But I'm A Good Person

 For some, learning about the true basis of Christianity raises more questions. It’s easier to accept the misconceptions about Christianity; they fit into our comfort zone. We like the idea that some of us are better than others. We like to think of ourselves as good people, earning the right to heaven. We’ve seen free gifts abused by people, like lottery winners who lose all the money by the end of the first year.  We don’t like to see bad people get set free. This true Christianity, based on grace and not merit, doesn’t make any sense.

If all we need to do is accept the free gift – then anyone can become a Christian, even a bad person? Yes, that’s the basis of Christianity. Our problem comes in our view of good versus bad. Upon what do we base our evaluation? What makes a person “good” and another “bad”?  Who sets the standard for that? Who determines the qualifications for good or bad? If not a fair and unbiased God, who else do we trust to decide?

And God has decided. He declares “all have sinned and fall short.” (Romans 3:23) There are no good people. “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10) “All our righteousness (goodness) is as filthy rags”(Isaiah 64:6). Even our best falls short of God’s standard. Knowing that, I don’t want to be judged on my own strengths, because I’d always fail. Christianity isn’t based on doing good or who does the most good. If we were to be judged by that standard, we’d never see heaven.

Within this good/bad way of thinking, we’ve set up a hierarchy of goodness and badness, believing that the higher our good the better off we are. Certainly different behaviors have different consequences within our human point of view. Murder has more consequence than anger or even theft. Unfortunately, from God’s point of view, this hierarchy is nonexistent. The concepts of doing “more good than bad” or “at least I haven’t done that” do not figure in to God’s forgiveness. Whether we’ve murdered someone, or thought about it, or been angry enough to do so are all equally sin in God’s view. Drug addict and goody two shoes are equally sinners in God’s sight.

But that’s not fair!! It is if you see sin as God sees it. We are all born with a sin nature – broken. And that nature works through us all. It’s the nature, not the results of it, that sets the stage. We all live out that nature differently, some of us heroes and some of us villains. But heroes can be selfish and prideful. It’s the nature that needs purging for us to be free from sin. We can’t purge our own nature. Whether our nature shows in a “basically good” person or a “wretchedly bad” person, both people have a sin nature, and neither can meet the standard of goodness God demands. 

I think we can all see that, but we still hold on to our hierarchy. We want to be better than. We pride ourselves in being better than. And too many times we convince ourselves that we don’t need a savior because we are already saved by our assumed goodness. Unfortunately, none of us are good enough. And pride is a sin. We can’t ever meet God’s standard; we all fail because, regardless of where we place ourselves on the man-made hierarchy, we still sin. If “all have sinned” that means even the best of us missed God’s mark.

Being a Christian is based on God’s forgiveness of our sin nature and that nature’s fruit. Jesus paid God’s price for all sin, past, present and future. That includes your sin and mine. When God looks at us, He doesn’t see a “good” or “bad” person. He sees people who accepted His gift of forgiveness or those who haven’t yet. Both groups are still sinners, but one group has forgiveness, not based on their own merit, but based on Jesus’ having paid the price for all of us. What we do or don’t do, how good or how bad we are, none of that matters; it’s what we do with God’s gift.

If all we need do is accept this free gift, then I can go about my business and not worry about my thoughts or actions any more, right? If I’m already forgiven, and my sin is no longer an issue, what is to stop me from “doing bad” in the future (or keep doing bad)? I’m already forgiven, right? If the burden is no longer on me, I can do anything I want now.

Technically, maybe so. But why? If I truly understand the weight of my sin and my need for a savior, I will want to have change in my life. I will want to feel the ease of the burden. I will want to be better. But not better on my own strength (which was the problem in the first place), but to learn to rely on God to work out His goodness through me. It's the vine and the branches, once connected the vine's energy and life can now flow through me. I can be better than any form of human goodness, when I give control of my life to God. This is not a once for all like our forgiveness. Letting God control and live out His goodness through me is a day by day, all of life process until I reach heaven.

If I have a cavalier attitude about sin (what does it matter if I sin or not), then I am showing I don’t understand the cost of my forgiveness. In the story of the woman anointing Jesus’ feet with her tears and the judging Pharisee Simon’s attitude about her and Jesus’ acceptance of her – remember, Jesus says the one who loves most is the one forgiven the most.  It’s not that from God’s perspective we are forgiven more or less than others – remember sin is sin, no hierarchy – but from our perspective, if we don’t think we have much sin to forgive, we will love the Forgiver less.  I need to understand the magnitude of my sin’s offense. Even if there had only been me to forgive, it would have required the penalty be paid by someone else. How do I honor that payment, that sacrifice? By not continuing to act like nothing has change.

Part of that change is a growing relationship with God. God’s whole purpose in paying for our sin was to renew relationship. He wants a relationship with me. He came and died in my place in order to make that happen. Why would I want to throw that in His face? Knowing I’ve been forgiven makes me want to come in to deeper and deeper relationship with Him. That doesn’t come by my behaving like He isn’t in my life, but by knowing He is very much involved in all I say and do. I want to honor Him with my life. And I do so by giving Him the controls and allowing Him to create in me the goodness and behavior I am incapable of doing on my own, due to my nature.

