Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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A much needed rest

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Work vs. Rest“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30, ESV)

The danger for those of us who have grown up in the church is that we can read these words without them sinking in. At least that has been my experience. I have heard them so many times and perhaps have never taken the time to ingest them to absorb the sustenance that they provide.

In so much of my experience of church over the years I have felt a push toward breathless activity, to do more and more. Perhaps I am susceptible to calls to service because I am wired to crave approval of others.

One of the idols that can so easily ensnare me is accomplishment. This idol finds worshippers in the church as easily as it does in the business world. What is dangerous about this idol’s work in the church is that I can convince others that I am doing it for God even though I am really doing it to feed the idol.

The biggest problem with this form of idolatry is that the energy required to keep it all going eventually runs out. Those who are seen as burned out have simply come to the end of their resources and have nothing else to give. They have also come to the realization that the idol gives nothing back to those who worship him.

Certainly, in any social organization, there are things that must be done to keep the organization going. The church is no different. For the church to function on a Sunday morning, there are things that need to be done. People need to serve the congregation for the ministry to run smoothly.

The question then arises, how do we balance rest and service? I think that the answer lies in relationship. If I am doing a work of service in response to a prompting from God then the following are true:

  • I am doing it for God’s glory and not my own
  • I am responsible to be obedient, but I am not responsible for the outcome
  • God’s grace will make up for the imperfection of my service

When these things are true, then I can serve or not serve as God prompts. When these things are true, my stress level goes down because I am not taking on something that is not mine to bear. When these things are true, I am serving in response to my relationship with God and I am not feeding the idol of accomplishment.

Jesus’ yoke is easy and the burden light. If the burden is not light, if service is difficult, then I need to consider that the yoke is not Jesus’ yoke.

Perhaps those who burn out in ministry have been pulling the wagon in the wrong direction.

After two whole years . . .

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Two YearsPerhaps I am alone in this, but I do a lot of whining to God when things don’t go the way I think they should. In a fallen world, disappointment is inevitable and my response is not always appropriate or helpful. Not only do I whine to God, I can get rather petulant when things don’t improve quickly. In reality, I am very blessed and many would laugh at my response to the trivial difficulties I face.

One of the best things about Scripture is that it challenges me to face my issues and seek God for change.

This morning, I was reading the story of Joseph in Genesis. Joseph found himself in prison for a crime that he did not commit. A couple of his bunk mates had dreams that Joseph correctly interpreted for them. One of the dreamers was the king’s cup bearer who was restored to his office as the dream foretold. Joseph had asked the cup bearer to speak to the king about his situation but like many of us would do, the cup bearer got caught up in his own good fortune and forgot about Joseph.

The cup bearer forgot about him for two years as we are told in Genesis 41:1. “Two whole years” is how the ESV puts it.

Do you think that Joseph struggled with self pity during that time? Do you think that he questioned himself and his God while lingering in prison? Do you think that Joseph whined to God occasionally? Joseph had gone from favorite son to prisoner through no fault of his own.

It is easy for us to forget that Joseph did not know how long he would remain in prison. We know how the story ends, but Joseph did not. It takes us a few seconds to read about those two whole years, while Joseph had to live them out one second at a time, all 32 million of them.

Like Joseph, I don’t know how my story will play out moving forward. Do I trust that the same God who was faithful to Joseph is still in control?

I do and I don’t. My head tells me that God remains in control while my heart too often falters in that belief. But even when I falter God gently reminds me of how blessed I really am. I am encouraged by David when he writes:

“I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.” (Psalm 37:25, ESV)
Or as Jesus promises:

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, ESV)

If Jesus is who he said he is, then I have nothing to worry about. Now, if I could only convince my heart . . .

On having ears to hear

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Ears to HearI can be hearing but not listening. I do it all the time.

In western culture we are subjected to a constant barrage of noise and information. We have talking heads on the radio in the car. Music streams into stores as we shop. The television provides incessant babble if we allow it. The stream of information is unrelenting and we cannot possibly take it all in. We have to be selective in our listening.

