A rich life. Pete started life as the youngest of four, born into a strong family where disrespect was not tolerated, and strong marriages were normative for generations. Pete was born into emotional wealth. Doing well in everything was naturally expected, but not in a burdening sort of way – more of a hopeful expectation that he could do whatever he put his mind to, and that, well. He was born into a wealth of confidence. He went through preschool, then onto a highly-ranked suburban elementary school in Overland Park, KS, where he did well in school, won a host of Field Day blue ribbons, and was the captain of the Air Force squadron that patrolled the playground each day – arms fixed like wings, he and the other guys kept everyone safe and sound. There were a few close calls when some sixth graders let a kickball roll into the second grade section. The squadron soared in just in time before a perfectly good game of foursquare was ruined. Pete learned early the value of work. One of the first jobs he remembered was in the third grade. His house sat on a very large lot filled with trees that produced hedge apples. His mother saw an opportunity, and offered a penny for each hedge apple he could gather to be taken away. In his first year, he made over $50 – not bad for the late 1970’s. From that time forward, Pete always had a job going of some sort. He didn’t get an allowance, so if there was something he wanted, he had to make it happen for himself. He was shaped into a wealth of work ethic.
Pete graduated from an upper middle class, nationally ranked high school. He was very busy in school, playing sports, playing trombone, singing, carrying lead roles in the Fall plays and Spring musicals, and working 10-15 hours a week to pay for stuff he couldn’t put off to his Christmas or birthday list. This is an example of the wealth of opportunity Pete enjoyed even in his adolescent years. He did well academically, but not awesome – a 3.5 GPA all the way through. He would also practice his faith all the way through, using his voice to sing at nursing homes to bring a little joy at Christmas, or helping a newly planted refugee from Burma move into an apartment his church provided. He went onto college, keeping his 3.5 alive, and working, and singing, and playing, and getting involved in intramural sports and student body leadership. After getting his B.A., he got married (a week later), and began his Masters degree program outside of Chicago with his new bride. Everything continued as it had – he studied hard enough to keep his 3.5, worked 20 hours or so a week, and enjoyed opportunities to lead when they came. We he got his first full time job, he simply employed his ingrained ethos: work hard, and everything will turn out fine. And it did. Eventually completing his doctorate, Pete had a wealth of education afforded him. Pete thought a lot about God, and he was sure God thought a lot about him, too. Because of his being brought up in church by a devout family, Pete enjoyed a wealth of spirituality as well.
Pete was raised to be polite, but there were some people he secretly struggled to respect. Occasionally, Pete would run across people who were generally poor, and, it appeared to him, were so because of their lack of drive. They didn’t do well in school, they didn’t work much, they made stupid choices that significantly impacted their future, and complained when they didn’t get taken care of by their employer or their government. A lot of them seemed to be hooked on something-or-other, too – another stupid decision. Furthermore, it sure seemed like a disproportionate number of these folk did not share his skin tones, and he wondered if there was a connection there.
Pete did his best to simply live his life as best he could, raising kids in his comfortable home, driving to work in one of his cars, enjoying vacations to cool places, and giving only to charitable causes he was sure wouldn’t result on supporting a habit. Because you can’t trust the poor to be good stewards of money, obviously. Pete was the protagonist of his own story – he was the hero that made his life work well. He avoided those antagonists in life that might get in his way. The poor, as a whole, were antagonists. Pete apparently stocked up a wealth of bias, too.
An Impoverished Life. Clarence was born about the same time as Pete, and was also the youngest of four. He never knew his dad, because his dad left when he was eighteen months old. His dad was not the father of his siblings. He did not offer any child support, and there was no point in going after it, either – if he could be found, he would very likely be unemployed and strung out on drugs. He was born into emotional poverty. Clarence’s mom did the best she could to provide for her kids. She worked two jobs, which meant the kids were home alone most of the time. Clarence did poor-to-average in school. His mom didn’t have the energy to help him with any school work, and it didn’t matter, because she usually got home in time for him to go to bed anyway. The teachers faced the challenge of training children with a severely lacking environment with little-or-no parental support. If a child was failing, there just wasn’t much to be done about it. Clarence found himself impoverished in terms of education.