All of this wreaks havoc with our biases – we view people by their goodness or their badness, and if all are forgiven, what does that do to my criteria of good and bad? We measure ourselves by a good/bad meter as well. We also have this view that Christians should somehow be perfect, sinless creatures, and since we quickly see that they are not, we assume, if we aren’t one, that Christianity is a sham, or if we are one, we must be a failure. But we are looking at the wrong things. We carry our sin nature with us to the grave. But God isn’t judging us any more by that nature. We have been forgiven, and in that forgiveness, the power of sin over us is tremendously weakened. We can experience moments in life free from those chains.

The book of I John talks about how we can walk in the light or in darkness, it’s a choice. We can live by God’s power or our own. When we choose to walk in the dark, we lose our connection with God (not our salvation, but our relational experience). We can regain that with confession of where we veered off, and a renewal of our connections. This becomes our daily, moment by moment experience. While we are in the light, controlled by God’s Spirit, we can’t sin. We only produce the Spirit’s fruit. When we step back into the darkness, we can only produce our own fruit- and the fruit of a sin nature is sin, regardless of how spiffed up it looks.

Because I understand the cost of my forgiveness, and the enormity of God’s love for me to purchase my forgiveness, I don’t want to sin. I don’t want my nature to be in control, even though it can still be, and I do still sin. I want more and more of my life to be under God’s control so that I can bring Him glory and thanks for all He’s done for me. I want a relationship with God. I want to walk in light. Having experienced moments in fellowship with God, I want more. Do I still sin, I absolutely still do. It’s in my nature. I am learning to trust in and rely on God more. Some days I succeed and some days I fail. Such is the life of a sinner saved by God’s grace.

More on Misconceptions

 I’ve written a lot about misconceptions of Christianity. People assume it’s about doing and not doing, following a set of rules, being good. Since we all fail at “being good” at some point or another, Christianity is viewed as, at best, fake or weak, and, at worst, a lie. My nephew would be quick to point out all the sexual abuses perpetrated by religious leaders. Once he brought up something he’d read about Ted Bundy becoming a Christian right before his execution. My nephew wanted no part in a belief that would allow someone as awful as Ted Bundy into its ranks.

You’ve probably heard all the complaints about Christian hypocrisy dating back to the Crusades. Christians are every bit as messed up and broken as everyone else. We may not be a sexual predator, or a serial killer, but we all have our own struggles with being consistently what we think of as “good”. We’ve spoken harsh, hurtful words. We’ve been green with envy. We have bullied, laughed at, jumped on those who have done the same to us. We’ve broken hearts. We’ve lied. We may even have hated. We have all done at least one bad thing in our life, and I’ll wager we’ve done a lot more than one. And we’ve done many of those things since becoming a Christian.

So yes, Christians do bad things, sometimes very bad things. The main difference between a Christian and someone who's not - the Christian has accepted God's gift. Period.

This is good news, we don’t have to be “good” to be a Christian. We don’t even have to do or not do things to be a Christian. All we need to do is accept God’s free gift of grace. There are no other hoops to jump through, no tests to pass and no other work to be done. 

Don’t get me wrong. God does hate all sin. Sin always bears consequences and the biggest consequence is separation from God. Sin keeps us from having a relationship with our Creator. Sin demands payment, a wage, and the Bible tells us that wage is death, our death, physically but most importantly, spiritually. Yet God desired a relationship with us, and through Jesus’ dying in our place, we can have that relationship. He wanted that relationship so much He paid the price of sin for us. When Jesus died, as crazy as it sounds, He took on Himself the sin of the entire world, past, present and future. God accepted His sacrifice. The resurrection of Jesus proves this acceptance. And the issue of sin becomes moot. All sin was forgiven on the cross – ALL. The issue isn’t what good things we do or don’t do, or even what bad things we do or don’t do. The issue is what will you do with the gift God has given you?  Accept or reject, no other work is demanded. God did all the work for us.

Once the gift is accepted, there should come some changes, but not of our own accord. As we learn to give more and more of our lives to God, His Spirit in us will help us live a better life. We can bear the fruit of the Sprit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control. Those are indeed good things. Will we still sin? Yes. We still have that nature in us, so we can still sin – and in sinning do some pretty awful things. But those awful things have already been forgiven.

Doesn’t that give us the license then to just go out and sin more? If it’s all forgiven, who cares, free pass to heaven and all?  A true believer would care a lot. We care because we understand what that forgiveness cost, the amount of love given us by God to free us from sin. That understanding compels us to do better. It also helps us see we cannot do better on our own ability, we need to turn the control of our life over to God to create in and through us what we cannot do on our own. Sin is that powerful, left unchecked, even in a believer’s life, horrible things can result. We need to hand over the keys to God, and let Him control our life. It doesn’t happen all at once, but the more we allow God to rule in our life, the less sin becomes an issue.

