Monthly Archives: August 2022
“On Putting People in Buckets”
I was listening to an Andy Stanley podcast this morning, in which he spoke of the danger of putting people in buckets. There is, he said, a Republican bucket and a Democratic bucket, a conservative bucket and a liberal bucket.
One problem, as Stanley pointed out, with all this bucketing is that people don’t fit really well in buckets. I am reminded of the saying that “there are only two kinds of people: those who put people in one of two groups and those who don’t.”
Right.
The Bible actually says that there is only one bucket that all humanity can be put into: the sinner bucket. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” says Paul in Romans 3:23. From my experience, that sounds about right.
So, perhaps instead of figuring out who is right and who is wrong, maybe we should throw ourselves in the bucket called “the Grace of God”. Just a suggestion. And since, I’ve made one suggestion, I might as well make another: How about being a little kinder to other people in the sinner bucket?
“Fearing the Lord vs. Fearing the Lord”
A lot of people think that there are many contradictions in the Bible. In a sense, they are right. However, not all contradictions are contradictions.
Yes, I know, that doesn’t make any sense at all. Or then again, does it.
Take, as an example, the following passage from 2 Kings. Assyria had taken into exile many of the residents of Israel. Then the king of Assyria brought into the area of Samaria (the now defunct capital of Israel) other people groups whom the Assyrians had conquered. The author of 2 Kings 17 is summing up what happened and why it happened.
“2Kings 17:24 And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. 25 And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD. Therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 26 So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.” 27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land.” 28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the LORD.
2Kings 17:29 But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived. 30 The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32 They also feared the LORD and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. 33 So they feared the LORD but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.
2Kings 17:34 To this day they do according to the former manner. They do not fear the LORD, and they do not follow the statutes or the rules or the law or the commandment that the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel. 35 The LORD made a covenant with them and commanded them, “You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them, 36 but you shall fear the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. 37 And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods, 38 and you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods, 39 but you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.” 40 However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner.
2Kings 17:41 So these nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children’s children—as their fathers did, so they do to this day.” (2 Kings 17:24-41, English Standard Version, bolding mine)
So, the author of 2 Kings says both that they did and did not fear the Lord. Which is true? Probably both. In a sense—and to a degree—the folks who had been shipped into Israel did fear the Lord, but their loyalties were divided. And so, in a deeper sense, they did not fear the Lord. The author of Kings is acknowledging that both of these things are true.
Contradictions? Yes, but no more contradictory than human nature is. In fact, the Bible acknowledges that Israel itself did not fear the Lord (17:7). We are confronted with the fact that neither Israel nor the forced migrants who replaced them were doing a good job of reverencing the Lord.
The way that the story goes back and forth invites (or forces?) us to look at our own selves. Do we truly fear the Lord, or do we have divided loyalties? What seems to be contradiction in the biblical text may actually be asking us to take a good, long look at ourselves. We may not like what we see.
“Willing to Surrender Our Will”
“Phil. 2:12 ¶ Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, 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 2:12-13, English Standard Version)
I don’t have a lot of willpower. I also don’t have a lot of “won’t power”. In other words, I frequently don’t do what is best for me and for others. And I do do what is not good for me and others. Probably, dear reader, you never struggle with such a perverse dynamic. Nevertheless, I will let you into my own struggles.
The thought occurred to me yesterday that there is a paradox in all 12-step programs. Actually, there are probably many paradoxes, but here is the greatest one, I think. Here it is.
Step 1 says that we are powerless over our addictions.
Step 3 says that we must make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God.
Furthermore, one of the five major resources we use in recovery is sobriety, which is defined as being “. . . willing to stop acting out on our bottom line addictive behavior.”
Wait a minute! How can we exercise our will when we are powerless?
Paradoxes (like Zen koans) cannot be so much solved as lived with. I can’t pretend to be able to solve this apparent contradiction. The paradox is summed up in two companion sayings that are well-known by 12-steppers.
“I can’t without God;
God won’t without me.”
Paul says something similar in his letter to the Philippians. Apparently, some of them were having a difficult time getting along with other believers. I was a pastor for many years. I think that I can say, without much fear of contradiction, that this is still a problem in every church. Indeed, it is a problem in every group that has more than one person in it. (See what I did there?!)