Clarence enjoyed sports, and spent most of his free time hoopin’ it up with his neighborhood friends. School got tougher and tougher, and he slipped further and further back along with his friends. When he was a junior in high school, he stopped going, and nobody cared. And he certainly wasn’t alone. He wandered a lot during the day, and partied at night, experimenting with various drugs, and learning to enjoy the company of women more and more. He got at least one of the women pregnant, and wanted nothing to do with the child. Clarence learned to make the system work for him, which meant he didn’t have to work to live, but “living” might not quite be the right word. Existing, perhaps. He found himself living with an impoverished work ethic. Realistically, there was very little chance he would ever rise out of what experts call the poverty trap. Virtually nothing in his upbringing or genes pointed toward success. Education was a joke. Opportunities were limited. The looks he got from people from the other side of the tracks didn’t help, either. Social poverty. Clarence didn’t think much of God, and he was pretty sure God didn’t think much of him. Spiritual poverty. Clarence felt like a victim in his own story, a protagonist being defeated by the antagonist’ system which held him in chains.
A Parable? When we read the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16, we need to appreciate the prequel. Characters don’t simply show up as they are. They are created. The Rich Man had attitude about Lazarus that freed him to give him scraps while he put on pounds. Both men in the story were undoubtedly surprised to discover where they landed upon their death. Conventional thought led people to believe that wealth was an indicator of God’s favor, and that poverty, God’s wrath. That Lazarus ended up in a heavenly place while the Rich Man experienced a hellish existence had to absolutely shock the audience to whom Jesus was speaking.
What if we’ve got the characters all mixed up in this world? What if we are not protagonists – heroes of our own story? What if our dreams are limited by the roles we have adopted? Jesus makes it clear that the roles adopted were false, and that there is a real story being played out daily of which we are a part?
Tree/Forest; Antagonist/Protagonist. Very naturally, we adopt the role of protagonist in our personal lives. We are the hero of our own story. Perhaps, however, there is a bigger story. As Donald Miller noted in A Million Miles And A Thousand Years, we are merely trees in a story about a forest. We are not the central character in the grand story. In the story God is weaving as evidenced in the Bible, God is always the protagonist. When Jesus hit the scene, he, like no other before or since, became the visible image of the invisible God – the Protagonist with flesh and blood. Jesus’ goal was to get humanity pointed toward the real story in which we were made to thrive. A life that smelled more like a garden than a garbage dump. More like our images of an Eden-like heaven and less like our thoughts of a burning hell.
Unfortunately, whenever Jesus played his protagonist role boldly, he was experienced as an antagonist. Why? Because he was messing with the story that everybody thought was THE story. He was messing with people’s minds, emotions, behaviors, attitudes, lifestyle, prejudices – everything. When people listened to him long enough, they realized that they weren’t the protagonist as they thought – they were, it turned out, the villain! Some bought into it and began changing the world. But most walked back into their story about the tree, and let the forest fend for itself.
In relation to the far grander story, what role are you playing? What shaping forces formed your opinions about the poor? What concepts do your hold as true that may actually be quite false?
If you are like me, you won’t know the shakiness of the positions you hold until you are exposed to an alternative viewpoint. I wasn’t exposed to alternative data until my senior year in college, when, as part of a team, I discovered that college entrance exams are heavily biased in favor of Caucasians, which meant that non-whites would naturally not score as high as me, and therefore would have a much lower shot at gaining welcome into higher education. You might hear this and say, “Poppycock!” But your disbelief does not change reality. And the apathetic inaction inherent in this reaction results in a perpetuation of the troubled reality, not a solution.
So what can you do?
There are at least two immediate things you can do to align yourselves with God's passion to redeem a world, which must include targeted concern for the poor. First, you can join other CrossWalkers in coughing up an additional $30 for our missions sponsored through the church. When you do just that, you are literally helping people out of the poverty trap where it is strongest: sub-Saharan Africa. Furaha Community Centre is located in Huruma, the second-largest slum on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. You feed kids and provide education and opportunity with your $30. You also help to insure that abused women and their children in Tijuana don't fall into the trap by supporting Deborah's House, which cares for them, and will soon be offering job training and micro-loans through CrossWalk! Yeah! Your $30 also helps new churches come to life and dead churches come back to life so more people can catch onto Jesus and join us in transforming the world as we ourselves are transformed. Finally, your $30 funds two feeding programs right here in Napa - our Food Pantry, and Project Hope.
