Leaning Forward

Resolved

Calendars being what they are, comparing the past and present datings, it would be a stretch to say that Bible characters made New Years resolutions. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year would have been celebrated September 4-6 on the modern calendar. So, with calendar adjustments from culture to culture it's hard to say when the New Year would have been celebrated in Bible times.

Still, when I search "resolved" in my HCSB Study Bible on line app, there are a couple of interesting hits. For example, when Jehoshaphat and the armies of Israel faced the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites, the Chronicler wrote, "Jehoshaphat was afraid, and he resolved to seek the Lord" (2 Chronicles 20:3). Then, in his longest Psalm, King David wrote, "I am resolved to obey your statutes to the very end" (Psalm 119:112). Interestingly, Solomon wrote, "I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, 'I will be wise', but it was beyond me" (Ecclesiastes 7:23). In the Prophets there are a couple of references, mostly about what God's resolved to do in the nation. in Acts, Paul resolved to pass through Macedonia and Achaia on his way to Jerusalem.

Several of these "resolved" passages are interesting. For instance, David's resolution to obey God's commands to the very end. Of course, the context of that verse is His love and dependence on the Word of God. Earlier he had confessed that God's Word was a lamp to his feet and a light to his path. The greater resolve is a prayer to be taught by God and find deliverance in His Word. The promise of obedience is grounded in His submission to the Father's instruction and guidance. So, his resolution to obey was contingent on God's provision of sustaining power through the Word. See 119:116.

Solomon's resolution is profound. He had resolved to be wise. Well, that certainly did define his pursuits in the life, the prayer for wisdom when he became king, and the many mentions of wisdom in the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. His resolve, however, was bigger that humanly possible. You see, Solomon knew wisdom comes from the Lord, and that it derives from fearing and reverencing God. He had written about it many times. The long of it is that his resolution to be wise was something that only God could do. It was a learning experience for him.

Here's the deal, as I see it. It's a good thing to review life, make note of strong points, perhaps lament some of the weak ones. Without some resolve we'd just keep making the same mistakes over and over again. But, even with our best intentions, our resolve must be realistic. More and more I love what John the Baptist said: "He must increase but I must decrease" (john 3:30). That puts my new directions and goals in a proper context of life, submitting everything to Him and basing all of my achievements on my growing relationship with Him. 

Lose weight. I hope so. Get more exercise. Sure. Be nicer. Yes. Serve more. Naturally. They are all possible if they are secondary to Him being first in my life.

Happy New year.

Finishing strong

My stomach usually tells me when I've had enough. It was calibrated by God to send me a personal IM when I've crossed the fullness thresh hold. Nerves are wired the same way. Most of us can tell when when someone is standing on the last one. And, the body has other innate devices to signal when we're close to an end. Sun-burned skin screams "enough". Ear drums vibrate when they've had enough. And, so on and so on, down the line.

Assessing another year often involves questions about enough. When I scroll down the end of year inventory list the gauges by which I measure success or failure aren't always so quantitative. Some are numbers. But, most of them times I'm just asking if my performance or activity or participation or disciplline was enough. Did I give enough, or love enough, or serve enough, worship enough, relate enough, connect enough, exercise enough, understand enough, play enough, rest enough, and you get the picture. How does enough figure in the evaluation process? Maybe more, how do I know when enough is enough?

Finishing strong, though, does involve dealing with the enough question(s). There are some limits on human activity where enough is actually easy to calculate. Certainly we can know when we've spent enough or had enough to drink, or watched enough TV. Let the spiritual side of life kick in then determine the point at which we've prayed enough or studied Scripture enough or worshiped enough. Find a scale that registers when we've served enough or helped enough or given enough.

Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about becoming weary to the point of saying "enough". At Second Thessalonians 3:13 he wrote, "Brothers, do not grow weary in doing good". Evidently there's no limit about doing good, whatever that may encompass. Jesus said to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37). There's no enough in this formula. And, loving our neighbor as ourself makes enough seem a little lame here too.

Finishing strong begins with my understanding that the measurement of enough may not apply in every category. I can beat myself up for being a slacker in some of these areas and try to raise the bar on my own contributions in the future. Maybe finishing strong involves asking the right questions. "Was it enough?" may not be the right angle in some areas. There's never enough in most.

To be like John the Baptist may be the attitude that wins. He said, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). Maybe finishing strong and starting on the right note involves the determination that there be more of Him and less of me. The promise of Scripture is that when He and His kingdom are first, everything else somehow falls into place. It's a promise with teeth.

Maybe I can't quantify enough. But, more means something. Maybe there just should be more.

Happy New Year. 2014. More.

Fine tuned

Five weeks later the ONE WORD: EXPLAIN THIS series is ending. The final message came to me when I was standing with our group of pilgrims at the Tomb of the Prophet Samuel. it provides a panoramic view of Jerusalem, spread out over the entire horizon, a vast city landscape that shocks the sense of sight. Over a hill to the right of the city is a town in the West Bank. At the time of Jesus it was a small village. Jesus was born there, in the city of David.

Words about what happened there assaulted me. It was evidence of the Father's total calculation of His birth, intentionally engineered to that place, at that time, in that way. Intentionality covered everything about, calibrated to the degree and moment in a redemptive plan that stuns our sensibilities. God fine-tuned every aspect of His birth.

