God’s Specific Likes about Us
God pulled off a surprise love attack on me this morning. God lured me into the trap in a quite trivial way. I thought I would start my day, not by grading students’ assignments, but by reading and meditating on some Scripture. By the way, I am not saying that reading Scripture is trivial. The triviality was connected with the way in which God pulled off his Surprise.
I had started reading through the book of 1 Peter the other day. I got stuck in verse 1 of chapter 1, doing a word study on the word “exiles”. (I am thinking about writing a book. Tentative title: Slow Reading: How to Not Finish Any Book.)
So, I started reading (again!) verse 1. I am proud to report that I have finished 1 Peter 1:1! (Ain’t I special?) However, it was upon reading the following words that God bushwacked me with his divine love: “Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bythinia.” You don’t get it? I don’t blame you! But stick with me.
I knew that these were the names of Roman provinces and that they were in what is now Turkey. But I couldn’t remember precisely where they were, so I went to my Accordance software. It has so much good stuff in it, most of which I don’t know about. I don’t even know how to navigate to it.
But I did find the map I was looking for—eventually. I scrolled down past all kind of interesting tables, charts, and maps. I was filled with joy at what an abundance of information I have literally at my fingertips. And then I thought about the abundance of wonderful people I’ve gotten to know (at least a little) over my lifetime. How incredibly wealthy I am, I thought to myself. God has been so good to me!
And then, I heard from God. “You haven’t seen anything yet, kid! I have all of eternity with you to show you interesting stuff.”
Now, I knew that this was indeed the voice of God, because the kind and loving tone of this remark is the hallmark of God’s communications to me. It is not the voice that I usually hear. The voices inside my head usually have some pretty cruel things to say to me.
But God wasn’t quite finished speaking yet. “And also, my dear child, I like and love how you are curious about and grateful for almost everything.”
Now, you may find it almost impossible to believe, but I have never in my life thought that God both liked and loved any particular thing about me. The idea (and it was just that, an idea) that God loves me was a general theological notion that I kind of, sort of believed. Now, however, the reality of the specificity of God’s love for me filled my entire body with light.
But God still wasn’t finished. “My child, there is actually a lot that I like and love about you.”
And you know what, my dear reader? The same is true for you and for everything else that God has made.
“Strange and Wonderful Creatures”
I did not sleep enough last night. Five hours of sleep may be enough for some, but not for me. However, when I tried for a while to go back to sleep after waking up at 1:00 a.m., I realized that it was not going to happen. I might as well get up and work for a while. My schedule is flexible. I can go back to bed when I get tired. This is a wonderful freedom, and I should not take it for granted. Thank you, Jesus!
So, I got up, drank two cups of coffee, graded students’ assignments for several hours, did my 12-step report, and sent out readings from a couple of 12-step books—Answers in the Heart and A State of Grace.
The reading from Answers in the Heart for today, spoke of being ourselves and being okay with being ourselves. The author used a strange and wonderful phrase to describe how we ought to think of ourselves. We should regard ourselves as “. . . this strange and wonderful creature.” I often think of myself as strange, but wonderful?!? Not so much.
And yet, in Psalm 139:14, we read: “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”
The psalmist confesses that all God’s works are wonderful, but he also realizes that he himself is one of those works. He was wonderful and wonderfully thankful. And I am wonderful as well. And so are you.
“I am strange and wonderful” is my mantra for today. May it be yours also.
And now, good night, all you strange and wonderful creatures. This strange and wonderful work of God is going back to bed.
“Even Computers Need a Rest Sometimes!”
Jumpy cursor! I was trying to grade student assignments, and my cursor was jumping around like a Mexican jumping bean. I would start typing something, and then I would be on a different line. Here is the sort of non-sentences I was ending up with:
be Please see my respolownse video.
Of course, what I was trying to write was the following:
Please see my response video below.
I was beginning to think of another reason to call this little symbol on my computer a “cursor”! At first, I thought the mouse might be the problem, so I checked out the mouse. I cleaned it. I turned it off. I tried my wife’s mouse. I checked for updates for my mouse driver.
Nada.
I checked my settings. Everything seemed okay.
I googled the problem. Many helpful suggestions were available. Most of them I had already tried.
Toward the end of the suggestions (and near the end of my rope), I encountered this novel notion: Turn off the computer and leave it off for a few minutes. I immediately thought of the British comedy “The IT Crowd”. When the support guy picks up the ringing telephone, he immediately asks, “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”
So, I tried turning it off and on again. No more jumping! May God and Brit-coms be praised! Years ago, I had a computer expert tell me that I didn’t need to turn off my computer. It would work just fine if I didn’t. Even experts can be wrong.
