R3: radical, revolutionary, different

What does a sick 3 year old, being kicked off a flight, and losing a power strip have in common?  They are all things that in my two weeks of travel I never expected, and yet they were my biggest challenges. 

Before I left I expected computer problems, stress, or even getting lost in some strange city to be my biggest issues.  But all of those went smoothly.  In fact even driving around Chicago was easy.  Every single thing I worried about worked out perfectly.  What I found was a sudden supply of unexpected problems!  Things that had never even crossed my mind.

Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”  I’m not sure that point has ever been driven home more than these last few weeks. 

I look back at all the stress and feel a little embarrassed by it.  All of the anxiety I felt was pointless.  I didn’t accomplish anything through worry.  I didn’t solve any problems by being nervous.  It was just a big waste of my time and energy. 

I’d like to say I am cured of my need to worry.  But I know that’s not really true.  I think I can honestly say, however, that things are just a bit more in perspective.  And isn’t that what the Christian faith is all about?  Each day making a little more progress towards God. 

Sometimes it’s easy to get down on ourselves.  We blame ourselves for our sins, for our failures.  We start thinking that God can’t use us because we’re not perfect.  God offers us an infinite number of “do overs.”  But we need to be willing to go to him and accept that. 

When I think of that I’m reminded of this shirt:

 Image courtasy ShirtADay

(For those of you who didn’t grow up playing video games this is known as the Konami cheat code, which gave you 30 lives in various video games.)

“The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”  (1 Samuel 17: 37)

This was David’s response when Saul asked him why he thought he could beat Goliath, a man that every other Israelite feared.  Sometimes all we need is to apply the things that God has already taught us.  David didn’t need more proof that God would help him - he already had two examples.  And for David, that was enough.

Sometimes I get caught up in my life.  I get wrapped up in the details as they say.  I worry about the little things and because of that I stop focusing on what God is doing in my life.  Third Day has a song called “Blind” that captures this thought nicely. 

How could I have been so blind to not see you
The more that I look the more I find
You’ve led me to the truth
That I am nothing if I’m without you
You opened my eyes and helped me to find
How could I have been so blind

 focusing on God

God, all too often I spend my time worrying about all the mistakes I’ve made instead of focusing on you.  Help me not to do that.  Remind me that you’ve already forgiven my past, and I can’t control the future, so help me to just focus on the present.  Help me to always keep my eyes fixed on you.  So even if it doesn’t feel like I’m accomplishing anything, as long as I’m following you let that be enough.  Amen.

 <comments are open, feel free to add your own prayer asking to remain focused on God>

Sometimes people don’t always see how their faith impacts their life.  “It’s a personal thing” or “it’s between myself and God” are expressions of this idea.  But faith, and the way you live your life, can never be separated.  What you believe impacts how you behave.

Just look at the financial mess the world is facing.  While there are so many factors, perhaps too many to understand, that have triggered these events there is one thing we can look at: human behavior.  We see executives taking huge amounts of money while their companies go under.  Is there anything wrong with this?  Maybe not.  But can you imagine Jesus doing this?  The point of being a Kingdom person is that we are willing to sacrifice everything for our brothers and sisters. 

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends (John 15: 13)

The same should be true of the people we place in government.  Unfortunately it’s not.  By the time this is all said and done we will find politicians on both sides of the aisle (and other world leaders) who knowingly acted for their own welfare, sacrificing the welfare of their countries.  God warned Israel that the minute they put a king over them instead of God, the best of everything they had would belong to the state. 

But Christians can change this.  Not by forcing non-Christians to live by God’s rules, but by living out those rules for ourselves.  There is nothing more powerful than witnessing a life lived out in faith.  Nothing more convincing that God exists.

So in the midst of all of this, remember that faith applies to your life, just as much as it does to CEO’s and Senators. 

Today the Dow dropped almost 1,000 points.  And then it gained 800 points back in a matter of minutes.  Things are uncertain, unexpected, and probably some other word that begins with “un”.  There’s no question that this is a tough time.  Maybe not the toughest, but certainly not the easiest.  But just because it’s hard doesn’t mean there’s not opportunity to show people what the Kingdom looks like. 

