with family and friends. Today is a reminder of our country’s heritage and freedom. I would like, however, to offer something that I have been thinking about a lot: what is true freedom for the Christian? I would like to suggest that the freedom we celebrate today, on July 4^th, is at best a pale shadow of the freedom Christ offers to us, and at worst an idea that lures us into a false conception of Christ’s freeing work on the cross.

Let me start out by saying that I by no means wish to “bash” our country or its principles. As a historian, I recognize the uniqueness of our country’s founding, and our ideals; we are indeed blessed with a freedom that many people today and throughout history have not been. I am glad that I can choose my own government—that our government in theory works for us and not the other way around, that I can worship as I please and where I please, live my life as I please, and so on and so forth. But the problem with that list, for the Christian, is that word I.

Christians believe they have freedom in Christ. But what is this freedom? Is it to do as we wish and live as we please? No. Paul tells us in Romans 6:6,7 that “our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin” And the more I see the power of sin in my own life, the more I see how the word “enslaved” is so appropriate. But Paul does not end there:  (verses 17 & 18) “But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” We are dead to self and alive in Christ. We are all familiar with Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Freedom in Christ, then, is fundamentally about far more than little old me. In fact, Paul goes so far as to say that he is no longer living his own life—he is dead to self, but that it is Christ living in him. I should no longer be concerned with my own desires, but the desires of Christ. Not that all human desires are wrong or should be ignored, but rather that I submit them to Christ my master.

Do you see the paradox with what we call “freedom” in America? Freedom here is the freedom to do whatever you wish with your life, and be free of governmental control, religious control, and free from tyranny. Freedom in Christ is the freedom to no longer be concerned about your own life, and to no longer be enslaved to your own sin, but to wholeheartedly give your life to Christ and live for him. To call him Lord and Master: two words that are inherently, not “free.” To be completely free from yourself, your desires, and your sin is true freedom.

Again, I by no means believe there is anything immoral about experiencing what I am calling “American” freedom. Indeed, we are arguably better enabled to serve Christ and live for him because of it. But I hope we can see the limitations of that freedom too. And I hope we can see that our freedom in Christ is completely independent of secular freedom, and perhaps even stands in stark contrast to that secular freedom. Christians living under the most oppressive governments, or Christians who are physically enslaved to someone, can still experience freedom in Christ, and perhaps they even have experienced that freedom more fully than we who live in “free” countries.

I leave you with the words of Christ from John 8:31-36 :

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’

They answered him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?’

Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’

Giving all

My thought for today comes from Mark 12:41-44

 ⁴¹ Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. ⁴² But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

⁴³ Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.⁴⁴ They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Mark 12:41-44, New International Version

This is probably familiar to most who’ve grown up around the church. Which, at least for me, is problematic because it means I tend to ignore what it is really saying. I.e. “Oh yeah, that’s that verse about the widow giving all her money away. Something new, perhaps?”

 

While skiming over it in a book today, however, I was struck with something. The Message translates/interprets the very last sentence in an interesting way “All the others gave what they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford—she gave her all.” I think that wording conveys an important part of this passage that is often missed.

 

Typically, it seems, this passage is used during the “tithe and giving” portion of a service, with the implication that the more you give, the more Jesus likes you. Of course, we oddly enough quickly try to explain that Jesus doesn’t really want us, in our wealth, to give everything: just a lot. How many of us have seriously considered writing a check for the entire amount in our bank account? I doubt it. We rationalize it as “unprudent,” and “foolish.” Jesus didn’t really mean that, of course. We wouldn’t want to have to trust him that much. Isn’t out wealth a sign of his provision? If we gave it all away, he wouldn’t give it back, would he? He wouldn’t want us to be uncomfortable, would he?

 

I digress. Perhaps you can detect my frustration with the “explaining away” of Christ’s words that I see myself, and much of the American church, doing. That’s a topic for another time.

 

Her all. Think about that. What I liked in the wording of the Message (yes, I do read it, alongside other traditional translations of course :) was that it wasn’t focused on her monetary gift. I don’t think Jesus called attention to her purely because she gave all her money; I think he called attention to her because she trusted Christ entirely. I think he called attention to her because she “got it.” Her life was not consumed with her plenty, or her lack. She was enchanted by God. And even though all she had was two small coins, she gave freely to God–and I suspect without even realizing anyone was watching. I suspect that, had they followed her, they would have seen that her life reflected her gift: she gave it all to God. All.

 

What she did was very foolish, in worldly terms. What right-minded person would give up all the money they had to support themselves with? Here again, the offering messages often start to talk about how God will bless you with more than you give. But here’s a thought: what if that widow never saw any monetary return on that “investment” at the temple that day? Do you suppose she gave, as many of us do, expecting something back from God? Or did she give freely, without any care or concern about the future? I think the passage indicates the latter. And I think too that her giving was not confined to her finances. She willingly trusted, and gave, God her life.

