The Most Costly Requirement

 My Baptist preacher’s kid upbringing taught me the process to becoming a Christian is to walk up an aisle in front of a church, say a prayer with the guy in front of the church, and get dunked in a pool of water. It was much later in my life that I discovered that this process, though it is not wrong, it is not all of the story and also not a set-in-stone procedure. My point is that it is a cultural tradition more than a universal requirement for salvation and is not the whole story.

So what is the requirement for salvation as lined out by the Bible? What steps must be followed? After searching, it appears that the only qualifier is belief. How easy is that? And if all we have to do is believe, why aren’t more people professed Christians? If it is so easy to become a follower of Christ, why aren’t more people following him? What is the big barrier? In my more recent life experience, I realized that the hardest thing about becoming a believer is what precedes belief in Christ. It is a posture of the heart that must happen first. This blog is my attempt to describe it. 

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This posture of the heart is described in the Bible as acknowledgment that I am a sinner just like everyone else. “Sinner” is a heavy word and we are hesitant to take it on as a label. It’s hard to admit that my sins are no less than the sins of any other person on this planet. It is seeing myself as much in need of redemption as a bigot, or a liar or even a politician. It is difficult to profess that the guy to my right and the guy to my left are no better or no worse than me. Internalizing that I am the same as everyone else, no better than my worst enemy, is a huge ask! It is declaring to God that the struggle is more than I can handle on my own. In a nutshell, this little barrier to belief is called humility.

You might be wondering if this humble pathway to belief is recorded in the Bible anywhere. I am a digital queen so my Bible is digital as well. It enables me to quickly find information that I seek in any translation. After a search, I found references to humility multiple times throughout the Old and New Testament in every translation from King James to the Amplified version. It would be hard to miss humility while reading through the Bible! It would be hard for this little term to be glossed over by culture. But somehow, I never made the connection until I was much older. 

More than all these recorded Biblical instructions to humble ourselves, the Bible shows us the importance of humility with many stories. Jacob’s struggle with an angel, Sampson’s lack of humility right up until his humbling end and Joseph donning his flashy coat to end up touring of the bottom of a cistern are just a few that come to mind. But the most crystal clear Bible story highlighting the attitude of the heart is of the criminals dying on the cross to Jesus’ left and right as described in the book of Luke.

One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself-and us, too, while you’re at it!” But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” 

Luke 23:39-43 NLT

This contrast of pride and humility can’t be overlooked and it can’t be minimized! Humility of the heart is required by God.

Scratching That Itch

 

In dry, cold weather my skin begins to itch. I slather on lotion, essentially taking a bath in it, and in a few hours it begins to itch again. But this is true for all things in this world. Solutions are always temporary and problems are seasonal. And I am a fixer. I become unhappy with this or that and I search for the YouTube video that will help me solve my problem. Occasionally I find a solution. But usually the solution is far too costly or it doesn’t come close to fixing the issue. If, by chance, the issue is fixed, I am quickly onto solving the next problematic matter. There is no end to this cycle! And there is always another itch to fix.

We all seem to be searching for a way to solve the issues of our world because we are unhappy with the way things are going. If only this decision would be made or if only this circumstance would change this would be a better place to live. If I were in power, I would… 

But I’m not in power. And if I was, my solution would not be good for everyone. It would only be good for me and that would be temporary. It would be much like those who win the lottery then quickly blow through that money and end up bankrupt. Or like those who are billionaires yet they are always looking for a way to make more money. There is never enough. They can never permanently scratch that itch and be satisfied. It becomes obvious that we live in a broken world. Will it ever be made right? 

The answer is an emphatic YES! For those of us who love God, we will see it all made right. That is God’s promise to us. Jesus is preparing a place for us where everything will be right. No more YouTube videos to fix stuff, unless you enjoy that sort of thing. No more politics. No more snarky memes. No more wars fighting over who is in power. No more cancer or death. It is God who is in power and we will all agree that his decisions are perfect. He is good, loving, kind, brilliant and all powerful. He is what we all long for. 

But the answer is also “not today”. So should we quit trying to scratch the itch? What do we do while we wait? How should we live? I believe that a concise answer that fits us all is given in Micah 6:8. Here it is as written in The Message translation:

But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don’t take yourself too seriously—take God seriously.

