Separation…….from Jesus……from God.

We all experience it. In the “Screwtape Letters”, C.S. Lewis describes our separation from God to be the ultimate goal of sin……..of Satan. We need to take a good hard look at separation. We need to study it closely because every last one of us is separated from God to one degree or the other. One of the goals of Christianity……one of the goals of this blog……is to diminish the amount of this separation from God in our culture as a whole. And we must begin with ourselves. We can’t really help others with their separation problem without understanding and battling with our own separation problem. This is a good working definition of hypocrisy.

So……. what does separation from God look like? I think that there are many different “flavors” of separation from God:

Never heard of Jesus
Never give Jesus a thought
Science worship
Hate Jesus
Don’t have time for Jesus
Disagree with the teaching of Jesus
Agree with Jesus….but just can’t keep up
Love Jesus but fail……every day

Never heard of Jesus. This is extremely rare. Far more common is mistaken understanding of his teaching. We can fight this by modeling love, studying the Bible, and gently teaching others.

Never give Jesus a thought. This is very common, even among those who identify as Christians. We just get busy and stay that way. We were meant to have an ongoing conversation with our creator……you can call it prayer. It should feel like an exchange with an intimate friend, someone who knows everything about you……because Jesus does. If you are thinking about something, God is interested.

Science worship. We test everything that comes into our consciousness against the tenets of current scientific thought. We ignore the gaps in this knowledge. We accept all of the assumptions and theories of science, including those that have no factual basis (the origin of life, the origin of the universe). Anything else, anything that science cannot explain we reject as myth whether it is true or not.

Hate Jesus. This is pretty rare. It is best described in Dawkin’s book. “The God delusion”. This is very scary. Because in order to hate God…..you must first recognize his existence.

Don’t have time for Jesus. This is a cousin to never giving him a thought. You recognize Jesus as God, but you are busy…..distracted. You go to church on Sunday, sing the songs, put a couple of dollars in the tray, and then say goodbye till next week. This is arguably the most common form of separation. You are a nominal Christian. But, you are missing out on the true power of Christianity.

Disagree with the teaching of Jesus. You start building your character by asking the wrong question. You ask, “do I approve of the teaching of Jesus…..of the Bible?”….. when you should be asking, “Is Jesus true, is the Bible true?” Because, if it’s true, then the fact that you don’t approve…….is irrelevant.

Agree with Jesus, but can’t keep up. There is a lot of stuff in the Bible. Let’s face it, it’s a huge book. The only way to learn this faith……the only way to “keep up”…..is to read the “owners manual”. And that is hard. If you don’t read the owners manual for your car, it’s not surprising that you haven’t read the Bible. There is an old saw.

How do you eat an elephant?……one bite at a time.

Read a little bit every day. Start with the book of John.

Love Jesus……but fail every day. Welcome to my world. Christianity is about love. Sounds simple, but it is not. In your thoughts and in your acts, you will fail every day. Don’t be discouraged. You are a human……not Jesus. Do the best you can and try to improve.

“The saints are just the sinners who fall down……and get up” Bob Carlyle

So……where are you? What flavor of separation do you live with?

Can you improve?

Can you do your bit……to lower the level of separation from God in our culture?

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul, Romans 8: 38-39

the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy (God). It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards will do the trick.

A demon explaining sin, C.S. Lewis, “The Screwtape Letters”

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

I don’t know…….and neither do you.

I build my life on the tenets of Christianity. I build my life on the Bible and on the teaching of Jesus.

At least I try.

The Bible, in broad strokes, says that the world and time are in motion. That motion is not circular……it is linear. Time had a beginning and it will end. The world and time are not sustainable……they were never intended to be. There will be an end and it will be ugly. There will be an end for you and for me, individually. There will be an end……for everything. And we know very little about what follows the end. There is a part of us that will continue after the end, whether that end is our individual death or a global apocalypse. The part of us that goes on after death will experience either eternal joy…..or eternal pain.

Which?

And there is the rub. Who decides?

The decision does not fall to you. It does not fall to me. It does not fall to the preacher blasting us with fire and brimstone…….death and damnation.

God decides.

In the end……it’s all about God. It’s not about you or me. It’s not about our appetites or our identity.

I can only speculate on how God will make that decision. But, I believe that he will operate in a manner consistent with his identity and with his plan. He will decide based on who he is and on what will fulfill his long term goal.

What is God’s identity?

Love

What is his long term goal?