Christians should always look different from non-Christians.  And I’m not talking clothing here.  I’m talking about our behavior.  As people become more enraged, and more depressed about their financial losses, their behaviors are going to become more extreme. 

How we respond to our own financial losses reflects on how we view the Kingdom and how God operates.  If we act in love despite losing everything, that’s a more powerful example of God’s existence than all the intellectual arguments in the world.

When we live differently the world notices. 

Has there ever been a day where you just wanted to stay in bed?  Of course there has.  That’s a silly question!  For me it’s those cold mornings.  My bed is warm.  Comfortable.  And the thought of stepping into the cold air fills me with dread.  Not to mention the bad mood it puts me in!

Sadly staying in bed isn’t always an option.  Sometimes we have to get out of the comfortable, and step into the cold. This is where Samuel found himself.  God had told him to place Saul over all of Israel.  But now, after a few years had passed, Saul had gone too far.  He had once again defied God, which meant Samuel had to deliver some bad news to Saul.

Now I don’t know about you, but I’m not particularly fond of delivering bad news.  I will put it off for as long as I can.  Especially news that may get me killed.  I’m also pretty sure that Samuel wasn’t looking forward to this conversation with Saul.  The Bible tells us that “Samuel was troubled” (probably the understatement of the year) “and he cried out to the LORD all that night.” (1 Samuel 15: 11)

I don’t blame the guy.  I wouldn’t want to go tell the King that he would no longer have God’s support and was about to be dethroned.  Of course if I were in that position, I would have done a lot more than just “cry out.”  (I would be firmly in the ‘hiding under my bed’ camp.)  But Samuel was a man of action.  He was someone who trusted God totally and was willing to follow through no matter the cost.

We see in the next verse that “Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul” (1 Samuel 15: 12).

It is one thing to work up the courage to deliver news that may cost you your life.  It’s another thing to do it first thing in the morning.  I don’t even like talking to people early in the morning and here Samuel was off risking his life.

But as I said, Samuel was a man of action and trust.  So the very first thing he did was go look for Saul.  For all we know he didn’t even stop at Starbucks for some coffee.  He just acted.  There was no arguing; no waiting for the “right” time (as if telling a king God wasn’t happy with him would ever have a good time).

Samuel just got out of bed.  No procrastination, just action.

Some people don’t think the Bible is funny or that God can have a sense of humor.  But I disagree.  We see that after a full night of worrying and crying out, Samuel can’t find Saul.  He’s moved on.  All that worrying for nothing.  That’s funny!

It is also exactly like God.  He likes to push us to our limits.  Because when we reach our limits we realize we can go further.  God gave Samuel a task.  Something that was hard.  Something that may cost him is life.  And Samuel was determined to follow through with it no matter what.  Samuel could have easily said, “well I tried, but he wasn’t here.  Back to bed for me!”  But he didn’t.  Instead he went and found Saul and delivered the news.

Can I say the same about my life?  Can I look God in the eye and say, I did what you asked?  I want a life that’s filled with the same kind of trust and action that Samuel displayed.  But that doesn’t come about by wishful thinking or knowing what we should do – it only comes through action.  It only happens when we get out of bed.

Getting stuff and having things isn’t bad. 

Being consumed with getting stuff and having things is. 

Right now people are tapped out.  They are spent financially, emotionally, and for many, relationally.  How can it be otherwise?  We are constantly told that we need more to fill our lives.  That no matter what we have it isn’t enough, or it’s not the right size.  So we go out and try to lose more weight, or buy more gadgets, or have more dating relationships.  But it’s never enough.  We need more. 

Frankly that’s a tough place to be because the more we embrace a consumerist mindset, the more we believe we have a right to wealth, prosperity, and happiness.  And now that we might not be able to get our next fix, we’re terrified. 

As much as I wish it were true, God never promised that just because we beleive in him, everything will be fine.  In fact, just the opposite may be true.  It seems that the closer you get to God, the more likely “bad” things are going to happen.  Of course that’s only if you define “bad” as not getting gadgets, toys, and pay raises.  Losing our toys may be annoying, losing our jobs may be difficult, losing our lives may be unfortunate.  But losing our souls?  Devastating.   