You will probably recognize it better in the NIV translation. 

Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Stained Glass Not Required

 

If you saw that picture above and thought how much you would like a grilled cheese, you are my people. More heavenly minded folks saw an image of Jesus in this sandwich. There are often reports of someone seeing the image of Jesus in a potato chip, tortilla or a cloud. I haven’t ever seen the image of Jesus in my toast but if we love God we should experience him in other ways. The question is this: Is encountering Jesus in our daily walk just for the super-religious? 

Have you ever imitated the walk of someone who you consider godly, in the hope of having a better connection to God? I have. And it doesn’t work. We shouldn’t be discouraged when we don’t experience Jesus like others do. We are individualized, unique creations. If I see the fingerprint of God in snowflakes you may see a reason to dread the cold day. Don’t assume that you are less saintly because you don’t see God’s fingerprint in the same thing as someone else does. In fact, we need to quit labeling people as holy and not so holy. Don’t assume you are too worldly to ever see him, let alone have a conversation with him. All God’s children have the capability to experience Christ walking with us through our day. But each in his own way. 

One of the great hymns, I Need Thee Every Hour, was written by 37-year-old homemaker Annie Hawks, while doing her household chores. If you listened to the link above, you know she must have been inspired by God to write those words. Stained glass and sacrifice is not required to communicate with our Savior. We don’t have to be a missionary to Africa, and we don’t have to attend church (although a good church equips us to experience him). We don’t have to change our lives to be fit for him. Jesus comes to us right where we are even if we are just a regular work-a-day Joe without visions of Christ in our cornbread. 

How do I know? The Bible tells me so. In those stories, Jesus came to folks interrupting their sin-filled daily life: Getting water at a well, climbing up in a tree, begging for money, touching Jesus’ clothes in a crowd-packed street, facing stoning by judgmental interrogators, having a bad day of work fishing, being outcast from society for leprosy, stealing money in the form of excessive taxes, and dying on a cross as a convicted thief. Each of these not only saw and spoke to Jesus, they encountered him. “But of course they saw Jesus,” we say, “they had a physical flesh and blood person walking around doing miracles and we only have a spooky Holy Ghost!”

How can I “see” Jesus when he can’t be seen with my eyes? I have to remind myself that many who saw Jesus in flesh didn’t recognize him. Consider that pride-filled rich young ruler. He was standing in front of Jesus in the flesh having a discussion and didn’t see or accept what Jesus was saying to him. So even though Jesus was physically right in front of folks, many didn’t believe their eyes. 

What was the barrier for that rich guy? I have often wondered what made some believe and follow and some walk away unchanged. For that guy, I don’t think the barrier was being rich, young or a ruler. My best guess is that it has to do with attitude of the heart. Those who encountered Christ, have one thing in common. They humbled their hearts. They saw and experienced Jesus’ compassion when they were humble and desperate enough to listen. Pride has no place in the Kingdom of God. 

Or maybe the rich young ruler was too busy to listen. Maybe he was thinking about his next business deal and thought he would impress the client if he had a conversation with Jesus. So another barrier, I think, is busyness. I don’t encounter God when my to-do list is full of plans for the next step. It is only when I make an effort for a time of no commitment or distractions and ruthlessly eliminate hurry that I most often experience God’s goodness. 

Since Jesus is not flesh and blood walking among us, we cannot rely on our sight to see him. We need to encounter him in other ways. Holiness and stained glass is not required to hear from the God of the Universe. The Father loves us dearly and he seeks us all. Not everyone has a blinding light experience like Saul/Paul. Yet even he had to be teachable to accept what God had in store for him.

The Facade

 Far too often I have stomped my foot and said “I will never”.  No one has ever said to me, “You know, you need to be more decisive.” But through these last few years I have discovered a beauty and growth that changing my mind can bring about. 

At the ripe old age of ten, I thought it would be beyond horrible to live in a stucco house. Then my family moved to New Mexico. Since then I have been blessed to live in many stucco houses including the one I live in now. Looking back I see how silly I was. I see now how my own rules and preferences limited my choices for no reason. How many blessings have I missed because of my silly personal rules and pig-headed mindset? 

