The Last Place You Left It

My wife called me, feeling more than a little stressed because she could not find her engagement ring.  She had anxiously been looking for it without success.  She turned up the volume of her search by letting others know via the Internet, thinking she might have misplaced it in the ladies washroom at church.  It was a burden on her spirit until she found it.

She told me that she found it but did not tell me where.  I said to her, "I know where you found it.  You found it at the last place you left it."  She chuckled a bit and acknowledged, "Yes, that is right where I found it."  And unless someone else has moved it or it grows legs and walks off, that is where you find everything you lose.

If, in your marriage, "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" as the Righteous Brothers crooned in the 1964 hit, you can find it where you last left it.  Seriously.  Any marriage counselor worth his/her salt will, at some point, direct you to go back to that time when you felt it most and begin again doing and saying those things that gave rise to and sustained that feeling.  The feeling you had then can still be found in the place you left it before your relationship moved on to other pursuits than one another.

If you've lost the financial cushion you used to have in your savings account.  Go back to the principles of financial management you used to live by.  Reign in your spending, focusing on paying off debt instead of using credit, make paying yourself a priority by insisting that a portion of your income gets put into savings, make "tithing" or giving an indispensable part of your life, use a budget to tell your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.  Go back to whatever it was you were doing when saving was more important than spending.

Is your faith waning?  Is your prayer life slipping?  If your fervor for the Lord growing faint?  Do you look back to days when your Christian walk was so much clearer, bolder, better than it is now?  The answer to reclaiming that pinnacle of faith is the same as the other things you've lost: "This is what the Lord says: 'Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls'" (Jer 6:16).  Pause for a bit, look back to the place where it used to be, walk on that path again.  Jus' Say'n.

Giving Up to Gain

"...[Jesus] called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?'" (Mk 8:34-36).

Seems counterintuitive to say that the way to gain life is to give it up but that is precisely what Jesus is saying.  While we naturally cling to things in order to possess them, believing that maintaining personal control is the key to insuring continuity.  However, in the words of Dr. Phil, "How has that been working for you?"

For instance, when one hoards his/her money instead of investing it, how well does it that work against the rising tide of inflation and the cost of living?  Investors, despite some loses, are the ones who gain.  If you jealously control your wife, keeping her close not allowing her freedom to be herself, what is the end result of that intense possessiveness?

The question is when you focus on yourself in a selfish way, what do you gain?  You don't!  You lose!  And when you continue in that self-focus, eventually you lose yourself.  Imagine a farmer jealously holding on to his grain instead of planting it.  What would be the outcome?  Imagine a teacher jealously holding on to her knowledge.  What would be the outcome?  The answer to both is that both would lose.

The ultimate loss comes when we jealously hold on to this physical life and the world in which we live to the point we lose our spiritual life and the world to come.  The path to life is turning away from self-seeking, self-interests and self-determination so that we can turn to Jesus, laying down the control of our lives at his feet so that he can raise us up in his presence, gaining glory and life everlasting.  Jus' Say'n.

Uncovering Lights

 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven" (Mt 5:14-16).

So, go out and get your light shining, right?  Wrong!  Wrong?  Right!  Uh, maybe I should turn a light on this thought.  The passage above is not a command to produce light.  It is not saying that we need to do something or say something or give something in order to cause our light to begin to shine.  Rather it is a command to resist doing or saying things in such a way that covers our light.

We, like the moon, are reflected light for Jesus is "The true light that gives light to everyone..." (Jn 1:9), just as the sun gives light to the moon.  And what does the moon need to do to reflect that light?  Nothing!  The only thing that prevents the moon from shining is an eclipse - something that covers it.

A reflected light needs do nothing to produce the light but everything to keep it from being blocked by inactivity or hypocrisy or distance or selfishness.  If you are a child of God, you have divine light within you.  But is your reflection clear to those in your community?  Are you giving them a chance to see the Christ within?  Is there something in your life that is blocking that light?  Is there unforgiveness, discord, anger, greed, lust, some thing that is covering that light?  Jus' Ask'n.

Reconcile This

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke to discord saying, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift" (Mt 5:23-24).

His answer to our anger is to lay down the rod of reprisal and raise the bar of human conduct to the level of Divine redemption, which calls for more than simply resisting retribution that in itself may give rise to a begrudging spirit.

Instead, our Lord calls us to seek reconciliation so that both parties may blessed by applying a salve to the wound rather than allow it to remain open and fester through long-term neglect or indifference. The Divine aim is not simply to establish civility in the midst of discord, it is rather to re-establish the chords of mutual care and concern.

