Tell Me Again

I’ve been reading Laura Story’s book When God Doesn’t Fix It. She makes some good points and asks some challenging questions. In talking about the man who was born blind, whose story is in John 9, she gives evidence that verses 3-5 are often misunderstood because of the way they are translated:

Scholars believe this sentence… should be read as: “‘Neither this many nor his parents sinner,’ said Jesus. ‘But so that the work of God might be displayed in his life, we must do the work of him who sent me while it is still day.’” As The NIV Application Commentary explains, “The purpose clause now explains that Jesus must work so that God’s work may be displayed in this man’s life. God had not made the man blind in order to show his glory; rather, God has sent Jesus to do works on healing in order to show his glory. The theological nuance of the two translations cannot be more different.” (137-138)

She goes on to say that when we encounter suffering and difficulties, rather than asking why it happened, we would be better served to ask “How might my Father’s glory be displayed through this situation?” That’s not always easy to do, and we may not immediately find an answer to that question either. But it does help to get our focus back where it belongs.

In looking back over the year, I know there have been a lot of times I’ve been looking answers and not finding them. Then this morning as I was getting ready for work I heard the song Save My Life by Sidewalk Prophets. You can read the lyrics here. 

If I’m honest with myself, I’m not sure I really care why things happen or what God might do through them. What I really want to know is that I’m not alone or forgotten. I think that is true for most people. We usually don’t need someone to tell us the Bible answers (or secular answers!). What we need is a bunch of people to remind us that God loves us and they love us and aren’t going to leave us. Laura Story comments about the weeks she spent at her husband’s side in the hospital:

More than flowers or cartons of greasy Chinese food, the greatest thing people brought me was their presence. During the wait, which eventually stretched over two days and nights, my favorite visitors were the ones who said the three magic words: not “I love you,” or even, “I am praying,” but, “Here’s your latte.” Those words made me smile each time I heard them because the people who brought me lattes weren’t trying to give me answers. They were just trying to give me coffee. They say with me and wept with me and never said a word. They were the ones who refilled my empty cup. (53-54)

I might disagree about the words “I love you,” but her sentiment is right on. True community and fellowship in the Body of Christ is so much more than just studying Scripture and finding answers. It is about being present in one another’s lives especially when we don’t have any answers to give. I think the local church tends to struggle with this because it is something that can’t be programmed. We can schedule potluck dinners and Bible studies and build greeting time into our Sunday morning service, but we can’t schedule loving one another. Some people are better at this than others (and they tend to get appointed as deacons and deaconesses), but none of us are off the hook. Love God and love others are the two things we’re all supposed to be doing.

Getting ready for a new year, I needed this reminder both in terms of what I expect from other people and how I can serve others. It gives me some guidelines by which I can evaluate what activities I need to be involved in and what ones I can let go. It challenges me to look beyond myself, but also to look beyond the Bible answers to see the people in need.

“These things I command you, so that you will love one another” (John 15:17 ESV).

© 2015 Dawn Rutan. Picture by Dawn Rutan.

Divine Appointments

At this time of year as we think about the birth of Jesus, born to be the Messiah, a string of other biblical appointments came to mind. Zechariah was told by the angel that his unborn son John “will be great before the Lord... and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God” (Luke 1:14-15 ESV). The prophet Jeremiah was told, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:4). The Apostle Paul also said he was “appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher” (2 Timothy 1:11).

I was listening to a sermon on the radio yesterday (I think it was Walk in the Word) that commented on Joseph being carefully selected to be Jesus’ earthly father. We don’t give a lot of thought to Joseph since he is mentioned in only a few verses. About all we know is that he was a just man who was obedient to God. He doesn’t even have a speaking part in the nativity, so he tends to get overlooked as a minor character.

