What Do You Want?

Recently I noticed that there are two recorded times when Jesus asked someone “What do you want Me to do for you?” Both occur in Mark 10 (as well as the parallel passage in Matthew 20). In the first instance, James and John (and their mother according to Matthew) asked to be honored in Jesus’s kingdom. In the second, blind Bartimaeus (and another blind man per Matthew) asked to recover his sight. Two entirely different motives were revealed—pride and the desire for glory vs. humility and a request for mercy. The request made by the “Sons of Thunder” made the other disciples indignant and resulted in Jesus preaching a mini-sermon on servanthood. But the request from Bartimaeus led to a commendation of his faith and the immediate granting of his appeal.

In He Is Not Ashamed, Erik Raymond writes:

“Bartimaeus couldn’t do anything for Jesus. He came as a needy man, and Jesus was ready to give. Jesus also didn’t insult him or belittle his condition. Unlike the crowd who looked down on him, Jesus built him up by honoring him. Far from being ashamed of him, Jesus publicly welcomed and dignified the man… He had no interest in personal exaltation; he just wanted mercy”

Jesus responded similarly to the Canaanite woman whose daughter was demon-oppressed in Matthew 15. She asked for mercy and was commended for her faith and her daughter was healed. Those who desire mercy will find it in Jesus.

However, we often come to God with mixed motives. What we desire may be a good thing: healing from illness, restoration of relationships, etc. But our wishes may become idols that attempt to push God off His throne. As is mentioned in this recent episode of the Hope and Help Podcast, can we honestly say, “I want to glorify God more than I want ______”? There are many things in life I would change if I had the power, and I wonder what God is doing in and through them. Yet I have to trust that His way is not only best, but also results in His ultimate glory. My wishes may bring me comfort or momentary happiness, but they may also rob God of the glory that is due to Him. (This is one reason the prosperity gospel is so twisted and unbiblical.)

We have a high priest who experienced weakness and has sympathy for the weak (Heb. 4:15). We have the Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness (Rom. 8:26). Our God will not let us be tempted beyond our ability, but provides a way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13). He gives us sufficient grace (2 Cor. 12:9). But we have to admit our weakness and rely on Him so that He is the One who is glorified and not us. His glory may be revealed through healing, or it may come through trusting Him to carry us when we know we can’t make it on our own.

God invites us to come to Him and to ask what we want, but with the understanding that what He gives us is the mercy we need, not necessarily the “fix” that we desire. Our faith has opportunity to grow when we have to trust that God’s “No” is for our ultimate good.

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).

© 2024 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Root and Fruit of Hope

According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, the noun for “hope” (elpis) in the New Testament most often means “expectation of good, hope; and in the Christian sense, joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation.” If you read through the list of verses (here), it usually refers to hope in God and in the promise of eternal life through faith in Christ. The verb form (elpizo) sometimes has the idea of a wish or desire (such as Phil. 2:23), though also refers to fixing one’s hope on God.

I haven’t heard this elsewhere, but I’ve been thinking about it like this—true hope is rooted in God and what He has promised from and for all eternity. Out of that root grow the fruit of godly desires for this life and for what God is doing in us and through us. The root of eternal hope gives us meaning and purpose in life.

I think it is helpful to differentiate between the root of hope and its fruit, because although we may desire certain outcomes, most of them are not guaranteed for this lifetime. We trust in God and His plan, but the specifics are out of our control. We know that God will bring many people to faith in Him, but we don’t know whether that will include a particular person we love. We know that God has put His people together into local church bodies to work together to share the Gospel and disciple others, but we don’t know whether our particular church will be faithful to that call or will even exist ten years from now. (Three churches I’ve attended in the past are now closed.) We know that one day all believers will be resurrected to a perfect existence, but we don’t know whether our family member will be cured from their illness here and now. We know that God will strengthen His people to endure suffering, but we don’t know if our particular area of suffering will come to an end before we die.

That’s why I have often said that my hope is almost entirely in eternity and not in this life, because the things that I would like to see happen here are not guaranteed. God is at work and He will fulfill His purposes, but His thoughts are not my thoughts and His ways are not my ways (Is. 55:8). I will wish and pray for the outcomes I desire, but ultimately, I must say, “Thy will be done.”

I believe this is one of the lessons from the life of Job. He had certain expectations of his life, but God allowed him to suffer in ways that didn’t make sense to him. So often we quote only the first half of Job 13:15, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him; yet I will argue my ways to His face.” In the end, Job realized that his assumptions were misplaced. God never did answer Job’s questions, but He did remind Job that He was still in control of all things. Job’s hope couldn’t be in his prosperity, his family, his understanding, or even his religious activities, but in God alone.

I have sometimes called myself a cynic, but actually I’m what this article from TGC calls a hopeful realist.

“This is a perspective that embraces the dual realities of contemporary evil and forthcoming redemption. It lives in the tension of a groaning creation and its imminent restoration.”