In the Bible, being stiff-necked is not a desirable attitude. So why do we often see flexibility and changing our mind as a personality flaw? We unflatteringly label those who change their minds as wishy-washy. We forget that listening to the Holy Spirit to guide us requires a pliable mindset. Instead of drawing so many lines in the sand maybe we could open the door to be blessed with friendship, joy and new perspectives. 

We laugh about the ridiculous number of rules that the Jewish Pharisees followed but how many do we try to follow to live in polite society? Never double dip; always answer I’m fine how are you; answer yes ma’am and yes sir; wipe your feet before you walk in the door; tip the wait staff; wipe down the shower door after you use it; pick up the dog poop when you walk your dog; open the door for people; offer to help in the kitchen; give your seat to those who are elderly and this list could continue to well over 613! Rules we follow in polite society can be overwhelming. But these are not the rules that this blog is about. It is about those personally chosen inner rules. 

It is about the ones that sound like “I won’t ever”. The “I won’t evers” cover choices about what we eat, drink, drive, and where we live, what we do for a living, who we hang out with, church attendance, schools we attend, clothes we wear and our favorite pastimes. All of these things are legitimate choices we have to make. 

What if we removed all the “I will never” lines we made in the sand? Would we turn into a bunch of liberal hippies living in a commune or would we be more open to what the Holy Spirit has in store for us? What if we considered eating something that we have sworn we would never eat? What if we considered going to a church we said we would never attend, going to a school that is not special or elite, wearing an outfit that doesn’t suit our age, hanging out with someone with whom we wouldn’t normally associate, driving a vehicle from that company that we don’t like or taking a new job living somewhere we never would consider. Would that make us out of control or would that allow the Holy Spirit to shine through making us happier people with lots of choices? Many times the rules we make for ourselves are the toughest ones to break. They are a prison of our choosing. 

Blessed, broken and forgiven: These are the actions Jesus made when he initiated the covenant of the last supper. He does the blessing and forgiving. Maybe we need to spend a little more time on the truth of our brokenness. If, like me, you have always seen changing your mind as a weakness, maybe it is time that you take the first step to stop the facade of strength, and begin living in truth as flexible, broken, forgiven and joyful. 

All Sheep

 Lately the news has been full of stories about religious leaders admitting that they have succumbed to sinful destructive acts. This should be a wake-up call to us all. Isaiah tells us that we are ALL like sheep who have gone astray. No exceptions for high community status, no one is immune. It could happen to any of us if…

We are slowly dissecting the familiar passage of the 23rd Psalm this summer in my church. The whole passage is based on the analogy of people being the sheep and God as the shepherd. Through this study I have learned so much about sheep and shepherds that I never knew. This morning, one new item stands out to me. Sheep get into trouble easily. The author, David, who was a career shepherd knew this well. That is why sheep need a shepherd.

Notice that there are two types of dangers out there for the sheep. There are the ones that are part of their environment like sickness, infections or breaking a leg and there are the ones they get themselves into by wandering off and falling prey to predators.

In our world today I so often forget about that second category. I minimize the predators. So often I pretend there is no enemy out to get me and regard any suggestion of that as silly. The enemy is discussed in the 23rd Psalm and he is real. He wants us to wander around on our merry path of ignorance and forget that he is there stalking us, waiting for a moment when we get out of sight of the shepherd. The wise sheep have a healthy fear of the enemy and confidence in their shepherd. All they have to do is stay close to the shepherd and they will be protected.

Some may see this as a life of fear but in reality it is a life of trust and wisdom. For a sheep to pretend there are no lions, wolves, and bears is foolish. For a sheep to believe it is invincible is folly. We live in a world with many wily predators. We need a good shepherd and we need to learn to carry on with our lives while always keeping Him in our sight.

But how? I see that it takes two mindsets. First, we must have faith in our Shepherd. We must see Him as willing and able to protect us from those predators. Remember how David killed the lions and bears? Even more powerful is our Heavenly Father. He is our Savior and he loves us dearly and cares for us.

But in addition to seeing that our good God is able to conquer any enemy, I must come to grips with the reality that I can easily lose my way and that I am a sheep just like everyone else on the evening news. It is when I begin to think I know more than the other sheep and trust my life to my own ability that I become vulnerable to attack. I must continually, humbly admit to myself that I am in need of the Shepherd. This will keep me within the length of the shepherd’s staff where I am safe from harm.