There is a tendency to think that only the “great” men of the Bible received divine appointments. The fact is, every believer was chosen and appointed for a purpose: “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will” (Ephesians 1:4-5). Some are appointed as a “prophet to the nations,” others as a minister to our neighbors, an evangelist to our coworkers, or a servant to our family (or all of the above). It makes no difference how public or private our roles may be, we are equally appointed by God and equally important to the ministry of reconciliation in which we are all participants (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

At Christmas we can tend to feel like spectators, like the shepherds who were summoned to praise God when they saw the baby Jesus, though they had little idea what the angel meant that a Savior had been born. However, the rest of Scripture indicates that the birth of Jesus was as much for us as for those shepherds. The life of Jesus was for our sake as well as for the twelve men He called disciples. His death was for our benefit just as it was for the women standing at the foot of the cross. The gospel song says, “When He was on the cross, I was on His mind.” It could also say, “When He was in the womb, I was on His mind.” We are not afterthoughts or extras in the history of the world. We matter to God. He loves each of us and He’s called each one to love and serve Him.

Let us celebrate this Christmas with a fresh awareness that:

My hope is in the Lord,
Who came to earth for me,
He came to give me life
Through His nativity.
For me He died;
For me He lives,
And everlasting life and light
He freely gives.

(A new verse I added to the old hymn.)

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide... These things I command you, so that you will love one another” (John 15:16-17). “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word... so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me” (John 17:20,23).

© 2015 Dawn Rutan

Entrusted

For some time now I’ve been thinking about 2 Timothy 1:12 (ESV) “…But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.” This is an interesting verse because it has two different ways to translate the original Greek, which is imprecise. In contrast with the ESV, many Bible versions say something like “He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him.” I suspect the ESV chose their rendition because of the parallel in verse 14, “By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.”

That leads to two questions: what has God entrusted to us, and what have we entrusted to Him? From the context of 2 Timothy there are several things entrusted to us:

• Faith – v. 5
• Spiritual gifts – v. 6
• A spirit of power, love, and self-control (or a sound mind) – v. 7
• The testimony/gospel of Jesus – v. 8
• A holy calling – v. 9 and 11

To use Peter’s terminology, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3). God has entrusted us with the message of His love and the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18), and He has equipped us with everything necessary to do His will. So although He could personally appear to every person in order to cause them to believe, He has entrusted a large part of the work to us. That’s a bit intimidating if you think about it for long.

So then what have we or should we entrust to Him?

• Our paths – Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 143:8
• Our salvation – Isaiah 12:2, Hebrews 5:9
• Our security – Psalm 56, Psalm 118:8-9
• Our souls – Matthew 10:28, 1 Peter 4:19
• Our future – Jeremiah 29:11, 1 Peter 1:3-5

We really got the best deal in all of this. We can entrust all that really matters into the hands of the only One who is fully trustworthy, in complete control, and who loves us steadfastly. In exchange, He does give us work to do, but He is the One who ensures that it will be completed (Philippians 1:6, Psalm 57:2).

It is curious how often people think they can trust God for “big” things like salvation, but they don’t want to trust Him for the details of daily life. They want to accept Jesus as Savior, but not as Lord. That tends to be the case when people think God should act for their personal comfort and success, rather than accepting that He may allow difficulty and pain. Sometimes He does entrust us with suffering that can accomplish some greater purpose in our lives. Candi Pearson-Shelton writes of this trust: “He trusts me because I trust Him. Do I always desire that kind of trust from God? No. But do I want to be counted as worthy of that type of trust? Always” (Desperate Hope, 48).

Last night I was pondering what it means to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Matthew 12:30). Now it occurs to me that one answer to that question is Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.” To fully love Him is to fully trust Him. I don’t think anyone is quite there yet, but hopefully we’re moving in that direction.

“Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us” (Psalm 62:8).

© 2015 Dawn Rutan.

Never Alone

A couple weeks ago I was watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for the millionth time. One particular quote often catches my attention. When Harry is feeling alone in his fight against the enemy, Voldemort, Luna Lovegood tells him, “I suppose that’s how he wants you to feel... If I were You-know-who, I’d want you to feel cut off from everyone else. ‘Cause if it’s just you alone, you’re not as much of a threat.”