However, I am not trying to give you advice concerning your computer. I’m telling this story to give you advice about you. You also need some rest. So do I.
Genesis 2 tells us that even God rested. Amazing, isn’t it! Yet, you and I take on more and more, sleeping less and less. We need to be careful not to work harder than God does.
When Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” he meant business. We should mean business too when it comes to the business of rest.
Good night, sleep tight, and don’t let your big toes fight!
“Lives as Well as Lips”
“Praise the LORD!
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Who can utter the mighty deeds of the LORD,
or declare all his praise?
Blessed are they who observe justice,
who do righteousness at all times!” (Psalm 106:1-3, English Standard Version)
“He talks a good game,” is a common saying that suggests a person is all talk and no work or skill. I wonder these days about those of us who claim the name of Christ. In particular, I wonder about the author of this blog post. Consistency has never been my middle name.
The psalmist asks a question about who can talk about the mighty deeds of the LORD and sound forth his praise. He immediately answers his own question. The ones who can trumpet God’s mighty deeds and praise him are those who consistently practice justice and righteousness.
The biblical Hebrew words translated “justice” and “righteousness” sometimes have a judicial connotation. They suggest “deciding what is right on a case-by-case basis. But often, the words suggest treating people fairly.
Do I do that? Sometimes, yes. But the psalm demands more of me than a wimpy little “sometimes”. Praising God requires a fulltime commitment to and practice of treating God and people fairly. Does my life itself praise God consistently? Afraid not.
Derek Kidner comments that, “ ‘. . . to show forth all his praise’ (2) will take lives as well as lips; and while even our sins throw his grace into relief, as the psalm will show, our obligation to righteousness is total and uninterrupted.”[1]
As I have noted before in these posts, my twelve-step sponsor never tires of reminding me to JKDTNRT. These letters stand for “Just keep doing the next right thing.” He knows what I need to hear and what I need to do.
The rest of Psalm 106 goes on to highlight the fact that Israel’s history does not suggest consistency in how the nation lived its life. Quite the contrary. They messed up again and again and again and . . . . Well, you get the picture.
And so do we all. But consistent living should be our aim. Treating God, other people, the world, ad even ourselves fairly is what we are called to do. May we, may I, do so today!
[1]Derek Kidner, Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 16 of Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. IVP/Accordance electronic ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1975), 412.
DTEB, “The Wanna-Wanna Method”
“. . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
Phil. 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12b-13, English Standard Version)
In a text exchange with a friend, he confessed that he really, really wants to make some bad decisions. I replied to him that perhaps he might want to try the wanna-wanna method. What on earth is that?!
The wanna-wanna method of prayer and discipled living means that we recognize and admit that we do not have a desire to do the next right thing. So, instead of either beating ourselves up (which doesn’t work) or just giving in to our baser desires (which really doesn’t work), you pray to God something like this:
“LORD, I do not have the desire to do the next right thing. In fact, I have the desire to do the next wrong thing. Please give me the desire, the “want”, to do the next right thing. I don’t wanna, but I wanna wanna.”
This may seem to fly in the face of reality, but I don’t think it does. Our desires are, in fact, often weak and fleeting. Reality means that we acknowledge that fact.
Furthermore, the wanna-wanna method has some biblical warrant. In his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul challenges them to obey his previous instruction and to follow Christ’s example. (See Philippians 1:1-12a.) Paul recognizes that the believers in Philippi need to do something themselves. They need to “work out their own salvation with fear and trembling”, but they also need to depend on God’s work within them (2:12).
Three things should be pointed out here, yea indeed, four!
First, the fact that God is already working in us should motivate and empower believers to work. As someone has said, “We work out our own salvation because God has already worked our salvation into us.”
Second, the “you” in these verses is not singular in the original Greek. Rather, the “you” is clearly plural. The working out of our own salvation is a corporate matter. I fear that we frequently turn the Christian faith into a personal, individualistic quest to improve ourselves. We need to remember that we become together, or we don’t become at all.
Third, the verbs in verses 12 and 13 are in the present tense. The present tense is not used simply for something going on right now. It usually suggests an activity that is continuous, ongoing. We are always to be working out our own salvation, because God is always working our salvation into us.
Fourth, God working in us doesn’t just empower us to obey God. God’s work within us enables us to want, to desire, to will, to do God’s work.
