Rethinking Resolutions

Though I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, I thought I’d take a different approach this year. A few Scriptures came to mind last night with exhortations that I need to dwell on:

• “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV). 
• “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer” (Romans 12:12). 
• “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:6-8). 

These are admonitions we all need to practice more. But the reason I won’t call these resolutions is that I know I don’t have the resolve to carry them out. I expect to fail completely, probably every day. However, that doesn’t mean I’ll give up on them. If I were to resolve to eat better, I’d give up as soon as I looked at the stack of snacks in my kitchen. If I were to resolve to run a 10K this year, I’d give up when my endurance and motivation lagged.

On the other hand, if I find myself neglecting these exhortations, I have greater motivation to return to them. Who wouldn’t want to think about good things, or to trust God more fully with all the cares and concerns of life? There is no downside to practicing these “resolutions.” Unlike dieting, there’s no need to give up something enjoyable, unless of course you enjoy worry and fear.

I expect it will require an exercise of the will in order to train the brain to think in new ways. It’s easy to fall into the old habits of worrying, grumbling, and dwelling on the negative. And I know there are times when I won’t feel like rejoicing or giving thanks, but Paul didn’t say “Rejoice when you feel like it.” Sometimes feelings follow actions, and sometimes giving thanks is primarily an act of obedience. One thing I have tried to do in recent months is to include at least one expression of thanks or praise in my daily journal. If nothing else, I can be thankful for who God is.

There are plenty of other admonitions in Scripture that could be pursued as well. Looking back over the past year, I’d have to say the main focus of the year was Romans 6:12-14:

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

That wasn’t exactly my intention when I started the year, but that’s where God brought me out by His grace and mercy. I suppose that’s how the best resolutions work—not a mental decision to exercise self-control, but a covenant by grace to yield to God’s control and let Him do whatever He wants in your life. Not that there’s anything wrong with trying to be a better steward of your body, money, and possessions, but we know how quickly most resolutions fall by the wayside. And as Paul reminded Timothy, “Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:7-8).

So here’s how I’ll put it: This year, by the grace of God, I will more frequently rejoice, give thanks, pray, and dwell on the good things of life and eternity.

Let There Be Light

Last night I was reading Psalm 4 and noticed verse 6b: “Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!” (ESV). That led me to think of Isaiah 9:2: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.” From there I jumped to John 1:5: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” And then on to John 8:12: “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”

We often hear about Jesus being the Light of the world as these verses describe. But the next verse that came to mind surprised me. In Matthew 5:14 Jesus says, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” I had never thought of this verse in conjunction with His statement in John. He is the Light of the world, but He calls us to carry the same light ourselves. We are not unlike candle holders, bearing His light for others to see. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes of this verse:

“So not only have we received light, we have been made light. We become transmitters of light. In other words, it is this extraordinary teaching of the mystical union between the believer and his Lord. His nature enters into us so that we become, in a sense, what He Himself is. It is essential that we bear in mind both aspects of this matter. As those who believe the gospel we have received light and knowledge and instruction. But, in addition, it has become part of us. It has become our life, so that we thus become reflectors of it. The remarkable thing, therefore, of which we are reminded here is our intimate relationship with Him. The Christian is a man who has received and has become a partaker of the divine nature.”

Light reveals reality: by it we can see what is around us in this dark world we live in. Light exposes the dirt and sin in our lives and in the lives of others that needs to be cleaned up. It also shows the cleanness of lives that have been made as white as snow. Light illumines the path ahead, so we are not stumbling around like those living in darkness.

I wonder how well we are carrying the light sometimes. Are we living in the light of confession and repentance, or are we trying to keep some parts of our lives hidden from view? Are we helping others to see their need for the light of truth, or are we overlooking them for the sake of niceness? Are we revealing the path to the One who is Light, or are we helping them remain in darkness? Are we letting our light shine in the darkness, or are we hoping someone else will do the job for us?

As we have celebrated the coming of the Light into the world this Christmas, may we allow that light to shine into our lives and reveal any darkness we need to deal with. And as we move into the New Year, may we let God’s light shine in us and through us to a world walking in darkness.

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Waiting for Joy

In this third week of Advent the theme is joy. Joy is one of those terms that is hard to define very well. We’ve been told that it is supposed to be different from happiness, which is based in circumstances (related to Old English happenstance, hap, luck). It should be more deeply rooted and therefore more enduring than happiness. The first definition listed on Dictionary.com is “the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation.” That clears things up, right? If we can’t clearly define what we mean by joy, how do we know if we have it?

