Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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Do not call conspiracy

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FortressOne of the things that I detest about “talk” radio is the need for the host to drum up controversy to get people to listen. This seems to be true whether the subject be politics, sports or religion.

This is painfully obvious in political talk radio from either spectrum, left or right. The central theme of the broadcast is to convince you that life will come to an end if the other party gains or remains in control.

Prominent “Christian spokesmen” fall prey to this phenomenon and get exercised over the latest piece of legislation or social trend. They urge letter writing campaigns and boycotts as the solution to societal ills. Whether it be intentional or not, they play to our fears to spur us to action in their cause.

While we are called to be salt and light in a fallen world, I struggle to find any indication in Scripture that we need to be frantic in our efforts to counteract the trends in society.

While the Apostle Paul has strong opinions and speaks authoritatively on subjects concerning the church, he is strangely silent on ideas of political involvement or societal reform. When he mentions the government at all, it is with a reminder to obey the governing authorities because they are put in place by God.

The danger is that we can allow fear to cause us to lose sight of the fact that God remains in control and is moving history toward his own end, following his own time-line. Like Peter foundering in the waves, when we take our eyes off of God, panic can set in.

I like the words that God spoke to Isaiah:

For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken. (Isaiah 8:11–15, ESV)

We don’t need to fear what the government will or won’t do. We do not need to be in dread of the social trends around us. We don’t need to be worried about the latest conspiracy or scandal.

The promise is that if we fear God and honor him as holy, he will become a sanctuary to us. It is from this sanctuary that we can then become effective salt and light and have a positive impact on the culture.

Thoughts on the Incarnation of Christ

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IncarnationOn the way to church this morning, I heard a woman on the radio say, “isn’t it amazing that Jesus came to die for us?” After hearing this, it occurred to me that you could shorten the question to “isn’t it amazing that Jesus came?”

If Christian tradition is correct and Jesus is God incarnate, then the fact that Almighty God would subject himself to the limitations of human existence is truly amazing.

My point is not to detract from the importance of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. These events are the culmination and the purpose of Jesus’ incarnation. It just hit me that even before these important events took place, the incarnation itself is an amazing thing.

As a baby, Jesus willingly allowed his physical existence to depend on the care of Mary and Joseph. The creator of the universe had to limit his ability to communicate to crying and the other means of communication available to a newborn baby.

Did Jesus ever get frustrated with his limitations? It seems sacrilegious to think so, but I wonder. I do not know if Jesus was aware of his divine nature from infancy. Perhaps he had to grow into the knowledge. But if he had any consciousness at all about his divinity, he would have been aware of what he “emptied himself” (Phil. 2:7) of when he set aside his divinity to fully experience humanity. That he did this willingly can only be as a result of his great love for us.

That Jesus loved us enough to “tabernacle among us” (John 1:14) should blow our minds. That his did so for the purpose of dying to redeem us adds to the “amazingness” of the whole plan.

The incarnation itself is something so wonderful that the only proper response is to worship.

More than you can handle

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I would like to comment on one of the phrases that is found in the article highlighted in this Tweet:

On the surface, it seems correct to say that “God will not give you more than you can handle.” Paul does tell us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to escape the situation. But it is a huge jump to infer from this that God will not allow you to encounter situations that you cannot handle.

By Pete Sandbach from Manchester, UK (Weight of the world) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
By Pete Sandbach from Manchester, UK (Weight of the world) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
On the contrary, I would go so far as to say that God will certainly give you more than you can handle. The point is that until we come to the end of our own abilities, we cannot learn to trust God for the outcome. All of the great heroes of the Bible were put in difficult situations. Daniel, Joseph, Moses, David, Elijah and Paul all come to mind. Their faith was tested and strengthened by the difficulties that they faced.

Furthermore, anyone who is in any relationship will have more than they can handle. Unless you are a complete narcissist and ignore the people around you, relationships will make you aware of situations that are beyond your control.

We all bring dysfunction with us when we interact with friends, family and acquaintances. I have limited control over my own dysfunction and no control over yours. Relationships are messy and are sometimes more than we can handle. Yet, we are called to be in them and how we function in relationship is to be an evidence to the world that God is working in our lives. Jesus said that the mark of the church is to be love (John 13:35).

This platitude also ignores the truth that there are evil people in the world who get their kicks from hurting others. Belief in Jesus doesn’t prevent one from encountering evil. Or there are those who feel the need to force their own beliefs on others. Just ask Christians under Communist governments or in Islamic States about how much control they have over their circumstances.

We must not forget, however, that Jesus promises to be with us through any ordeal that we encounter. He said, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). God can give us the grace to bear up under the trial, but that grace has got to be a work of God to be effective.

In the face of real danger, persecution or any other trial that threatens to overwhelm me, I don’t need a platitude to shore up my inner strength. I need a Savior to come beside me and lend me his strength.

Between the hammer and the anvil

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Hammer and Anvil
“Blacksmith at work02” by User:Fir0002 – Own work. Licensed under GFDL 1.2 via Wikimedia Commons.

The blacksmith uses heat and force to transform the iron into the desired shape. The iron goes into the fire to be heated and is then moved to the anvil to be hammered into the desire form. The process is repeated until the smith is satisfied with the result.

This is a fitting analogy for how God uses trials to transform us into tools he can use to accomplish his purpose. The trials are like the heat that soften the metal and make it malleable, shapeable and transformable. The trials are not enjoyable but they are a necessary element in our spiritual progression.

Regarding trials, James tells us:

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2–4, ESV)

The hard part is that we are commanded to count it a joy when we encounter trials. To be happy about the difficulty would be disingenuous. The enjoyment of pain is considered a pathology. James is not suggesting that we find pain and difficulty pleasurable.

What he is commanding us to do is to look beyond the pain to the inevitable result. God uses the trial to build endurance into us which will then result in our spiritual completeness.

I understand that this is easier said than done. I’ve done more than my share of whining to God about different circumstances, many of which were beyond my ability to influence or control. But the difficulty does not relieve me of the responsibility to do it.

James does not here issue advice. He is not offering a suggestion. He is delivering a command. Reckon, count, consider are the words used by various translations. It speaks of an intentional direction of mind. It speaks of a choice to view the difficulty in a certain way.

Like the iron between the hammer and the anvil, we are being shaped by God and prepared for an eternity with him. Over this I can learn to be joyful.

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