So, the wanna-wanna method recognizes that God creates in us the desire to do the next right thing. When we pray for this, we are simply recognizing our own limits and God’s unlimited power within and among us.
When I was a little guy and my mom would get after me, I would often say, “Momma, I want to be good.” And I think I did want to be good. It wasn’t just a matter of not wanted to be switched with a branch from our forsythia bush. However, what I didn’t know when I was little was that my “wanna-be-good” wasn’t sufficient. I needed God working in me, along with many others, in order for my wanna to be strong enough to resist temptation.
I still struggle with this. I am very much a beginner at the wanna-wanna method. But when I practice it, my life is so much better. And the way I treat others improves exponentially as well.
Prayer: “Oh God, who loves us more than we can ever know, my desires for goodness are so weak. Give me, give us, the good sense to continually pray for the desire to do the next right thing and the power to do it. Amen!”
“Fun, Cat Videos, and Transformation”
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, English Standard Version)
One of my twelve-step sponsors suggested that I need more fun in my life. He knows me well, but on this one, I was determined to prove him wrong. I have lots of fun! So, I started keeping careful records.
Nada.
Heavy sigh.
So, I watched some cat videos this morning. And they were funny. But then, one came up that was more touching than funny. You can watch it for yourself (and you should!) at https://www.google.com/search?q=transformation+of+an+alien-looking+cat+video&oq=transformation+of+an+alien-looking+cat+video&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRiPAtIBCTE2ODAxajBqN6gCCLACAQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:e0876851,vid:a54Ie2hEOLc,st:0, accessed 12-09-24.
If you don’t have the time to watch it (but again I say, you should!), here is the summary: Someone took in a tiny, ugly-looking kitten that was at death’s door and weakly scratching at that door. The person who took in the pitiful wee little thing (it had to be a woman) chronicled the progress of her tiny alien friend.
At first, the changes were almost imperceptible. But as time went on, you could see the changes. I fast forwarded to the end, and the transformation was breath-stopping. The cat was absolutely, drop-dead beautiful.
And then the unexpected: God got a word in edgewise. “And that process is what I am doing with you, my son.”
God speaks to us in all kinds of ways, including through cats and cat videos. The question is this: Are we really listening?
I need to stop looking back at what I’ve been and where I’ve been and what I’ve done. I also need to not dwell too long on what I am right now. God takes the long view of transformation. Perhaps we can do that too. Perhaps I can too.
“The Enemy is Perfectionism”
“The good is the enemy of the best.” (A common saying.)
“The best is the enemy of doing anything at all that is good.” (My take on the saying and my reality.)
Some of you have been wondering why I haven’t been posting any of my musings in the past way-too-long. I am tempted to give you a one-word answer: laziness. However, there is another one-word answer that probably comes closer to the truth: perfectionism.
I have had lots of ideas, and I have probably started at least ten posts in the past two months. However, none of them were quite worthy of publishing.
This has been a problem for me since I was a kid. It is why I haven’t been a better student, a better husband, a better dad, son, pastor, teacher. Nothing is ever quite good enough.
I have faced many of my demons and have faced down many of my demons, but not this one. Perfectionism and I go way back, and he is a hard master to shake free from. It feeds my vulnerability to depression. I mess up, even in small ways, and I start my descent into the grayness of depression.
And yet, there is a verse in the Bible that says we all screw up all the time in many ways. Did you know that such a verse existed? It is little quoted and is probably too honest to be well loved, but it is there. “For we all stumble in many ways . . . .” (James 3:2a, King James Version) I checked this out in the Greek, and the verb translated “stumble” is in the present tense. In Greek, the present tense is used for actions that are ongoing and/or repetitive.
But we don’t like to stumble, do we? And we most definitely don’t want to admit that we frequently do stumble.
As a recovering addict, I will tell you something that seems radically counterintuitive: Addicts are among the greatest perfectionists in the world. This fact seemed counterintuitive to me also for many years. How could we, who have messed up our own lives and the lives of others so badly, be perfectionists? That made no sense to me at all.
Unfortunately, it is only too clear to me now. We put huge pressure on ourselves to be perfect in every way, we can’t pull it off, and we feel chronically horrible. So we ask ourselves a fateful and fatal question: “What could I do to feel better right now?” Our response to that question never leads to anything good.
Now, I am not saying that every addict is a perfectionist, nor am saying that perfectionism is the only contributing factor in addiction. However, the connection between addiction and perfectionism is much more common than you or I might imagine.
