We Are Not On An Island

I am a big Tom Hanks fan. One of the best acting jobs I've ever seen is Tom Hanks In the Movie Castaway. The premise of the movie is that Tom Hanks character Chuck goes down on a plane over the ocean and finds himself washed up on a deserted island and, for over four years he is alone on that island. He draws solace from the memory of his girlfriend Kelly and from his adopted friend, a volleyball named Wilson. If one of the most touching scenes as Chuck attempts to leave the island on a makeshift raft, his friend Wilson is lost at sea.

God has wired each of us for relationship.  There is a vertical relationship with the living God through faith in Christ.  Then, there are horizontal relationships with other people.  The sad thing about this movie is that it clearly establishes the need for horizontal relationships.  That is very apparent as even the lead character, Chuck, a FedEx employee who “lives on the clock” realizes.  But while Chuck is on that island he does not realize that he is not alone.  There is no mention even once of a vertical relationship.  How sad that the character Chuck would feel his only relationship is with a volleyball.  We crave a relationship with the Creator.  He built us for just such a purpose.  This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.  John 17:3.

The Principle of Greatness

And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest. Luke 22:24.

One of the benefits of reading the Bible over and over again is seeing things that you've never seen before. Usually one of the things that you pick up on is context. And usually in seeing them you see more of yourself in the pages of the word.

In Mark Chapter 9, Jesus tells the disciples that the Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. It tells us that they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask him. You then find them arguing over which of them was the greatest. You would think that an argument over greatness would be preceded by some personal achievement and not by Jesus' prophecy of his death.

In Luke, Chapter 22 Jesus tells them that his hour had come in the Passover lamb would be sacrificed. Further one of them was going to betray him. In verse 23 they discussed among themselves who might do such a thing. The very next verse we find that there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest.  Put yourself in this situation in the upper room. “No way I would kill the Lord. It is not me! The people think I'm the greatest and so they should. Look at all the stuff I've accomplished.”  It is not hard to fathom moving from defense of myself to promoting myself because it's all about myself.  Me, myself, and I.

The timing of this is hard to miss. It is not once but twice that the disciples focused on themselves and not on the Lord. Even the discussion of his death and resurrection was couched in the discussion of their own personal ambitions. How so much like us! I want greatness and glory for myself, even when faced with the realization of the true meaning of Christ’s sacrifice. I'm so thankful that the disciples were just like me. How he uses weak and useless men to accomplish his purposes.

Only One Turned Back

Now one of them when he saw that he was healed, turned back glorifying God..
Luke 10:15

The world has very few pure atheists. Most of us stand at a distance seeking what we can get from God. In the Gospel of Luke there is a story of 10 leprous men who stood at a distance seeking healing. These men were ceremonially defiled and legally required to stand at a distance and live outside the village. Their lives were marked by lack of relationship. Yet in front of them was the creator God who sought a relationship. They cried out " Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!". Jesus healed them. They got what they sought – healing. They did not seek a relationship. They were quick to go back to their daily lives. Only one turned back and thanked and lived.

Many of God's blessings are available to all of us indiscriminately. God even heals whether we thank him or not. There is much agitation and wringing of hands in the Psalms because of God's indiscriminate blessings. What would happen in this life if only those with relationship would be healed? Would it change anything? No, because the human heart does not naturally seek a relationship. The one leper turned back and gave glory to God and sought a relationship with him. The leper who turned back was a Samaritan. He was an outcast, a foreigner, a pagan. And yet, he was the only one who Jesus said was "made well".

We naturally associate healing with some act of faith on our part and to some degree that is true. The 10 lepers had faith to be healed but only one had faith to be made well. I don't want to be healed, I want to be made well..

Why Worthless?

But now that you know God or are known by God, why do you turn back to the weak and worthless elemental things to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?  Galatians 4:9

Many of us have had the dream whereby as an adult you are transported back to high school and you find that you never actually passed that math test and therefore should never have graduated.  It is some 20-30 years later in the audit of the educational records that they (the dreams never reveal who they are) find that you never should have graduated.  And now you have to start all over!!  In the game Chutes and Ladders, you keep going up and up until unfortunately you land on that spot that drives you right back down to where you started your climb.  How frustrating to start over.  Yet that is how the rate race really is. 