Regardless, sin, the broken bad stuff we do, is not what keeps us from being a Christian. And, if we could be “good”, being good doesn’t make us a Christian. What makes a Christian is acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice in our place. If we put our faith and trust in what Jesus did for us, we are a Christian. You might think, that’s too easy. But is it?  First of all it requires admission that we need saving. That's not very easy. We think we haven't done anything that bad to require that kind of saving. Yet the Bible says we have all sinned and fall short of what God requires. Even the best of us need saving. 

Then comes the issue of control. Most of us don’t want to give our lives to anything or anyone else. We want to have total control. By accepting God’s gift of forgiveness, we are at the same time admitting we can’t save ourselves, we need a savior. All the control we think we have and want doesn’t really exist. The Bible says we are “slaves” to sin. The only freedom comes when we let go of trying to save and fix ourselves and accept the work God has already done through Jesus.

When people say, “I think I’m a Christian.” “I hope I’m a Christian.” “I’m trying to be a Christian.” That isn’t Christianity. We either are or are not a Christian – no thinking, hoping or trying. It’s a relationship, like a marriage. We either are or are not married. Or a status like citizenship, we either are or are not a citizen. We either are or are not a Christian. It’s not something we keep working for. It’s not something we need to hope for. If we place our trust in God and accept His gift of forgiveness, we are in, we are a Christian – no need to hope, wish, work for or wonder any longer. You are a Christian.

Paul said, “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded (convinced) that He is able to keep (guard) what I’ve entrusted to Him (my life) until that day (I reach Heaven or He returns).” II Timothy 1:12 

I know and am persuaded – rather than I do, try, fail and try again. God is able. It’s His work and His gift and He is able.

 

Visiting the Redwoods

 We just returned from a glorious road trip down to the Redwoods National and State Parks via the Pacific Coast Highway. I had never been to the Redwoods, so have wanted to take this trip for a long time. It did not disappoint.

We hiked several trails, hugged a few of the giant trees. We stared at the ocean’s grandeur and enjoyed aquarium and museum learning experiences. We ate a lot of good food. Obviously, we had a great time, full of images to remember. We attempted some photographs, but they never compare. How do you take a picture of a 300 foot tall, 2000 year old Redwood and convey the impact that experience has on you? I did come away with a few philosophical impressions I’d like to share.

I have written before about the diversity of the world’s flora and fauna. I know I come from a place of bias, but I can’t imagine what purpose it serves evolution to have over 35,000 species of fish, 3-4,000 in Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 different sea anemone, 64,000 documented types of trees, and almost 50 different species of fir trees alone. What is the purpose of all this diversity? Wouldn’t just one type serve? And even accounting for adaptations to a variety of habitat, the numbers seem excessive.

And why all the color? Why color at all?  There are scientific reasons, and those alone are amazing. Certainly plant and animal species have evolved to survive in their varied environments. But if we all came from just one cell…that doesn’t explain all the diversity that exits. Whereas, if you believe in a Creator, a Grand Designer, you can view all of nature as more than a science experiment. The beauty of it alone is stunning, breath taking and gives pleasure to the viewer when we get a chance to see what’s there.  Our Creator must love color beauty and variety. He gave us the ability to appreciate and even, to a much lesser extent, duplicate in creating our own art.

The Apostle Paul makes an astounding statement about creation and humans viewing their world. “What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” Romans 1:19-20 We are meant to see God in creation. Creation can lead us to God if we are open to it.  To stand at the ocean, to look through a tide pool, to stand beneath a giant redwood tree – is to get a glimpse of God.

For the Lord is a great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry ground. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Ps 95:3-7

Another epiphany came from learning about the giant redwoods. They stand straight, towering over us by up to 300 feet. They form these beautiful groupings, older with younger trees. Trees that might have fallen are propped up by larger, stronger trees, and eventually merge together. They can withstand Pacific Coast storms and fires because of how they are made. Their bark can keep the tree safe from multiple fires. They can hold water when supply is low. They stand tall and together because, though their roots are shallow, they intertwine with each other to give each other strength. They “hold hands” as it were, and are stronger together.

In several groves I noted the people who had put together explanations about the trees used the word “cathedral” to describe a grouping of trees.  Interesting choice of words. And indeed, in the presence of these trees I felt like I was in a holy place.  You would think seeing one big tree would have a “seen them all” sort of reaction. I couldn’t see enough. Every corner you turn there are more, and they are beautiful. Again, I am biased. I have long been a tree lover. I don’t even like to see necessary pruning done to a tree. I love the magical Ents from Lord of the Rings, and the “trees” in Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s series that come from inside a sentient species, and are sentient themselves. I’ve read about trees communicating with each other, perhaps through their connected roots. And trees clean our air and help us exist. In a sense we are part of their root community.

