Maybe I am Not Ready Yet…!

             

            This week I came across the following personal confession of a Christian writer: “Maybe I am not ready yet to suffer for the Kingdom of God. My heart is too impure, my soul too divided, my love too fragile.”

            Suffering for the kingdom of God is something we would rather not think about. But recent news events have forced the thoughts upon us. For too long, perhaps, we have tried to separate any form of suffering being related to faithfulness in the kingdom. Especially if we are thinking about undeserved suffering.

            But in the quote above we are made aware that perhaps it is our heart, soul and love that are not ready for this level of acceptance and commitment. It is a topic that is touched on in Scripture. In fact, nearly 150 times it is mentioned by various biblical writers.

            Perhaps the one Scripture passage that hits home on this topic is the following one in the Book of Revelation:

            “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown” (Revelation 2:10).

          The apostle John, while in exile on Patmos, is instructed to write this message to the angel of the church in Smyrna. He begins by counseling his readers from that city to not be afraid of what they are about to suffer. That gets at the heart of it all. We who are Christians must daily ask God, Christ and the Spirit to strengthen our faith and not let any kind of fear to debilitate us.

            Spiritual persecution is pictured by John as the devil putting some of them in prison to test them. They are counseled to be faithful, even to the point of death. As a direct result of that faithfulness, a victor’s crown will be given them in the form of eternal life with God—a present and future presence with Sovereign God.

            Are we ready yet to suffer for the Kingdom of God? Christians in other parts of the world already are suffering at the point of giving their lives. May our hearts be made more pure, our souls more undivided in our commitment, and our love stronger so that when the time comes we will be ready to lay our lives down for our brothers and sisters in Christ, and for the kingdom of God!

In Christian love, Curtis

What is the Church?

 Recently Dr. Wendell Willis shared his frustration with his students at Abilene Christian University who do not share his passion for the New Testament teaching about the church (see his article: “The Erosion of Community—A Challenge to the Church,” Christian Studies No. 25, 2011-2012; pages 9-19). Even though many of the students would be characterized as committed believers at some level, most do not have a solid belief about the church, “nor do they see a need for one” (p. 9).

            It raises a fundamental question: does the church exist to cater to my felt needs and keep me happy, or does the church exist as a visible community for me to be committed to as the ongoing work of God? This question frames the “continental divide” for us regarding the nature of the church. Our culture has deeply ingrained in all of us that institutions, organizations and groups exist to meet all of our needs. This supersedes any thought of my committing myself to serve in such a setting.

            I am especially intrigued with the first two occurrences of the word “church” (ekklesia) in the New Testament. They are both in the Gospel of Matthew (16:18 & 18:17). The first reference talks about the nature and power of the church, and the second reference points out the key role that church has in the reconciliation of relationships. The church is built upon a confessional recognition of Jesus as Lord, and even death itself cannot prevent this community of faith forming. Additionally, this community of faith is the context where reconciliation occurs because of the initial reconciling work of God in Christ for that community to start with! What a place to start with our ideas regarding the nature and need for the church!

In Christian love, Curtis

Meeting God [1]

Christian faith travels a continuum. It goes from believing about, to believing in, to believing together. Sometimes this “believing together” is spoken of in the Scriptures in two ways: meeting God and covenant faithfulness.

            In the Old Testament Moses goes up into the mountain to meet God. In that meeting Moses is given the Ten Commandments. Joshua tells the entire congregation of Israel to get ready to meet God the next day to worship Him.

            Probably the most well known expression of this is found in the Psalms.

Psalm 42:2

“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”

        God created each one of us to have a deep thirst for Him. Only the Living Waters from the Living God can quench the thirst of my living soul. The Psalmist is so sensitive and aware of this inner reality that he asks the question regarding the next time he can go and meet with God?

            Traditionally, in the history of Christian thought this question has been answered by recognizing the various ways we can meet God. They are listed as follows:

1.     Meeting God in Prayer

2.     Meeting God in Service

3.     Meeting God in the Assembly of Worship

4.     Meeting God in the Created Order

5.     Meeting God in Scripture

6.     Meeting God in the Community of Faith

7.     Meeting God in Everyday Life

8.     Meeting God in Mystical Moments

Starting in next week’s bulletin, we will look at each of these 8 ways to meet God. How have you answered this question lately: “when can I go and meet with God?”

In Christian love, Curtis

Tuesdays with Morrie (3): I Promised to Keep in Touch

       

   Mitch Albom confesses that for 17 years he lost contact with his former professor. At his graduation he promised his teacher, Morrie Swartz, that he would stay in touch. He did not. He laments,

“In fact, I lost contact with most of the people I knew in college…The years after graduation hardened me into someone quite different from the strutting graduate who left campus that day headed for New York City, ready to offer the world his talent.”

                How many of us have been guilty of the same thing? We promise to stay in touch with people we think we should at the time. But, life’s circumstances and the demands of job, home, school, etc. drive a wedge between our good intentions and the fulfilling of our promises.

                Why is this so important?

                Keeping promises eliminates guilt. We all have done this. Whenever you think of a person, you know you need to communicate with them, but you put it off. Guilt has a strange way of operating off of compound interest: guilt ignored produces more guilt. We find out that when we fail to stay in touch, good memories are replaced with a burdened conscience that feels like a backpack full of rocks.

                Staying in touch validates relationships. Nothing is more important in the world than people. Think about what Christ died for: not programs, but people. Not money, but people. Not power, prowess or prestige, but people. When we keep our word and stay in touch with people, it validates those relationships. There are wonderful blessings and benefits that accrue both ways between friends when relationships are tended to!