Relationship

So…..here it is…….my best guess.

God will populate paradise based on love and relationship………his love and his desire for relationship……our love and our desire for relationship.

All I can do…….all you can do…….is to pursue those ideals…….and trust in God’s love and in his desire to have a relationship……with me…..with you…..with every soul……unborn, living, and dead.

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”

Paul, 1 Corinthians, 2-9, ESV

Well…..maybe.

Imagine a sunny August afternoon. You are in an inner tube floating down a beautiful river. You have a 6 pack of beer. There are about a dozen of your friends, also in tubes. Everybody is laughing and cutting up. The plan is to float down the river, drink the beer, have a cook out, watch the stars come out, and then camp for the night.

Life is good…..couldn’t get any better.

Now add in the fact that the river is the Niagara river and you are a mile upstream from Niagara Falls. If you stay in the tube, finish your beer, and just enjoy the day……you are going to go over the falls and die. That is the path that you and I are on. The outcome is inevitable…….if you do nothing but enjoy the ride. But it doesn’t have to be. You can paddle to shore, finish your beer and wave at your friends as they float past. But, in order to escape the coming disaster, you must act. And time is short.

Life is like that. You have a default destination…….a place where you will wind up……..if you do nothing but enjoy the ride. And that place is not good. In fact it is unspeakably bad. Hell. We all have some evil in us. Some have a lot…….some a little. But, rest assured, the evil in me……and in you…..is enough to damn us. In a word, you can be as good as you want, you can do as much good as you want……..but it won’t be enough. Mother Theresa was not “good enough” to earn paradise. Neither are you and neither am I. Most Christians……in fact, most humans…….. believe that good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. That is not true. That is not what the Bible teaches. That is not what Jesus teaches. “NOT FAIR” you say! Welcome to the river.

I don’t know the details. But, I believe in a burning hell. I believe this because Jesus believed it. When a guy dies and then comes back to life…….you have to take what he says seriously.

And what Jesus says is this. Paradise is yours for the asking. But you must act. You must recognize the divinity of Jesus and accept his gift of salvation. That’s it…….that’s all.

Or

You can stay in your inner tube, down another beer, and enjoy the afternoon.

But know this……there are going to be a lot of people in paradise who are not nearly as “good” as you are, people who take the deal, paddle to shore and wave at you as you float by.

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

Jesus, explaining hell. Luke 16: 19-31, ESV

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus, explaining salvation, John 14:6, ESV

I’m 71 years old. I have spent about 60 of those years accumulating stuff. And I have been pretty good at it. So has Cindy. Old stuff, new stuff, useful stuff, frivolous stuff. I have piled my stuff up in my house…….literally surrounded myself with it………you might say that I am buried in it. And I must say that I have really enjoyed my stuff. Most of it is tools and toys. I love working…..and playing…..with my stuff.

Lately, however, my relationship with my stuff has been changing. The experts who study life expectancy tell me that I have about 13 years to live. And if the next 13 years are anything like the last 13…….. they will be gone in a flash. This has led me to an epiphany. I can control my stuff. I can decide what to do with it and who gets to use and enjoy it. I have legal pieces of paper that prove that my stuff is mine. It belongs to me.

And yet

In a few short years, none of that will matter. I will die and all of my stuff will be distributed to other people……most of whom I don’t know…….most of whom I have never met. My stuff and I will be separated…….permanently and completely. Then it hit me. This big pile of stuff is not mine. It never was. I was simply a temporary custodian.

So…….what’s the point?

The point is that my relationship with my stuff has been fatally flawed for the last 60 years. And in about 13 years……give or take……that error will be rectified…….suddenly, perhaps brutally. It will be corrected without my input……without my permission……regardless of what my stack of papers says. My death will trigger the ultimate……100%………”estate tax”.

And so, I begin the work of redefining my relationship with my stuff. Some of this work is easy. The attic and the crawl spaces of my house are packed with stuff that is just this side of trash. I am hauling it to the dump…..one truckload at a time. Some of this work is emotionally very hard. It goes to the core of who I am. It goes to the heart of what I value. It is an indicator of my identity.

What it comes down to is this. In about 13 years, I will die. The only thing that l will take with me is my relationship with the guy who created me. That will be the only thing that will matter. This huge pile of stuff that I call “mine” will instantly become utterly and completely irrelevant.

So what are the implications?

