Having it All

Our tortoise-shell cat, Susie, has a food problem.  Everything in her life is about food, or so it seems.  She runs into the kitchen every time we get a glass of water, and begs for food.  You can tell she's begging because she's yowling at us and trying to get up on the counter to see if there's something there for her.  The Lovely Joanne says we should send Susie as a contestant on that new food show, "America's Gut Talent". 

Jesus has better ideas for us as his brothers and sisters than to be ruled by our physical desires.  In Matthew 5, he starts to reveal to us the true heart of God. He tells us not just to avoid murder, divorce and adultery, and not to exact revenge -- even if it's legally available to us -- but to think as the Father thinks, sending out love, grace and forgiveness.  Those are not human motivations.  Our natural drive is self-protection, self-determination, and making sure we'll have enough, even if someone else doesn't.  But Jesus continues, in chapter 6, telling us not to pretend to be righteous in front of others as a way of getting ahead (in our giving, verses 1-4, prayer, verses 5-15, and fasting, verses 16-18).  And he wraps up his teaching of all these different ideas in verses 19-34 by reminding us that our true security comes from God:  "Store your treasures in heaven...You cannot serve both God and money...That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear...These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs."  The only way we can 'have it all' is by trusting in that security!

We can't follow that teaching by simply trying to or determining to; it comes from God within us, from Jesus living in us and we in him (John 15:4, 17:21-23) through the Person of the Holy Spirit in us (John 14:16-18).  Our new life in Christ, as we have been renewed by the Holy Spirit, brings us to understand and follow Jesus' mind in us, which is a mind of giving, not of self-protection, anger and revenge (as he taught in Matthew 5 and 6). 

So if we find ourselves filled with selfish motivations, anger at others, and thoughts of getting ahead or getting even, we can be sure we are off-track, not paying attention to the mind of Jesus in us.  When we awake and realize we've been running in that selfish human way again, we have to sacrifice our own self-will and surrender again to the Holy Spirit's work in us, letting the peace of God rule in our thoughts and emotions (Romans 15:13, Phil. 4:6-8).  Susie the Cat doesn't have any hope of changing her ideas -- but we can live new lives, 'having it all' in the security of our place in Christ and the love of the Father through the Spirit. 

Face to Face (part 5)

My friend Jack read one of these posts and said something like "so if you want to see God, why not look in the mirror?"  I thought he was being funny, because he has a wacky sense of humor, and sometimes he thinks he's God, but he was serious.  "Hey, we're supposed to be made in the image of God, so shouldn't you see peace, patience, love and all those things, in the mirror?"  Hmmm... Well, what if he's right?

After all, Genesis 1:26 starts off with  "Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness."  So how are we made in God's image and likeness?  From all I've studied, it's by being relational persons, and having the ability to make decisions.  (Certainly not from being approximately the same size and shape as God!)  So indeed, Jack could be right -- if we are made in the image of God, then the "peace, patience, love and all those things" that are aspects of God's character should show up in us. 

Except, well, our first parents messed things up. Their minds and lives became filled with anxiety, impatience, hatred and a lot of other negative selfish traits, instead of the good ones.  We've all ended up following them, down through the generations. Except for Jesus.  Paul explains in Romans 5:12 "When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned." But Paul continues by explaining God didn't leave us in death, comparing Adam with Jesus in several different ways.  Then in verse 18 he says  "Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone."  Over in 2 Cor. 5:17, Paul continues the thought, saying "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! " 

Paul used that phrase "in Christ" about 90 times in his letters.  I looked it up in the Greek.  It means "in Christ."  Like, inside of, part of, living in.  So the way it's supposed to work is, Christ pours into us his love for us, his love for others, his "peace, patience, love and all those things."  He creates those expressions of his love in us, so we can "bear much fruit" as he said in John 15.  But then there are the days we don't feel like it's working; when nothing turns out right and we respond like a "sore-toothed bear" as my mom used to say.  What's up with that?  We're still "in Christ" -- but those days, we're paying more attention to what's going on outside of us than who we're inside of. 

