with devotion

Courage of the Heart

Courage is a quality that is so admired and I think so misunderstood. We all easily understand the word when we hear of soldiers risking and giving theirs live for others. Consider these verses from the book of Psalms:

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! (27:14)

Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord! (31:24)

I guess in a sense all courage emanates from the heart.. courage comes when a person's heart is stronger than their flesh. I think that it is interesting how these verses speak to the idea of waiting for the Lord.. courage of the heart is definitely needed when life is hard and God seems absent.. and we find ourselves waiting for Him to help us. In times when life seems darkest and God does not seem present we are faced with the need to take courage. In dark times I am often reminded of these verses from the book of Hebrews:

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (4:14-16)

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (10:35-39)

Here is what I glean from those verses about our need for courage:

God is compassionate.. He is not the cause of our weaknesses and sufferings;
Prayer is the response of a courageous heart.. it takes courage to say "not my will but yours be done";
Faith is an exercise in courage.. faith and courage are both characteristics of a strong heart;
Courage is needed to persevere.. it is needed to do God's will;
Like a pleasing aroma, so is courage in the nostrils of God.

I wonder how many times courage and faith are intermixed.. in a sense faith is always needed for courage to manifest in our lives. We are on the front lines of a great spiritual battle and, like soldiers in battle, courage of the heart is so needed.

Who is not My Neighbor?

This image reminds me of the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus told the story in response to a Jewish lawyer's question concerning who was the neighbor that he should love as himself. Jesus sensed the duplicity of the question and confronted the man, and many in his audience, with the idea that the Jews did not love their neighboring Samaritans.

In the parable the religious Jews are showed as uncaring and the Samaritan is shown as the one filled with mercy. Martin Luther King, Jr framed the bottom line issue this way:

The first question that the priest asked, the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by, and he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"

I wonder who Jesus would use today as an example to us of people we call neighbors but do not love or show mercy to. Perhaps this list might be a place to start? Maybe loving our neighbor is really not all that easy? Perchance we need a few more Samaritans in our lives?

The Insanity of Prayer

A recent article, titled “The definition of insanity” is the most overused cliché of all time, begins by saying:

"It’s often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

I can relate to that! I recently told a few friends that my prayer life often resembles this definition of insanity. I keep praying the same things and expecting a different result - or maybe just any result. One of my friends replied asking me why I even pray. I responded by saying that praying is like breathing for me.

When I speak of prayer as spiritual breathing I am reminded of how, in my twenties, I never prayed even though my wife Ellen was blind for 3 of those years. Then she was healed and I became aware of God. Eventually I prayed my first real prayer and it has become like breathing in the sense of I do it without thinking to do it. It comes naturally just like breathing. Yet some of the prayers are versions of insanity as I ask for the same things over and over and do not see answers. Even so, I find peace in knowing that God has heard me - and perhaps that it a good enough "answer".

Real life example of my insane prayer life: As many of you know my wife Ann has been disabled for six years now and I watch her struggle every day to do basic things as she gets in and out of her wheelchair. I pray all of the time for her and I sometimes express my frustrations to the Lord. I sometimes feel a bit insane as I pray and do not see improvements in Ann's health. So I wonder if the real challenge is to be content (through prayer) with the challenges and pain that she and I experience. Being content with pain? Now that sounds insane!! What do you think?

What is prayer?

Recently had a conversation where the topic and nature of prayer came up. Looking at the Lord's prayer I thought that I might take a shot at answering the question posed in the title. I think that prayer is:

relationship - "Our father who art in heaven" speaks to me of the nature of the one to whom we pray. We do not speak to a Zeus like being sitting on a mountain but a parent who cares for us and wants the best for us.
worship - "hallowed be thy name" tells me that there is a difference between God and my earthly father. When I speak to God I do so with reverence acknowledging that He is not only greater than I am but that He is different and worthy of my praise and obedience.
desire - "thy kingdom come, thy will be done" reveals the heart of every believer. Things can be difficult in our lives. Yet in the midst of the pain there is something that cries out from our very souls that God would come to earth - that His will would be done and His kingdom be manifested.
need - "gives us this day our daily bread" acknowledges that God is our source and, whether we understand it or not, He is the one who provides for the most basic of our needs.
forgiveness - "forgive us our trespasses" is a phrase that should break us and ruin us. It is both an acknowledgement of the problem and a confession of the answer. When prayed from the heart it is a transformative sentence and one that can bring healing to us.
responsibility - "as we forgive" engages our hearts in a way that brings peace to our hearts and reconciliation to our relationships. Apart from this prayer simply becomes the airing of grievances and a petition of wishes.
discipleship - "lead us" identifies us as followers of God longing for His direction. It reminds us not only that He is with us always but wants to be our counselor teaching us the way to live.
protection - "deliver us from evil" is both an acknowledgment of the sinister and a proclamation of divine saving power. Sometimes our need so obvious and in other times it is more subtle. Yet in all cases our need for protection is so much greater than we can imagine.
humility - "thine is the kingdom ... the power ... the glory" reminds us that He is God and we are not. In the end life is all about the kingdom of God. When all is said and done the power of God sustains us. It is why we must seek to glorify Him in everything that we do.
hope - "forever" is one of the most powerful words in the English language. It is a word that compels me to believe that there is more to this life than what we experience on earth. It challenges me to live in such a way that embraces eternity in my heart.