Think about the connectedness, the better together-ness of trees. We can apply that to ourselves. We are better together. We really could use that lesson today when all of us are being pulled apart by, of all things, politics. We have loosened our grip on each other. The redwoods, though giant and tall, do not stand alone. Among their giant shadows exist all manner of other trees and plants, an entire ecosystem dependent upon one another. This is something we humans are losing. Experiencing isolation, like we had during Covid, hurt us. We are not meant to live alone. God created us for community, even those of us introverts.

And what about diversity. In the sea, in the forest, you see so much diversity at play. All of it together forming a symbiotic community where each plays a role. Certainly, the circle of life can be pretty brutal, but it can also be empowering. Everyone having a part to play. We could also learn from this. There is not just one color or type of sea anemones or sea star. There are multiple, vibrant colors and sizes. But all of them are anemones or stars. I doubt they try to segregate themselves, or are secretly glad to be white rather than rose colored.

Needless to say, I had a lot of time to think as I stood in a redwood cathedral or looking over a cliff at the ocean crashing on the rocks below. When I put it all together, my bottom line experience was one of worship.

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and by your will they were created and have their being.” Revelations 4:11

Accepting Our Need For Grace

In the Timothy Keller book I’m reading he writes, “To the degree you understand your need for grace, to that degree faith explodes in your life in the form of love.”* The problem comes in our ability to see our need for grace.

I’ve written before about Jesus coming to Simon the Pharisee’s house for dinner. (Luke 7:26-50) While at the table, a woman comes in and kneels at Jesus feet. She’s crying and wiping her tears from his feet with her hair and anointing his feet with perfume. She is described as living “a sinful life”.  Simon thinks, “if only he knew what type of woman she is, he wouldn’t let her near him. If he really were a prophet, he’d know she was a sinner.” We know what Simon was thinking because Jesus knew. He is God, remember. But Simon couldn’t see that.

 Jesus tells Simon a story about two men who owed another money, one significantly more than the other. The man who held the debt forgave the debt of the man who owed the most. Amazing. The other man owed considerably less, but his debt was also paid. “Who loves the debt reliever more?” Jesus asked.  Simon responded, “well, of course, the one who’d been forgiven the most debt.” Ah, so it is with this woman. 

Simon had no idea who Jesus really was. And Simon also saw himself as superior to this woman, and probably to Jesus too, since he hadn’t been a very gracious host to Jesus. But the woman, she knew her sin, and she recognized her Savior. She loved more because she knew her sin was great and His forgiveness amazing. Simon, probably not believing he had much to be forgiven at all, didn’t see what was right in front of him. Jesus tells the woman, “your sins are forgiven…your faith has saved you.”

We could look right at Jesus and not see Him. Like Simon, our sin blocks our view. “No human being seeks the true God. We seek spirituality, but the human heart wants a God who fits our desires, a God we can control, who doesn’t challenge our self-assessments and narratives.”*

Interesting that we will seek all manner of ways to fix ourselves. Self-help books fly off the shelves. We know we need some fixing; some of us might even believe we need a lot of fixing. But self-help books and therapy can only take us so far. They can’t forgive us our sins. They can’t heal our guilt. But they also don’t require much of us. If we admit we need Jesus and respond to his moves, we might have to give up something – ourselves – and we find that quite hard to do. Self-help only asks as much as we are willing to give, with very little success as result. Jesus asks for our entire self, and to those who accept His offer, His free gift, we find the healing we seek.

This is why God doesn’t wait for us to make the first move. The woman in the story had seen Jesus’ response to others, and seeing Him in action brought her to Him. He was immediately accepting of her when she came in. It was probably as odd then as it would be today to have someone crying at our feet. But Jesus was available and accepting. The gospel writings show us how available Jesus was too anyone who came to Him.

Romans 3:23 teaches that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. None are righteous, sinless, meeting God’s standard. None. (see also Romans 3:10-20) We, like Simon, think our sins are not so bad, if indeed we have any. It’s always easier to see the sin in others. In fact, it usually makes us feel better to do so. But in God’s sight all are declared sinners, regardless of where we stand on the human measure of “sin”.  And, Romans also declares that the wages of sin is death (6:23).  All of our trying to work out our issues only ends in the same place – death. But the free gift of God is salvation and eternal life. Nothing to work for, nothing to work out, Christ did all the work for us, and all we have to do is, like the woman, come confessing our need. He meets us there.

What we couldn’t do, to save ourselves, Jesus did for us. He took our punishment for sin. The issue today isn’t whether we’ve sinned or not. The issue is whether we are trying to take care of our brokenness some other way (self-help) rather than accepting God’s free gift of forgiveness, and healing of our brokenness.

People in Jesus’ day walked right past Him and didn’t realize they had God in the midst. Even His own disciples often missed his presence in a real way.  I’ve wondered if it would have been easier to accept Jesus’ claims of being God and dying for our sins if we’d lived during His time on earth. But I don’t think so, because only a few who walked with Him truly believed. Most were threatened by Him, or only looking for some immediate payoff.  Regardless, He was available to all. He’d come for all, even Simon the Pharisee.