First, I need to begin working on my relationship with my creator………God. I am headed for a face to face conversation with him. And I need to begin that conversation now……because if I don’t start now…….it could be really awkward. This conversation will occur…….whether I recognize God or deny him. It will be the most important conversation of my life. And I will not be in charge……of the conversation or of any decisions or consequences that flow from that conversation.

Second, I need a new attitude toward my stuff. Because, it really isn’t mine……..it never was.

These two things are true. This is crystal clear to me at age 71. But, it is also true for you………even if you are 21.

for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Jesus explaining “stuff”, in Luke 12:15-21, ESV

Do you ever find yourself in a place that you don’t want to be in? Maybe you got lost on the way to someplace important. Maybe catastrophe struck and your plans were wrecked. The result was that you found yourself in a situation that you didn’t choose. It could be a big improvement over what you had planned. More often than not, however, you find yourself in a situation that you would never have chosen. You might even call your new situation a disaster. In our secular world we call these things “bad luck”. Some eastern philosophies would blame it on you…….”bad Karma”. Today, I want to explore bad things that happen to good people, because they do happen…….every day.

Take a minute and call to mind the worst thing that ever happened to you. This could be tough. Many of us have lots of “disasters” to sort through. It could very well be the death of someone important to you. Maybe it was the job you didn’t get, the school that rejected your application, the marriage proposal that was rejected……or worse, the marriage that failed. For a lot of men my age, it was a low number in the Viet Nam war draft lottery (my number was 17). At the time, it looked to me like my world was ending. My long range plan was reduced to shreds in a matter of seconds. It looked like I would trade medical school for the jungles of Viet Nam. Instead, I spent 6 years in the National Guard and never saw the jungle.

If you are a secular humanist, then you can write all of this off to bad luck……or Karma. But……if you are a Christian……. things get far more complicated. I believe that an intelligent creator made everything here, including me, for a purpose. That purpose is usually hidden from me. Believe it or not, God does not consult me…….ask for my approval……before he acts. I believe that the creator, God, has his hand in everything that happens, good and bad. I believe that God is working out his long range plan every day. It is unbelievably complex, and I am oblivious to the vast majority of it. Furthermore, I am usually not at the center of God’s plan. My part is usually that of a minor supporting actor. So, from time to time, God sends something into my life that I just don’t understand……something that I just don’t like…….something that compromises my goals and foils my appetites for the foreseeable future. I call this a disaster, because from my limited perspective, that is what it looks like. I ask God “why?” and I rarely get an answer that I can use.

So……how do we handle it……..when God sends what looks like a disaster into our lives?

Deny God:

This is patently absurd. God is either real or he is not. The fact that we disapprove of his work today is irrelevant. He either is or he is not. God does not ask for……God does not need…….our approval.

Get mad at God:

This is even worse. We recognize that God is large and in charge…….and we then throw mud at him…….to teach him a lesson. We believe that we can punish God by witholding our favor. Good luck with that.

Feel sorry for ourselves:

We focus on the things that God sends us that we don’t like…….to the exclusion of his blessings. We do this because we believe that our plan is better than his plan. We do this because, in practice, we believe that we are the center of the universe. This often works it’s way back to anger at God. It never improves the situation.

Or.

We can trust God. We can lean into his love for us. We can rely on his promises…….that it’s all going to be OK in the end……..that if it’s not OK now, then this isn’t the end. And this is very hard. It is very easy to love and trust God when you get into a top college. It is much harder when, that blessing is ripped away and replaced with the possibility of a one way trip to a jungle on the other side of the world.

In the end, God demands two things from us:

Love and Trust. Love for his person and trust in his plan.

And there’s more:

There is a very real possibility that the “disaster” that you are facing is God placing you in the path of someone who needs you. Perhaps, the disruption that you are facing is happening because God has a job for you to do…..a job that would have never crossed your desk if you stuck to your plan. So……when disaster strikes…….listen. Listen very hard.

Maybe God has an errand for you.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21: 4, ESV

I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

Psalm 23: 4-6, ES6

People talk…..a lot. Politicians are a special case. The election is winding down……and we have heard a lot, probably too much. Unfortunately, a great deal of what we have heard is untrue. This includes the media, the politicians, and the people around us. It has reached the point where we don’t discuss politics in polite conversation. And that is sad, not to mention dangerous for our republic. Today, I want to discuss the things that people say…….that are not true.

Donald Trump promises a booming economy that will fix all of our problems, lower our debt, raise our wages, and lower our taxes. I doubt that all of this is true.

