missed out

Today I walked up to Jimmy John's subs to grab a sandwhich for lunch. What a beautiful late fall day in central Ohio! On the way back, the story of Jesus meeting the unnamed woman at the well came to mind (John 4). The disciples that day long ago left Jesus to walk into town to get lunch, while Jesus stayed at the well. Along came this woman alone, in the heat of the day, to draw water from the well. During the conversation that ensued, Jesus was able to show the woman his identity as Messiah and reminded her that she was deeply loved by God unconditionally. The encounter transformed the woman. But the disciples missed out on a great God moment because they were hungry. They had to hear, after the fact, what happened at the well.

As I walked I wondered, "Do my cravings or drives in life (ambitions, hungers, desires) that I choose to respond to take me away from God moments? I don't think I'll ever know. When have my desires, ambitions, and/or hungers taken me away from my relationship with Jesus, if only momentary? The disciples were going to come back to Jesus once their hunger was satisfied...but responding to their hunger took them away from Jesus. Why didn't at least one of the eleven stay with Jesus? If Jesus is that important of a guy, wouldn't one of them want to stay close to their rabbi? Why would they leave him alone in the heat of the day? Couldn't they have persuaded Jesus, "Come on Jesus. Just come with us. Come on." And yet, why didn't Jesus persuade them to stay? Things happen when Jesus is around. Why did they leave his side?

What about me? What about you? How much do we miss because we take Jesus for granted or get distracted by the stuff of life? Isn't it interesting that Jesus allows the disciples complete freedom to move away from him. God allows us freedom to come and go as we please. He doesn't demand our attention at all times nor reprimand us for walking away. Not at all. God displays infinite patience with us. Why? Because for Jesus, it's a matter of the heart. He knows we get distracted and come and go. The question still remains however,
"Do we want to be around Jesus or is there something else pulling at our hearts?"

Thanks for reading.

The path

"You search out my path..." Psalm 139:3

This morning I got stuck on this verse and ended up contemplating the meaning of it for our lives. What is the implication of this verse of scripture? God searches out our path. For me, as I consider it, it seems to me that I don't have to try too hard to "make something happen" for my life...I don't have to try hard to accomplish stuff in life...I need to relax and trust God. That's a novel concept. Think about it...it's like God is the trailblazer in front of us, clearing the clutter from the path set before us. We follow. God leads. God does the difficult work. We move forward. And yet, maybe even moving forward is difficult work for us, as we try to determine if this IS the right path. We wonder. We shuffle our feet. We sit down. We look around. We move forward. We stop again. "Am I going the right way?" we ask ourselves scratching our heads. Meanwhile God, searching out our path, says, "Psst...walk this way."

Let the beauty of this verse sink into your being today. Just soak your mind into the truth of it. Paul had a similar idea, "For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life" (Ephesians 2:10).

Thanks for reading.

Flogging

This morning I had one of those moments when I realized that one can't passively read the Bible, like reading the newspaper. I read Matthew 10:16-23. It started out ok with Jesus speaking, "See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpants and..."

"'Innocent as doves Jesus. Yeah, yeah. Blah, blah, blah. I know Jesus. I've heard these words lots of times. Tell me something different..." I say.

Jesus continues, "Beware of them for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be...

"'dragged before govenors and kings...I know, I know Jesus. Because of our identification with you people won't like us. They will flog us in the synagogues and be dragged... WAIT! WHAT?! What did you just say Jesus? Flogged where? In the synagogues? What the...?! I mean of all the places for flogging, as if there is a choice place to flog someone, in the synangogue? Flogged in a place of worship, community, tradition, learning, etc?"

Yep, Jesus said flogged in synagogues. Why? Why would the leaders choose to do violence to the people of Jesus' Way inside a place where God's own people gather? What would motivate them to deliver punishment in that space?

It made me ask the question, do we as people of the church today flog people? OK, not like actual flogging with whatever is used to flog people. I am happy to say, I've never had that experience. But, do we ever flog people with our words or our behavior? Do we ignore people who stray from the perceived "way" of the particular church? Do we verbally call them "rebellious troublemakers trying to change the way we do things around here"? I wonder if the verbal flogging begins when people perceive that they are losing power and influence within the congregation itself. Maybe flogging begins when people cling more to the traditions and symbols of the church instead of Christ and faith. After all, people were upset with Jesus because their perception of him was that he was taking away their lifestyle, their traditions, their customs...what they held important. In actuality, Jesus was able to show that people, even God's own people, place more emphasis on the status quo, on keeping things the same, on religious practice, over and above their relationship with Christ. What Christ accomplished with those who followed him then and those who follow now, was putting tradition, symbols, and religion in their rightful place, as means to an end, not an end in themselves.

What got Luther in so much hot water, to the point that he had a bounty on his head by the church of his day? He freed ministry to be that of the people, encouraged people to read the Bible for themselves, encouraged every person to receive both the bread and wine, and said that the church is based only on the Word alone, not the traditions. Oooohhhh. Dangerous. It was dangerous for some leaders of the church in his day because it meant a redistribution of power and authority. Some people just couldn't handle it.

Let's not make our congregations, the new synagogues, places of flogging. Let's let Christ have his way in our lives so that we love people as they are, not as they should be.

Thanks for reading.

Faithfulness

An interesting insight from William Law,

"The person who dares not say an ill-natured word or do an unreasonable thing because he or she considers God as everywhere present performs a better devotion than the person who dares not miss the church. To live in the world as a stranger and a pilgrim, using all its enjoyments as if we used them not, making all our actions as so many steps toward a better life, is offering a better sacrifice to God than any forms of holy and heavenly prayers."

I wish the media covered Christians who lived the way Law describes. They are out there and some are my friends. Unfortunately, the media chooses to cover embarrasing displays of Christianity, like this one...http://www.thatvideosite.com/video/2178 Please excuse the header at the top of the media player screen on the link.

What an embarrassment. May you and I live better, Christ centered, grace-filled lives.