If it has been a while since you thoughtfully read the 23rd Psalm take the time to do so. It is so rich.

Psalm 23:1-6
The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Pride, Prejudice and Self-Checks

 

After listening to the news yesterday, I found myself shaking my head about folks who… And that is a problem. Not their problem; it is mine. Time for a reality check.

If I think I am not influenced by my culture, I probably am. If I think I know more than those other folks, I probably don’t. If I wonder how anyone could “fill-in-the-blank”, I could easily be a victim of the same behavior. If I ponder how folks could fall for “fill-in-the-blank”, I may be the next to fall. If I think folks in a particular other state are all clueless, I may be the clueless one. If I think my kids would never, my kids are out there “nevering” right now behind my back. If I think folks who watch that other news channel, go to that other church, vote for the other party, attend that other school, have lesser education, or are from the other generation are brainwashed, it may be me who has been indoctrinated.

Every so often I get fed up with those other folks and that is when I am most dangerous. That is when I am the problem. People may be flawed in different ways, but we are all still flawed. I have come to realize that it is when I watch the news and spend time on social media that I get most pompous about my good choices and their bad choices. It makes me feel angry, uptight and hopeless. That is my sign to step away. But not only do I need to back off of the news and social media, I need desperately to engage with folks that are living in a different walk of life than me. I need to see them eye to eye and listen to their stories. This is the only hope for my judgmental condition. This is the only way I can learn to humble myself and dig out of my prideful existence.

I must periodically remind myself that God made us all. We live all over a big globe. We are raised in so many different cultures. There is not a culture that has the inside track on wisdom. Only our Creator has the inside track on wisdom. He is our source. And this can only happen if we will humble ourselves, give up our stiff-necked ways and bow before Him.

What Made the Wise Men So Wise?

 

They knew the night sky well enough to notice a rogue star when no one else did.

They paid attention.

They were not Jewish but knew of the foretelling of the King of the Jews.

They were informed.

Even though they expected a King, they bowed at the feet of an infant.

They were humble. 

When Herod told them a bold-faced lie, they went on their way.

They understood human nature.

When they had a dream telling them not to report back to Herod they listened.

They listened to God. 

What I Learned From My Students

 I don’t know if you have ever had the opportunity to work with special needs children but it is an experience that I highly recommend. My experience began when, as a veteran teacher, I was assigned one class of resource science students. Resource classes are for students with a wide range of learning disabilities. I was honestly not looking forward to it since my favorite teaching assignments had always been advanced high school classes of college bound students. It wasn’t a week into this new assignment until I realized I had been missing out on so much joy all those years without them in my classes. I have tried to reflect on why they were so delightful to be around and this is what, I believe, it boils down to: humility and simple trust.

My resource students didn’t worry about all the things that other kids worried about. They were so much more free and joyous. They didn’t worry about what the other kids thought about them. They trusted and they were guileless. They let others look out for them. I will never forget the baptism of one of our special needs kids at our church. If you ever have seen baptisms, you know there is a procedure to it and it is very structured for safety. But when this dear child of God came up out of the water she did a full-on cheer with arms raised high and jumped up and down looking to the sky with the look of ecstasy on her face. She was radiant!

Luke 18:15-17 MSG People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. "Let these children alone. Don't get between them and me. These children are the kingdom's pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in."

Can you imagine letting go and trusting God like this everyday? To step into this we must let go of any thoughts that we are superior to anyone else in any way. We must let go of our self reliance and adopt a God-reliant attitude. We must trust Him and give up trusting ourselves. I really think that it is those of us who are not special needs that have a handicap. We mistakenly think we are smart enough or experienced enough to navigate our day on our own power. We depend on no one and nothing but ourselves. After all, we have diplomas and college degrees. We have passed classes like organic chemistry for crying out loud! We have studied under professors that would make you cry. We are stinking brilliant in our own eyes. We know things.

But can we see our “brilliance” in the light of the creator of the universe? We don’t know what will happen next Tuesday, much less tomorrow or the next hour. We are handicapped and we have no idea. We need to realize it and lean into it so we can experience the Kingdom of God here and now. We need to let go of all thoughts of being self-reliant and become God-reliant. With that will come joy. How do I know? My resource students taught me this.