Oprah Winfrey warns of a fascist takeover that will never allow us to vote again. I doubt that this is true.

If these things happen in the next four years, I will apologize and retract this post.

So….what do we do when someone tells us something that just isn’t true?

The first step is to recognize the untruth. This is harder than it sounds because there is so much of it out there and it is repeated ad nauseum by an army of talking heads who think we are gullible. And we are pretty gullible…..especially when the untruth supports our appetites, our prejudices, and our political identity. But, this first step is essential. When anyone, friend or foe, tells us anything, our first decision must be…….”is this true?” In the realm of politics, the probability of an untruth is extremely high. And we need to know how to react.

The next step is to categorize the untruth. And this is the core of this post. It goes to the heart of the person who said it, their motivation, and how we deal with them. It goes to our relationships which, after all, is the reason that we were put here in the first place.

I divide untruth into three classes:

Lies
Hyperbole
Mistakes

Lies:
The heart of the lie is that the person who tells the lie knows it is untrue and is using it to manipulate you into giving them something that they want. Typically, a politician lies about his/her opponent in order to get your vote.

Hyperbole:
Hyperbole is an exaggeration of a situation. It typically begins with something that the speaker believes. At the core of the hyperbole, there is often, but not always, a grain of truth. The problem is that the speaker exaggerates the situation to the point where it is no longer true. Hyperbole can be difficult to spot, especially when it is built around a grain of truth that we like. Any political statement that uses the word Hitler is likely hyperbole. Most name calling is hyperbole.

Mistakes:
This may be the most common form of untruth. Someone analyses a situation, comes to an incorrect conclusion, and then shares that conclusion with you. The problem is that the conclusion is wrong. The thing that they tell you is untrue. Mistakes often manifest when a friend digests a lie or a hyperbole, believes it and passes it on. I see this every day when a friend shares a Facebook post that is untrue or even hateful. When you share a Facebook post that is hateful or untrue, you are endorsing that hate/lie. Good people do this all of the time.

So……what to do?

First, you must ask. Is this true?
Second, you must categorize the untruth because this affects your response.

The lie: The speaker knows that what he is saying is false. He is doing it intentionally in order to manipulate you. Do not allow yourself to be manipulated…..fooled. You are required to love him and treat him well. You are not required to believe him or to act on his lie. You can try to argue with him, educate him, but you are probably wasting your time, because even he doesn’t believe what he is saying. Calling him a liar is useless…….he already knows. Just love him and move on.

The hyperbole: The speaker believes he is doing a good thing, because there is a particle of truth in what he says. He may believe some of what he is saying. Still, he is trying to manipulate you. His motivation is not so evil as the liar, but your response is the same. Love him. Argument/education may work here, but it must grow out of love.

The mistake: There is no evil here. There is no malfeasance. There is no manipulation. There may be some bias in his analysis. He may be operating on a bad assumption. He could be the unwitting victim of a liar. He may be carrying some baggage that you know nothing about. The key is that he sincerely believes what he is saying. Conversation can work here. But, there is a very real possibility that you may alienate, or even hurt him. Be gentle. Love him. Above all, do not be angry or hurt. He has just made a mistake…….like the one you will make in the next hour.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

Jesus in Matthew 7:15, ESV

An exaggeration is a truth that has lost its temper.

Kahil Gibran

For we all stumble in many ways.

James 3:2, ESV

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. “

Mark Twain……a good working definition of a mistake.

The details that led up to this are not terribly important…..perhaps a topic for another day. We arrived at the prison early in the morning. There was a remarkably detailed security screening to get in. I was rejected and sent back outside 4 times to correct some violation of the rules before they finally let me in. We went to a well lit room and waited with about 100 other visitors. There was a 3 foot by 3 foot space marked out on the floor. We were allowed to hug my son briefly inside of the square; but, no other physical contact was allowed. There were other similar rules posted on the walls. My son was extremely careful about following these rules……so careful that it was almost strange. It turns out that breaking the rules could add a year or two to his imprisonment.

What was so strange was that my son, who had spent his life making and following his own set of rules was now carefully studying and adhering to an extensive set of external rules. He followed the rules even when he disagreed with them. He followed the rules even when he didn’t understand them …..when he couldn’t see the logic behind them.