Another thing you can do that will help on a global level is join www.ONE.org, a bipartisan group that serves to remind global leaders that how we treat the poor impacts everyone's future, and therefore we must take measures to help dismantle the poverty trap.
But too often think only in terms of money when the subject of poverty is raised. There is such a thing as emotional poverty, ethical poverty, relational poverty, and spiritual poverty, all of which are addressed all the time here at CrossWalk. So, you may be kicking in your $30 for financial poverty, but are you spreading the word about what God can do for someone if they would just give God a shot? You are here at CrossWalk because of what God does in this place. Will you also invite others to join you, so that they might find the same? Or will you find yourself the rich man, enjoying the riches of relationship with God while those around you suffer with no knowledge of what could be different?
The role of Protagonist has been filled. Your role as antagonist is indeed a choice - a choice you can avoid by aligning yourself, your life, your heart, your wallet, your compassion, your dreams, your hopes with God.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Love Story: Positively Shrewd
The Wake Up Call. You’ve been in your job for quite a while. You’re comfortable. You feel secure. You even feel a little bit indispensible. Therefore, you don’t worry a whole lot about getting to work on time, or getting back from lunch on time, or leaving work early, or calling in sick when you’ve got the equivalent of a hangnail. No big deal – they need you too much to care about such minute concerns. You have a budget for professional development. Even though your role does would not in any direct way be enhanced by that Racquetball course offered at the college, you submit the tuition cost for reimbursement. And, you don’t mind using the company car for personal trips because Yosemite is on the way to somewhere job related, right?
Then one day you get word that your head is on the chopping block. Someone ratted you out. Your boss is not as gracious about your time card, expense account, sick days and mileage as you’d assumed. You’re told be someone you can trust that the next day will be your last. Sure enough, you get a call from your boss requesting a meeting first thing the next day.
Urgency, Clarity, and Creativity. Suddenly, you realize that by the day’s end, you are basically unemployed. You have at least one mouth to feed, and a lifestyle you don’t want to scale back. Your primary objective is your future. You don’t give a rip any more about what your boss thinks of you – not like you’re going to get a good recommendation anyway, right? – so you spend your last day cashing in every favor you have, providing whatever information you have about your company to whoever needs it in order to land a job as soon as possible. You work like you’ve never worked before, cutting deal after deal – a record day, with several offers for possible work if you’d be interested in leaving. Your boss would not approve of half the deal you made, as they severely cut into the company’s bottom line.
Praise for Being Shrewd. The next morning you meet with your boss and, as expected, you are terminated. But before you are escorted out of the building, the boss looks you in the eye and tells you that your work the previous day was impressive and shrewd, and while not altogether in the company’s best interest, you played your last hand on your last day brilliantly. If only you had shown that kind of initiative and passion for the past season than led to your dismissal, things would be different.
Faithfulness and Dishonesty: Practice makes permanent. Jesus told a similar story as the above (Luke 16:1-13) to encourage his disciples to live with great intentionality and resolve to be faithful to him and his way of life. He made a remarkable observation: how we deal with little things is how we’ll deal with big ones. If we choose not to follow Jesus and his way in the small stuff, it is highly unlikely that we will deliver on the larger scale. And if we are faithful in the minute, we are much more likely to be the same with the grand. I had a music director once who used to say, “Practice makes permanent.” Not perfect, but permanent. His point was that if we practice the music wrong, we will perform it wrong. Same with Jesus. If we practice our relationship with Jesus “wrong” on stuff that seems inconsequential, we will likely take the same approach on issues with a much higher price tag.
Do we have the same sense of urgency? The dishonest manager in Jesus’ story had the gift of knowing that if he didn’t act, he would be in really tough shape, sooner than later. His news gave him a sense of urgency that greatly clarified what he needed to do, which fueled his creativity to protect his future. Most of the time I think we give into the temptation to not live with any sense of urgency. I think we very easily dismiss better choices in favor of staying comfortable, all the while telling ourselves that we can put off to tomorrow what we can do today with no negative consequence. I think most people don’t change until they hit the wall, wake up, and begin doing what they needed to all along. Some people – very few, I think – are motivated by God’s judgment when we die, when we’re held to account for everything we did with our lives for good and bad. That will happen, but most people in our culture of comfort and collective assumption of grace are simply not impacted today by what will happen on some tomorrow in the future. But maybe that tomorrow is actually today.