Perhaps there is someone you have not been able to forgive because of your frail humanity.  Why not seek Divine forgiveness to be channeled through you, coming from the Father who loves us all to the individual you have trouble loving at all?  It is His call for you, therefore He can cause it to happen through you.  Jus' Say'n.

Following Jesus

One might assume that as Jesus promised "I will be with you always...", he will follow us wherever we go.  Doesn't he even go on to say, "I will never leave you as orphans" (Jn 14:18)?  Surely these are solid proof texts that he will indeed follow us always and everywhere.  Yes, they are wonderful "proof texts" but as so often with proof text that would be out of context.

Are the verses above really suggesting that Jesus will go with us into every venture we undertake?  Do you suppose he will go with with you when you "go off" on someone else?  Do you think he will come on over when we are "getting over" on the unsuspecting?  Can you not think of some place you have gone that you doubt Jesus went, maybe even hope he wasn't present?

In the parable known as "The Prodigal Son," does the Father follow the son who chooses to leave his father behind and go to a far away land where he fills his days with drunkenness and sexual promiscuity?  No.  But did the father leave him?  No.  The father does not do the leaving and when the son chooses to return, the father welcomes him home (cf. Luke 15:11-31).  But the father does not follow the wayward son in his sinful pursuits.

The context of Jesus never leaving us is in the following of him, not in him following us.  The call of the Lord is not, "wait up, I'm right behind you!"  The call of Jesus is "come follow me" (Mt 4:19).  We are further challenged, "take up you cross and follow me" (Mt 16:24).  Our call is to a course correction to turn around (repent) of going our way and begin to follow in his path.  And, when we do, he will never go off and leave us behind, regardless of how we struggle and stumble along the way. He will wait for us, help us up, set our feet back on solid round. He will never go off and leave us, though we may well leave him behind as we follow ungodly paths. Jus' Say'n.

Delegate and Defer

When Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, saw the great number of people who came daily for Moses to settle disputes, he wasn't impressed with the sacrifice of time and energy.  Rather than extol how much Moses was willing to sacrifice for the people, he said instead, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone" (Ex 18:17-18).

Jethro went on saying that Moses should appoint reliable men over groups of 1,000s, 100s, 50s and 10s in order to divide out the labor for his own benefit and the benefit of the people who were waiting from morning to night for a very worn out leader to try and decide appropriately.  Only the most difficult cases would be held over for Moses allowing the people to be attended to more expeditiously and Moses to judge more fairly.

And then Jethro added, "If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” (v. 23).  The final and most important part of Jethro's plan was to defer it all to God.  If Moses would delegate the work and defer the responsibility to God, then God, if so willing, would bless the efforts.

It wasn't just a matter of making the best decision and following said plan; success was found in taking that plan to God, laying it at his feet and following his will on the matter.  Then all would be well with Moses and with the people for God will always do what is best and right.

Letting go and letting God, as the mantra goes, is not about taking a seat and letting God take care of everything.  It is to choose to do the right thing and then leave the outcome in His hands.  In Moses' case it was to entrust the work to others by delegation and then trust God by deferring to His Sovereign rule.  We would all do well to listen to Jethro.  Jus' Say'n.

Picture That

Jesus is called "...the image of the invisible God..." (Col 1:15).  Image, from the Greek "icon," carries the meaning of an exact representation, which is where the name "Nikon" came for the popular camera suggesting that it will capture the exact image of what you are shooting on film (well, at least my Nikon did, yours today captures it digitally).

The point is that Jesus was referred to as the exact representation of God, who so perfectly reflected Him that he could rightly say, "Anyone who has seen me (Jesus) has seen the Father" (Jn 14:19).  And, you might be thinking, "Of course, after all, he is the Son of God."  True, but who is our Father?  Is it not to "our Father in Heaven" (Mt 6:9) to whom we pray?  Did not God "create mankind in his own image" (Gen 1:27)?  So then, ought we not reflect that His image?

We should reflect His image but we will reflect the image that we hold most closely - that which makes the greatest impression on us, somewhat like "Silly Putty" that you could press on the newspaper and capture its image in the glob.

If money makes the greatest impression, we will reflect greed.  If it is power, we will reflect control.  If it is sex, we will reflect objectification.  As someone once said, "That which we perceive is that which we believe and that which we believe is that which we become.

Like the film of a camera exposed to an image or Silly Putty pressed onto a page, whatever it is that we focus on or press in to the most, that is the image we will bear and others will see reflected.  If it is God we hold closely in our hearts, we will bear his image and others will see reflected.  And they will know, Christ followers, that "God is really among [us]" (1 Cor 14:25).  Jus' Say'n.