These ten words challenge me and remind me that prayer is so much more than petitioning a Santa Clause in heaven with the things that I think that I need. These ten thoughts instruct me concerning what Christ taught about prayer.

Responding to a Young Physicist

This weekend I responded on my friend Les' blog to a commenter who once attended a conservative Christian college where she went to chapel everyday, did Bible studies and the like. She is currently an atmospheric physicist and an environmental engineer. She had questions and comments like ...

I just can’t believe that the ONLY way to God is through Jesus. Oh, I understand my sinful status and that I need a Savior and that IS Jesus. But, it makes absolutely no sense that God condemned billions and billions of people to hell because they never heard of Jesus.

Then, there’s the problem of “Where is God?” when people call on him. Don’t give me that crap “In His time.” The Bible says straight away, pray and the prayers will be answered. And, it doesn’t say, “Oh, that answer may be, ‘No.’” I still pray, just asking for his peace, and all I have is anxiety.

I don’t want SIMPLE faith. I want faith based on reason, not simplicity.

These are good questions. Thought you might like to read my response ...

I love your comment! I too spent a lot of time in ultra-conservative churches that seemed to see everything in black and white terms. Life got better for me when I began to see the bible, and life in general, in grayer ways.

Your thoughts about Jesus being the only way and how billions of people will suffer torment eternally reminds me that Jesus is a lot bigger than our narrow understandings of what it means to believe in Him. For sure many embrace a formulaic approach to salvation – makes sense to people living in a black and white hallucinogenic state. But please know that there other views (like the one Billy Graham has) that deals with those billions of peoples.

Concerning your issues with what the bible says about prayers being answered straight away – I think that it is good to remember that a lot of things are written in hyperbolic language. In other words, all things are not really possible, literal mountains are not meant to be moved, not everything that we ask in prayer is answered. Many of the things written are over-emphasized simply to make a point.

It is hard for a one-time programmer like me to wrap my head around that though – I want gray things to be black or white. Yet the bible is not really about black and white. Genesis is about a bigger story than the nuts and bolts of creation. The scriptures weave an amazing story about God and His creation. We do not have to accept that everything written in it is God’s literal dictation to and through man – that really just cheapens the story and drags us through pointless arguments.

Better that we try to embrace a heart (i.e. grayer) view of biblical stories. I find that when I do I learn so much more about the ways that God interacts with humanity and humanity with Him. I think that the Book is all about the big stories and really not all that much about doctrinal stuff. The Jesus story, for me anyway, is unrivaled in all of history when we see it as a story of God visiting the planet instead of some heady doctrinal dissertation of some sort of dogma.

Regarding questions of why God does not give relief from fear or why people in need are not helped – perhaps humanity owns more of the answer than we want to own up to? Perhaps the love of God is resident in other people who can help us if we simply humble ourselves and ask them?

I am glad that you are not looking for simple faith. I have found that faith that does not struggle is not really faith but a superstitious and useless believer-ism that fails when times get tough. Watching my first wife die seemed to strip away a lot of that silliness from my life.

In closing I want to thank you for the genuineness of your comment and the reality expressed in it.

The Ordinary Presence of God

Much is made these days in some circles of the manifest presence of God. Some would discount the ordinary presence of Jesus preferring a more mystical version of it. In one of his last words on earth Jesus comforted us with these words:

"surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age"

He also assured us that the Holy Spirit would be in our lives to lead us, comfort us and be with us always. These assurances from the Lord helps me to better understand the words of Isaiah in the image on the left. And Isaiah's words provide context to what God's presence looks like in our lives. Knowing that God is with me frees me from fear. When I am tempted to be dismayed I find strength when I lean into His presence. In some of my darkest days I have felt his presence upholding me. His righteous right hand picks me up when I fall and causes me to stand. So while I have experienced the mystical (and almost tangible) presence of God in my life, I am so thankful that God is with me when I least sense Him. I am so thankful for the ordinary presence of God.

Inerrancy vs Scriptural Trustworthiness

Another blast from the past - almost 5 years ago! The good stuff is in the comments!

My wife Ann is reading (and I am reading excerpts from) the post-evangelical by Dave Tomlinson. To the left is a page that I found to be an interesting one. You can read the next page here.

I am interested in your thoughts on this and would like to have a dialog around scriptural inerrancy. So feel free to leave me a comment or perhaps pose a question for discussion. The more interaction the better :)

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