TRANSFORMATION

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.  Romans 12:2

 

 

National Geographic (September, 2017) has an excellent article about addiction that includes many behavioral addictions which are just recently being seen as destructive, life-altering dependencies.  Research indicates the changes that occur in the brain, chemistry, and synapses that actually “remold neural circuits to assign supreme value to [the substance or behavior], at the expense of other interests such as health, work, family, or life itself.”  Eventually, the addict has no control of his/her behavior because his brain material and functions have essentially been reshaped.

This makes me think of Paul, in chapter 7 of Romans, who talks about not doing what he wants to do but behaving in a contrary fashion.  Paul isn’t talking about addiction here but rather the sin principle that’s part of each of us.  Later, in Romans 12 he zeroes in on the problem that we all struggle with—being conformed to the world (complying with the secular world’s standards).  We become so entangled with cultural mores and contemporary lifestyles that we excuse the sin that’s taken root in us.

Paul’s remedy sounds just like the treatments that are being offered to addicts in new medical trials.  Researchers are talking about and experimenting with “repairing the brain’s wiring”—what Paul states as “transformation of the mind.”  In both instances, there must be voluntary participation.  With the medical trials, the patient must want a change.  God’s remedy infers that each of us must cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit by “renewing” our minds, exchanging those deadly, sinful thoughts and behaviors for godly, wholesome patterns.  This sounds to me like the “rewiring” with which today’s medical community is experimenting.

Science knows that continued behaviors set the synapses in pathways that are difficult to disrupt, but the Creator who initially put our bodies in motion also provided healing for us to be transformed.  In fact, he’s given us everything we need for life and godliness (II Peter 1:3)—the provision is already there.  He’s given us the Holy Spirit, his Word, the community of believers that we call the Church, and he’s given us science and the medical profession.

We have to make the choice for transformation, and it’s one that should be made every single day so that we’re free from any bondage that diminishes us as Children of God.  Whether the addiction is something frowned on by society or is seemingly as innocent as negativity or disruptive thought patterns, if it controls us, we need to be set free.  God has the answer; we can be changed.

 

Father, it’s easy for us to see the sins in the lives of others without seeing the things that trip us up in our own lives and relationships.  Give us the courage to identify anything in ourselves that entangles us and keeps us from freedom in you.  In Jesus’ name.  AMEN.

I DID IT

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.  Psalms 51:4

 

It was a visit I did not relish.  I’d discovered that one of my colleagues had been “unmasked,” and it was necessary to learn the truth.  In my work, calling and integrity are characteristics critical to effective ministry, and the integrity of my friend was being called into question.

There were numbers of troubling factors to consider.  The events had occurred several years ago, but they were just coming to light.  My charismatic friend readily charmed everyone she met.  There seemed no reason to doubt her veracity and professions of repentance.

Here were some things we had to process:  my friend’s confession occurred after the egregious wrong was discovered.  As we talked, I was told that the problems were being exacerbated because “someone was out to get her.”  And then there was the finger-pointing and self-pity.

It was easy enough to find a case with some relevance.  King David lustfully took what wasn’t his when he saw beautiful Bathsheba bathing on the roof of her house.  David was told that she was married but violated her and then sent her home.  When she notified David that she was pregnant, he sent for her husband, one of his outstanding warriors. Faithful Uriah refused to go home to his wife while the armies of Israel were still out in the field.  Finally, David plotted to have Uriah killed and gave Uriah the message that would lead to his own death.

God was angry with David reminding him of all he’d done in and for him.  As the prophet Nathan spoke to him, David was crushed and confessed, “I have sinned against the Lord” (II Samuel 12:13).  David went on to compose the 51^st Psalm in which he writes, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge…  Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow…  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.”

David didn’t blame anyone for his sin; he didn’t make excuses; he didn’t point fingers; and he didn’t try to justify himself.  He accepted responsibility for his behavior and understood the grief his sin had caused God who loved him most.  David repented.  Perhaps he had felt remorse before God’s Spirit confronted him through the prophet, but when faced with truth, David knew he was guilty.

My friend hasn’t yet learned the difference between remorse and repentance.  She is sorry she was caught, but she hasn’t recognized the pride that blocks true confession—“I have sinned against the Lord.”  She doesn’t yet weep over her sin. She weeps over the cost of her “unmasking.”  Until she is able to grieve for her sin, she can’t move forward into truth and freedom.  And there will be no deep healing.

There will continue to be anger at those who exposed her rather than the joy of receiving God’s forgiveness, mercy, and grace.  But God who is willing to forgive will wait and will possibly send friends like me to love and walk with her until she is ready to take responsibility for her sin.  God is good; he can make a way; and he is remarkable in his ability to restore.

 

Father, how much we all need your Spirit to guide us and to convict us when we sin.  Thank you that you are able to keep us from falling.  Help us to live and move and have our being in you so that we walk consistently in your righteousness and bring you glory.  And help my friend; give her understanding and a willing heart.  In Jesus’ name.  AMEN.

JESUS DIDN’T MEAN IT

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  Matthew 5:17  (NIV)

 

Just like Moses, Jesus went up on the mountain to talk with his followers about the new rule God was establishing in his Kingdom.  His antagonists, the Pharisees (and the scribes and the Sadducees) had accused him repeatedly of attempting to do away with the Law that had governed them for thousands of years.  But actually, by the time of Jesus’ ministry, the Law of Moses had been so compromised by the religionists that it had little semblance to what God had intended.

For example, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy’” (Matt. 5:43).  This is a far cry from the original (Lev. 19:18), “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.”  Nothing is said about hating our enemy but rather that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. 

The Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7 is a study in what we are to be and how we are to live as citizens of God’s Kingdom.  It says bizarre things to us, things that as rational people we find totally impossible to perform.  We’re blessed when we are poor in spirit, when we are sorrowful, when we are humble, when we are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, when we’re merciful, and when our hearts are pure.  We’re even blessed when we’re persecuted for righteousness’ sake.  And that’s only the beginning.

All these characteristics are antithetical to our cultural teachings.  And yet Jesus is the one who is speaking.  There’s got to be something beyond the superficial here OR Jesus just didn’t mean what he said.  He was merely speaking in hyperbole to get our attention.  And surely he accomplished his goal.  And so we, too, compromise the message saying it was only for a specific group of people or a specific time.  It’s too biting for US.

Oswald Chambers notes that Jesus has called us to live a life we cannot live and to do what we cannot do, and yet WE CAN do what he’s called us to do and to live as he’s asked us—through the power of his Holy Spirit.  This is how we move into life in the Kingdom of God that Jesus described as abundant life.  That’s what I want—all God has to offer.

Throughout the fall I’ll be studying and blogging about the Sermon on the Mount and Life in the Kingdom.  I hope you’ll join me.

 

Father, you offer so much, and we often take so little.  Give us a hunger and thirst for you and your righteousness, for you long to fill us.  In Jesus’ name.  AMEN.

10 REASONS

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.  I Corinthians 15:20  (KJV)

 

 

As this Holy Week ends on the high note of Resurrection, I have listed ten reasons I give thanks for everything Jesus’ resurrection means to me:

 

1. It lends credibility to everything Jesus said and taught.
2. It proves he is the living Son of God.
3. It informs his suffering and death on the cross for our salvation, healing, and freedom.
4. It is the foundation of our faith.
5. It gives me hope that I, too, will some day be resurrected to eternal life in him.
6. It ensures our righteousness in him and right-standing before God.
7. It demonstrates our future transformed body.
8. The Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in me.
9. The last enemy, death, no longer has power over us.
10. I am now empowered by God’s Spirit.

 

 

Father, Lent and the reminder of our human frailty is past.  We now can walk in resurrection life through Jesus Christ and his sacrificial death on the cross and his resurrection by your mighty power.  Help us to apply all that means to every day of our lives.  In his name.  AMEN.

BEING HUMAN

…those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.  Romans 8:5  (NIV)

 

I was making some notes in my journal, reflecting on recent attitudes and trying to decide how to describe my struggle and annoyance.  Finally, I could think of nothing better to say than, “The flesh is so tiresome.”

Have you ever felt like that?  What Paul calls “the flesh” we often refer to as “being human.”  We use it to excuse almost every behavior that doesn’t measure up.  It seems that Paul had the same struggles when he writes in Romans 7 that what he wants to do, he doesn’t, and what he doesn’t want to do, he does.  He doesn’t leave us hanging, however.

Paul moves on into the glorious eighth chapter of Romans that grandly informs us of our freedom in Christ.  “…in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (8:37).  The flesh is never going to cooperate with the Spirit, but through Christ we can ignore the flesh, discipline ourselves, and move with the Spirit.  Rather than expecting the flesh to change, let’s just deny it and keep walking.

 

Father, this Easter time is such a time of good news.  Those things that had bound us in the past can no longer be our lords because of Jesus’ victorious death on the cross.  THANK YOU for the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  AMEN.

REMINDERS EVERYWHERE

…I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you.  II Peter 1:12

 

Our family has a fun tradition that was begun in 1977 with the release of the first Star Wars movie.  My parents and our young family sat in a little line in the theater to watch the parade of fantastic characters march across the screen depicting their amazing struggle to defeat the evil empire.  And as the epic continued, the children got older, married, had children, and we still went together to sit in our extended line for the anticipated entertainment.  But now my parents are no longer with us.

With the newest release this year, I’ve had to review some old DVD’s to remind myself of what occurred in previous episodes.  In doing so, I’ve picked up a few kernels of wisdom.  One of the characters tells a youngster, “When you give in to fear or hatred or anger, you go to the Dark Side.”   And then there is always the admonition to “Use the Force.”  As the trainee learns to listen and use the Force, he becomes more powerful and does astonishing things.

I imagine John of the Revelation would readily understand the images and messages from Star Wars.  After all, he used images and symbols to portray important truths and warnings for the Church of his day (and the future) including the cosmic battle between good and evil.  And John also warns against being fearful (Rev. 21:8), something we tend to dismiss as a little thing.  In actuality, when fear isn’t a natural response to danger, it’s a state of distrusting God.  Then John tells us in I John 2:9 that if we hate a brother or sister, we walk in darkness.  And Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:22) that those who are angry with a brother or sister will be in danger of judgment.  I expect we can all agree that fear, hatred, and anger does pull a person to the dark side.

But the reminder I especially like are the words that were repeated over and over by the Jedi warrior, “Use the Force.” In our constant battle against our eternal enemy, how often do we rely on ourselves rather than remembering that greater is he that is within us than he that is in the world (I John 4:4)?  As we decrease, the Spirit of God grows stronger and more powerful in us and can do more than we can ask or think (Eph. 3:20).  We really are more than conquerors through him who loved us as we rely on the power of God within us.

Lest you scoff that my little jaunt into the Star Wars world is a bit trite, I recall that on a visit (the 4^th day of May) to one of our esteemed seminaries, which shall remain nameless, I entered the chapel only to see a white Storm Trooper helmet on the head of one of the carved saints in a niche high above the chancel with the notation, “May the Fourth be with you.”  I love seeing God’s reminders everywhere.

 

Father, thank you for the gift of humor and for your principles that are all around us.  Give us eyes to see, hearts to obey… In Jesus’ name.  AMEN.