Bible translations differ, and where some translations use the word “happy” others substitute “blessed.” This is one reason that happiness is often tied to having favorable circumstances. However, the Greek and Hebrew words for “joy” are used fairly consistently across translations.

I find it interesting that the Bible never seems to indicate that joy is unchangeable. Paul wrote that he was “overflowing with joy” (2 Corinthians 7:4), and longing to “be filled with joy” (2 Timothy 1:4). David prayed “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation” (Psalm 51:12). James warned “Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom” (James 4:9). Solomon stated, “Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief” (Proverbs 14:13).

To be honest, I find it a bit of a relief to know that a lack of joy does not necessarily indicate a lack of faith. Yes, joy is part of the Fruit of the Spirit and hopefully will increase over time. But that also means it is up to the Holy Spirit to produce joy, not me. We can do things to nurture joy, but we can’t make it grow. I came across this verse a few days ago, and I have great appreciation for Paul’s prayer here: “May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy” (Colossians 1:11). Sometimes we have to wait for the joy to come, and faith is our lifeline while we wait.

May we learn to wait, to trust, and to bow to the One who is in control.

(Check out Bow the Knee, words and music by Christopher Machen & Michael Harland)

Rescued

A Short Story

No one knows how we got here. We’ve been on this island our whole lives. The older folks don’t talk anymore. In fact, they don’t do much of anything. They’ll eat a little food if it’s put in front of them, but they all have this glassy stare. The glazed look has been appearing on younger and younger people. Even the kids seem to be more or less oblivious to everything around them.

We get up each morning, go to the fields to collect whatever food is available, cook our meals over the community fire, then go back to our wooden shacks to sleep till another day. There is no school since there is nothing to learn and no one to teach us. No one is interested in learning anyway. We are all just surviving from day to day. You can tell when someone has given up and is preparing to die. They stop eating altogether, and usually they just close their eyes and wait for it to be over.

I don’t know how old I am since no one bothers to keep track of time, but I’m one of the younger people on the island. I realized early on that I was different from the others. I observed the people around me and couldn’t understand their despondent outlook on life. I investigated the island to see what else was here, and found that we had abundant food supplies. I was interested in our world when no one else seemed to look past their own nose.

I looked out over the sea and off in the distance there was another island just barely visible. I really wanted to go there, but our island had no boats and no tools for making anything of substance. As our old shacks rotted, very little was done to repair or replace them. Some folks slept outside because they couldn’t be bothered to make a new shelter. So the chances of getting help making a boat were pretty slim. One of the talking people would just say, “It’s no use.”

It seemed like the island was drowning in hopelessness. There was no hope for change, so there was no reason to work, learn, build, talk, or even think. And eventually each person decided there was no reason to live.

I often pondered these things as I sat on the high rocks overlooking the sea. I don’t know why, but that other island seemed to hold the key for our survival. I held onto that hope even though I couldn’t imagine how deliverance might come. We had no way of getting there, and I had seen no evidence that there was anyone there who might be able to get to us. The island could be deserted, or they could be in the same condition we were in.

It was tempting to give in to hopelessness, but something wouldn’t let me. I kept looking at that island and tried to imagine what life might be like over there. I didn’t have anything to compare it to except for those few times I had seen a young child who still had a spark of life in his eyes. He would make eye contact, and maybe even smile a little. Or if you were lucky, he might hold your hand for a few seconds. But it wasn’t long before the deadened, hopeless look came over him and he was just as self-absorbed as everyone else. I could imagine that on that other island were people who looked at each other, smiled, talked together, and held hands. That was the extent of my imagination, but I clung to it every waking moment. And sometimes it even slipped into my dreams. Once in awhile I would whisper to myself, “Please come find me.”

One night I awakened from a beautiful dream of ‘my island,’ as I had come to call it. The night didn’t seem as dark as usual. I looked out from my shack and thought I saw movement beyond the embers of the cooking fire. I wasn’t at all afraid. I quietly slipped out to investigate. Something was moving in the shadows, and as it headed toward the shoreline I could see that it was a man. He wasn’t moving too quickly, and I had no trouble catching up with him. As soon as I was within a few paces, he stopped, turned around, and looked right at me. Even in the darkness I could see his eyes and I saw that they were full of life and love. He was unlike any of the people on our island. I was so drawn to him that I couldn’t look away from his face.