Humility Redefined

We don't have the English word we need to describe what the Beatitudes called meekness. However, I saw an example of humility or biblical meekness the other night while listening to a a rock/country singer-songwriter, Jelly Roll. He obviously didn’t live a privileged life like mine but found his way to the stage of the Grand Ole Opry singing a song called “I Need a Favor”. The line from this song that caught my attention goes like this:

I only talk to God when I need a favor
And I only pray when I ain’t got a prayer
So tell me, who the hell am I to expect a Savior
When I only talk to God if I need a favor?

These words contain honesty, transparency, relationship and not a hint of entitlement. In the act of making this statement there is freedom and strength. This expresses a level of humility that Christ would have us aspire to learn.

I find it fascinating that the Bible, a collection of books penned by so many different people across so much time, has unifying themes that run from Genesis to Revelation. The theme that has caught my attention lately is humility, also called meekness. It is pointed out over and over as a quality that God wants in us. But I feel like our culture has no clue what this important virtue is and has filed it under “niceties that no one cares about”. Yet it is held in high esteem in the narratives in the Bible.

Mother Theresa and Fred Rogers are examples of those who lived a life of humility. I have heard it said that if a person is truly humble, no one around them is aware of it during their lifetime. If you Google examples of humble people it will give you examples of famous people who fly economy class or had small private weddings rather than big extravaganzas. We all know humility is so much more. It is such an important concept and sadly, we don’t even know the correct definition of it. So how can we ever aspire to something about which we know so little?

The Webster definition of humility is freedom from pride or arrogance. I think Mr. Webster nailed it. I really like the “freedom” part of that definition. In humility there is great freedom! It is humble transparency that leads us to this freedom. Transparency is not being secretive or ashamed but being open about who you are and what is in your past. If you are transparent you don’t hide information that you feel would cast you in a bad light. Humble people don’t worry about what others think about them because they aren’t focusing on themselves. So humility knows its flaws and deeply regrets them and doesn’t try to hide them. If we daily accept the forgiveness Jesus offered us, we find such freedom! So I believe humility goes hand in hand with transparency and in this, there is definitely freedom.

Because its ego is not puffed up, the humble are not easily deflated. And because they do not focus on themselves, they are not easily deflated like those who are seeing only themselves and what they lack compared to others. Because of this, they are not fragile like the rest of us. The best kept secret of meekness is that there is great strength in it.

I have noticed the humble are secure, selfless and unhurried. Picture Mr. Rogers singing and slowly putting on his sweater. Humility doesn’t watch a clock because its focus is on others and not on a schedule. Humility believes it is owed nothing in this life and lives gratefully. It is delighted with any good thing that comes its way and sees blessings all around them. The humble are joyful. As created beings, this is the only stance we should take. We had nothing to do with our creation but we were amazingly designed. We cannot get puffed up about it but we can’t curse it either. We are totally dependent on our Creator. In this, there is honesty and no entitlement.

Are You Clark Kent or Superman?

 The goal is up there, just over the horizon. But in between are dark valleys, massive mountains, and narrow slippery switchback roads. So I crank up the radio, hold the steering wheel with a death grip and maneuver around the beast of a bolder that is right in front of me.

This is how I have approached 99% of my life as a Christian. This is a try-harder style of Christianity; in other words: legalism. Following the rules while juggling elephants. I know legalism is a big issue with Jesus, so maybe I should re-think this route. Maybe I am wasting my time on all these switchbacks and narrow roads. Maybe I should simply use the big paved highway and wait for the get-out-of-hell-free card. But Jesus made it clear that I was not to take the easy way. Far from it!

Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

We shouldn’t be surprised by the difficulty of our journey. I’m still juggling elephants here. We all are. We need help, Lord! But I must remember, the Father knows what I need. He knows my challenges. He has walked my walk in flesh. That is why he sent power for this difficult road in the form of the Holy Spirit. In fact, Jesus told the disciples multiple times that he was sending help.