What is the antidote to perfectionism? I don’t know, but I suspect that one good medicine for the disease of perfectionism is good-enough-ism. I’m not even sure we have a single word that quite conveys the idea I’m trying to express. In and of itself, that linguistic lack ought to tell us something.
So, my fellow perfectionists, how would it be if you and I pledged ourselves to good-enough-ism? Who knows? We might be a lot better off if we did. Even our work and our roles might be better if we realized that real good is much better than unreal perfection.
DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus”
“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Col. 3:4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4, English Standard Version)
I frequently struggle with focus these days. Dizziness makes me wonder exactly where the chair I’m wanting to sit down is located. I am reminded of an old proverb that goes something like this: “He who tries to sit in two chairs ends up on the floor.”
But my problem with focusing is more than a physical problem. It is also a mental problem. Ultimately, being out of focus is also a spiritual issue.
You may have heard by now that we recently had an election. I got way too focused on it leading up to said election. No, that is an understatement. Truth to tell, I was obsessed with it. I was also very judgmental toward people who were obsessed about the election, but who came down on the other side of the debate. (The other side is, of course, the wrong side.)
God finally got my attention. “You, Daryl, need to do you! You might want to remind your sisters and brothers to do that too.”
Ouch!
What I think has happened is that we are, as a nation,out of focus. Or, at least, those of us who call ourselves Christ-followers are out of focus. The fact—at least the fact as I see it is this: The person whom we elect president of the United States may be important, but Jesus is our King. And that is infinitely more important than who we did or did not elect. We need to focus our attention on our King. Christians do not primarily live in a democracy. We live in a kingdom, the Kingdom of God. The LORD Jesus Christ is our King.
In short, we need to shift our focus back to God. When he was standing before Pilate, Jesus said that his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). I am trying to remember that right now. Sometimes, I do better at that than at others. My spiritual dizziness comes in waves. I need to focus on doing a better job of focusing on Jesus.
You?
“Christian Speech”
“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length:
“29. Now the apostle turns back to consider the Christians’ speech and conversation. Not only are they to shun all that is deceitful, but all ‘bad language’ (NEB). The adjective used in the Greek (sapros) basically means ‘rotten’, and then has a derived sense of ‘worthless’. It is talk that is ‘rotten’ and that ‘spreads rottenness’ (Barry) like bad fruit, worthless and leading others to think on the worthless. To replace this there is to be what can be described plainly and simply as such as is good (cf. Phil. 4:8). RSV for edifying, as fits the occasion, could be literally rendered ‘for edifying of the need’. The particular Greek word chreia in Acts 6:3 speaks of a ‘matter in hand’, and so here we might translate ‘for the edifying of the matter in hand’; ‘words suitable for the occasion’, Phillips aptly turns it. The thought is that of Proverbs 15:23, ‘a word in season, how good it is!’ [Vol 10: Eph, p. 142] (cf. Ecclus. 20:6–7, 19). As with the consideration of work and wages, the Christian standard is lifted above personal expediency, even above the question of moral right or wrong. The test of a person’s use of money is, ‘What am I giving to those in need?’ The test of conversation is not just ‘Am I keeping my words true and pure?’ but ‘Are my words being used to impart grace to those who hear?’ The grace of the Lord’s own words, the love and blessing which they conveyed, is spoken of in Luke 4:22. The utterance of the Christian is to be characterized by the same grace (cf. Col. 3:16; 4:6).”[1]
My own experience with a person whom I know very well (myself) is that Christians need to examine themselves at this point, repent, and do a whole lot better. My words sometimes are designed to wound, whether or not I admit that fact.
And, of course, I have sometimes been on the other side of the equation. I was at a church dinner when someone said, “Anyone who voted for x is either sick or on welfare.” Now, being the mild-mannered and meek person that I am, I piped up and said, “Well, I voted for x, and I am neither sick nor on welfare.”
Comments such as I received make it hard for me to attend church functions. Imagine the effect of such words on unbelievers. I am very much afraid that the main stumbling block that prevents sinners from becoming followers of Christ is Christians and how we speak. Christians are as bad these days as non-Christians when it comes to name-calling and destructive speech. Do we really think that this is justified because (obviously) our side is right?
So, what would happen if we took seriously Ephesians 4:29? What would happen if we sought to build people up with our words? What would happen if our words were consistently gracious? I think it might be time to at least experiment with obeying God’s Word.
[1]Francis Foulkes, Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 10 of Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. IVP/Accordance electronic ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1989), 141-142.
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