So, today I'll discuss a remarkable text, Galatians 4:1-6, with emphasis on 4:4. Paul used four words that demonstrate His fine-tuning of one of the great moments in the story of redemption.

Time. Sent. Son. Born. Four really important, revealing words.

Worship

So, if the miracle of Christmas doesn't evoke worship in us, then perhaps the message of it has been lost in the abundance of our stuff. Somewhere in the epoch of a babe in the manger is the truth of the preeminent Christ, the creator of all there is, the one who rules over all things. Our comfort with the simple crudeness of the stable often distracts us from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When He identified with us by becoming human, we struggle to identify with His Majestic Glory.

He calls us to worship. Reflect over this.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation; because by Him everything was created, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities---all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him; and through Him to reconcile everything in Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross---whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Colossians 1:15-20

Worship Him. Tomorrow is the Sunday after Christmas and before the New Year. You can end well and start well by being with a local church family in corporate worship.

"...and falling on their knees, they worshiped Him" (Matthew 2:11).

Seen and heard

 

The first witness of Christ was a group of simple shepherds who told what they had seen and heard. Makes all of our modern strategies and programs seem a little lame. Perhaps we should refresh the idea of being a witness, you know, telling what we have seen and heard. But, there's a presupposition here. We must have seen and heard something. And, that something must resonate with the truth of Scripture. So, telling about what we've seen and heard isn't just some relative drivel. It's what we've seen and heard in a personal relationship with Him through the filter of His Spirit and His Word. What a revolutionary concept.

Merry Christmas!

Glory to God

Away in a manger

The promise: a Son is given

Advanced learning 301

So, there we were in Jerusalem, sidelined by a vicious stomach virus that left more than half of our tour group in bed for at least a day. I was in a pity party for being in the Holy Land and having to miss the sites on the schedule. That's when He sent me an IM about what would be on the real life agenda that day. My impression was that I would see something from that sick bed more consequential than the holy sites on the itinerary.

Maybe it's just me, but my learning curve is often ramped up when I'm out of order. In the norm movement and activity and busy-ness can be distractions. Of course, being a tour host involves shepherding the group somewhat so that first time visitors to Israel can absorb the whole experience and be moved by what happened in those special places. Quarantined within the four walls of our nice room at the Olive Tree Hotel, pictured above, insured a day away from the crowds, the rush from site to site, and the hectic pace of running today where Jesus walked. It's the captive audience thing.

The lesson of the day: those holy sites mean nothing apart from the personal faith that gives them authentic meaning. Well, duh? Of course. That's the whole deal about a trip to the Holyi Land in the first place. It's what makes a trip to Israel a pilgrimage. Apart from the personal faith it would be no different than a vacation to Europe or to the islands. Faith activates the meaning of those places. 

You'd think this is understood. But, millions of tourists travel to the Holy Land, visit all the sites, purchase mementos, antiquities, and other treasures, venerate the many churches and sites, and never reflect on what makes them so precious. Then again, much of the biblical data about what happened in those places is discounted and marginalized by the varying approaches to biblical interpretation and the religious angles that so many groups super-impose over the places.

The lesson: without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 6:3), even in a sixth visit to the Holy Land. All the pretensions of holy travel are exposed by the simple fact that faith in Jesus brings it definition. The whole Book is about Him, as is the whole land. And, at times, we need to step aside to re-discover it.

Perhaps I would have experienced this reminder at one of the sites that day. What is true, however, is that I saw something more valuable while staring at my feet. 

It was Advanced Learning 301, again. Maybe I'll get it this time.     

In the Old City Markets

Tapestries. Icons. Carpets. Jewelry. Olive wood. Scarves. Prayer shawls. Goblets. Clothing. Food. Mezuzim. Menorahs. Beads. Artwork. Carvings. Pottery. Artifacts. Mustard seeds. Widows mites. Bibles. Knives. Shofars. Books. Miniatures. Statues. Antiquities. Maps. Gems. Plates. Robes. Coins. Sponge Bob Square Pants Books Bags.

Seeing yellow Sponge Bob on the shelf of a shop in the Old City markets of Jerusalem provided a vivid constrast to the world we represent and the world we were in at the moment. I guess it proves children are children everywhere, and that the reach of Western culture is  farther than we usually realize. Watching the young locals walk past all the items that were interesting to me and focus on Sponge Bob was a short tutorial in international marketing. Maybe we should license Sponge Bob to do some promotion, work in the church, or in our state department. Square Pants may have conquered the language thing that fosters mis-understanding among the peoples of the world. No habla!

It's just a side-note to our recent twelve days in Israel, but the international language is money. There are, of course, kissing cousins---commerce, finance, profit and loss, sales, margins---and all the bullets of trade. In that part of the world, the diverse cultures and religions and languages meet where the dollars intersect their lives. So, old Sponge Bob, an American icon or sorts, stood right there on a shelf beside the cool Holy Land stuff testifying to the tie that binds, big bucks.

That's not to diminish the spiritual blessings of visiting the Holy Land and the places so central to our faith. They are moving and inspiring in deeply personal ways, made real by the blessing of the One who lives in us. But, then, there's the real world of right now intruding through the garish yellow figure of a cartoon character. He announces that the Holy has met the unholy in the person of this faith, Jesus, the Lord.

So, commerce thrives. And, we love and worship Him in that world, where little Middle Eastern kids like Sponge Bob too.