 

See, she didn’t give because she wanted something. She gave because she had something. The Almighty God was worth more to her than any earthly possession, any status, any will of her own. As Christ points out to his disciples, he wasn’t impressed with her giving because of the amount, he was impressed because she didn’t hold back.

 

Giving to God meant more to her than her next meal. Have you or I ever given like that before?

 

Will you give Christ your all? Will you give it all, because you believe He, and He alone, is worth all? Are you willing to give up everything, even when it appears (and probably feels) foolish? Too extravagant to be rational? Remember, this isn’t about what you give “on paper”–it’s about where your heart is. Are you so enchanted by the Lord, and by Christ, that you can’t give extravagantly enough of your time, your money, your possessions? Are you supremely satisfied by Him, rather than your circumstances and possessions? That widow certainly seemed to be content with little.

 

I hope I learn to be like her.

Life refocused

I have been reading some fantastic books lately, have heard some fantastic messages and sermons, and have been learning much from my time with God. My lighter class load has freed me up to do some fun and needed contemplation. With graduation looming, I’m facing the next step in my life. Where to go, how to go, what to do, how to do it. More than anything else lately, I have been reminded that I must keep Christ at the center of that process–something that isn’t always easy to do.

I am daily reminded that it is not my life I live anymore. As Paul says, it is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me. I fear that I too often forget this…I want Christ’s salvation and redemption but I am unwilling to truly give up my life. I’d rather live a life of safety and contentment, making choices that are easy and safe. Christ becomes a nice part of my life that gives me warm fuzzy feelings when I go to church on Sunday.

Christ stands ready to change our lives. Our entire, holistic lives. To settle for anything less is both missing the point, and incredibly tragic. My human will desires freedom to do what I want. It desires to control God and relegate him to a comfortable square of my life that I designate on my terms. Christ invites me into a new and powerful freedom that is rooted in giving up all of myself and my ambitions. Didn’t he say, after all, that whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will keep it? In church today we talked about Matthew 20:20-34, the story of the mother who asked for her sons to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus when he came to reign. It is here that Jesus says that to become great in the kingdom of God, one must become a servant. God’s economy is entirely reversed from our human ideas. To become great, we must become low. And Christ himself modeled this for us. He became a servant to all.

The more I see this arrogant self-centeredness my own life, the more it breaks my heart. In an effort to try to preserve my own freedom, I have lost sight of Christ’s freedom. In a desire to live my life as I want to, I have missed out on something far greater.

Much of this lesson is nothing new. As seems to be the case with most things I learn, I don’t really seem to learn new things but rather I relearn things I should already know. I guess it just goes to show that I have a rather thick skull. I wrote recently that I wonder if I would recognize Christ if he were here today. If my life centers around myself, and Christ becomes only a small portion of my life, then I think the answer to that question is probably “no.” Because those that did recognize Jesus dropped everything they were doing to follow him. Hardly a good record for me if I am unwilling to drop all my priorities and ambitions for the same Man.

My hope and prayer is that Christ truly does become my all in all. That Christ should be my every breath, my every word, my every thought. That my entire life changes because of Christ. That I love like Christ loved. That I serve like Christ served. And most of all, that I don’t limit Christ to try to make my life more safe and comfortable.

I don’t think this is easy. My culture around me says to enjoy the moment, to do what I want to do, to make my life what I want it to be. Everything about the young 20s centers around what I want to do with my life, where I want to go to school, etc. Sadly, even the Christian community seems to echo some of these thoughts and attitudes–we just throw God’s name in to the mix every now and then to make it sound better. In this nation, we are blessed with the incredibly freedom to make what we want out of our lives, and the material blessing to be free from worrying where our next meal might come from. This is truly a great thing, but I think it is also a danger. And I see it in my own life: my focus can quickly shift towards myself and my desires. And in that process, I lose sight of the One who should be my all consuming passion.

If I say I am a Christ-follower, that means I am following Jesus, right? And with whom did Jesus spend his time? The least of these. Who do I spend my time with? Hmm. I don’t really want to answer that, because it isn’t “the least of these” and my natural desire is not to live with the “least of these.” I’d rather live in a nice neighborhood with a nice house and a nice car. Christ says to love my neighbor as I love myself, and I’m ok with that as long as my “neighbor” is someone I like. I’m ashamed of the ways I try to dismiss this simple, yet powerful message. I’m ashamed of the ways I justify ignoring the least of these, and the ways I mistreat others. I’m ashamed that I am only willing to follow Christ when doing so is comfortable to me.

Thankfully God is merciful and gracious towards us, and thankfully he knows our weaknesses. And thankfully, he is willing to change our hearts to be more like His. I pray that my heart is daily made more like His, and that His concerns become my concerns. I pray that He frees me from selfish ambition, and frees me to live a life of dedicated pursuit after Him. I pray that I would not just accept Christ’s salvation, and refuse his challenge to live life differently, but would wholeheartedly embrace a life of following Him.