                Staying in contact keeps priorities straight. Mitch reveals in his own life that the demands of chasing his dreams, and the demands of deadline-oriented career made him forget some very important people in his life. Once we are caught up in the web of “the tyranny of the urgent,” we are spun into a cocoon  of our own making that becomes a straightjacket binding us to a selfish existence. We forget about others, and our priorities in view of others and eternity gets all messed up.

                Have we followed up on our own promises of staying in touch?

In Christian love, Curtis

Tuesdays with Morrie

It seems that every year during vacation I pick out a book to read. This year it was Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. Mitch is a famous sports writer with the Detroit Free Press. Morrie was Mitch’s college professor and mentor. They both connected back up after 16 years absence when Mitch found out that Ted Koppel on Nightline was having an interview with Morrie because he was slowly dying of ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease. This book is the weekly visits on Tuesday that Mitch had with his old professor.

This book was originally published in 1997. I have the 2007 edition with Mitch’s Afterward in it. Nancy and I both read it to each other while traveling in the car during our vacation. Mitch presents his weekly conversations as a final test, a final thesis, to be turned in and the lessons learned during the intense and emotional conversations.

The book is at once easy to read and hard to read. Easy—because snapshots of the past are woven into present narrative and conversation. Hard—because heart, personal memories and fears, are all drawn out for each reader with their raw edge of harsh reality.

Over the next few weeks I want to draw ideas and quotes from this best seller. I will reflect on them with relevant observations.

To get us started, I want to reflect on part of the title. The book is entitled…Tuesdays with Morrie: An old man, a young man, and life’s greatest lessons. It is published by Broadway Books out of New York.

“Life’s greatest lessons.” If you could take time and share with someone younger than yourself about life’s greatest lessons, what would you share? When you begin talking about life’s greatest lessons, several dynamics come into play.

First, life’s greatest lessons are hard won and blood bought, so to speak. The reason they are lessons is because they come at a price. It is from the University of Hard Knocks that one receives his or her degree. Those hard knocks are the harsh reality of life that cannot be ignored.

Second, life’s greatest lessons are akin to the Wisdom Literature of the Bible. They speak of practical wisdom,  understanding God’s providential hand in the learning process. Wisdom gained from life shapes and molds one’s character, which is God’s divine intent for each human being.

Third, some of life’s hardest lessons  become part of the process of divine discipline. The big question here is, “Am I willing to learn from life’s experiences, and allow my heart, mind and soul to be shaped into a Christ-like character?”

Find you a copy and join me in this journey over the next few weeks!

In Christian love, Curtis

I Could Not Exist at All!

Perhaps we do not ponder the reality of our own personal existence as often as we should. The early apologist, Augustine, left for Christian posterity his own questions reflecting such a pondering. In Book I.2, here is the conclusion he draws after posing agonizing questions trying to figure his own existence:

“So, then, I should be null and void and could not exist at all, if you, my God, were not in me.” [Augustine, Confessions. Penguin Classics, page 22]

          The meaning and purpose of our individual existence is made real because God is in us. Not only are we made in His image, but His actual being and presence is in us. Christ is in us. And the Holy Spirit is in us. T

          This is more than just the “breath of life” being breathed into us. We are a living soul, and when we are in covenant relationship with God, He is in us. Listen to how John the apostle expressed it in his later years…

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them”( 1 John 4:16).

We can elaborate on Augustine’s conclusion when we bring the Apostle John into the conversation. Not only do we not exist at all unless God is in us, but neither can we have love for others, and express love for others unless God lives in us.

God lives in us! What in incredible thing to think about. No empirical test nor sophisticated argument can negate this transcendent reality! God, other than us, becomes God in us! We are the pinnacle of God’s creation, and I suspect that one of God’s greatest delights is to dwell within His people! His greatest desire is to love His people, and to see His people love him.

          One thing for sure…I could not exist at all without God! Does my life of love demonstrate that dependency?

In Christian love, Curtis

Spiritual Formation in the New Testament (4)

This will be the last installment at this point regarding spiritual formation in the New Testament letters. It dawned on me this morning that all 27 books of the New Testament canon would have a different and unique perspective on growing spiritually.

We have already looked at Matthew somewhat, which would be representative of the Synoptics. John’s gospel provides a unique look at this. For example, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (6:35).  Feasting and drinking as Jesus offers himself is key to the entire idea of spiritual formation. It is knowing to whom we must go, and for what we must go that defines the journey of growth.

A good example of a book’s unique angle is also seen in Acts. For example, we read, “Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers” (Acts 9:31). All through the book of Acts emphasis is placed upon the fact that spiritual growth is in a body-of-believers context. The Holy Spirit causes this growth, and its power and effect is seen in interpersonal relationships and their quality. Peace is enjoyed and everyone is built up and encouraged. Additionally, the element of reverential awe for the work of God and basking in the comfort of the Holy Spirit defines the blessings enjoyed. When the Spirit works this way, the body increases.

Space and time limits what we can do with this topic. But think of how Romans, Galatians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, and  Philemon all treat this subject. Especially think of how the non-Pauline books of the rest of the New Testament add their own flavor to spiritual growth: Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1-2-3 John, Jude and Revelation.

As you can readily see, the definition, experience, metaphors, perspectives and observations on spiritual growth are myriad in the New Testament. I challenge all of us in our daily readings to be open to what we learn about growing more and more like Jesus Christ to the glory of the Father for the sake of others!

In Christian love, Curtis