I can identify with that feeling. One of our enemy’s primary tools is to make us believe we’re alone in the fight for truth, good, and holiness. The “roaring lion” looks for the weak and isolated members to pick off (1 Peter 5:8). The Apostle Paul also reminded his readers that separation creates opportunity for sin:

“…We are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:25-27).

“Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control” (1 Corinthians 7:5).

I recently read All the Places to Go, by John Ortberg, and something he said made a lot of sense. Sometimes when we make a big decision, we suffer from “buyers regret.” The reason for this is that we start to compare all the negative features of what we chose with all the positive features of what we did not choose. This doesn’t just apply to purchases, but to schools, marriage, career, etc. And it occurred to me that it also applies to our self-perception. We know our own sin and weakness all too well and we often start comparing our worst features with what little we can see of the people around us. Pretty soon we’re thinking “Everybody else seems to have it all together, so I must be the one who’s really messed up!” We’ve created our own sense of isolation, and the enemy capitalizes on it to bring us even further down. (Check out Elijah in 1 Kings 19.)

Comparing ourselves with others is never a good thing. It will only lead to pride or shame, depending on who we’re looking at. “Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding… For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends” (2 Corinthians 10:12, 18). And the fact is that God commends His children even when they do screw up, because His love and grace are greater than our sin. His love never changes. We may think we have cut ourselves off, but He’s just waiting for us to look up and see Him still standing there. Christians are really never alone, no matter what we may think or feel. Ideally, we should know the loving support of being in frequent communion with our fellow believers. But even if everyone else fails us, judges us, turns away, or persecutes us, the Father is still on our side.

Mark Gignilliat wrote in Christianity Today:

“We face trials and temptations of all sorts, and God uses them to test our faith. No one knew this to be true more than Jesus. And no one invites us into the joyous dangers of faith more graciously than him, either. We don’t wrestle alone. He is with us, and countless faithful believers have gone before us… The life of faith is one of continual wrestling, where our faith butts up against the troubles of our experience and the sovereign God who controls all things. But the work of Christ, True Israel, assures us that we never wrestle alone or in vain. We may get injured in the ring, but our wounds—like Jacob’s thrown hip—will never become fatal to faith’s final security. God won’t allow it.” http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2015/december/when-god-hits-below-belt.html 

© 2015 Dawn Rutan.

Reasons to Hold On

I don't have the mental or emotional fortitude to write a post of my own this week, but I wanted to share the following quote from Nancy Guthrie. It's a good reminder for all of us living in a broken world, and not only give us reasons to endure, but also ways to pray. The full article can be found here: http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/praying-past-preferred-outcomes  --

"If we really believe that God is purposeful in suffering, that our suffering is not meaningless or random, shouldn't that affect how we pray about the suffering in our lives and in the lives of others? As it is, we pretty much only know how to pray for suffering to be removed—for there to be healing, relief, restoration. Praying for anything less seems less than compassionate. But shouldn't the purposes for suffering we find in Scripture guide our prayers more than our predetermined positive outcomes? We could make a very long list of purposes for which God intends to use suffering according to the Scripture. But here are just a few:

• To put God's glory on display (John 9:3)
• To make the life of Jesus evident (2 Cor. 4:10-11)
• To live out genuine faith (1 Peter 1:6-7)
• To cause us to depend on him more fully (2 Cor. 1:8-9)
• To reveal hidden sin or keep us from sin (2 Cor. 12:7)
• To experience that Christ is enough (2 Cor. 12:9)
• To discipline us for holiness (Hebrews 12:10-11)
• To equip us to comfort others (2 Cor. 1:3)
• To make us spiritually mature (James 1:2-5)
• To make us fruitful (John 15:2)
• To shape us into Christ's likeness (Romans 8:29)
• To share in the suffering of Christ (Philippians 3:10)"

Giving With Gratitude

In Sunday’s sermon, Pastor Matt shared the example of Rick Warren’s decision not to increase his standard of living as he started receiving significant income from his book sales. We were challenged to increase our standard of giving rather than our standard of living. This reminded me of a quote I read several years ago that has influenced the way I budget for each year. In Revolution in Generosity, Daryl Heald (President of Generous Giving) writes:

