I keep a painting of Jesus in my woodshop. It was painted by a young girl who had a vision. It is a painting of a kind and friendly guy……a guy who taught us to love each other and to avoid judging each other…….to take care of each other…….even those who harm us. This is the Jesus who loved children. This kind gentle person is the Jesus whom we all know………my friend. This is a painting of the Jesus who suffered and died to save me. It is hard for me to wrap my brain around this Jesus…….but I try.

And I am grateful.

But, there is another face of Jesus…….one that we rarely think about. This other face of Jesus is even harder to understand……so hard that we just don’t give him much thought.

What about Jesus…….. before Bethlehem…..before the manger…..before the shepherds and wise men? What about Jesus during the old testament? What about Jesus during the seven days of creation?

What about Jesus BEFORE creation?

He was there……hard at work……all along…….. sometimes as one face of the Trinity……. sometimes by himself. When we think of Jesus, we tend to see the guy on the wall of my shop…….a gentle “Casper Milquetoast” sort of guy. But, he is also the creator. He is the power that brought everything into being. He was behind creation, the flood, the enslavement of Israel, the exodus, the return to the promised land, the babylonian exile.

He is behind the modern state of Israel.

Here is my point. Jesus knew all of this. Jesus knew his power. Jesus knew it all……..past, present, and future. He knew it as a child, as a son, as an apprentice woodworker, and as an itenerant preacher.

He knew all of this as he hung on the cross.

More importantly……..he knew his power. The Jesus who created everything could have come down from the cross, destroyed everything, avenged himself, and gone on about his business…….leaving mankind, and the entire universe, in the dust….. literally.

Jesus is kind, gentle, patient, and forgiving.

But, he is also powerful.

And, ultimately, he is in charge.

Ultimately, he will have his way.

Ultimately, he will get what he wants…….but, just exactly what is that?

Jesus wants relationship…….with me……. with you.

Which brings me back to the picture of the guy on the wall of my shop……my friend……..who just happened to create the universe.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

John, NIV

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John, NIV

I have a prayer list. I keep it on my cell phone. It’s a couple of pages long. I try to go through it every day………though some days I miss. This list is a bunch of requests. It is separate from my prayers of praise and thanks. It amounts to a long list of things that a long list of people need. There are people on the list who are family and friends. There are people on it who know somebody that I know. There are also people on it that I don’t even recognize……….I can’t recall how they got there. Many of these are people are friends of friends of friends.

I get up early and I pray for these people. And yet, sometimes, it gets a little mechanical. I wonder…….am I just reading a list? Sometimes it almost feels like work……..like a chore. Reading the Bible is easy. Prayers of praise are easy. Going down a long list of needs is harder.

And yet, the list is important. Before I even open my mouth, God knows every single item on my prayer list. I’m not telling him anything new…….I’m not telling him anything that he doesn’t already know. I’m not asking him for anything that he doesn’t care deeply about. I am not bringing God up to speed on conditions in his creation.

So……..what in the world am I doing?

The prayer list has two purposes.

The first is that it reminds me that I am my brother’s keeper. I am required to care for and look after my fellow man. I am required to care for those who care for me. But……..I am also required to care for those who despise me……..those who hurt me. And this is not easy. This is something that I have to be reminded of……..every day.

The second purpose is a little harder to get a fix on. If my prayer list is not uploading data to God……..then what am I communicating when I work my way through it?

I need to go back in my life to explain this. Our relationship with our parents is a reflection of our relationship with God. Often, to understand God, we can get a clue by understanding our relationship with our parents. My father died when I was in high school. My most cherished memory of my Dad was one night, standing by the washing machine in the basement. We talked……..it was nothing important…….small talk. We didn’t transmit any valuable information. What we were doing was sharing time. We were giving each other a little bit of ourselves……..bonding. And that is the second reason for the prayer list. It is a chance to spend time with your father……to share with him the things that are important to you………to bond.

I encourage you to keep a prayer list.

I encourage you to spend time sharing it with God…….every day.

If it seems a bit stale……don’t worry.

If you forget somebody……don’t sweat it.

God already knows every single item on your list.

He just wants to hear from you.

He just wants you to share a little bit of yourself with him.

It’s as close to a hug as you can get.

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ 

God, NIV

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Paul, NIV

The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and kind in all his works.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.