In several places in the Gospels, Jesus makes the statement, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” My paraphrase of this would be, “you’ve got the equipment required to hear, now use it and listen up.”

How many times have we sat in the pew (or chair, depending on the age of your church building) and had our minds wonder during the sermon? We have the privilege of hearing the Word of God proclaimed and we fail to take advantage of it. You might be thinking it would be different if it was Jesus himself teaching, but would it? The disciples who heard him struggled to understand what Jesus was talking about. They proved to be as slow to hear and understand as we often are.

Notice that the command to hear is in the present tense. The idea is to keep on hearing. This gives me the idea that this requires a moment by moment decision to be open to really hearing what God has to say to me through his Word.

One of my favorite hymns is Come Thou Fount. The first verse begins like this:

Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace

To use my ears to hear, my heart needs to be tuned into the right frequency. I need to be calibrated to receive the signal.

The lack of hearing is not a physical problem for most of us, it is a problem with the will. I must choose to allow the words to penetrate to my core in order to be changed by them. I have ears that work reasonably well, but to often I cannot hear what God is really saying to me.

C. S. Lewis address this in The Problem of Pain when he writes:

“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

Lewis is not saying that God is sending pain our way like a sadistic parent who uses beatings as the primary means of discipline. In a fallen world, pain in inevitable and God does not prevent us from experiencing all pain.

What Lewis is saying is that having experienced pain, we are more open to hearing God speak. Our pain is sometimes a consequence of our own choices but we also are hurt by the sin and failure of others.

Regardless of the source of the pain, I find that I am more open to hearing from God in the midst of it. At any given moment, I have the choice to allow my ears to hear. When I choose to ignore God’s voice, he uses the circumstances of my life to remind me that I am his and I need to listen.

I must choose to keep on hearing.

How Long, O Lord?

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AbandonedHow long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me? (Psalm 13:1-2)

l don’t have anyone trying to kill me. But I do have times when l wonder if God is listening or if he cares. I assume that this is true of all Christians. The tragedy is that on any given Sunday, in any given church, it is unlikely that you will find anyone who shows signs of questioning God’s concern for them. Too often we stuff down our doubts and feelings of frustration and paste on our “spiritual” smile and pretend that everything is OK.

You may have noticed that I have not posted much in the last few weeks. Life has been chaotic, or at least more chaotic than normal.  Nothing really bad has happened to me personally but the stuff happening around me has stripped away any illusion of control that I might have had. It is too easy to lose perspective and be overwhelmed by the circumstances.

Some examples: my manager unexpectedly left for a competitor, a manager that I liked and with whom I worked well. I have been assigned a role in the company that is not my first choice but I am still obliged to do it well. I read that government officials cannot restrain themselves from spending more than they have, putting our country in financial jeopardy. The news media promotes and applauds immorality that would not have been tolerated a generation ago. I have uncertainty about what form of ministry I am called to. The list of things that can destroy my focus and cause me to question God’s concern for myself and the people around me is seemingly inexhaustible.

To make matters worse, there are some who say that allowing these things to bother me is a sign of spiritual weakness or a lack of trust in God. It is these “Job’s counselors” that pressure people into pretending that everything is OK even when it is not.

This Is why I like the Psalms, especially the psalms of David. David keeps it real. In Psalm 13 we see the man after God’s own heart admitting his own sense of alienation and frustration with God.

We do not serve a God who always makes it easy. Life is sometimes difficult and it is no different for the Christian. In a sense it may be worse for the Christian because we have the expectation that it could be better.

God allows us to go through difficult times. He allows us to go through dry times where it feels like our prayers never make it past the ceiling in the room. God allows the knuckleheads to remain in power both in the government and in the church. Often, he leaves us wondering why.

It is in those times when the promise of Jesus begins to bring comfort. He will be with me to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). To fix our predicament, God came down to be one of us to feel our pain and offer a solution for it. While this may not make the process easier, it should affect the result.

We can be honest about our struggles knowing that in the end, God will make it right. We don’t have to pretend that everything is well with us. We can be honest. David was.

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