“Early in our journey of generosity, a friend challenged Cathy and me to give more. We had just finished a Crown Financial Ministries course and decided to increase our giving goal to 20 percent. Each year we would increase that amount by 1 percent. I felt pretty good about that and mentioned it to a friend, hoping he would be impressed with our commitment. After ‘boldly’ sharing, I asked him at what level he and his wife were giving. He told me that they were giving 40 percent of their income and suggested that Cathy and I could do the same. Talk about feeling humbled! At that point in our journey, I didn’t know people gave that much. His openness and lack of arrogance or condemnation appropriately challenged me. He was a motivator. His model eventually allowed us to do the same. Cathy and I talked and prayed about this decision. Our conclusion was to set our new goal at 40 percent and by God’s grace to increase it every year.” (392-393)

I wouldn’t say this is necessarily the goal of every Christian, because every family is different. Adding kids or losing jobs can quickly change the needs of a family. But I do think every Christian needs to give careful consideration to their plan for giving (and yes, it does need to be a plan). Many Christians ask “How much should I give?” The better question is how much should I keep? What do I really need to meet the basic needs of my family now and for the foreseeable future?

Jesus spoke of giving as something that was expected—when, not if:

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven... But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:1, 3-4 ESV).

When we discussed these verses in Sunday school recently, I thought about the ongoing debate in Congress about doing away with the charitable giving tax deduction. It is unfortunate that tax laws play such a big role in how people use their money. For Christians that should never even be a consideration. Christians living in nations where their faith is illegal have far more difficult choices to make about how to care for the needs of orphans, widows, and fellow believers.

We in America are blessed with so many resources that we quickly lose sight of the fact that none of it belongs to us to begin with. We are merely temporary stewards of God’s resources. We are quick to make excuses not to give. It’s easy to ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit while we’re distracting ourselves with the latest gadgets and the football game of the day. I have to say, I have sometimes regretted not giving more to a particular need, but I have never regretted giving “too much.” In one instance in college, I gave some money to a collection but then immediately felt that I should have given more. So God arranged for the collection bucket to go past me again!

In the end, it comes down to a matter of the heart. A gift grudgingly given does not honor either God or the giver. “You shall give to [the poor] freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake” (Deuteronomy 15:10). “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, bot reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful give” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

May our giving this Christmas and all year round be inspired by the grace that God has lavished upon us, and not hindered by fear, selfishness, or pride.

© 2015 Dawn Rutan. 

Getting Ready for the Holy Days

It seems like the holiday season gets harder every year. Besides trying to shop for gifts on a budget, there are all the parties and gatherings, decorating, colder weather, travel, and attempting to remember the real reason for Christmas. And for accountants, there’s the added fun of trying to close out one year and get ready for the next. For some of us it’s just too much—too many people and too many expectations—and it makes me want to crawl into a cave and hibernate until March. I’ve often thought we ought to move the holiday observances to some other month. How about Thanksgiving in October and Christmas in February?

I wrote that first paragraph yesterday, but then couldn’t think where to go from there. Then last night I read Psalm 8:4 (ESV), “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?” This was my prayer:

Lord, why do You love us when we’re so screwed up with stupidity, weakness, pride, selfishness, anger, lust, mixed motives, etc.? I don’t know why You love even one person like that, and yet You’ve loved millions over many generations—more than I can count. And you keep on loving us when we keep on being idiots! Our slight improvement over a lifetime is nothing to brag about before Your holiness.

You don’t give up and You never change Your mind, even though we are usually ungrateful and apathetic about Your love. We’re also ignorant of what it really cost You to make Your love manifest to us. We can’t begin to comprehend the heights and depths and lengths of Your love. We go blithely through Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrating a Baby in a manger without any astonishment that You would send Your Son for us, especially considering the fact that His life would end on a cross.

As we head into this holiday season, let us not be blinded by busyness and traditions, but let us be awestruck by the wonder of Your love for us that is beyond all measure. May this reality completely change our perception of the holidays this year and every year!

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10).

© 2015 Dawn Rutan.