The verses before and after the two verses (2:12-13) that lead off this post are not about individual salvation, but about getting along with others. No one can do that without divine help. On the other hand, it is something that the individual him (or her) self has to do. Trying to love, or even get along, with others without God is a herculean task. And we are not Hercules.
Of course, even if Paul is talking specifically about our responsibility to get along with others and God’s power working in us to accomplish that, we can legitimately apply this truth to other things. And we can also individualize it. After all, if we are to do this collectively, we are each going to need to live paradoxically.
Perhaps you and I have just enough will power to turn our will over to God. And that is enough.
“No Shortcuts”
On a trip, my wife hates to hear me say, “I think I’ll try a shortcut.” She has good reason to be wary of my “shortcuts”, because they usually give us a great deal of time to see places we didn’t necessarily plan to see. (That is “man talk” that translates to “we get lost and waste a lot of time”.)
In life also, I am prone to the folly of shortcuts. These almost always turn out to be the long way home. Worse yet, many of them end up being blind alleys.
A friend of mine put me onto a wonderful website that has snippets of Native American wisdom. Much of it is in line with Christian teachings. Here is a good one from this morning:
““The best teachers have shown me that things have to be done
bit by bit. Nothing that means anything happens quickly – we
only think it does.”
— Joseph Bruchac, ABENAKI
There are no short cuts. Every tree must grow according to the growth plan of the
Creator. Every flower must grow according to the plan of God. The moon must make
its trip around the earth according to God’s plan. Every human being must grow according
to the plan of the Creator. Sometimes we look at ourselves and we think we are not growing
but we are always growing. Because we cannot see it with our minds does not mean it is not
happening. We must be patient with ourselves and let the Creator direct our growth.
My Creator, let me be patient. Let me realize that You are in charge of all things. Let me realize
that I must grow my roots a little at a time to become strong.” (https://wellbriety.com/meditations/, accessed 08-16-2022)
The Bible is also aware of the danger of what are often shortcuts in name only. Here are a few verses for us to chew on (slowly)—today or any day.
“Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.” (Proverbs 21:5, New Living Translation)
“Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.” (Matthew 7:13-14, The Message)
Of course, the Bible is full of stories that exemplify the same truth. God had promised Abram (a.k.a. Abraham) land and children. He had neither. His wife had been unable to conceive and was now too old to do so anyway. So, they decided on a shortcut to help God out of God’s bind: surrogate motherhood through Hagar, Sarah’s slave. It did not turn out well. Shortcuts don’t, as a general rule.
So, dear reader, if your life and your progress are going slower than you think they should, you’re probably right on schedule. Only cancers grow quickly.
“The Lover Is the Main Thing”
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8, English Standard Version)
Unwelcome revelations about myself frequently come knocking on my mind’s door. One arrived yesterday. I realized that I love our little dog more than I used to love my children. I tend to be a very self-critical person. I am used to being that way. But this revelation is very dismal indeed.
Now, don’t get me wrong. There was nothing wrong with my children. And our dog is nothing special—except, of course, to us. No, it isn’t the dog’s fault that I love her more, nor is it my children’s fault. There was something terribly wrong with me. In my younger days, I was simply incapable of loving as I should have loved.
I suppose there were any number of reasons: fear, short-sightedness, the desire for immediate gratification. (By the way, why do they call it “gratification”? It’s not really all that gratifying.) Reasons, yes, perhaps, but no excuses and no justifications.
In fairness to myself and the truth, I did love my children. I loved them as well as I could . . . at the time. However, it was so inadequate.
This is a very non-uplifting post, is it? It is hard to read, isn’t it? It is difficult for me to write. But here, we turn a corner as readers and as writer. And a glorious corner it is!
As I was thinking these dreary thoughts and feeling down about my fathering, I suddenly was struck by the insight that it isn’t the beloved who determines the love of the lover; it is the lover who determines that. And then, my mind turned toward God’s love, and I was flooded with light.
God does not love me because I am lovable. God loves me because God is love. God can and does love me perfectly, not because I am perfect or lovable or perfectly lovable. No! God loves me perfectly because God is The Perfect Lover. It is entirely about God, not at all about me. And because it is all about God and not me, it is also about me.
All my life I have been trying to make myself more lovable. Hasn’t worked. Never will. But that isn’t the issue. What I need to do is to choose to let myself be loved, whether I’m lovable or not.