There are two things that I learned about rules during that visit:

Rules are costly. They cost the person who must follow them by restricting their freedom. They cost the person who made the rules by the price of monitoring and enforcing the rules. It can cost up to $70,000/year to imprison someone…….and that doesn’t include the cost of law enforcement prior to imprisonment. Why do we tolerate these costs? We spend all of this time, effort, and money, because the rules help our society to function smoothly and safely. Every rule that I encountered in that prison was designed to make my visit with my son safer and more productive…….and every one of them was a pain in the neck.

Rules are the interface between us and a legitimate authority. Whether we understand the rules……whether we like the rules……whether we agree with the rules or not…….we are subject to them and their consequences. The fact that we may not like the authority…….that we may not even know the authority…….that we don’t understand the motivation and the plan of the authority is irrelevant.

Like a child……we chafe against the rules. Once, my wife asked my son why he didn’t like school. His reply:

“Because I can’t do whatever I want!”.

And that pretty much sums up our relationship with God and his rules. The rules become a problem when our plans are different from God’s plans.

There are three things about God’s plan:

It comes out of love. Love for his entire creation is the essence of God.

The rules are a manifestation of God’s plan…….and his plan is a manifestation of his love…….and his rules are good…….even when we cannot see where they are taking us. It may even be a destination that is generations away.

The rules are a manifestation of God’s authority. It is his plan for us that counts…….not ours.

So……you discover that you are pregnant. You are going to have a child……and that child is not a part of your plan. Fact is, your child is going to disrupt your plan for your life. Having just returned from the prison, I can tell you that this disruption is not just a possibility…….it is a certainty.

Know that your child is a creation of God and is a part of his good plan. Maybe your child will make a big contribution to mankind…….maybe it will be your great grandchild who cures cancer. Maybe your great great granddaughter has a critical role…….in God’s plan.

And that is your delimma……every day.

My rules……..or God’s rules.

My plan……or God’s plan.

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Paul, Romans 13:10 ESV

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

John 20:21-22 ESV

The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

Matthew 8:8-10 ESV

I was born with it.

20/200.

And that is my good eye. I’m now 71 years old and can no longer adjust my focus from near to far. Add in the “floaters” and, someday soon, cataracts and you can get an idea of my vision.

I’ll never forget my first pair of glasses. I got them in second grade. Intellectually, I knew that trees had leaves……but I never dreamed that I was supposed to be able to see them.

Now I have lots of glasses:

Bifocals for general use.
Computer glasses…..for mid distance work.
Shooting glasses for the range
Safety glasses for up close work in the shop.
Magnifying glasses for super close work.
No glasses for reading.

You get the point.

I get ready to do something……then I choose the glasses best suited for that specific job. And it usually works pretty well…….as long as I am diligent and honest about my choice of glasses….as long as I have access to the right pair of glasses. We’ve all been in a restaurant where an older person can’t read the menu because they didn’t bring their reading glasses.

There is a flip side to the glasses problem, though. Every pair of glasses that I own shows me the world……at a very specific and fairly limited distance. In effect, my glasses filter everything else out. My shop glasses are great for work from 1 to 4 feet. But they confine me to a world where the trees are great green blobs…….without leaves. For me, every pair of glasses is also a filter.

The problem arises when we begin to use filters to eliminate things in our world that we just don’t like. This has become the norm in our political conversation. Conservatives watch Fox which filters out anything positive about liberals. Liberals watch CNN which filters out anything positive about Conservatives. Both sides wind up operating on a different set of facts.

And so we fight. And so we call each other names. We even try to kill each other. But, that is not the worst side of “filters”.

We shop around for a church that we like. This often means a church that teaches a brand of religion that agrees with our opinions…….a church that filters out any teaching that makes us uncomfortable. Possibly a church that tells us that whatever we are doing is OK and filters out passages of the Bible that convict us. The pastor chooses Bible verses that reinforce our life choices and filter out anything that might challenge us. If the pastor starts preaching on topics that are challenging……we fire him or her. This works because most Christians don’t read the Bible on their own.

And that is my challenge for you today. If you are to avoid the trap of a church that sells you a filtered brand of Jesus, you must study the Bible…….all of it……on your own. You must go to the primary source…….the owners manual. Because, if your understanding of Jesus and his teaching doesn’t tell you that you need to make adjustments, you are either a saint……or you are consuming a filtered brand of Christianity.

When was the last time your pastor preached about a burning hell?

When was the last time your pastor preached about loving your enemy……in concrete terms (i.e. loving the political candidate that you are going to vote against)?

When was the last time your pastor preached about creation…….in seven days?