And even better, we are told that we can have God’s Spirit living in us. “We can have a view of his glory and an intimacy with him better than any of his followers had when he was on earth, greater than if Jesus had actually held us in his arms and kissed us.”* With the Holy Spirit living in us, we have the opportunity to live in very close intimacy with God, freed from the burden of sin.

Not that we don’t still sin. I John says “if we say we have no sin, we lie.”  And we all know we still sin – anger, jealousy, judgmentalism, greed (to mention a few). But the real power and chains sin held over us are gone, we only need to accept the gift.

Perhaps we can’t really feel a lot of love toward Jesus and God because we don’t appreciate all that has been done for us. Like Simon, we think we are OK and it’s others that need saving, just look at their sins. Maybe we need to accept the fact that no one is immune from sin, and even if we’d been the only human alive – we still would have needed to pay the impossible wage for our sin. Yet, Jesus did that for us, and when we accept that we are just like the woman, we will find our way to a relationship with Him.

“To the degree you understand your need for grace, to that degree faith explodes in your life in the form of love."*

 

*Quotes from Timothy Keller, The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter, Penguine Books 2021. Chapter 6. “Personal Hope”.

When I Am Weak, Then I am Strong

 Working in a church can bring a lot of challenges as well as rewards. It helped that I was a pastor’s daughter and raised in the church environment. I saw for myself that church people can be harsh task masters, fiercely loyal, judgmental, loving sinners, like all of us. I also knew well the vulnerability of church employees, also sinners. My pastor boss used to half-tease that I had no respect for the dignity of the clergy, having been raised by one.

I had rich and beautiful experiences working as a Christian Education/Youth Director. I also had some PTSD producing moments. Women in ministry were few and far between. Youth pastors without at least a Bachelor’s degree from a Bible School, if not a full Master’s of Divinity were unheard of. I was a woman with a Bachelor’s in Education and a Master’s degree, but not from a seminary. And, I didn’t play the guitar (an inside joke regarding what a really qualified youth director should have). But there I was, brought on staff by a great mentor who saw in me gifts needed for his church. I wasn't qualified as some would have it, but I was qualified where God placed me.

One bone of contention came from two of my core beliefs. I’ve since come to see these are also core principles taught throughout the Bible, but it was more instinctual to me at the time. To be honest, Spirit led instinct that I served. My core beliefs - first, I believe we learn best by doing. For example, if we were doing a drama, I felt everyone should learn what goes on behind the production, not just the adults. Everyone needed to participate in set building, painting, set up and tear down. This especially included those doing the acting. I wanted them to experience what it took to allow them their 15 minutes of fame on the stage. It formed a tighter unit, and produced fewer divas and more appreciative participants. An additional benefit of this style was putting the emphasis on serving, rather than being served.

This way of working didn't always come off polished and professional. But that wasn't the point. The point was to involve everyone in the process. They all felt a part of the bigger production, and gave it their best. 

Second, I also believed every kid in the youth group had something to offer, not just the popular, beautiful ones. The Bible teaches we’ve all been given gifts to use. I wanted all the kids to have a variety of experiences so they could better discover what their gifts were. This meant that sometimes we had a sublime experience, and sometimes it was pretty cringe worthy, but everyone was encouraged to participate and try a taste of everything. This included the tone deaf leading the singing, the poor reader reading the scripture, the introvert leading the devotional, and the cheerleader washing the dishes.

My naysayers felt I was doing youth ministry all wrong. The going trend was to put the beautiful, talented kids up front with the belief they would entice everyone else to follow them. If you put the less beautiful, less talented up front, you will discourage everyone else from even coming, let alone participating. You also always wanted to present a polished, professional result. To do that you can't use lesser entities. Put the beautiful out there and you will have success.

I don’t know your experience, but in my life that never played well.  The popular and beautiful can be quite intimidating to us mere mortals, and sometimes they can be outright mean. Our culture isn’t unique in idolizing famous, beautiful people. Perhaps it seems more so today, but I attribute that to social media and easy access. Cultural influencers are all around us. We are overwhelmed with our culture’s ideals, and this includes the church.

My instinct led me to giving other kids a chance. I didn’t neglect the more obvious leaders, but I didn’t give them anything special by way of my attention. I tried to give everyone my attention. I was well aware that those kids who had “made it” out there in the secular culture weren’t always as confident as they acted. We all have insecurities and social fears. I tried to be sensitive, but I didn’t let those kids dominate the scene, and that caused some issues. One issue it didn’t cause, our group thrived rather than diminished.

It’s interesting to go through the Bible and see whom God chose. Very few would have made the football team or become a cheerleader, let alone a rock or movie star. The ancient cultures also valued the beautiful, rich, first born, and mostly, men. Throughout the Bible God overturned the world’s values. He chose those who, in the eyes of the socially, culturally elite, were marginal. “God takes the people whom the world consigns to the margins and brings them to the center.”*  Examples that stand out would be Jacob, Joseph, David (all younger siblings) who became great leaders. And how about Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba Tamar – women of questionable morals in their day as well as a couple being racially inferior (non-Jews) – all in the lineage of Jesus. Who would expect women there at all, let alone those women?  But that’s how God does business.