David, NIV

At a recent Bible study, we were asked, “Why does God use broken people?” This question included a list of flawed people whom God used to accomplish his goals.

Moses, a poor speaker.
David, a murderer and adulterer.
Jacob, a liar.
Paul, one of the greatest persecutors of Christians.
Peter, who denied Christ three times.

The list goes on.

Finally I realized…….that the problem here lies in how we define “broken people”. Generally speaking, we define “broken people” as people who are more broken than we are…….people who are broken in ways that we find more offensive than the ways we are broken.

It occurred to me……..that God must use broken people to do his work……… because he has no choice. We are all broken. Intellectually, we have no problem with this idea.

But, in concrete terms…….how are we broken?

How am I broken?

I’d like to focus for a minute on our greatest individual failure…….the most glaring example of our individual brokenness. I’m challenging you to search out your own personal failure…… I’m challenging you to forget about the other guy’s brokenness and to take a good hard look at the biggest impediment standing between you and God.

This may not be much fun.

If you are a secular humanist……..an atheist…….then your greatest failure is your denial of God.

If you identify as a Christian……..but you keep your faith locked up in a box except for an hour every Sunday…….the rest of the week, you ignore God’s commands and pursue your appetites…….then your greatest failure is that you put your appetites ahead of God. This category may very well include the majority of Christians. Please don’t misunderstand me. The people in this category are Christians……..they are just broken……..just like the rest of us.

If you are a sincere, committed follower of God……of Christ, then it is very likely that your greatest failure is self righteousness. This category includes many if not most of the remaining Christians. How does this work?

We live our lives on a spectrum of “goodness”.

Satan…..really bad people……bad people……me…….good people……really good people…… God.

When we assess goodness, we almost always look at the people downhill from us on the spectrum. We focus on the flawed politician from the “other party”. We dissect his or her failures. We rarely look uphill…….at the “Mother Teresas” of the world. We do this, because this allows us to pontificate on how the “bad” people need to change. Looking uphill forces us to consider how we need to change.

And that is the lesson……..the challenge.

We need to spend our time working on our own brokenness. Because our only chance to grow as a person in general………and as a Christian in particular……..comes from whittling away at our own failures. Raging against the failures of others is great fun……but it is completely futile.

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus, NIV

Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.”

Paul, NIV

So…..you say that God is not listening.
You say that he never speaks to you.
You say your prayers go unanswered.
You say you don’t experience a daily dialog with God.

Well, if you are expecting the clouds to part and a 20 story tall head to speak to you in a Charleton Heston voice, you may be looking for the wrong thing. God’s voice is “written on your heart”. When he speaks to you, it is usually in the form of a gentle “tug” on your heart. This happens to all of us…..just about every day. We sometimes call it our conscience. We call it our morals. We sometimes say, “Where in the world did that come from?” Sometimes it is inconvenient, maybe even costly. We often ignore it. We often ignore HIM…….but that does not mean that he didn’t speak to us.

True stories:

I knew a man who was an alcoholic…….l’m sure that one of the times that God spoke to him was the last time he drank. There was a tug at his heart. It said “Don’t drink the vodka, it’s bad for you!” “It’s bad for your family!”

A husband and wife got way behind on their gifts to the church……and I mean many years behind. They talked, and prayed and decided to make a sizable “catch-up” gift. This was unusual, maybe revolutionary, for them. They just felt that “tug” on their hearts. Some time later, the pastor told them that the church had been in budget trouble. He had been praying for help. They thought…..”no big deal…..it’s a pastor thing”. Then he told them about the shortfall that he was praying over…………it was the same amount as their donation……. to the penny.

A guy wakes up at about 4am to do his daily Bible reading. He sees a Facebook post about a friend whose husband is in the ICU. Responding to a “tug”, he drives over to the hospital at about 5am. His friend is out front, in tears……..her husband had just passed away.

The problem between you and God may not be that he is not speaking to you. The problem may be that you don’t recognize him, ignore him, or even defy him.

God is talking to you. He is talking to me.

The point is that God often speaks to us through a little “tug” on our hearts. Sometimes the tug is a response to our prayers. Sometimes it is a response to the prayer of someone else…… possibly a stranger.

God speaks to us…..he answers prayers……. sometimes ours…… sometimes the prayers of a stranger.