“I heard your prayers,” he said. I didn’t speak, but I wondered what he was talking about. “I heard your whispers for help, and so I came for you.” As he said that, I realized that he was standing beside a boat. He beckoned for me to get in, and as I stepped up beside him he put his hand on my shoulder. In that moment, my whole world changed. All hopelessness was gone. I suddenly saw the stars in the sky and heard the sounds of crickets and owls in the woods behind me.

“Come home, child. Your place is with me.”

* * *

I wrote this short story several months ago, and as I was thinking about Christmas it came to mind again. It’s a reminder that God came to us, to do for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. The difference is that He didn’t just come and pluck us out of our situation. He actually became one of us and grew up among us. He rescued us from the hopelessness, but He also left us here to bring the good news of Life, Light, and Hope to others.

Peace in Confidence

I spent Sunday afternoon watching the perennial favorite The Sound of Music. It occurred to me as I watched that Maria had more problems with becoming a nun than just falling in love Captain Von Trapp. She also had some significant theology problems. When she first is ordered to leave the convent, what is the song she sings on her way? “I have confidence in confidence alone; besides which, you see, I have confidence in me!” Don’t you think a novitiate should be stating her confidence in God alone?

Then after the Captain affirms his love for Maria, she sings, “For here you are, standing there, loving me, whether or not you should. So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good. Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could. So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.” So apparently her belief is that you eventually get what you deserve. Even though she could only remember her “wicked childhood,” she is certain that she must have done something to earn this love she now received.

What amazes me is that in the 30 or 40 times I’ve seen this movie I’ve never once considered the heresy that it is propagating! We probably all have times when we get caught up in the drama or the tradition that we don’t really think about the fallacies we’re taking in. (Television is a great anesthetic to the brain.)

Right after watching the movie, I picked up a book I’ve been rereading, Shame Interrupted, by Edward Welch. In writing about the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12), he quotes Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the first beatitude: “It means the complete absence of pride, a complete absence of self-assurance and self-reliance. It means the consciousness that we are nothing in the presence of God. It is nothing, then, that we can produce; it is nothing that we can do in ourselves. It is just this tremendous awareness of our utter nothingness as we come face to face with God. That is to be poor in spirit” (p. 142).

Jumping ahead to the sixth beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” Welch comments, “One good message from this beatitude is that pure is possible for the poor in spirit. How can that be? When you assemble the pieces you have so far, you know that pure is possible because you are purified by Jesus. Pure is something that is done to you. You receive it by faith through the gentle yet powerful touch of Jesus” (p. 149).

Among the many great lessons of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus points out two keys here: 1) We have no confidence, ability, or righteousness in and of ourselves. 2) All that we have comes from God through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Based on those two realities, we can cling to the other promises in that sermon-- “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious...” (Matthew 6:33-34). “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you... how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (7:7,11).

I’ve needed these reminders lately when the promises of Scripture have seemed to apply to either the past or the future, not the present. So Friday evening I started compiling for myself a list of scriptural “Promises for Today” and the beatitudes were one of the first places I stopped. I also spent considerable time in the psalms, and Psalm 27:1 has come to mind several times in the past few days: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

Here are just a few of the other promises I pulled out:

·         Psalm 37:5-6- “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.”

·         Psalm 57:2- “I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me.”

·         John 15:5- “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

·         James 5:11- “Behold, we consider those blessed who remain steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”

·         Isaiah 30:15- “In returning [repentance] and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

In this second week of Advent the Peace candle is lit. Peace is built on the foundation of hope. Peace becomes a reality when we fully believe and have confidence in the God who keeps all His promises. Jesus Himself was the fulfillment of many Old Testament promises, and He continues to fulfill promises today and every day. We can depend on Him while we await the fulfillment of the final promise of eternal life in the kingdom in His presence.

“It is impossible for God to lie. We who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” (Hebrews 6:18-19).

© 2013 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

I'm Entitled!

I’ve been reading the book of Job lately, and it seems to me that Job’s friends have gotten a lot of bad press over the years. Much of what they say is actually true, despite the fact that they don’t know the back story taking place in the heavens. And Job wasn’t as guiltless as he first seems. Early in the book it says that “in all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong” (1:22), but by 42:6 he is repenting “in dust and ashes.”