If you haven’t been hearing about these things, it is possible that you are suffering from Christian myopia……..caused by a poor set of glasses or a filter.

Maybe you need to spend more time with the owners manual.

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Jesus in Matthew 16: 24

I made a recent post about happiness. This week, I want to take it up a notch. Happiness on steroids.

The best term I can come up with is Joy.

We all experience joy from time to time. We meet people who are joyful most of the time and we wonder how they do it…….is it some kind of a trick? I’m sure we would like more joy. So……how do you increase the joy in your life? A good starting point is to assess the things that bring you joy.

Here is my list:

Sitting in a field watching the sun come up……especially on a crisp fall morning when the maples and sassafras trees are bright red and orange.

A loving touch from my wife.

A conversation with one of my granddaughters.

A pileated woodpecker in my yard.

The list goes on.

Some of these are things that I can seek out. Others cannot be “arranged”…….but even with these, we can run our lives in a manner that makes them more likely.

I can get up before sunrise, make a pot of coffee, and sit in my back yard.

I can arrange for quiet, private time with my wife.

I can take a granddaughter out to lunch.

I can give someone a hand…..especially when they don’t expect it.

I can avoid situations that are joyless.

For example:

Watching another “shoot ’em up” on TV.

Listening to some “talking head” selling his political agenda………often filled with hate.

Worrying about things that I cannot change.

Hurting the people who hurt me….by what I say and do.

These acts of commission……..or omission do not guarantee joy. But, they will increase the probability of joy. If you can consistently pursue the things that bring you joy and avoid the things that are joyless, you will become a more joyful person. And there are consequences that flow from this.

Your joy will spread to those around you.

Your joy will grow.

And that’s a good thing……right? But, let’s dig down a little bit. Why do we seek joy?

I believe that joy is our natural state. The desire for joy is written on our heart. It was put there by our creator. If you could describe God in one word…….that word would be love. Joy is love’s sibling. I have heard it said that joy is the surest sign of the presence of God. Look closely at the teachings of Jesus. They will all lead you…..indirectly…….to joy. Christianity, at its core, is a religion of love and joy. If you see someone who claims to be a Christian but who is not joyful most of the time, you are looking at someone who is either a “poser” or someone who just doesn’t understand.

I believe that the primary characteristic of paradise will be joy. What’s not to love about that?

So…..adopt the practices that will grow joy in yourself…..and in others. It will be a good warmup for paradise.

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Jesus in John 15:11, ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23,ESV

As is my habit, I got up this morning, buttered some toast, made a cup of coffee and did my morning Bible reading. It is Sunday. It slipped up on me……again. And I had nothing for today’s blog. So, I laid back and quietly listened……..nothing. I sensed that, even though it is cold, I should go for a walk. Maybe there was something for me there. It is a cold, dry, cloudless night. The stars are spectacular……especially Orion. I walked…… I listened…….still nothing. My dog Jet was with me. I decided to build a fire in the fire pit. But first, I went back into the house…….just for a minute.

I told Jet, “stay……wait……I’ll be right back”……and I left him standing there…….out in the cold……alone. He was puzzled……sad……maybe even disappointed. He didn’t understand. He probably felt abandoned.

Just like me…….when I find myself in a spiritual “dry patch”.

And I think that this is the message for today. Sometimes God just walks away…….without any explanation…….without any reason that we can detect. Sometimes, God just leaves us alone. We are confused, sad, disappointed. We feel abandoned. Some of us turn away from God. We say, “he wasn’t there for me when I needed him……I’ll show him “.

The Bible spends a lot of ink on the presence of God…..on the times when he acts with us……for us. There is very little ink spent on the times when he just goes away. Jesus often went away to pray and meditate. He left his disciples to fend for themselves. Ever wonder how they felt? The closest relationship in the Bible was between Jesus and his father. Yet, even with Jesus…….in his greatest moment of need…….during the crucifixion…..God walked away.

But, here’s the thing:

I came back. I kept my promise. And Jet and I enjoyed the fire……and the beautiful night sky…….and each other.

God always comes back to his people. Even when he lets us sit out in the cold and dark for a while. We don’t understand the why. We don’t know the timing. We don’t have a clue as to what he was doing while he was away. Those things are not for us to know. What is required of us…….is to stay……to wait……until he returns. This calls for trust and faith. God asks that I be as trusting and faithful as Jet. That is my job.

Sometimes God speaks……..even in the silence.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.

Psalm 22:1-2, ESV

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Mathew 27:46 ESV