I like Chris Tomlin’s new song, “I will follow.” I think the lyrics are inspiring and thought provoking. May they challenge and encourage you as they have me.

Where you go, I’ll go
Where you stay, I’ll stay
When you move, I’ll move
I will follow…

All your ways are good
All your ways are sure
I will trust in you alone
Higher than my side
High above my life
I will trust in you alone

Where you go, I’ll go
Where you stay, I’ll stay
When you move, I’ll move
I will follow you
Who you love, I’ll love
How you serve I’ll serve
If this life I lose, I will follow you
I will follow you

Light unto the world
Light unto my life
I will live for you alone
You’re the one I seek
Knowing I will find
All I need in you alone, in you alone

In you there’s life everlasting
In you there’s freedom for my soul
In you there joy, unending joy
and I will follow

And the world did not recognize him.

I was reading in the Gospel of John today, and started pondering verses 10 & 11: “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”

This is, of course, nothing really new to us as Christians. But I was pondering if, hypothetically, Christ were with us today, if we would recognize him? As I read the gospels, I am terrified that my answer would probably have to be “no.” If Christ crossed paths with me today, I don’t think I’d even realize it was Him.

I mean, sure, I’d like to think that I’d at least have some idea that it was him. But would I really have a clue? After all, didn’t the pharisees of Jesus’s time know the scriptures? And yet, in the final analysis they completely missed the messiah. I think this should be a sobering thought. We can know the scriptures incredibly well, and yet completely miss the man, the God, that they are about. I don’t know about you, but that genuinely terrifies me. In a good way, but it is certainly troubling to think about.

This shouldn’t scare us away, but I think should challenge us as Christians to a deeper understanding of who Christ is. I am always impressed when I read the gospels at how his disciples literally dropped their fishing nets to follow him (“immediately”, as Mark records). The pharisees missed the messiah, yet these humble fishermen immediately recognized him as someone worth following. What’s going on here? I can only speculate, but I suspect their understanding of the messiah went deeper than the “head knowledge” of the pharisees. I can only hope and pray my knowledge is more like the disciples than the pharisees. And I hope to that I am humble enough to recognize that no matter what I may “know” about scripture, I can still completely miss it.

This should, of course, be a reminder to keep relationship with Christ at the center of our lives. Knowledge of the scriptures is at the center of this, certainly. But to depend on our own knowledge of scripture, our “head knowledge” is dangerous. We can quote passages after passages of scripture, and yet perhaps miss the very God they are talking about. The pharisees did. And I think if we were honest, we’d admit that we may be not to far away from the errors of the pharisees. I know when I read Jesus lambasting the pharisees for “missing the point” I always picture myself on the same side as Jesus, simply because I am a Christian and read the Bible. But the truth is I’d probably be more on the pharisees side if all I have going for me is some claim to a religious name and mere knowledge of scriptures. Christ himself must be my focus. I cannot lean on my own understandings. And this is challenging, because I as a human do it so easily.

May God be the all consuming passion of our lives, and may we grow in relationship with him each and every day. May we recognize and receive our Creator and our Saviour.

Relocation (Or Being a Missionary Wherever)

I mentioned recently that I am in a class that is studying John Perkin’s ideas on community development. We are reading Restoring At Risk Communities: Doing It Together & Doing It Right, edited by John Perkins. I am already familiar with Perkin’s ideas on community development, and would agree with his principles. One that has been on my mind a lot though, and that this class has brought to mind again, is the idea of Relocation. This central component of Perkin’s community development model argues that the only way to really understand the “felt needs” of a community, and therefore the only way to address the issues of a community, is to live in that community. At some level, this may seem like a “duh” statement. But, as with so many things, easier said than done.

Perhaps putting the label “community development” makes this concept seem remote from our daily lives. After all, especially those of us in college, we aren’t really community developers, are we? And after we graduate, only a few of us will probably feel “called” to do “community development,” right? If we aren’t called to that lifestyle, then this concept doesn’t apply to us, does it? I would argue that line of thinking is wrong. As Christians, we are called to share Christ’s love and Good News wherever we are. We are called by Christ to love and serve our neighbors, a command that is only preceded by our command to love the Lord our God. This is a part of the Gospel that I don’t believe is addressed frequently enough (or really, loving God for that matter).