Luke’s Understanding of The Age To Come: already here and coming. Luke’s view of the age to come when God’s accountability would come fully began when Jesus hit the planet, and continued to be present from the giving of the Holy Spirit forward, through now and on forever. In other words, today is judgment day, so to speak. And so is tomorrow and every tomorrow after that, until we draw our last breath, at which point the final accountability session will take place where we see the full picture, weep appropriately, and rejoice eternally as we discover that God’s grace really is greater than our sin.
No need to wait. Luke was right. God’s truth is an ever-present constant that is never mocked. Nobody ever gets away with anything, really, because God is always present. The judgment of God generally doesn’t come in the form of lightning bolts. The accountability comes when we discover our maligned decisions don’t deliver life as we thought they would. We experience the dings in every facet of life as we live in this broken world – broken as we make stupid choices intentionally and unintentionally, and as others do, too – we experience the consequence of all the choices all of the time. It’s pretty mind-boggling. But there is, in the middle of the mess we live in, a Way that is beautiful, true, and capable of delivering wholeness wherever it is allowed. This is the Spirit of God, the Way of Christ – all that is holy and good. When we discover that Spirit, that Way, the holy and good, and begin practicing them in small ways which lead to big ways, we see our lives transform from death to life. If you don’t, you’ll experience the brunt of your arrogance, and others will, too.
How does this literally play out?
Relational Health. Got any problem relationships in your life? Guess what? You are part of the problem! There is a Way for that. There is a new Spirit, a shrewd approach than can bring health to your relational system.
Physical Health. Collectively, Americans are out of control when it comes to physical health. The elementary ideas of self-control when it comes to eating habits: what goes in and how much – are lost on most of our citizens. The result is likely to be a collective health-care price-tag that we will all pay for in the future. The extra value meal isn’t, really, if we have to pay 100 fold more in related health issues down the road. What are you eating? How much? There is a Way, there is a Spirit, there is a shrewd approach to your physical life that leads to health and all of its benefits.
Emotional Health. Much like our physical health, I’m not sure we’re doing great on the emotional side of things. How we chose to deal with our emotional life messes with our entire life – our health, our relationships, our spirituality – everything. There is a way of honesty and grace that works, that creates a new way of being and relating to the world. A positively shrewd way of working through and with your emotional life for your advantage – because there will be winners and losers – if you’re not paying attention, you’re the loser in many respects.
Financial Health. The way of God relating to money is counterintuitive. Most people feel pretty good if they have more money than month throughout the year. Others with higher incomes feel good if they can set aside for retirement, for emergencies, for their kids’ education, etc. People watch their bottom line to make sure they are covered. But God’s way instructs us to watch our bottom line so that we can be generous toward others. The biblical standard that shows up again and again is 10% set aside for God’s purposes – not yourself.
To get into detail on any of these is too much for one blog. Indeed, it takes a lifetime to move toward mastery of all the areas of life. Remember, however, that today is judgment day, and you can do something about it. Make the most of your daily life by intentionally choosing the Way of Christ, living in the flow of the Spirit. Be positively shrewd.
Then one day you get word that your head is on the chopping block. Someone ratted you out. Your boss is not as gracious about your time card, expense account, sick days and mileage as you’d assumed. You’re told be someone you can trust that the next day will be your last. Sure enough, you get a call from your boss requesting a meeting first thing the next day.
Urgency, Clarity, and Creativity. Suddenly, you realize that by the day’s end, you are basically unemployed. You have at least one mouth to feed, and a lifestyle you don’t want to scale back. Your primary objective is your future. You don’t give a rip any more about what your boss thinks of you – not like you’re going to get a good recommendation anyway, right? – so you spend your last day cashing in every favor you have, providing whatever information you have about your company to whoever needs it in order to land a job as soon as possible. You work like you’ve never worked before, cutting deal after deal – a record day, with several offers for possible work if you’d be interested in leaving. Your boss would not approve of half the deal you made, as they severely cut into the company’s bottom line.
Praise for Being Shrewd. The next morning you meet with your boss and, as expected, you are terminated. But before you are escorted out of the building, the boss looks you in the eye and tells you that your work the previous day was impressive and shrewd, and while not altogether in the company’s best interest, you played your last hand on your last day brilliantly. If only you had shown that kind of initiative and passion for the past season than led to your dismissal, things would be different.