John 14:16-17 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever---the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

John 20:21-22 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

The Good News is we do not have to white knuckle our lives as Christians! What He gave to the disciples, he gives to every follower of Christ. We have been given a beautiful gift from our Father and it is our superpower. Why should we try to conquer our day as Clark Kent when we can simply rely on our God-given superpowers? So where is the phone booth? I’m ready to rely on his superpower. What do I have to do to engage it? Is there a magic word? Where do I begin? It is made quite clear in the Bible that we receive the Holy Spirit when we believe but living by the Holy Spirit does not come naturally to us.

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Engaging the power steering is to humble ourselves and admit to God that we cannot do this on our own. It is an attitude. To that I whine, “Not humility! Anything but that. Are you sure about that? I don’t remember that verse.”

God demanded a humble quiet spirit from the get-go. When I searched, I found so many examples of God’s expectation of humility starting in Genesis going through to Revelation. Look at the life of Jesus. Humility was always in the forefront and in the background. Here are a handful of the many examples that I found in my search.

To Pharaoh God said:

Exodus 10:3 “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?

The Lord said to King Solomon:

2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

King David notes this about God.

2 Samuel 22:28 You save the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.

Psalm 25:9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.

The prophet Isaiah notes over and over about being humble.

Isaiah 29:19 Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

Jesus said:

Matthew 23:12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

The Apostle Paul instructs:

Ephesians 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

And a description Jesus’ life on Earth:

Philippians 2:6-11 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death---even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Here is instruction from James, the half-brother of Christ:

James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

And finally I leave you with the words of the Apostle Peter who probably struggled with pride as much as anyone.

1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

So I can see that the requirement for humility cannot be denied. It is a prerequisite to living a life pleasing to God. He wants us to step into that phone booth daily, let go of our pride, lay down our elephants, humble ourselves before the him and allow the power of the Holy Spirit to lead our life in his superpower strength. Then tomorrow morning when I wake up as Clark Kent, I will gratefully remember the way that God managed my elephants without my effort and I will step into that phone booth again.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

For encouragement listen to this song. Letting go is step one.

'Tis the Season--No, Not THAT One!

 Christmas? No. Halloween? No. Elections? No way! Remember that in November it will be Thanksgiving and it is all about that attitude of gratitude. I find it ironic that this season of gratitude falls right before the season of making lists of stuff we want.

In the past year I have been given a heightened awareness of prayer and many answered prayers have resulted in a renewed vision for prayer. This is not to say that I have successfully manipulated God to give me stuff. It is to say that I have been learning a few things from experience, participating in a study of the Lord’s Prayer and am currently reading a book about prayer called Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Timothy Keller. So I thought I would share some of the things I have learned about prayer.

Since Jesus gave an example of how we should pray, this will start with what he said. There are entire sermons written about just one of the lines of this prayer, however, it is the overall attitude that I see in the Lord’s Prayer that speaks to me the most. So each line will be followed by my own summarizing note about each phrase, emphasizing the attitude and focus.

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. The focus of this prayer is God. Shift my focus to him.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Prayer should be about listening to God’s agenda, not the reverse.

Give us this day our daily bread. We should recognize our dependence on God for our physical existence.

And forgive us our trespasses… We should recognize our reliance on God for our spiritual existence because we are sinful and dependent on his grace.

…as we forgive those who trespass against us. We are expected to follow his example in our life.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. We have no control and depend on God for our protection for the very real forces of evil around us.

This is how Jesus said to pray. It is a humble prayer. I see the overall attitude of this prayer as reverence for the majesty of our creator and admission of our total dependence on him. This leads me to believe that the wrong way to pray is the opposite…with pride. So I must check my attitude before I jump in with a wish list for The Giver of All Life. And if I do this correctly, my wish list will vanish along with my pretense.

From the aforementioned book by Timothy Keller about prayer, I have discovered these important points about prayer. They resonated with me so I will share them here. They originated from John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion but they are my paraphrase of his points. He refers to them as prayer rules but I think of them as prayer attitudes.

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His first point is to approach God with joyful fear. It is my biggest challenge to retain my awe of God in a lifetime of familiarity. I like to think of this description: tremble with the privilege of speaking to the Creator of the Universe. This makes me think of a song by Lauren Daigle called Tremble. I will place the link here so you can go listen to it. This song expresses this point of view excellently.