And it’s not that God doesn’t or can’t use the elite. He has and does, but more often than not, He goes with the underdog. Their biggest strength being their faith, and even that faltered along the way. The fact is we are all fragile. We are all, as Paul refers to us in II Corinthians, clay jars. (4:7) Some of us are just shinier jars than others, but push us off the table and we all break. The only thing that makes us special at all is God at work in us, what Paul refers to as the “treasure” in the jar of clay.

I found that the kids on the margins had as much to contribute as the shinier jars. Those popular kids were going to find and use their gifts with much greater ease, mostly because they’d be called on first. But since all of us have gifts to share, pulling kids out of the margins and encouraging them to find their gifts was amazing. Many of those kids went on to serve in ministry, making an impact for the Lord

As I read the Bible more, I discovered how often God chose weakness. Moses kept arguing with God about all he couldn’t do, and God kept making up the difference. When we recognize our weakness, we can probably rely on God more. If we feel we have it all together, we probably think we don’t need God at all. At the very least we just won’t think to invite God in. Paul spoke of his own weaknesses, especially some unnamed physical disability. He kept asking God to remove/heal it. Instead Paul learned to minister with it, because God taught him “when I am weak I am strong.” (II Corinthians 12:10)

Jesus was, and still is, seen as weak. What kind of superpower leader ends up dying? And what God would ever chose to become human? Both just show weakness. But out of what humans see as weakness came the greatest of strengths. Jesus also taught that he didn’t come to be served, He came to serve. He taught his disciples to do the same. Culturally, servanthood has never been an aspiration, yet in God’s world this is what we should aspire to.

God made, loves and died for all of us, those of us who are culturally in and those of us who are out. He sees us as all equal, even if society puts us in hierarchies. But the Bible is pretty clear that if we are trying to live by and rely on our physical strengths and abilities, we won’t get far in God’s Kingdom, where He says the first shall be last, the greatest least. And Jesus models that for us. He is the Greatest, who stooped low to take our sins to the cross. And human strength can limit us in God’s Kingdom, because of our tendency to rely on our self, rather than on God’s strength and power.

I look back on all the kids God brought into my life as a youth leader and teacher. What a blessing. People underestimate teenagers, at their own peril. It was a privilege to see all they have to offer. And for those who also had Christ in their lives, I knew they were going to set their world quietly (or maybe not so quietly) on fire.  And some of the brightest were those the world would probably not have noticed at all, at least not yet.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” II Corinthians 12:9

 

*Timothy Keller, Hope in Times of Fear. Penguin Books 2021

 

Unconditional Love

 Many years ago, when our chosen son came to live with us, his mother told me that once her financial situation turned around, she’d take him back. She wanted him with her, but circumstances didn’t allow it.  That is somewhat fair. Lots of people find themselves in financial straits, unable to adequately care for their family. Circumstances can force us into difficult situations. I would imagine in most of those cases, the sixteen year old wasn’t asked to leave and fend for themselves. I would also hope that in most of those cases, once circumstances changed the first desire would be to gather their family back together under one roof. Sadly, when we set conditions on our love, sometimes we can never break through.

As a result of that event in our life, I’ve become more sensitive to families putting conditions on their love. “We can’t work on this until.” “I do care, but.” “I want nothing but the best for you, however.” “When our circumstances change, then.” “I would be more than happy to change/help/compromise, but.” 

Conditional love isn’t anything new. We all have put conditions upon relationships – friends, spouses, children. And sometimes conditions are necessary. If a person has struggled with addiction and the family must stop enabling their loved one, often an intervention occurs and conditions are put on the addict in order to continue benefiting from the family.  The harsh intervention, hopefully, comes from a position of unconditional love – We love you, but we cannot keep enabling you in your addiction. Enabling is not the best expression of our love.

Unfortunately, too many of our relationships have conditions put on them that have nothing to do with others looking out for our best, or our looking out for the best of others. Conditional love tends to come from a selfish heart, rather than a well-meaning one. “I’d love to help, but I have my own life to look after.” "If I do this for you, then I will be miserable."

I really dislike the conjunction “but”. Too often it is used as a way to slip a negative into a sentence. "I really like what you've done in the house, but didn't that style go out in the 80's?" “I really liked your work, but ….” I never remember anything said before the “but”. The statement that follows continues to ring long after. Words couched to be well meaning suggestions too often are really used to break down a person rather than give honest advice for growth. As a teacher I know I am supposed to balance negative with positive comments, especially when needing to correct a student (true also for an employee or child or friend). I also know too often the positive falls flat, even if the negative is warranted. Maybe instead of, “you are a good writer, but this paper falls far short of your capabilities” we could just honestly lead with “this wasn’t your best paper. I’ve noted these problems…” After that you could end with pointing out where the paper was good or you only observed these things because their other writing was on a higher level.