The thing is, God can still use each of us.  God still wants to be in a relationship with us.  No matter how far we’ve fallen into debt.  No matter how bad the country’s (or world’s) economy looks, there’s always something we can be doing for God.  There is always a way to advance the Kingdom.

And where the Kingdom advances, there is hope. 

Unstable. 

That’s usually a term we use for dangerous chemical compounds or people suffering from mental illness.  But it also describes the world we live in.  Every day we are pushed and pulled by forces outside of our control.  And perhaps nothing terrifies me more than not having control.  My guess is I’m not alone.

The problem is, it’s this instability where God calls us.  He wants us to make the world look more like him and less like us.  To do that he asks us to bring light to a dark world.  Of course the very meaning of ”dark” suggests we’re entering into things unknown.  Which doesn’t sound exactly calm and peaceful to me.

As I watch the news, or read the Drudge Report, I can’t help but find myself overwhelmed by unstable times.  Today the news is that greed and corruption have doomed America.  Friday it was joy at how wonderful it was that stocks shot up hundreds of points.  Today Russia assures the world that war could never break out between the US and itself.  But last week Russia was threatening to take control of the arctic. 

How can God ask us to bring truth and grace into a world that changes by the hour?

Why does God ask us to go into dark places if we’re to be killed?  Why does he ask us to trust him, when it may lead to being jobless?  What’s the point?  I can’t help but think like the writer of Ecclesiastes when he said, “meaningless, utterly meaningless.”

Ironically it’s in that question where we find the answer.  What is the point?  If we’re living for financial wealth the fluctuation of the stock market is a major issue.  If we’re living for security, Russia’s aggression posses a threat.  If we’re living for comfort, losing your electricity for a week is a major crisis.  But none of that is where God asks us to focus.

He’s asking us to live for something eternal.  Something that’s not of this world.  And for once we’re not talking about ALF.  He’s asking us to live for a Kingdom we can’t even imagine right now. 

The Bible is very clear that while we may be rewarded for our faith here on Earth, the real reward is waiting for us in Heaven.   Jesus himself says, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5: 11-12)

In the end we are told by the media and our politicians that we can be killed in any countless ways.  Maybe it’s by not wearing seat belts.  Maybe we’ll be kidnapped because we’re foreigners in a foreign land.  Maybe we’ll die from tainted milk, or starve to death because we have no money.  Well, you get the point. 

In a world that tells us to not take action - God calls us to take action.  In a world that says, “there is no point” God says, “I AM the point.”  And it’s only by remembering that can we ever hope to reshape the world, and bring light into darkness.  It’s the only way we will ever have the strength to endure the hardships, the fear, and the instability, but still pick up our cross and march forward.

As people of faith, we live for a different Kingdom.  A different reality.  And that’s the point.

Sometimes readers say it better than I do:

I think that for starters, anytime a Christian acknowledges that they’re deficient in an area of their walk with Christ; that acknowledgment is sort of like the precursor to that deficiency becoming “fixed” by the Lord. A spin on how the Law makes us aware of sin, I suppose.I used to never speak out openly about God because of fear of ridicule. Nowadays, that’s not a problem, and I would say it’s because over time (as your relationship grows), Jesus does transform the committed believer.

My point? Yesterday was a day that you walked behind Christ, today you might be walking a little closer to Him; and tomorrow is the day that you walk side by side, step for step with Him.

Maturation by nature takes time, some folks perhaps do go through a radical and quick process of transformation, while others don’t. Scripture an my own personal experiences tell me that it all starts with the condition of the heart, sometimes we have deeper issues that the Lord must work on before we get to that spot where we become the “Super Christian” we aspire to be.

That was a comment left by Christopher from Got-Fruit.net on the prayer thursday: courage post.  I wanted to highlight it because it touches upon one of the deepest truths I know: the scariest prayer we can make is the one where we ask God to change us.  There’s nothing more terrifying, because those are exactly the type of prayers God answers on a regular basis!