I have no illusions that things in this life will go the way I want them to, but I cling to the hope that God will one day make all things new and “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4). In the meantime, we are all meant to be working in the pursuit of God’s will and living in obedience to His Great Commission and Great Commandment.

“If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:19).

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Rom. 15:13).

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

The Picture Show

Reading through Ezekiel recently I took note of this description:

“I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel… Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up… ‘Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, “The Lord does not see us...”’” (8:10-12 ESV).

Though written millennia ago, this almost sounds like modern day. We may not be burning incense, but nearly every house in our country has a room of moving pictures that distract us from worshiping the one true God. It’s easy to forget that God sees what happens in our homes even when no one else may know.

David said in Psalm 101:2-3a- “I will ponder the way that is blameless… I will walk with integrity of heart within my house. I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.” Some commentaries assert that this was written before David assumed the throne, and therefore before his sin with Bathsheba. Even the “man after God’s own heart” didn’t follow through with his good intentions. How much more vulnerable are we?

Brennan Manning wrote, “The gift of radical discipleship is pure grace to those who have no claim to it, for the deepest desires of our heart are not in our control. Were this not so, we simply would will those desires and be done with it” (The Signature of Jesus, 12). While we live on this earth, we live with conflicting desires. As Paul testified in Romans 7, we want to do what is right, but “evil lies close at hand” (7:21). Job said, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin” (31:1). Few have made such a covenant, and even fewer have kept it. Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount have convicted me lately:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire… You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28).

When we remember to include our thoughts in the tally, we all sin on a regular basis in one way or another. We look at things we shouldn’t, desire things that we can’t or shouldn’t have, fantasize about some other life, worship recreation instead of God, and carry around bitterness and anger in our hearts.

“The things we think on are the things that feed our souls. If we think on pure and lovely things, we will grow pure and lovely like them; and the converse is equally true. Very few people realize this, and consequently there is a great deal of carelessness, even with careful people, in regard to their thoughts. They guard their words and actions with the utmost care, but their thoughts, which are the very root of everything in character and life, they neglect entirely. So long as it is not put into spoken words, what goes on in the mind seems of no consequence. No one hears or knows, and therefore they imagine that the vagrant thoughts that come and go do no harm. Such persons are careless about the food offered to their thoughts and accept without discrimination anything that comes” (Hannah Whitall Smith, God Is Enough, 122).

“Let the… meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Treasuring God on the Mountain

Thoughts from Family Camp 2016

1) In a quiet moment at the creek, I was watching the water striders floating around. Each one stayed in a particular spot, and if another came within 6-8 inches they would chase it off. There were some interesting fights on the water's surface. Some worked hard to keep from floating downstream, while others rested against rocks. None of them seemed to accomplish anything, but each defended its square foot admirably. 

Unfortunately, the same might be said of some churches. Nothing is ever accomplished, but they've kept their building or their tradition safe from intruders while the stream of life keeps flowing past. There are some things we are to preserve and protect, but buildings and traditions aren't among them. Ephesians 4:3 (ESV) says we are to be "eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." That's hard to do if we're busy defending our turf rather than the gospel. 

2) One fussy young lad was heard to say "Nothing will make me happy but gum." That might seem silly, but I'm not sure some folks ever grow up. Their desires just get bigger and more expensive— a truck; a house; a spouse; a divorce; better health... "I'd be happy if I just had this one thing."

Josh Chamberlin's devotion on Tuesday talked about "It Is Well With My Soul." I was reminded of a blog idea I'd been kicking around: It may not always be well with my body, my emotions, my work, etc., but ultimately none of that matters if it is well with my soul. And because of Christ, my deepest needs have been met. Everything else is just a passing desire. 

3) Even though this is Family Camp, and many folks do come with multiple generations of family, it is evident that we are all brothers and sisters in God's family. Those of us who come alone are quickly adopted by others. People go out of their way to help those in need. Kids migrate from one family to another (often dependent on who's at the front of the lunch line).

That's the beauty of being part of this larger family, but it doesn't always happen at the local church level where we don't spend extended times together. I can say from experience that it can be hard for someone new to a church to break into the circles of biological families and build meaningful relationships. That's something we need to be constantly mindful of. 

4) In the evening services, Travis Hutcheson shared from Deuteronomy 6. I hadn't thought before about the personal application that we were all once slaves to something, but now we are free in Christ and are heading to the Promised Land. It kind of parallels 1 Corinthians 6:11: "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." 

I often wrestle with how to accept that as true while yet living with the temptations of this life. The Israelites had the same problem. Although they knew God was leading them to a better land, whenever things got tough they started looking back to the "good life" in Egypt. Although physically free, they were still mentally enslaved to a life that was killing them. And today, even though we are spiritually free, we still find ourselves longing for Egypt because we can't fathom the Promised Land that is coming and we don't want to wait for it. And as Chris Hall reminded us, one thing that will help us to persevere is to remember that God chose is to be His treasured possession. 

"Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is Mine" (Exodus 19:5).

© 2016 Dawn Rutan.