Tag Archives: faith

Not Good News, but God’s News

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Sometimes, the best thing we can tell someone is the “not good news” life brings. A friend is battling cancer, right now, and he’s losing the fight. A relative has chosen to leave her spouse, because she feels she deserves better. A church copes with the sin of a pastor who left them for another bride. All these things are happening. And, for someone, it’s not good news. But it is truth.

Jeremiah was pulled from the dungeon to come to the king’s chamber secretly. The king asked for news about what God was doing or saying. Jeremiah assured him the message had not changed: Babylon will defeat you.

Conversation:
Jeremiah: “A dungeon? Really? Why?”
Zedekiah: “What’s God up to? What’s he saying to you about me?”
Jeremiah: “All is lost. You will be defeated. There is no hope for rescue coming.”
Zedekiah: “No, I want to hear the good stuff God has to say.”
Jeremiah: “You aren’t listening. It’s all over.”

The truth hurts. The church is hurt by the truth about the wayward pastor. The spouse and kids suffer due to the truth of a selfish act. The first visit of a hospice worker pierces the hearts of the wife and kids (and friends.) God’s news can hurt.

The balance? God hurts with you. He knows the pain of loss, of abandonment, of rejection, of death. And because he knows, he hears. And he hears because he is near.
God’s news can be painful and “not good news;” but it’s always good news that he is near, he hears, and he knows.

Come and get me, come and get me…

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I’m not sure it’s exactly a mathematical formula, but the closer we get to “old-ness” the deeper is our longing for eternity. Things that taste like heaven remind me that’s where I’m supposed to dine some day. Things that hint of eternity nudge me to think how unsatisfying it is “down here.” When God’s Kingdom flashes through the dark and touches me or someone I pray for, I’m drawn toward that brilliance, if just for a moment.

Susan and I watched “City Slicker 2” a few days ago. Setting aside all the vignettes for the stars (Lovitz’s impersonation of Rainman, Crystal’s conversation with the cow on the jogging path, etc.) the whole story is Billy Crystal’s consummate self-centeredness set against the total focus of Jack Palance’s character toward “getting Curly’s gold.” At one point, Palance’s hungry gaze looks over the wilderness and hears the gold calling, “come and get me.” It’s a frightening look he gives to the character: a man possessed by the big fever for gold.

I need an impassioned longing for real treasure! Not “Curly’s gold” but the stuff of heaven. And I need to accept that God passionately loves me. His love for me is totally full-time – no momentary flash of “I like Rick.” He loves me (and you, if you’ve chosen to believe how far He stretched to rescue you) with unrestrained passion.

Jesus was moving on in his mission with his followers, heading for death, looking toward the resurrection and the new way of relating to those He calls. He says to his loved ones on the week of his execution:

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” (John 14:1-3)

So, if you are troubled by the trouble? Trust that God has you life in the safe cup of his hand. If you feel the wonder when His eternity flashed into our time-consumed existence? He has a place beyond time that fits you perfectly – it’s under construction just like you are. Do you have a longing for knowing Him more intimately? Trust me: your longing to be with Him is only a smattering compared to His longing to have you with Him always. He longs to “come and get you (and me.)”

Eternally for Him

Rick

Collateral Damage

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It’s almost Easter again (2013) and the Cross gets the headlines in churches and news-blogs. Most of us relegate crucifixion to the Gospels, but what about today? Men will be crucified on Good Friday in the Philippines as a sign of desperate devotion (one woman joins the parade of the crucified – her fifteenth time – hoping for a miracle for her sister.) The cross as execution tool is still used against Christians (and other betrayers) in the Muslim world. Egypt, Iraq, Indonesia and other nations have had recent crucifixions to punish the infidels.

For some, this is collateral damage to show the world that Islam rules. Or in the case of the Filipino devotees, a way to display a profane dedication to their God’s holy demands. For many, it’s a religious sideshow. For this Christ-follower, it breaks the heart.

The message of the Cross is simple, liberating, life-altering, and resolves the soul’s deepest cravings… for those who believe. For those who deny or oppose, it is a foolish thing for anyone to think God would take on the pain of the Cross for a barely worthless person. Such an idea would trip up the rationale of anyone with the sense the world gave him or her.

In some ways, the collateral damage that hurts the most is the sacrifice willingly made by the Son of God. (Maybe we should, at least around Easter, feel the pain of what God allowed in the crucifixion.)But beyond the Cross (and really for the Cross) Christ-followers have been willing to sacrifice themselves to show the message of the Cross to generations of cultures. Some have been willing participants of collateral damage, crucified or otherwise executed for the Message… a part of the legacy of getting the Good News to the world.