What happened in between? My reading is that Job had a bad case of entitlement. He basically says, “Let me state my case before God. I’ll prove my innocence and convince God He was wrong to put me through all this suffering.” Even the oft quoted verse “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him” actually ends with “yet I will argue my case before Him” (13:15).

I haven’t used those exact words, but that has been the motivation in my heart at times. “I’ve done these good things, I’ve trusted You and praised You, and yet I’m suffering. I’ve endured various types of suffering, and yet You still don’t bring me relief.” Sometimes it seems like we should be entitled to things we don’t get. Not just material things, but the spiritual blessings that come from being a child of God. He says we’ve been blessed “in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3), and yet those blessings often seem so elusive.

Now’s a good time to confess that I don’t always practice what I preach. I can write about true hope being founded on the expectation of God’s promises, while simultaneously wishing God would change my circumstances. And when He doesn’t, I can get angry enough to want to argue my case before God. Hope can quickly degenerate into entitlement if I’m not careful.

So where does that leaves us? A few thoughts come to mind—

1) It does no good to argue with God or try to bargain with Him. His ways and means are so foreign to us that all we can do is put our hand over our mouth as Job did.

2) There may be a bigger story taking place than we can ever imagine. I’ve often wondered exactly how the heavenly dialogue of Job 1 was revealed in order to be included in Scripture. Did God tell Job what had happened, or was some other writer enlightened after the fact?

3) God’s promises in Scripture are true whether we believe them or not, and whether we experience them for ourselves or not. Despite Job’s fears that God wouldn’t even listen to him (9:16), he found out that God not only heard him, but knew what was going on better than Job did.

4) Sin can hinder us from seeing what God is doing. Whether it was Job’s sense of entitlement, or the Israelites’ fear that God wouldn’t provide for their needs in the wilderness and in the Promised Land, sin can get in the way. It can make a small problem bigger, and it can make it last longer. I’m sure the Israelites felt entitled to enter the Promised Land after their slavery in Egypt and wandering in the wilderness, but they found out they had missed out on the blessing because of their lack of faith. The Promised Land then became the dream of the next generation.

What it boils down to is: confess and repent of what is revealed to be sin, trust God to keep His promises, and pray for the eyes to see what He is doing and the endurance to wait for His timing. Easier said than done, but I’m working on it!

Expectancy

It hadn't occurred to me till this week that a synonym for hope is expectant. Doesn't "expectant mother" sound more hopeful than "pregnant"? (Personally, I like the term used in the Opus cartoons years ago- "infanticipating.") 

Since we're nearing Advent, I've been thinking about the hope that Mary must have had after learning that she was to be the mother of the Messiah. The announcement from an angel must have started hope growing. Then her visit to Elizabeth strengthened her hope. The shepherds' arrival reinforced her hope even more. She had the expectation of not only raising a child, but a child unlike any other. 

Jesus would literally be the Hope of the world. Mary had no way of knowing how that hope would be fulfilled, though the words of Simeon in Luke 2 told Mary it would not be easy for her to witness-- "A sword will pierce your own soul as well." The ultimate hope for the world would come through the pain of a sacrificial death. The expectation of eternal life came through the apparent hopelessness of death. 

For this first Sunday of Advent, I wonder what hopes we are cherishing right now? If hope is based on expectation, what are we truly expecting, not just wishing for? Christmas tends to become a time of wishing, rather than hopeful expectation.

-Wishing for a particular gift, or wishing for the money to buy the "perfect" gift.

-Wishing for a change of circumstances, or wishing things wouldn't keep changing. 

-Wishing for the holiday season to last, or wishing for it to be over. 

But hopeful expectancy is found in Christ. We can expect that He will always love His children (2 Thessalonians 2:16). We can expect that He is always at work in our lives, making even the hard times work for His purposes (Romans 8:28). We can expect that He will cause spiritual fruit to grow in our lives as we trust in Him (Galatians 5:22-23). And one day we can expect to see Him face to face when He comes in glory (2 Thessalonians 1:10).

-In Christ, we already have the perfect gift, and we are encouraged to share it with others so that it might be multiplied. 

-In Christ, we know that we are loved, accepted, and forgiven, regardless of our circumstances. 

-In Christ, every day is a holy day, set apart for us to serve Him and glorify Him by using the gifts He has given us. 

May this Christmas be one of growing hopefulness as we expect God to fulfill His scriptural promises in our lives!