 

Calvin’s second point is an attitude of spiritual insufficiency. This is described as being ruthlessly honest about my flaws and weaknesses. No grandiose facades. God knows.

In restful trust, let go and let God handle our issues. In Keller’s book it is suggested that we could say, “Here’s what I need–but You know best.”

The fourth attitude is to pray with confidence and hope, knowing that God will give us the best answer in his own time and it will be so much better than our ideas.

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So may we all remember in this season, that prayer is about a frame of mind of joyful reverence, honesty, trust and confident hope. ‘Tis the Season!

Flashlight Holders Unite!

Like the meme implies, if you have ever been a flashlight holder, it is not a job for the faint of heart. Nothing in this life teaches you more than holding a flashlight while someone else does the job at hand. And those lessons are usually quite harsh.

Flashlight holders are not always holding a flashlight for their dad while he is fixing the car. If you have ever been an assistant anything, you have held a flashlight and you know it is not as easy as it sounds. Some of us spend a lifetime being in the position of helper. Not only do you have to support the doer, but you have to be in the right place at the right time. You have to listen and clench your mouth shut when you want to offer unnecessary advice. You have to know when to open your mouth and how to do it without offending the director of operations. You need to have done your homework and be knowledgeable enough to anticipate the next move of the doer and sometimes you need to offer supportive comments while dodging all the accusation and blame that may be thrown at you. And if you are like me, you have to calm your itchy fingers that want to take over.

Chances are, your job is in the business of support and not leadership. It takes a village to support but only one to actively lead. There is only one surgeon and multiple helpers in the operating room and even though there are many behind the scenes, being one of them is quite challenging. When the job is well done, you are never the one who accepts the accolades and at best, you may only have a word or two of thanks thrown your way.

So who are some famous flashlight holders in history? No one knows. Do you know the name of Thomas Edison’s helper? Do you know if he had one or a whole staff of helpers? What is the name of the influencers of Isaac Newton? How about the people behind the inventions of the assembly line or the airplane? There is no glory in being the support staff but we all know that nothing would get done without them.

Where should we look to learn how to be a top-notch helper? It is not a popular topic but if you look carefully, the Bible is full of flashlight holders. Queen Esther’s cousin Mordecai, King David’s friend Jonathan and Pontius Pilate’s wife(he didn’t listened to her) come to mind. However, my favorite biblical flashlight holder is Mary Magdalene. She shined her flashlight into that tomb and saw that it was empty. Without her and other women, Jesus would have had to ‘Gibbs slap’ the other disciples before they figured it out.

So next time you have to work in the shadows of a leader, remember that progress stops without knowledgeable, calm, and supportive flashlight holders.

Along for the Ride

 My Lessons in Living in Humility

People who know me probably got a good laugh that I would write about humility because that is one thing I know little about. Pride, humility’s opposite, has been my jam my entire life. In elementary school, I believed I was smarter than my teachers and scoffed at anything they tried to teach me. In high school, pride kept me from following the pack because I thought I knew better.(So in this case it was handy.) In college, I didn't listen to the voices of wisdom around me and that led to a painful seven years of regret. In my arrogance I  always thought I was the smartest one in the room. 

You can’t believe how much it hurt me to type that introductory paragraph. That is my pride rearing its ugly head. So because the first step to getting better is to admit you have a problem, I suppose I am in the process of learning humility. And in case you may have a bit of a pride issue too, I am going to reveal a couple of life-lessons in my baby steps of this recovery process.

The Lightbulb Moments

Humility always sounded so feeble and in no way was it appealing to me. You don’t have to look long on social media to see a meme declaring the cool factor of being a sassy, independent, scrappy, don’t-mess-with-me kind of person. Who would want to be humble when you can be such a cool bad-ass? I gravitate toward these messages of self reliance. I love to read a book or watch a movie about an aggressive, combative, fierce hero. This is our culture. This is pride. How can I possibly give up this attitude for humility? And why would I want to? 

My first ‘a-ha’ moment of seeing the truth about pride came from a poem written by Beth Moore about pride. I keep a copy and read it often to remind me of why I need to give up my arrogant attitude. 