Complicating how we phrase statements is how the person hears us. Too often the subliminal message feels like “I don’t like you.” “My liking you is dependent on how you write your paper” or how you dress, eat, talk, work. “If you would just ___, then I could really like you.”  That may not have been the intent of the speaker, but it’s how it’s taken.

We all set conditions. It comes easy for us, particularly when we feel our position or wellbeing is best served by conditions and boundaries. Taking a look at our use of conditions probably isn’t something we do very often. We might not even notice when we add a “but” or an “if you” to our well intentioned comments. Nonetheless, too often we put conditions on our love and acceptance.

Fortunately, God presents us with the polar opposite of conditional love. I John 4:7 tells us God is love. The Greeks had several words for love, much more specific than our one, over used word. The word used in I John is agape. Agape is the highest form of love in the Greek language, and means selfless, unconditional, sacrificial love that prioritizes the welfare of others (definition from Logos Bible Study) Agape love is a choice, not a feeling. This is the love that God is. This is a defining characteristic of God – unconditional love.

We find it difficult to love unconditionally because of our nature. We naturally put ourselves first and seek the best for ourselves. We have to choose to love unconditionally because it doesn’t come naturally for us to put others first. That is why we need the Holy Spirit to love through us, resulting in the Fruit of Spirit (the first word listed in the Fruit is love – agape. Galatians 5:22).

I Corinthians 13 is very familiar to us. The passage is used in a lot of wedding ceremonies. In this passage Paul defines unconditional, agape love – patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not proud, doesn’t keep a list of wrongs, doesn’t delight in evil, rejoices in truth, protects, trusts, hopes and preserves. Agape love never fails.  The passage ends talking about all the things that eventually leave, but faith, hope and love remains. The greatest of these is love (agape). Don’t we all wish to be loved like this? This is God’s love for us, accepting us as we are, having paid the price already for all our sins and shortcomings. Because of what Jesus has already done for us, we can be accepted and loved unconditionally by God. And, because of God’s Spirit living in us, we can, at least at times, also love others unconditionally.

Agape love doesn’t say “I love you but…” or “I will love you if…”  There are no conditions put on agape love, because the choice is being made to love even if all the conditions fall apart and the person we are loving falls way short of our expectations. Agape love says “I’ll accept you, regardless”.  Agape love put Jesus on the cross in our place, taking our sin, all of it, on Himself. Amazing grace. That same love is available for us to give to others, through His power.

Recently I watched some pretty bad middle school improvisation. No matter how awkward their budding skills were, I was reminded of the key rule of improvisation – “Yes, and”.  Whatever is thrown at you, you respond with “Yes, and” and continue the flow. I think “yes and” is good as a reminder to love and accept unconditionally. Instead of “I love you, but…” stop and choose to rephrase “I love you, yes, and…” Choose to love unconditionally, asking for the Spirit’s power to actually do so.

 

 

Freedom

In America we are quite proud of our freedoms. We hold firmly to our freedoms of speech, faith, even gun ownership. We understand that our country affords us freedoms other country’s do not, yet we too often take our freedoms for granted.

Teenagers long for the day they can be free of their parents. Workers long for the day they can be free of working. We love having free time, yet often fill our vacations full of activity, offering very little free time. We love options, being able to choose. We do not like anyone taking control of us. We want to do our own thing. Freedom is highly lauded, and not just in America, even if we see it as our unique heritage.

What is freedom? We all seem to want it, but what is “it”? Webster defines freedom as “the power, right or state of acting, thinking or speaking without restraint, coercion or imprisonment.” The definition also includes autonomy, independence, and the ability to fulfill potential. So many things can constrain us – pain can imprison us as much as literal bars. We can get locked into a bad job or relationship. Our desire for freedom can arise in multiple situations. We can feel trapped, enslaved, even in our most free country.

Many people see Christianity as a way of losing one’s freedom. Why would I put myself under the control of a God, or a group of people? Why would I willingly add a bunch of dos and don’ts to my life? I am free and certainly don’t want the bondage of a religion. I want to do what I want to do, make my own way and try not to be beholden to anyone. I’m basically a good person on my own and don’t need religion to improve me.

Many religions, and a lot of what people see in Christianity, do come off this way. A whole list of things we must do to please the religion or God. A whole way of living life that opens the doors to the afterlife, but means that living this life is anything but free. Those outside see the religious struggle to meet those requirements. Failure seems built in. Why would I want to entrap myself into a situation like that? I am free and have no desire to give up my freedom to some religion that doesn’t appear to work after all.

There are even some people who believe that Jesus really did come and die for them, that He probably is the only way to eternal life, but those same people would rather be free then shackle themselves to God. After all, isn’t God against all of the fun stuff in life? I’d rather freely choose hell then have to live under a bunch of rules and regulations.

So let’s talk about those perceived regulations. The Bible teaches that God gave Israel His Law for living life as He intended. Israel had said to God, “anything you ask of us we will do.” Ok then. God gave them the 10 commandments and a whole lot of other more detailed things they needed to do to please Him (and, to be honest, have a healthier and safer life, physically as well as spiritually).  I’ve talked about this before – living God’s standard is impossible. Even if you just take the 10 commandments – they just can’t humanly be done. We may not commit murder, but we’ve all been envious and probably have disobeyed our parents once or twice.