How do we make it work?  We have to surrender to the mind of Christ in us.  In Philippians 2:5 Paul writes "You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had" then goes on to describe Christ's humility and other-centered serving in his human life.  The Son of God gave up everything to come live with us.  We have to give up our self-centered thinking, in order to live in him and let him put his peace in us. 

And that's when the image in the mirror turns out to be God after all!

Jesus' Temptations: Pride

Jesus was the unique Son of God, joined with flesh (John 3:16).  Nobody else will ever be in that position.  So he was pretty special (he still is, too!).  So as Satan tempts Jesus a third time, he tries to convince Jesus that even if he throws himself off the highest point of the Temple, the Father will protect him.  After all, Satan's thinking seems to be, how would God fulfill his plan for us without Jesus, who is the plan in flesh? 

Jesus turns Satan down, cold.  “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’ ”  What's that about, not getting on God's nerves or something?  No, it's about recognizing our place and not thinking too highly of ourselves.  Jesus is quoting Deut. 6:16, where Moses warns the Israelites not to try stretching the limits of God's patience and mercy.  God's patience is infinite -- after all, he controls time and everything else -- but when the Israelites insisted on continuing to do what would harm them, and treated God's generosity with contempt, it was against their own best interests to let them continue. So he stopped them.  

What did Jesus have in mind in quoting this scripture?  Somewhat the same idea:  "God is loving and generous, but don't get your pride inflated about it."  When we test the limits of God's generosity, what we're saying is that we are so important that God can't get along without us.  Not a very good notion.  Not even for the unique Son of God.  Absolutely not for us! 

Jesus recognized his own limitations and his complete dependence on God.  In short, Jesus was humble, not proud. That is our example, which we should follow a lot more often than we do. (Side note:  it's a good thing Jesus did this perfectly too, because we never will!)  So what kind of trouble do we get ourselves into by being proud?  By over-estimating our own importance, pride creates other negative reactions, like: 

• Anger ("don't you realize I'm more important than you?")
• Hurt feelings and unforgiveness ("how dare this person treat me like that!") 
• Discontent ("that didn't turn out the way I deserve")
• Impatience ("hurry up, you're wasting MY time!")

By going willingly to the cross, Jesus showed his humility once more.  He absorbed the shame, the curse, the weight of all our sin; and he even forgave those who put him there (Luke 23:34).  We would all do well to ask God to show us our pride.  Then, when we see it, not to 'swallow our pride,' but to regurgitate it and leave it behind, as we follow Jesus.

Feet and dust and me

A long time ago -- even before I was born, and I'm old -- people walked around in open-toed sandals. That was a tad inconvenient, as most streets weren't paved and people often walked where streets didn't exist anyway. So pretty soon their feet got dirty.

Now, there probably wasn't much of a pedicure industry back then; it wouldn't do a lot of good to get your toes all gussied up, then have them get dusty thirty seconds out the front door. But there was a foot-cleaning industry, and it was run by the lowest-class slaves -- the newbies, just off the boat, or the ones that were in trouble and had to work their way back into the master's favor. When you came home from work, or went to somebody's house for pizza, that slave was there to clean up your feet and refresh you.

Since animals were in the streets, manure built up too. And since sandals didn't keep it all out, manure ended up on peoples' feet too. That would make the foot-washing job even less pleasant. Likewise, the feet themselves, in contact with the common dirt of the road, were considered a less honorable part of the body. So what we're talking about here is definitely the job nobody wanted.

Lo and behold, that's what Jesus took on during his last night on earth as a regular human. He'd been preaching humility and servanthood to his disciples, and he was certain they hadn't seen the picture, so he showed them one -- himself, washing their dirty feet. He was ready to be sacrificed on a cruel cross to wash their sins away from their souls, but he started with washing the dirt away from their feet. Every time I look at that picture, I get convicted again by his humility and my lack of it.

Some of us as Christians practice this ritual every year. It's a reminder of our Savior's deep, deep love. More than just a reminder, it's also a pledge to walk in his sandals, to serve others like he did, even if it looks dumb or humiliating or messy. Now, pride can even make us go through the motions to 'do service.' But his love in us -- if we really are listening to him -- brings it out from the heart, with a purity of motive. It's worth considering carefully, praying over and asking Jesus to let his mind be in you, as you look at someone else's toes.