Faithfulness and Dishonesty: Practice makes permanent. Jesus told a similar story as the above (Luke 16:1-13) to encourage his disciples to live with great intentionality and resolve to be faithful to him and his way of life. He made a remarkable observation: how we deal with little things is how we’ll deal with big ones. If we choose not to follow Jesus and his way in the small stuff, it is highly unlikely that we will deliver on the larger scale. And if we are faithful in the minute, we are much more likely to be the same with the grand. I had a music director once who used to say, “Practice makes permanent.” Not perfect, but permanent. His point was that if we practice the music wrong, we will perform it wrong. Same with Jesus. If we practice our relationship with Jesus “wrong” on stuff that seems inconsequential, we will likely take the same approach on issues with a much higher price tag.
Do we have the same sense of urgency? The dishonest manager in Jesus’ story had the gift of knowing that if he didn’t act, he would be in really tough shape, sooner than later. His news gave him a sense of urgency that greatly clarified what he needed to do, which fueled his creativity to protect his future. Most of the time I think we give into the temptation to not live with any sense of urgency. I think we very easily dismiss better choices in favor of staying comfortable, all the while telling ourselves that we can put off to tomorrow what we can do today with no negative consequence. I think most people don’t change until they hit the wall, wake up, and begin doing what they needed to all along. Some people – very few, I think – are motivated by God’s judgment when we die, when we’re held to account for everything we did with our lives for good and bad. That will happen, but most people in our culture of comfort and collective assumption of grace are simply not impacted today by what will happen on some tomorrow in the future. But maybe that tomorrow is actually today.
Luke’s Understanding of The Age To Come: already here and coming. Luke’s view of the age to come when God’s accountability would come fully began when Jesus hit the planet, and continued to be present from the giving of the Holy Spirit forward, through now and on forever. In other words, today is judgment day, so to speak. And so is tomorrow and every tomorrow after that, until we draw our last breath, at which point the final accountability session will take place where we see the full picture, weep appropriately, and rejoice eternally as we discover that God’s grace really is greater than our sin.
No need to wait. Luke was right. God’s truth is an ever-present constant that is never mocked. Nobody ever gets away with anything, really, because God is always present. The judgment of God generally doesn’t come in the form of lightning bolts. The accountability comes when we discover our maligned decisions don’t deliver life as we thought they would. We experience the dings in every facet of life as we live in this broken world – broken as we make stupid choices intentionally and unintentionally, and as others do, too – we experience the consequence of all the choices all of the time. It’s pretty mind-boggling. But there is, in the middle of the mess we live in, a Way that is beautiful, true, and capable of delivering wholeness wherever it is allowed. This is the Spirit of God, the Way of Christ – all that is holy and good. When we discover that Spirit, that Way, the holy and good, and begin practicing them in small ways which lead to big ways, we see our lives transform from death to life. If you don’t, you’ll experience the brunt of your arrogance, and others will, too.
How does this literally play out?
Relational Health. Got any problem relationships in your life? Guess what? You are part of the problem! There is a Way for that. There is a new Spirit, a shrewd approach than can bring health to your relational system.
Physical Health. Collectively, Americans are out of control when it comes to physical health. The elementary ideas of self-control when it comes to eating habits: what goes in and how much – are lost on most of our citizens. The result is likely to be a collective health-care price-tag that we will all pay for in the future. The extra value meal isn’t, really, if we have to pay 100 fold more in related health issues down the road. What are you eating? How much? There is a Way, there is a Spirit, there is a shrewd approach to your physical life that leads to health and all of its benefits.
Emotional Health. Much like our physical health, I’m not sure we’re doing great on the emotional side of things. How we chose to deal with our emotional life messes with our entire life – our health, our relationships, our spirituality – everything. There is a way of honesty and grace that works, that creates a new way of being and relating to the world. A positively shrewd way of working through and with your emotional life for your advantage – because there will be winners and losers – if you’re not paying attention, you’re the loser in many respects.
Financial Health. The way of God relating to money is counterintuitive. Most people feel pretty good if they have more money than month throughout the year. Others with higher incomes feel good if they can set aside for retirement, for emergencies, for their kids’ education, etc. People watch their bottom line to make sure they are covered. But God’s way instructs us to watch our bottom line so that we can be generous toward others. The biblical standard that shows up again and again is 10% set aside for God’s purposes – not yourself.