Why give them something they couldn’t accomplish? That seems cruel. But what God really wanted was for the Israelites to recognize what they couldn’t do, and seek His help. Instead of “whatever you want us to do, we will do” the more honest response would have been, “pretty sure we won’t be able to do what you ask on our own. We are a mess. What can we do? Help us live like you desire.” 

A list of dos and don’ts lead us into a system of tasks that must be accomplished to “earn” salvation. Jewish lawgivers kept adding to God’s original Law, making it even more complicated, and impossible. Jesus said in John 8:31-36 that His truth would set the people free. The people proudly shot back, “we are no one’s slave, so we don’t need you to free us from anything.”  Interesting words considering they were under Roman rule at the time. But Jesus said, “everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

What Jesus pointed out is that none of us are truly free. Our very nature makes sure of that. A major teaching in the Bible is that all have sinned and fall short of God’s standard. Romans 3:23 And sin controls us. Paul speaks of that in Romans 6 & 7.

How does Jesus set us free? By taking our sin on the cross and obliterating its power over us.  Prior to this (and prior to having Jesus in our life) we could do nothing but sin. We are born with a sin nature that we nurture along. Our nature is so ingrained in us, we don’t even see how it has imprisoned us. We don’t see how not free we are. We can’t see how debilitating our nature is. We can see the brokenness in our world around us, but really don’t want to see this brokenness begins inside each of us.

The Law in the Old Testament required action on our behalf, asking us to meet a standard that was impossible to meet. Today we are still, often unintentionally, trying to meet this standard. We want to be a good person, so we do what we believe to be good things and hope those actions add up to some positive points in our favor. The Bible refers to this as a works system, a bunch of activities (dos and don’ts) we put into action to please ourselves, others and hopefully even God. Problem is we can’t sustain this for very long. We get tired, jealous, angry, lonely, and suddenly we are not acting so very nice anymore. The author Timothy Keller* calls this “the crushing weight of self-salvation.”

The New Testament is full of passages explaining our imprisonment to our sin nature and how accepting Jesus’ gift gives us freedom, just as Jesus said. When we place our trust in Jesus, His Spirit can empower us for the first time to successfully choose not to sin.  However, there is also the fact that we do trade bondage to sin for bondage to God. The misconception comes in believing that bondage to God means doing a whole new list of things (like the Israelites being given the 10 commandments). But listen to what these passages say about our new freedom and bondage.

Romans 6:18-23 In Jesus we become free from sin and become slaves to righteousness (God’s goodness). When we were slaves to sin we were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap from that? But now you are set free from sin and have become slaves to God. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life. Working earns a wage. In this case, working for one’s salvation or one’s personal goodness earns the wage of death. But accepting God’s free gift of Jesus gives eternal life.  There is a difference between a wage and a gift.

Romans 8:2-3 We are set free from trying to live the Law on our own. When we become a Christian, what the Law was powerless to do because of our sin nature, God’s Holy Spirit in us works through us so we can fulfill the requirements of the Law. We can’t do it on our own, we are powerless, but with God’s power, we can do what God asks. Remember the Fruit of the Spirit? Have you tried to be kind or patient and failed miserably? Try allowing the Spirit to bear His fruit in you and see what happens.  

Romans 8:21 We are delivered from the bondage of decay and brought into the freedom and glory as Children of God.

Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free

Galatians 4:8-10 We were formally slaves to our nature. Now we know God and are known by God. We are free from that old life. Why go back? Good question. Why does it appear that so many believers are trying to live by their own ability, using their own strength to live up to God’s standard? Why is this the picture so many have of Christianity, a failed works system? Most likely it’s because we very much want to be in control of our own life; even when we’ve accepted God’s gift, we still act like we are earning wages towards salvation.

Galatians 3:13 Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the Law (our inability to ever live up to it) by becoming the curse for us. We are redeemed to receive by faith the promise of the Spirit. Our life in Jesus includes the Holy Spirit. His power gives us the ability to actually live the life we’d like to live. But it comes at the cost of our being in control. That is the struggle. When we take back the controls (and we do constantly) we place ourselves back under the slavery of sin. When we give the control back to the Spirit, we can do the good that we really wish to do.

The myth tells us we are truly free, when in fact we are not. If we really examine our lives we can see the variety of chains that hold us. But we are challenged by Jesus’ claim that the truth of who He is can set us free. Christianity is not about earning our salvation through our behavior. Christianity is a relationship with God. Our basic job is keeping connected to the Vine, stepping back from controlling our own life and letting God’s Spirit control it for us. It’s a moment by moment responsibility.

What would His freedom mean in our life? If nothing else, being rid of the “crushing weight of self-salvation” seems worth it.

 

*Timothy Keller, Hope In Times of Fear, The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter.