Category Archives: Jesus

Old Wisdom

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In “When Nations Die,” Jim Nelson Black examined the common causes behind the fall of Carthage, Greece and Rome.  These powerful empires didn’t fail because they were attacked from outside; they rotted away from the inside with what Black calls “Social, Cultural and Moral Decay.”  Such decay results when the people abandon traditional wisdom and values.  People turn away from the mores and beliefs of the past and attempt to rewrite new ones, based on what they believe is new and more sophisticated thinking.   That’s what happened to Carthage.  The same process brought down the empire of Greece and then Rome.  We have seen similar attitudes and consequences in Europe and Not-so-Great-Anymore Britain.  And here.

You might think we would get the point.  That guy you just passed on the highway with his hood up?  He ignored his “Check Engine” light.  If we paid attention to history, we would see a bright, flashing “Check Engine” light on the dashboard of the United States.  But the prevailing attitude is to put tape over it and drive on.

This is more puzzling since we also see examples in history of nations that have returned to old wisdom and have prospered.  The Old Testament is full of such examples.  Rwanda is a present day demonstration of this truth.

But it’s not just any old wisdom that matters.  It’s not about hanging on to old superstitions and myths.  The old wisdom that is critical for national survival is grounded on a deep reverence for our Creator, God.  Standing in humble awe before the One for Whom quantum mechanics is two plus two.  Recognizing He just might know what works best.

1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 2:1-6

Firm in What?

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Wars and rumours of war aren’t indicators of Jesus’ return.  Neither are famines and earthquakes.  Jesus called those things “the beginning of birth pains.”  First labor pains ordinarily indicate the start of an unstoppable progression of events but not the imminent conclusion of them.  So what indicators did Jesus say would tip us off the time was drawing close?   Among other signs, Jesus included this troubling thought:

 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,  (Matthew 24:12)

The more we encounter wickedness, the more  tempted we are to respond in kind.  The recent sniping murder of Dallas policemen is a sad case in point.  Somebody thought, “Enough is enough; I’m going to make someone pay.”  That’s an extreme example.  Maybe you would never go that far.  But Jesus taught us to actually respond in the opposite way:

27 “…Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”  (Luke 6:27b-28)

When most people find it too tough to respond to wickedness with love, that is a sign the end times are drawing to a close, that Jesus is coming soon.  What do you think?  Are we there yet?  Has the love of most grown cold?  If you had to make the call, based on your own attitudes, what would you say?  For me, that is a sobering question.

But don’t give up!  No matter what, don’t abandon love.  That first quote above is only the beginning of Jesus’ sentence.  Here’s the whole thing:

12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,  13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. (Matthew 24:12-13)

Stands firm in love.

More is More

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In “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the people who had seen the extraterrestrial vehicles in the sky, gathered on the hill in wonder and amazement, hoping to see more.  You should experience that attitude when you attend a church: people who have glimpsed a beautiful and powerful mystery and want more.  Sadly, many churches seem to know all the answers, to have everything tied up in neat bundles.  They have lost their taste for mystery.  Stay away!  Those so-called churches are dangerous; they have died.  A pastor who considers himself to be an expert has not encountered God.

When Paul encountered Jesus, it blew his mind so thoroughly he couldn’t see for days.  Before that, he was an expert.  After that, he wrote,

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:12

Just One

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If you had to pick just one rule to live by, one rule to teach your kids, which one would you choose?  Jesus picked this one:

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.  (Matthew 22:37-38)

God is not emotionally needy; He is not hurt or impoverished by our failure to love Him.  So what’s the deal?  Why is this the most important one?  Let’s start with this: If we could truly wrap our minds around the reality that we have personally been created by an infinitely superior Being, Who designed and created the universe, Who knows us, cares for us and loves us, if we could hold that truth present in our consciousness, our natural response would be wholehearted love for Him.  Anything less would be petulant rebellion.  

Presumably, as we obey the command to love God with our all, it has the effect of bringing us closer to the full realization of Who He is and how He loves us.  Aligned with that truth, we are more in tune with the rest of His design.

But how would such love be expressed?  A Hallmark moment wouldn’t suffice. As we are drawn into a closer relationship of love with God, it spills over and is naturally expressed in our love for others.  That is why Jesus added this:

And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”  (Matthew 22:39-40)

Simply put, if you could truly obey the first command, you would find yourself obeying the second, and would not need to worry about all the others.  

Free to Believe

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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; ... (1st amendment to the Constitution – excerpt)

It is a rare and precious privilege to live in a country with that freedom.  Ask anyone who lives under Sharia law, or in a nation where religion is prohibited.  I fear Congress has begun to erode this freedom.  No law should prohibit anyone from conducting their business according to their sincere, religious beliefs.  What I believe guides everything I do, not just how I worship.

Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Acts 4:18-20

Pay or Pray?

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Here’s some good news: you can be released from a spiritual death sentence if you send televangelist, Paula White, pastor of New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, Florida, a mere $1144.  That’s what she said so it must be true.  She’ll even through in a prayer cloth with magical powers.  Better yet, I’ll give you a discount; I’ll knock off $144.  I don’t have the prayer cloths, but my promise of spiritual life is every bit as reliable and valuable as hers.  What a bargain…

I wonder if Ms. White knows about this event:

“Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”  (Matthew 21:12-13)

When you pray, at a house of prayer or back home in private, you ask God to provide.  Money changers set up booths in the temple to make a profit (possibly an exorbitant profit) in order to provide for themselves.  If Jesus got so worked up about those guys, calling them “robbers,” how do you suppose He would respond to Paula’s offer to sell spiritual life for $1144?

If she charged 50 cents, it would be a ripoff.  Jesus gives spiritual life, eternal life away for free.  You don’t pay for it.  You pray for it.

Let Go and Jump

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Here’s a riddle:

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.   (Matthew 16:25)

Jesus spoke that riddle as an explanation for an equally tough statement:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  (Matthew 16:24)

But what may seem unreasonable and harsh, is actually an invitation to wild adventure.  The thing about adventure, however, is it is unavailable to those afraid to leave the house.  You can’t experience adventure by watching it on TV.  You must leave the trappings of security behind and dare to trust your guide.

A monk named Brother Charles understood this best and wrote this prayer:

My God, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will.  Whatever you may do, I thank you; I am ready for all, I accept all.  Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures – I wish no more than this, O Lord.  Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands, without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my God.

I get the image of a tandem skydive, holding on to Jesus.  You gotta jump…

Your Bill

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When you open your credit card bill  do you ever get a shock?  You gape in disbelief and think, “I owe how much?  Oh yeah, I forgot about that smart watch; why did I buy that thing?” 

What if you got a bill from God: how much would you owe?   No doubt you would be in for a much bigger shock.  There would be uncountable line items on that bill, ones you had long since forgotten.  I got thinking about such a bill when I read this:

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.”  (Matthew 18:23-24)

We miss the point of this unless we know that ten thousand talents is a bill of roughly $6 billion!  And the guy who owes that much is a servant to a king.  Consider the vast difference in authority and status between the two.  Heap on the $6 billion debt, and then zero in on these words: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to…”  There’s your bill.

You can see how inadequate religious attempts to pay the bill are.  Some require bringing a sacrifice.  Others assign various acts of penance after you confess a short list of sins.  It is literally hopeless to attempt to square accounts with God by such piddly measures, especially since the bill grows greater each day.

Although it is hard for us to fully understand, only God could settle up for us, by forgiving the debt, as the king in that parable did.  When you forgive a debt, that means you accept the cost.  God’s method to zero out our accounts was foretold by Isaiah and fulfilled by Jesus.

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  (Isaiah 53:5-6)
 

Infants of Faith

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Hold up a baby so his feet just barely touch and he makes little walking motions that anticipate the day when he will walk and run.  I believe our capacity for faith is immature and poorly formed like that.  One day, with the coming of a new, perfect heaven and earth, we will use faith as naturally and effectively as we use our other senses.  We will go from being held aloft and coaxed to sprinting and dancing.

Faced with His disciples inability to help a demon-possessed boy, Jesus said,

… “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? ….”   (Matthew 17:17b)

I think Jesus’ expression of frustration was due to His full awareness of how poorly formed and limited our capacity for faith is in this corrupted world.  When asked why they couldn’t do what He did to help the boy,

He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”  (Matthew 17:20)

Jesus, I believe, was yearning for the day when His followers would apply faith as naturally and powerfully as He. For now, although our attempts are comparatively immature and weak, we are meant to keep at it, gradually strengthening our “faith muscles.”  As we do, our Father holds us up.  He smiles and dreams of the day we will walk and run by faith.

Clean Hands, Dirty Heart

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Where was this Bible verse when I was growing up?

“to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”  (Matthew 15:20b)

If I had only known.  Jesus said it; it must be true.  Gospel truth, no less.  I could have had that verse memorized and ready to quote at opportune moments.  Alas…   Of course, now I know better.  Jesus wasn’t giving hygiene instructions for little boys.  He was challenging hypocritical religious leaders, the ones who wanted to control others with nit-picky rules.  Jesus’ point was that righteousness (or the lack thereof) is determined by what is in our hearts and not by what may be smudging our hands.

“Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (Matthew 15:17-20)

Wash all you want and you cannot cleanse corruption of the heart.  Only the Holy Spirit, living within can pull that off.  Happily, that is exactly what God promises to do.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.

(Isaiah 1:18)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (1 John 1:9)