To get into detail on any of these is too much for one blog. Indeed, it takes a lifetime to move toward mastery of all the areas of life. Remember, however, that today is judgment day, and you can do something about it. Make the most of your daily life by intentionally choosing the Way of Christ, living in the flow of the Spirit. Be positively shrewd.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Love Story: Are You Up A Tree?
Today we were privileged to have Dr. Patrick Pang teaching at CrossWalk. I thoroughly enjoyed his teaching, and was impressed with his insights into a great story in the life and ministry of Jesus (Luke 19:1-10). Here’s what I took home…
When Jesus visited Jericho, there was a Chief Tax Collector who desperately wanted to see the famous miracle-working rabbi. But he couldn’t see him when the crowds grew because he was vertically challenged. Not wanting to miss out, Zach got creative – he perched himself in a tree above the heads of everybody else.
Jesus, who may very well have been given a heads up about Zach from one of his tax-collector-turned-follower disciples, saw him, called him out of the tree, and invited himself over to Zach (which would have been received as a great honor).
Nobody liked tax collectors back then. Not much has changed there, I guess! So, then as now, people began to talk trash about Jesus’ poor choice of company. Before Jesus responded, Zach blurted out that he was so taken with Jesus that he was going to cash in half of his estate and give it to the poor, and that he would provide a fourfold return to those he ripped off in collecting taxes.
In response, Jesus declared that salvation had come to Zach’s house, which fit his mission of seeking and saving those who were lost.
In your face, trash-talkers…
Dr. Pang noted that Martin Luther recognized that three conversion take place in a person’s life when they embrace Jesus. A conversion in our head, our heart, and our pocketbook. They usually don’t happen all at the same time, but they did for Zach.
Where are we in our conversion process? Have we allowed God to convert our pocketbook just as we have our hearts and minds?
Can you trust God as equally powerful to be faithful in your financial life as you have with your mindset and passions?
Will you follow in Zach’s footsteps and give everything over to Jesus’ leadership?
Dr. Pang ended with an inspiring challenge: will we allow the conversion of our pocketbooks to continue by choosing to give 1% more of our income than we are currently to God’s work at CrossWalk?
How will you respond?
This is simply a snapshot of the teaching. Give Patrick a listen online – you’ll be thoroughly entertained and challenged simultaneously.
When Jesus visited Jericho, there was a Chief Tax Collector who desperately wanted to see the famous miracle-working rabbi. But he couldn’t see him when the crowds grew because he was vertically challenged. Not wanting to miss out, Zach got creative – he perched himself in a tree above the heads of everybody else.
Jesus, who may very well have been given a heads up about Zach from one of his tax-collector-turned-follower disciples, saw him, called him out of the tree, and invited himself over to Zach (which would have been received as a great honor).
Nobody liked tax collectors back then. Not much has changed there, I guess! So, then as now, people began to talk trash about Jesus’ poor choice of company. Before Jesus responded, Zach blurted out that he was so taken with Jesus that he was going to cash in half of his estate and give it to the poor, and that he would provide a fourfold return to those he ripped off in collecting taxes.
In response, Jesus declared that salvation had come to Zach’s house, which fit his mission of seeking and saving those who were lost.
In your face, trash-talkers…
Dr. Pang noted that Martin Luther recognized that three conversion take place in a person’s life when they embrace Jesus. A conversion in our head, our heart, and our pocketbook. They usually don’t happen all at the same time, but they did for Zach.
Where are we in our conversion process? Have we allowed God to convert our pocketbook just as we have our hearts and minds?
Can you trust God as equally powerful to be faithful in your financial life as you have with your mindset and passions?
Will you follow in Zach’s footsteps and give everything over to Jesus’ leadership?
Dr. Pang ended with an inspiring challenge: will we allow the conversion of our pocketbooks to continue by choosing to give 1% more of our income than we are currently to God’s work at CrossWalk?
How will you respond?
This is simply a snapshot of the teaching. Give Patrick a listen online – you’ll be thoroughly entertained and challenged simultaneously.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Love Story: Love-Hate Relationship?
The campaign trail is heating up. You’re following the competing candidates carefully, still undecided as to who will get your vote. Fortunately for you, both candidates are coming to your town, and you are able to arrange your schedule to hear them both.
You attend the first candidate’s rally, and hear once again the commitment to the platform. No new information, but you get a feel for the person from the passion in tone and content of the speech. You leave impressed. You think to yourself, “the other candidate needs to bring an A game in order to win me over.”