Collateral means parallel or alongside of, a good picture of what we as Christ-followers do in sharing the Good News with others through our lives, prayers, resources, gifts and talents… and of course, our words. But collateral also means payment or bond or guarantee (as in bail money).

The sacrifice of Christ on the Cross is the bond paid forward and offered to be received by faith. And the sacrifice you and I make to take this Message that is so offensive to some in hopes they will received the gift? We may or may not be a part of the collateral damage, but it’s worth the risk and the reward.

With a view to the Cross,

Rick

Cracked Logic

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Few times do crackpots become more visible than presidential election year in America. Jonathan Maxwell ran some years back as the candidate for the Vegetarian Party. Vermin Brewer is a candidate again, always campaigning with a large rubber boot on his head (haven’t gotten that metaphor yet). And a guy named Tim wears his Santa Claus hat while promising to cut taxes – because that’s what his spirit guides have empowered him to do! Oh yeah, it does get a bit crazy.

The clearly crazed aren’t the ones who scare me, though. It’s the undercover insanity that causes the real problems. Candidates promise to deliver the very gifts that we value in the US – freedom, provision, relationship, happiness, security – while ignoring the very God who gives these things. That should be the wake up call.

A prophet from the Old Testament named Jeremiah gave a wake up call to his nation:

“For my people have done two evil things:
They have abandoned me—
the fountain of living water.
And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns
that can hold no water at all!

His nation had chosen to install in the place of the God who really provides, a system of wells and holding tanks that would provide water in times of drought, war, and want. The problem? Nearly invisible cracks would leak out the life-giving water into the surrounding dirt. The illusion this gave? You can have all the good stuff God promised (safety, quenched thirst, water for crops, etc.), but without the need to follow after God! Just trust in my system!

I’m not on a rampage against irrigation systems or crusading against preparing for future problems. But, laying systems of safety and provision apart from acknowledging God as the one who provides and is our safety? That’s cracked logic.

Oh, the dangers of building security apart from reliance on the God who secures. Jeremiah called it two evils. Departing from God, and trying to replace God with a system. Can we see the cracks in this logic? Do you see the dirty ground water rising around the cisterns?

Filled up and spilling over,

Rick (John 7:38)

Changed by Simple Choices

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I talked to a couple a few weeks ago, and they found our church because of a traffic snag. It was one of those events – car show, fun run, softball tourney, etc. – that sent cars all over the beach roads to get north or south. We do church right in the middle of the action, so they turned left to go right, and there we were. They worship with us now.

What matters most often is the result of simple choices. I’m not just talking about personal randomness like what dropped into these guys’ lives. The simple choices of how to spend a few minutes, or who to call just to say I’m thinking about you, or whether to turn left or right at the juncture of a dilemma, can literally transform your life.

I saw this today in Jesus’ life once again. And if anyone didn’t do randomness, He didn’t! But it sure seemed like it sometimes in Scripture; that is, until we got the rest of the story. (Ask the lonely guy at the Pool of Siloam how, out of all the sick, he was healed, if randomness figured into the plan. Or the lady with the issues who touched Jesus’ robe in the midst of her own traffic jam, if she was healed randomly. It may look random, but Jesus chooses very personally who to touch. But, I’m off topic…sorry.)

Mark writes his account of what we’ve come to call The Transfiguration (Mark 9). If you’ve read it before, and I asked you “why did he go up the mountain?” what would be your likely answer? To meet with Mose and company? To be Transfigured? To give a glimpse of His glory to the three disciples with Him?

From Mark’s pen, it was the result of a simple choice. The intro goes like this: “Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone.”

He wanted to rest, pray, get away from the noisy crowds, and have some alone time with His best friends and His Father. He knew that, being quiet for a time settles things deep down inside. It can clear the fog and cause the main things to rise to the top of the list, above the “not-so-main-things.” And it did just that – the Transfiguration account is all about the Father’s plan coming about through Jesus! It’s about the Father’s voice and the Father’s glory being seen in His Son! (Not to mention the very important cameos from Moses and Elijah to affirm the the mission!)

Simple choices just don’t get enough credit, but choosing wisely instead of poorly, or thoughtfully over impulsively, can cause us to land right into those important crossroads in our lives. There is a “default” perspective at times in the thought processes of follower’s of Christ. It starts with something like, “It must be God since I want to do it” and ends with “OK, it will somehow work out in the end” when the results skew a different direction. It’s almost a baptized fatalism that can rule our choices.

Take your choices before the Father, and make your choices based on His wisdom and His mission in your life. And, of course, it’s always a good choice to get away with your Father for some alone time with Him! Doing this as a simple daily choice will lead to your own personal transformation, and who knows? You likely will find yourself standing right in front of a far greater adventure than you could have chosen on your own!

On the Journey – Rick