Let’s review this a bit, shall we? Though this principle is affirmed in several places in the New Testament, let’s look at Matthew 22:34-40:

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

I’m always particularly struck by that last sentence. The entire Old Testament Law, hopefully I’m not oversimplifying here, can be summed up in the idea of 1) Loving God & 2) Loving your Neighbor. Which, if you’ve spent time in the Old Testament, does perhaps sound familiar. Now couple this with the Great Commission, and specifically Christ’s charge to his disciples to “[teach] them to obey everything I have commanded you.” I don’t want to make this too simple, because there is so much to the Gospel, but I believe it’s fair to say that, as Christians, we not only have a mandate to share saving message of salvation to the world, but we also are to do this through the “lens” of loving God and loving our neighbors. Remember the old hymn, “They Will Know we are Christians by our Love?” Seems appropriate.

So where does that leave us? With a pretty big mandate, if you ask me. I could talk about so many things on this topic–it’s been on my mind for well over a year now. But I’ll try to focus on the idea of relocation, since that’s where I started.

How we show Christ’s love to our ‘neighbors’ will probably look like quite a few different things in the daily-ness of life that we go through. But what better place to start than with our actual neighbors? How many of us even know the names of the people on our street? Interact with them, especially on a regular basis? Naturally, we can only connect with so many people in our lives. But if we don’t even know the names of our neighbors, perhaps there is a problem. One immediate challenge I have felt studying this idea is simply to pay more attention to the people around me. Wave when I drive by. Say hi when I’m checking the mailbox. It isn’t the full extent of what I think Christ means when he says to love our neighbor, but one does need a starting point.

The real challenge, however, comes when you bring the idea of relocating into the mix. I will guess that most reading this will be similar demographically to myself–white and middle class. Where do we live? With white, middle class people. Exceptions? Of course–there is an exception to every rule they say. But most from the American church come from a background not unlike this. And starting with our neighborhoods of middle class people is by no means a bad thing. But Perkins challenges us to something more when he proposes the idea of relocation. Are we best functioning as ambassadors of Christ by living in American suburbia? A provocative quotation from Restoring At-Risk Communities says that “The American Dream became the practical theology of the people of faith and upward mobility became a sign of God’s blessing upon the faithful” (p. 77). In other words, living a middle class life equals doing what God wants, right? We forget where Christ spent his time, perhaps. It sounds cliché, but if Christ were born in our society, today, and was beginning his ministry, where would he be? Would he be visiting us in our homes? Based on the fact that most of his time in the gospel accounts seems to be spent with the lowest of society, I think it’s fair to say he wouldn’t be spending a lot of time in our suburbian churches.

Does that make our nice, clean way of life invalid? I don’t think so. But if we are to follow Christ–what the word ‘Christian’ means–perhaps we ought to at least consider where he’d be.

>>> Nearly a thousand words, and I’m still not done :) Stay tuned for part 2…

What does it mean to be a Christian?

It’s true, I have been out of the blogging world for a while now. Much on the mind, little to write. But I’ve had a topic on my mind for a while now. I have thought time and time again I should sit down and write it down, but it always seems too daunting. Perhaps, from my title, you already have an idea why. I have also hesitated to write on this topic because I feel that I am still learning and processing so much. It isn’t the kind of thing that will ever be ready for one grand post. So I’ve decided to start an ongoing topic. Appealing to my weird, organized side, I’ll even create a category for it on this blog. Don’t get so excited, reader!

I’d say for the past year or so, perhaps more, I have been challenged with the idea of really examining what Christianity is. More specifically, what the gospel is and what it means. And the more I have studied it, thought about it, talked about it, the more I am coming to the conclusion that we as Christians don’t “get it.” I don’t get it. We read our Bibles, and yet we miss huge points of its message. Perhaps I am being a bit strong. It isn’t that we are unaware, but rather that we don’t fully grasp or practice the gospel.

Christ left us with relatively few commands. He said that we must love one another as he loved us. Remember now that his love brought him to earth to offer himself as a redemptive sacrifice for us. Now would probably not be the time to ask what you have done to love others today, would it? He said the entire law could be summed up with the command to love God, and to love others as we love ourselves. Though well-meaning, most Christians are still better at loving themselves than others, much less God. I know I am.

At this point you may be thinking “so what?” This isn’t exactly new ground, after all. True enough. But do we really get it? We may hear it often enough, but is it really changing how we live? Loving others is not our default as humans. We are selfish through and through. By claiming the title Christian, we claim to operate under new principles, through the grace and power of Jesus Christ. Dr. John Perkins says that “living the gospel means bettering the quality of other people’s lives.”

How are other people’s lives better because of us? How are we showing love to those around us? This seems to be one of the central tenets of the gospel, yet we skim over it so easily. Shouldn’t it be the topic of at least a few conversations, and perhaps some sermons?

I write this primarily, as always for myself. And perhaps I generalize Christians too much. There are, of course, plenty of exceptions. I do hope if anyone reads this, however, that they will take some time to think and pray about what loving others as Christ loves us truly means, and what that looks like in our daily lives. What does it mean to live out the gospel? And the challenging question, what does it mean to be a Christian?