Before I had a relationship with God, I was driven by all sorts of motivations.  Motivations to get ahead, motivations to promote myself, motivations to dominate and compete.  Many of these motivations remained with me even after I accepted Christ and knew God.  Even though God provided a whole new reason for living, much of my motivation and conduct remained the same.  Chalk it up to immaturity. Once you know God or rather God knows you, you are driven by a whole different set of motivations: motivation to serve, motivation to glorify God, motivation to know Him, motivation to tell others about Him.  And those motivations are infinitely more rewarding than the “me motivations”.  The world can never satisfy what is a deep longing of the heart.  Last week’s devotional discussed that we can do even the most basic things with the right motivation.  Why would we go back to the old ways when we have Christ?  The joy we receive from knowing God can never be replaced by anything else.  It is weak, it is worthless, it will not satisfy.  Serve Christ and experience true joy, and don’t look back.

Evil is Bi-Partisan

I just finished watching the speech given by President Obama at the memorial for those slain in the tragic shootings in Tucson.  He did a very nice job in recognizing the lives of those lost, being thankful for those whose lives were spared, and praising those who put themselves in harms way to save others.  It was an uplifting occasion.  Thank you Mr.President for taking the high road and being a true leader in crisis. 

Evil does not have an worldly cause or explanation.  Jared Loughner the shooter by all accounts lived a very troubled existence.  We can look to cast blame lots of places but the reality is this man was evil and was bent on doing harm.  We cannot create a utopian society where evil is circumvented.  It wasn’t politics, it wasn’t education, it probably wasn’t even his parents (whom I feel really bad for).  It was sin manifest in his life in more overt ways than each of yes.  Yet he reflects what is capable in all of us.  We may not murder, but we slander our brother in our hearts.  It is only by the grace of God that more of us don’t go to the extreme that he did.  Let us recognize that it is only supernatural grace that saves us.  Good can come out of this.

What is Worthless?

I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me.
Psalm 101:3

I am a chronic planner. I like to account for all my time.  I keep copious records of tasks to be accomplished and am always disappointed when I can’t get them done.  I struggle with allocation of time to relationships, quiet time, or just reading or meditating.  I have learned the hard way multiple times that spending time in relationships whether vertical (with the Lord) or horizontal (with others) is so important.  When I was on my back for a period of time in the hospital a few years ago, there was not much choice to make.  I so wanted my other wife (my computer) but she was not accessible to me.  I hated being forced to relax. 

what is worthless?  Is it rooted in relationships?  Does it glorify myself or God?  Does it plant seeds that will bear fruit?  What is my motivation?  Day to day living is rooted in choices of where to invest my finite resource of time.  Answering questions like this allow me to make decisions without guilt.  Getting time to relax is also so important – I am not good at relaxing!  Debsue and I have started Friday nights as movie nights where we allocate a time to just relax and watch a good movie.  It is rooted in relationship.  It would not have been long ago where I would have deemed such an activity a waste of time because I would have focused on the task rather than the relationship.  Spending time just listening to good music or meditating on Scripture is a daily quest.  I so much want to get on with my day!  I thank God that he shows me that worthless or worthwhile often have to be measured carefully.  

A Resolution Only God Can Keep

“Really! There’s no such thing as self-rescue, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.  The cost of rescue is beyond our means, and even then it doesn’t guarantee life forever, or insurance against the Black Hole.”
Psalm – 49:7-9 Message

Well it is a new year and with every new year comes resolutions for self improvement.  Last year, I made a resolution to lose 20 pounds for Meghan and Josh’s wedding.  I lost 13 pounds so I came up short.  However, over the recent holidays, I have gained 5 back.  It is a never ending battle that is hard to win.  Most resolutions for us fall hopelessly short despite the best of our intentions.  It is because the system is flawed. A flawed system will never succeed despite our intentions.  Some resolutions last longer than others, but it is so hard to keep them. 

A resolution for rescuing ourselves from judgment is an even greater fallacy.  Yet so many think they can by self-effort please God.  God is not impressed with our self-efforts.  Self rescue or self justification is beyond our ability because we are flawed because of sin.  Our sin makes self justification impossible.  The NAS version of the above passage even states “the redemption of the soul is simply too costly” and “we should quit trying forever”.   We could never self-justify ourselves to salvation because our redemption is simply too costly.  It is a leap over the Grand Canyon, it is a swim across the Atlantic.  We could get a few yards out and hopelessly drown or we could even get a mile or two out, but still drown. 

Fortunately, self rescue is not necessary.  God has provided a means for rescue and it is in the form and atoning work of Jesus Christ.  He made the impossible possible.  He has already rescued us.  No self rescue is necessary because the rescue has already been made.  Our job is to accept it freely and appropriate what God has already given us.  God alone can achieve redemption.   The resolution all of us can keep is to accept it.