Then, and only then, there is the difficult and exhilarating work of becoming more loving myself. I am in the process of learning how to love. I would say that I am in about the third grade in this school of love, but I’m making progress. One of my best teachers is my little dog.
“God and the Lesser Pain”
There was a time when I wasn’t allowing my oldest daughter to learn to walk. My intentions may have been good. After all, I didn’t want my daughter to experience the pain of falling. We lived in a parsonage that had a hardwood floor. So, I would catch her. My daughter turned it into a game called “I-fall-backwards-and-daddy-catches-me”. The game was great fun, but there was a downside: My daughter was not learning to walk.
Finally, my wise and tough wife said to me, “She’s never going to learn to walk if you keep doing that.” She was right and I knew it.
So, the next time our daughter started to walk, I stood a few feet away. As she fell backward, I contraried my instincts and let her fall. She looked back at me with such shock and accusation that I almost thought that I had done the wrong thing. But within a few days, she was walking.
“Underneath are the everlasting arms,” said God to Moses. However, that doesn’t mean that God always catches us when we fall. Sometimes, God lets us fall. We call these “consequences”. Some of us also question God. “Why didn’t you catch me?” Actually, this is often more of an accusation than a question.
But here is the bottom line, I think: God wants us to learn to walk. A painful process? Yes! At least, the falling is. I suspect that God, because God loves us so much, finds our falls to be very painful, too. However, it will be more painful in the long run for us and for God if we don’t learn how to walk. And God will always choose the lesser pain for Himself and for us.
“Nibbling God”
Psa. 34:8 “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” (English Standard Version)
This was the verse of the day in the You Version app recently. In the story that was connected with the verse, the guy who was doing the story made the simple point that “taste and see” and “takes refuge” are verbs. They are things we can actually do. Indeed, we must do them if we are to experience God.
Sometimes, I put way too much emphasis on feelings and thoughts. Unfortunately, thoughts and feelings are almost always nouns. At least, that is true for me.
The Hebrew verbs for “taste” and “see” are imperatives. They are commands. Of course, as with any command, we are free to disobey. When I was a little guy, I was very finicky. My mom used to say to me, “Well, taste it and see if you like it.” Sometimes, I obeyed. Sometimes, I did not. But the only way to know if I liked something or not was to taste. No amount of external pressure or cajoling was a substitute for experiencing something for myself.
So it is with God.
How do we “taste and see that the LORD is good”? We nibble. Nibbling is a greatly underrated action in the spiritual life. I think that those of us who claim to be Christ-followers are at least partly to blame. “Either you believe, or you don’t!” is the watchword of many believers. We ignore Jesus’ comment about a mustard-seed-sized faith. We also ignore the cry of a father whose son was possessed by a very cruel demon, “I do believe, help my unbelief!” He had just enough faith to cry out for faith to help his unbelief. That’s really not a lot of faith. Yet, in response to his cry of (un)belief, Jesus healed his son. A nibble of faith was apparently enough.
Perhaps God is more eager to be tasted and known than we are to nibble.
“Think Before You Ask”
“Think before you speak.” (A common saying.)
“Think before you ask.” (A corollary to the above common saying.)
“James 1:19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;” (English Standard Version)
Asking is a form of speaking, and my wife thinks that I ask too many questions. I more than half suspect that she is right. She wants me to try to think through a thing myself before I ask her a question. Because I know that she is right, I don’t particularly like her advice. There are reasons (or at least excuses) for my tendency to ask too many questions.
- I’m lazy.
- I am impatient.
- I don’t trust my own thought process, or the conclusions based on it.
- Related to my lack of trust is the fact that I have attention deficit disorder.
- I had a dad who was a perfectionist. I was afraid to displease him, and this led to me asking questions to make sure that I didn’t get it wrong. Of course, my many questions alsodispleased him.
However, I’m trying to learn how to practice the fine art of thinking through things before I ask for advice. This is the flip side of yesterday’s post, in which I made an impassioned plea for listening to the advice of others. It isn’t either/or; it is both/and. We do need to ask for advice, and we do need to think through things for ourselves.
So, I’ve had some teeny tiny victories in the realm of thinking-before-I-ask. I am going to mention two of them that occurred within the past twenty-four hours. Am I bragging? Yes! Yes, I am!