God IS listening…….God IS speaking……..am I responding?……are you?

So, my challenge is this. Pay attention to that little tug on your heart. Test it against the truths in the Bible……..because we are masters at taking something that we want and convincing ourselves that it is something that God wants. If it is consistent with the Bible, then act on it. God will use your act……even if you never see the results.

I believe that someday, in paradise, somebody that I have never met will walk up to me. They will give me a hug and tell me how their life was changed for the better………because of some act……..something that I don’t even remember doing…….. something that began with a little tug on my heart…….. something that God grew into something big.

I am certain that I have failed many times to act on that “tug”……but I am convinced that when we do respond to the “tug”, God will use it.

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Moses, NIV

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Jesus, NIV

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Jesus, NIV

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

Isaiah, NIV

The image is Jesus…….working through a difficult, ambiguous decision……judging. Should the adultress be stoned?

In a recent post about the death of justice Ginsburg, I suggested a prayer:

“Lord, please bless and comfort the soul of justice Ginsberg and her family. Please guide our leaders as they choose a replacement for her. Give us a replacement justice who will love you, seek you, and follow you……….not me, not the Republican party, and not the Democratic party………but you.”

This prayer can be comforting but it can also be disconcerting.

What if God’s choice is the Trump nominee?
What if God’s choice is a Biden nominee?

First of all let me answer your first thought……and mine. The idea that we know God’s heart. In broad strokes, we do; but, in the details, we get lost. We know our own heart and we often paste our heart onto God. We tend to follow our own heart and attribute what we are doing to God. And, if that doesn’t work…..we just ignore God and do as we please.

I don’t know whom God would choose…..for president and for the supreme court……and neither do you. I know whom I would choose and you know whom you would choose.

Now, let’s return to the prayer…….and a hypothetical question.

If you knew with absolute certainty that God’s choice was the nominee of a politician that you despise, could you still pray for that nominee?

If you despise Trump, but knew that God wanted Ms. Barrett, could you pray that she be confirmed?

If you despise Biden, but knew that God wanted Biden’s choice, could you pray that RBG’s seat be filled by Biden?

Remember, as hard as this is, neither of us knows whom God would choose.

Take a moment and reflect, then answer the question. Understand….. This is a yes or no question. If you try to evade the question or qualify your answer, then your answer is no.

You see, this exercise actually has nothing to do with politics and the supreme court. Rather, it is an exploration of your loyalties.

It is a self-assessment of whom you actually worship….whom you actually follow…….whom you actually trust.

Do you trust yourself and your political party……..or do you trust God?

Whom do you follow? Whom do you worship?

I propose that in the hypothetical situation where you like candidate A and God likes candidate B………if you stumble over setting your desires aside and following God, then you trust, follow, and worship somebody other than God.

This is intellectually consistent…….if you are an atheist.

But, if you identify as a Christian, then you are in trouble.

If you are a Christian, but you cannot put God’s desires above your own, then you are putting yourself…… your desires……..above God.

Don’t feel bad……you are in good company. Probably half of Christians take their set of beliefs, attribute them to God, and then do exactly what they wanted to do in the first place.

To avoid this pitfall, if you are a Christian, you need to study God, follow him, and put these decisions in his hand……. especially when you discover that, on a specific issue, the “other” political party is correct.

Here is some bad news, no matter which party you support…….on some of these issues, the “other” side is correct.

On some of these issues, God is on the “other” side.

On some of these issues……… God is not on “your” side.

You must honestly ask:

Does God want more abortion…….or less?
Does God want more guns…..or less?
Does God want more social programs for the poor?
Does God want smaller federal government?
Does God want more or less taxes?
Does God want more or less regulation?

As you can see, your choice of political party, your decision as you vote, is far more complex than either party wants you to believe. You may have to decide which of these issues takes precedence. You may have to vote for the party that is closest to God on most of the most important issues.

What I can tell you is this. If you allow your interpretation of these problems to cause you to fail to follow God’s first two rules…… Love God…… Love your neighbor…….. If you allow anger and hate into your life over these issues, then you have failed as a Christian.

I would even go one step further. If you allow anger and hate into your life over these issues, then you have failed as a human being.

“Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

A conversation between a religious scholar and Jesus about judgement, NIV

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Jesus, subordinating his desires to God the father, NIV