My Name is Pride ~by Beth Moore

My name is Pride! I am a cheater I cheat you of your God-given destiny…because you demand your own way. I cheat you of contentment…because you “deserve better than this.”  I cheat you of knowledge… because you already know it all.  I cheat you of healing…because you’re too full of me to forgive.  I cheat you of holiness…because you refuse to admit when you’re wrong. I cheat you of vision…because you’d rather look in the mirror than out a window. I cheat you of genuine friendship…because nobody’s going to know the real you. I cheat you of love…because real romance demands sacrifice. I cheat you of greatness in heaven…because you refuse to wash another’s feet on Earth. I cheat you of God’s glory…because I convince you to seek your own. My name is Pride. I am a cheater. You like me because you think I’m always looking out for you. Untrue. I’m looking to make a fool of you. God has so much for you, I admit, but don’t worry…If you stick with me, You’ll never know.

Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

C.S. Lewis 

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Baby Steps in the Right Direction

Pride has been said to be the root of all sin and I do believe that to be true. Pride is a liar and a cheat. It cheated me out of true friendship repeatedly by not allowing me to  come down off of my pedestal. 

So do I need to be a wimp to give up my pride and become humble? Jesus modeled humility all the way to the cross yet he was far from milquetoast wimpy. He was a warrior! He was always about his Father’s business and nothing got in the way of that. Not his parents and not the rules of the Pharisees. He defied the rules of polite society and kept company with the lost and rejected. 

In my mind, Jesus words from the cross were not expressed in defeat. I think Jesus expressed “It is finished” triumphantly! I picture those final words of Jesus voiced more like when Braveheart voiced “Freedom!” at the end of that movie. Jesus life is our model for humility. He didn’t care what people thought. He only cared what the Heavenly Father thought. He wasn’t in it for himself. He was in it to save us. And that is an important note about humility. It starts with our focus on something bigger, something outside of ourselves. It gives up self-promotion and promotes the bigger cause tirelessly. 

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Micah 6:8 NIV
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

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So after my confession of pride, I next need to focus on something outside of myself, something worthy of my sacrifice. I can’t think of anything more worthy than the God of the universe, the Creator, my Savior, the beginning and the end. And so I begin this two-steps-forward, one-step-back process of fixing my eyes on Him. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, I will learn to walk humbly with my God. Like the picture of the dog happily riding in a car, I am just along for the ride.

Perception Is Not Reality

‘Perception is reality’ is a common saying, but have you ever stopped to think about this? Is it possible that my opinions, thoughts and understanding on any given topic are not reality? This can be a disturbing thought. Yet, if I never stop and consider this, it is more likely to be true!  If you have ever known someone who thinks too highly of himself, you know what I am talking about. This person has a closed mind to any new information. Here is a parable that Jesus told about a Pharisee who thought he knew it all.  

Luke 18:10-14 ESV[10] "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. [11] The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. [12] I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' [13] But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' [14] I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

In this parable, notice that the Pharisee perceived himself as better than others and boldly looked at the God of all creation, while the tax collector understood his shortcomings and took a posture of humility when approaching God. The second man had a grasp on reality. This humble stance was not because he was a tax collector, but because he was human. 

Humility begins when I accept the idea that I could be wrong or have something to learn, realizing that my own understanding is limited. The moment that I become open to the realization that I could be wrong about something, is the moment I get real. This is the pathway to becoming teachable. We can only learn something new if we realize we don’t know it all.  We, as humans, must admit to ourselves that we don’t know much about (fill in the blank)________________. 

I find it interesting that the parable above is followed by this story.

Luke 18:15-17 ESV[15] Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. [16] But Jesus called them to him, saying, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. [17] Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."

Have you ever taught a child anything?  It is rewarding because they learn quickly.  When you teach a small child, you can see change. But teaching adults is an exercise in patience.  Little children accept the fact that they don’t know much and this is why they learn at such an accelerated rate. They are amazed by how much they have to learn and can’t wait to know more.

What if we approached our adult life like a child, waiting expectantly for the next new thing we could learn, absorbing new information like a sponge?  What if we asked God for a childlike attitude toward life? What if we approached God like this?  Then maybe our perception would be closer to our reality.  

Lord please open my mind. May I see myself as a child with so much to learn. May I approach you with awe and wonder.  

Image by Free Photos from Pixabay