I bought a new mouse at OfficeMax yesterday. When I got it home, I thought that the package was defective. It did not have the little piece that you plug into your computer that makes the mouse work. (That piece is called a “dongle”. Who knew?! I certainly didn’t.)
I was going to take the mouse back, but I decided to have another look. I had noticed a little piece within the mouse itself next to the batteries that looked like a watch-a-ma-call-it dongle. I tried to pull it out, but I couldn’t and was afraid to break the confounded thing. So, I concluded that it must not be what I was looking for. However, I decided to have one more look. It still lookedlike it might be what I was looking for, so I tried pulling in a different direction . . . and it came out! My mouse is working just fine now, thank you very much!
A second vignette:
I have a combination lock, but I have forgotten the combination. Covid meant no Planet Fitness for a long time, and by the time I went back for a workout, my mind was locked out in terms of the sequence of numbers for the lock. I was about to throw the lock away, but I had this nagging feeling that I had that combination written down somewhere. But where?
I typed “COMBINATION LOCK” into my computer search bar. You’ll never guess what happened! Oh, you did guess. Right! A file came up with precisely those numbers. Sometimes, I’m more organized than I realize.
So, asking for the help of others is nothing to be ashamed of. However, it is a good thing to think for yourself, also. It is a simple thought, but even the simplest realizations are difficult for me. The simplest insights often hide in plain sight. And, of course, “simple to understand” is not synonymous with “easy to do,” is it?
“You Don’t Know Yourself as Well as You Think You Do”
I was listening to a recent “Hidden Brain” podcast the other day. Shankar Vedantam was interviewing Tim Wilson in a show called “You 2.0: How to See Yourself Clearly.” The authors made an excellent point: Introspection is not always the best way to understand yourself. In fact, many studies have suggested that your friends—and sometimes even people you don’t know at all—can help you to make better decisions than you can make for yourself.
In one intriguing study, some people were given a profile of someone they were thinking about dating. Another group was given one anonymous evaluation of the person they were thinking about dating from someone who had had one date with that person. The people who had read the profile ended up being much more dissatisfied with the prospect than those who were given the evaluation from a stranger.
This all confirms something that I have experienced repeatedly. Let me illustrate. My wife and I will go to a restaurant. Usually, I order the same thing, but once in a while I will get really adventuresome and order something else. My wife will say (with raised eyebrows), “Do you really think you’re going to like that?” Now, whenever my wife raises her eyebrows, I need to sit up straight and pay attention. Sometimes, I do. However, sometimes I am in a rebellious mood and ignore her eyebrows . . . and end up not enjoying my entre.
The Bible, especially the Book of Proverbs, informs us that taking the advice of others is one form of wisdom. Here are some representative verses:
“Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.” (Proverbs 19:20, English Standard Version)
“Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” (11:14)
“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” (12:15)
Of course, we need to be careful about the source of advice. In particular, online advice can be worthless at best and a scam at worst. But we need to face the fact that we can give ourselves some very bad advice, too. As Andy Stanley says, we are all great salesmen. We sell ourselves on bad ideas. The most serious scams we fall for are the ones we perpetrate on ourselves.
“Purposeful Thinking”
“Rom. 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2, English Standard Version)
A friend of mine is well aware of the fact that he tends to overthink things. People who really desire to grow and change for the better often do that. I recognize this because I desire that very thing myself. Frequently, I even overthink my tendency to overthink.
So, I sent an email to my friend, and then realized that I was also talking to myself. Here is what I wrote to him (and to myself):
“Thinking can be a very good thing. Being un-thinking is definitely not a good thing. But over-thinking is not the goal either. What is the goal of thinking? Do you realize that I’ve lived 71+ years, and I have never before asked this question?
A very preliminary response to my own question might be as follows: The purpose of thinking is to act in a loving way in each situation, to feel better, to be better, and to position myself to think more sanely still.
Perhaps we need to question our own thinking process. Maybe, when we’re prone to overthink (or to simply think wrongly), we could ask a few simple questions that are incredibly profound.
- Will this line of thought help me to act more lovingly?
- Will this line of thought make me feel better in the long run?
- Will this line of thought make me a better person?
- Will this line of thought position me to think more sanely?
I don’t know if any of this helps you, but I think it might help me. Hopefully, I’m not overthinking the whole thing.”
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“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 […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“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 […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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