The moment arrives, and you eagerly enter into the auditorium where the rally has become. The intensity of the crowd is overwhelming. Finally, after some warm up speeches and introductions, the candidate takes the stage. You will never forget that speech, no matter how hard you try…
“If you want me to be your next leader, you must hate your father and mother, your children – even your own life – and follow me. You have to be willing to die for the cause of which I am the champion. Think it over. Don’t make a rush decision, because the cost for you will be very high, and you don’t want to find out too late that you can’t cover it. Defeat is a real possibility – you may become a casualty in this cause. And one last thing, if you don’t follow me, your life is basically worthless. So, who’s with me?”
The speech writers and campaign director would certainly be fired at the end of the night. Not that it would matter, because if this stump speech happened in the US, it would be the last for that candidate. Nobody would support someone who calls for that level of fanaticism.
But Jesus wrote his own speeches, and he managed his strategic life all by himself. He gave a speech like the above several times – which is why it was remembered – and he lost the campaign, his friends, and eventually his life (Luke 14:25-35). Those who chose to maintain allegiance also, eventually, met martyrdom as well.
Some might conclude that it was a complete waste of time and life. One has to wonder what possible motivation could there be to warrant such allegiance?
One word: truth.
The disciples believed that what Jesus taught, lived, and breathed was simply the most true Way they had ever witnessed. More true than their government. More true than their religion. Not just factual correctness, but a deep-flowing “realness” that they couldn’t deny. In fact, to not follow Jesus would be to choose living death. To follow Jesus may mean a shorter life, but at least it would be real.
When we love God most, we discover that we are able to love all others more than we could before, and that we are even able to love ourselves in healthy, appropriate ways. When we love God most, we realize that whatever the cost is worth the cost. When we love God most, we experience the quality of our lives increase dramatically. Life is full flavored, and we tend to spice up the world around us.
Do you love God most? Have you experienced the incredible, real paradox that the truth of Christ is the most real reality available? Will you choose to embrace the Way in spite of the high price of your life? What holds you back? What keeps you from trusting more?
You attend the first candidate’s rally, and hear once again the commitment to the platform. No new information, but you get a feel for the person from the passion in tone and content of the speech. You leave impressed. You think to yourself, “the other candidate needs to bring an A game in order to win me over.”
The moment arrives, and you eagerly enter into the auditorium where the rally has become. The intensity of the crowd is overwhelming. Finally, after some warm up speeches and introductions, the candidate takes the stage. You will never forget that speech, no matter how hard you try…
“If you want me to be your next leader, you must hate your father and mother, your children – even your own life – and follow me. You have to be willing to die for the cause of which I am the champion. Think it over. Don’t make a rush decision, because the cost for you will be very high, and you don’t want to find out too late that you can’t cover it. Defeat is a real possibility – you may become a casualty in this cause. And one last thing, if you don’t follow me, your life is basically worthless. So, who’s with me?”
The speech writers and campaign director would certainly be fired at the end of the night. Not that it would matter, because if this stump speech happened in the US, it would be the last for that candidate. Nobody would support someone who calls for that level of fanaticism.
But Jesus wrote his own speeches, and he managed his strategic life all by himself. He gave a speech like the above several times – which is why it was remembered – and he lost the campaign, his friends, and eventually his life (Luke 14:25-35). Those who chose to maintain allegiance also, eventually, met martyrdom as well.
Some might conclude that it was a complete waste of time and life. One has to wonder what possible motivation could there be to warrant such allegiance?
One word: truth.
The disciples believed that what Jesus taught, lived, and breathed was simply the most true Way they had ever witnessed. More true than their government. More true than their religion. Not just factual correctness, but a deep-flowing “realness” that they couldn’t deny. In fact, to not follow Jesus would be to choose living death. To follow Jesus may mean a shorter life, but at least it would be real.
When we love God most, we discover that we are able to love all others more than we could before, and that we are even able to love ourselves in healthy, appropriate ways. When we love God most, we realize that whatever the cost is worth the cost. When we love God most, we experience the quality of our lives increase dramatically. Life is full flavored, and we tend to spice up the world around us.
Do you love God most? Have you experienced the incredible, real paradox that the truth of Christ is the most real reality available? Will you choose to embrace the Way in spite of the high price of your life? What holds you back? What keeps you from trusting more?
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