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Monday, August 24, 2020

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” —Psalm 23:5

David, who composed Psalm 23, was a great and successful military leader. Despite his successes (or perhaps because of his successes), he spent much of his life under threat from enemies. Sometimes these were enemies of his people. Other times, he faced threats from within his own people, from a king he served loyally and a son he loved unconditionally.

So when David wrote about God’s presence and provision when in the presence of enemies, it wasn’t abstract or hypothetical. David knew what it meant to have people out for his head. David knew the deep pain of being deeply wronged by those he deeply loved. In the midst of this pain, David knew the power of the presence of God, the God who was greater and more faithful than David’s enemies. David knew that the faithfulness of God was far more important than the faithlessness of his friends and family.

David knew exactly who he was talking about when he talked about “enemies.” For most of us, we probably don’t think of people as “enemies” too often. Yet, unfortunately, all of us face times when we’re treated as enemies. Maybe you’ve been betrayed or rejected by someone you love. Maybe you’ve been treated unjustly for no good reason. Maybe you’ve been treated with suspicion because of something you have no control over. Maybe you’ve been ignored and neglected, left on the outside looking in. Maybe you’re seen as worthy of disdain because of some political view you do or don’t have. Maybe you’ve been written off as unworthy of respect. Maybe you’ve suffered an inexplicable relational breakdown that hurts like hell and makes no sense.

The reality of living in human society is that we’ll sometimes have breakdowns in relationships. The reality of living in our hyper-connected global society is that these breakdowns can happen at a macro scale that none of us has much individual control over.

People who trust our Heavenly Father are free to respond to this tragic reality in at least two ways.

First, like David we remember that God will not abandon us even if someone else turns on us or abandons us. Even if we’re totally in the wrong in a given situation, God will never give up on us or write us off. God still draws near to us, even in our lowest moments.

Second, as followers of Jesus, we’re called to treat all enmity as one-sided. That is, we reject the premise that we actually have true enemies. In Jesus Christ, God has knit all of us together into one family. He’s broken down dividing lines. When we love and pray for our enemies, as Jesus commanded, we quickly find that those “enemies” don’t remain enemies for very long. This doesn’t necessarily mean that all of our nasty conflicts are satisfactorily resolved (though we should pray for that, too), but it does mean that the category of “enemy” is emptied in our own hearts and minds. It’s impossible to consider someone an enemy when we’re praying regularly for their well-being. No matter what they think about us or say about us or do to us, we see them as someone for whom we wish the very best. And people we wish the very best for are not our enemies.

This is, of course, not easy to do. It’ll be imperfect. We’ll trip and stumble as we implement this. But it’s the only way to truly live. It’s the way of life that gives us the same mindset that God has, the mindset of the God who, while we declared ourselves his enemies, came into our space to suffer and die, to suffer and die so that we would be called his children.

Friday, August 21, 2020

The disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:1-3

Whenever I get together with my three best friends from high school, we play a card game called Pounce. It’s like solitaire on steroids, and with four people. It’s super intense and ridiculously fast-paced, and I—being neither of those things—never win. My friend Anne is a superstar at all things requiring a) speed and b) focus on several things at a time. So Anne wins the most; then Lora; then Erin. I’m definitely in 4th place of four.  BUT…I have played this game a lot. I’m actually probably not terrible. I’m just the worst in this group. I have a feeling if I played Pounce with a different crowd, I might be pretty good. 

But it’s all relative, right? 

How often, even beyond frantic card games, do we determine our greatness (or success, or happiness, or attractiveness, or smarts…) relative to other people? How often do we decide we’re doing OK (or not) by looking around and seeing how everyone else is doing? Some of us are more competitive than others, but I think, for most of us, it’s hard to avoid sizing ourselves up like that. 

In today’s reading, Jesus tells his disciples to stop. Stop wasting your energy comparing yourself to others. Stop worrying so much about who’s ‘greatest.’ Your standards are so different from mine. Instead, Jesus tells his disciples (and us) to put our effort into something different. He says to follow him, we need to change; we need to be like children. We are invited to establish greater trust in him, greater reliance on him, and greater humility in general. It’s not about being greater than the other guy; it’s about putting our trust in the one who truly is great.

When we size ourselves up (and size up other people) by making comparisons, our foundation will always be shifting. (After all, I’m a crummy Pounce player with my three best friends, but I’m probably pretty good against someone else—so where does that leave me?) But when we put our energy into relying on who Jesus is, what Jesus has done, and who Jesus says we are, we root ourselves in a sure and steady foundation. 

May you set aside the burden of worrying about who is greatest (or smartest, or funniest, or happiest, or prettiest, or wealthiest, or most liked, or best dressed, or most talented…) and instead put your energy into asking God to nurture in you a childlike reliance on the Great One, who has humbled himself for the sake of the world.

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

God called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. – 2 Thessalonians 2:14

This is one of those verses that when I read it, I think I have a general sense of what it’s saying but if put on the spot, probably would have a hard time articulating what Paul is actually saying. Thankfully, writing these devotions gave me an opportunity to read a bit more about what Paul is saying.

Paul uses the word “glory” to describe what it is like to be in the presence of God. Theologian Michael W. Holmes uses words like “radiance” and “splendor” when talking about being in God’s presence. This deep and abiding presence is what we were created to experience but was lost as a result of sin’s corruption of the world that God calls “good.” The absence of being in the glory of God is why we are so easily drawn into believing that the latest gadget, car, fashion trend, or vice will fill the longing we have inside. But we know that the longing really won’t be satisfied with any of those things, don’t we? It’s like putting a wrinkly dollar in a vending machine only to have it spit back out.

Paul reminds us that by following Jesus, we trust in the promise that one day, when God’s Kingdom comes in all its fullness, we too will experience the closeness to God that we saw in Jesus’ relationship with his Heavenly Father. The satisfaction of finally seeing $1.00 show up on the little red LED screen of the vending machine.

But here’s the best part! We don’t have to wait to get a glimpse of that relationship right now. God is extending an invitation for each one of us to experience this relationship with God right now.  

Let that invitation to develop a closeness like Jesus had to his Heavenly Father be what guides us today in our own faith journey and what drives us to share the good news of Jesus Christ with all those we care about.