Do You Know God?

In the movie "Good Will Hunting" Robin Williams plays a psychologist named Sean who is trying to help Will, a young man who happens to be a genius. 

The problem has been that up until the time he meets the young man, Will has already messed with a string of professionals causing none of them to want to continue working with him. 

Sean is next in line and  within minutes of them meeting, Will throws him for a loop by surmising some details of Sean's life and touching on a sensitive issue (the death of Sean's wife) simply by looking at a painting on the wall.

But then, the next day, Sean confronts Will, explaining that although he may know a lot of facts, he does not know Sean at all.  Just as Sean cannot know Will (an orphan), as he explains, "You think I know the first thing about how hard your life has been, how you feel, who you are, because I read Oliver Twist?  Does that encapsulate you?  Personally... I  don't care about all that, because you know what, I can't learn anything from you...  Unless you want to talk about you, who you are."

Will learns the lesson, in order to know a person, you have to listen to them and let them describe themselves.

The same goes for the Lord.  We can announce all day what we think God is like, we can spout off things that sound wise and insightful.  But only God can explain who he is.  Only God can make himself known.

Anything that comes out apart from this revelation is worthless.  We end up with our own "foolish ideas" of what God is like.  And we can end up way off the mark.

Reading Romans today, 

"Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.  Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.  And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles."  Romans 1:21-23 (NLT)

To know God, we need to know his word. 

What do you know about the God you serve?  Where did that information come from?

The Flesh

I remember as a kid watching Bugs Bunny on Saturday mornings. 

Sometimes Elmer Fudd would be hunting him and he would pretend to have been shot.  Then he would do this long "death dance," basically twirling around, flailing about , drop down only to come up again.  It was comical because you knew he wasn't really dying.

But I think about that sometimes when I can tell the Lord is asking me to die to myself.  That's how the flesh dies, isn't it?  How it looks when we die to our own selfish ways and desires.  Our flesh never dies quietly.  It often does that same over the top dance, same as the cartoon.

That's because it does not like to be put to death.  Denial of self does not come easily.

Yet, 

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.  What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?" Matthew 16:24-26 (NIV)

In fact, in Luke we read this is a daily task, (Luke 9:23) because like Bugs Bunny, the flesh will get up again.

Faith or Sight?

Another lesson I learned from my motorcycle's new center stand was trusting in what you cannot see.

When you first push the stand down and then go to level the bike on it, this can be a little unnerving.  I cannot see the stand, I have to trust that the bike won't go toppling over away from me.  This is counter intuitive to the kickstand.  You see the kickstand, you lean the bike on it.  With this, I'm leveling the bike on something I cannot see.

The funny thing is, the bike is actually very stable on the center stand, before it even gets popped up on it! 

Then it is not enough to believe the bike will stay up, I have to put that belief into action.  I have to pull up on the bike.  I can't just stand there and say, "Yes it should work..."  I have to have faith. 

And faith requires action.

Faith in the Lord is the same thing.  We can say that we believe all we like, but when we activate that belief and put it to an action, we are truly living our faith in the Lord.  We can't just stand there reading the word and not doing what it says.  Faith doesn't work that way.

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." Heb 11:1 (NIV)

What are you holding back on?  Are you waking by sight... or faith? 

2 Cor 5:7 For we live by faith, not by sight (NIV)

Impossible?

A few days ago I bought a center stand for my motorcycle.  My bike has a chain, so popping it up on a stand makes it easier to clean and lubricate the chain.

I've always had just a kickstand, so this was a first for me.  I brought the bike home from the shop where I had it installed and decided to give it a try.

I jerked, and tugged and pulled yet nothing I did could get that bike on the stand!

Then my wife,  who has a center stand on her own bike, came over and popped it up with ease.

How was that even possible? 

My wife asked me to try again as she watched.  Then, she noticed that when I pushed the stand down both "legs" of the stand were not on the ground!  I could not see this from my vantage point.  To me it just appeared that the task was impossible.  But as soon as I got the stand settled properly, with almost no effort I was able to get both the bike up and my man card back!

I occurred to me that our walk with the Lord is often like that, and that is why we need each other.  There are times when we struggle with what seems like an impossible task, but when someone comes beside us, they help us to see something we didn't based on their own experience and vantage point. 

And then suddenly the "impossible" becomes possible.

"For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,  so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. " Romans 12:4-5 (NIV)

Back to Basics

Sometimes I think things can get too complicated and it's easy for us as Christians to get focused on the wrong things.  Even in the early days of the Church there were still controversies that threatened to divide. 

One issue was the matter of eating certain food.  Some felt all food was the same, and others felt that there were some things you should avoid.  This issue was actually causing division in the body of Christ.

Paul summed it up this way, 

"For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too.  So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up." Romans 14:17-19 (NLT)

That's what it boils down to, as Jesus said, "The most important commandment is this: 'Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord.  And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.'  The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'No other commandment is greater than these." Mark 12:29-30 (NLT)

Everything starts with love. Loving God, loving people, building each other up.

Stretching

As I may have shared before, last year I started taking Teakwondo. This has  not always been an easy feat seeing how last year I also turned 50!

Flexibility is one of the most important aspects of Teakwondo, and the only way to get the flexibility that enables you to perform kicks and other moves correctly is to stretch.

And stretching is down right uncomfortable.

In class I see several young people not putting any real effort into it.  They are just going through the motions.  But for stretching to be effective and grant the fruit of flexibility, muscles must be stretched beyond the point of comfort. 

Reading in Matthew today,

"As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people."  At once they left their nets and followed him." Matthew 4:18-20 (NIV)

We tend to think of Peter as the rock, Peter the apostle.  But first he was simply a fisherman.  A man who earned his living from the sea.  That is what he knew, that was where he was comfortable.  In fact, after the death of Christ, before the resurrection, Peter returned to this familiar world.  But during the three years he walked with the Lord, he had been stretched and thereby enabled to live a different life than he planned.

Jesus brought him back into that new direction and his life was never the same.

Sometimes following the Lord will require us to stretch out of our comfort zone, beyond the reach of our normal sphere of influence.

How is the Lord stretching you?

The Message We Give

According to an article I read recently, "In recent years, fewer Americans prayed, believed in God, took the Bible literally, attended religious services, identified as religious, affiliated with a religion, or had confidence in religious institutions...  The large decline in religious practice among young adults are also further evidence that millennials are the least religious generation in memory, and possibly in American history," 

Why is that?

I think most people, if they look at the teaching of  Jesus Christ, are attracted to his message of love and forgiveness.  However when most people today look at the church, that is not what they are seeing.

Most statements I see in the press or social media show what the church is against, not what it is for.  I have to wonder, if our shouts of outrage are heard louder than our message of love and forgiveness, is it any wonder that the church's effectiveness is on the decline?

Salt is meant  to encourage thirst and add flavor.  Are we doing that to the communities around us?  

I think it's time we take inventory of just what message we are giving to the world.  If they reject us and therefore Jesus Christ, let them at least do so based on an accurate view of our Lord.

 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:13-16 (NIV)