Wanted: Dead or Alive

_____________________

"Josh, you know, I’ve heard a lot about you. And not very much of it that’s been good. And, after the way we treat you, you do a thing like this and you don’t want anyone to know about it. Seems to me that if the word got around, you might have more friends."

"Simple. The kind of friends who have to know, I don’t want."

_____________________

Reputations are tricky, aren't they? All of us have a conscious or unconscious goal of how we want others to perceive us. When we sense they think of us differently, we want to straighten the record.

A gang member wants to be tough. A snob, rich or beautiful. A comedian, happy. A business person, successful. The foundation? Pride.

How do you feel when the praise you've earned is given to someone else? What about when you receive undeserved criticism?

In many instances, discovering the motivation behind wanting to clear our name is like splitting hairs.

A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. ~Proverbs 22:1

If you're a Christian, you may argue that your life is the testimony pointing others to Jesus. True. Still, the line is fine between selfishness and piety.

Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips. ~Proverbs 27:2

I'm dwelling on this for two reasons.

1. Because I find this so very difficult in my own life. I constantly find times where defensiveness and justifications spurt out. But pure motivations are sketchy, at best. Sadly, I recognize it after I've interrupted or talked over someone else's words in order that they may hear "how it really is." Or when credit is questioned, I quickly assert my relevance to the situation.
   
   
2. I've been watching old TV shows. One of my new favourites is Steve McQueen's Wanted: Dead or Alive. The quote at the beginning is from the end of the first episode.

Josh Randall (McQueen) is a bounty hunter. Men like him are fierce and shady, often killing their wanted men or women because it is much easier to bring them in dead. The motivation for Randall is different. Although he does his work for money, honour and justice are the supreme driving forces.

Instead of justifying his actions to those who instantly judge him based on his career, he secretly gives generously, often helps the less fortunate, and goes beyond his duty when no one cares. Slowly, people learn some of what he does, but that's not why he does it.

The kind of friends who have to know, I don’t want.

What motivates you to do what is good? How comfortable are you when the accolades you're due aren't delivered?

Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.  ~Jesus
(Matthew 6)

It's hard, but it's a good goal: To not be integral for reputation, but for eternity's sake.

Run in such a way as to get the prize. Not here. Not now. But some day . . . soon.

Score One for the Team

"When things are going good, you just keep working hard. Things are bad, you keep working hard. So . . . my main focus right now is just to . . . help this team make the play offs. Regardless personally of what I do or what happens, my commitments are to the team and, the team comes first."
~Jamie Tardif (#25)

Last hockey season, my fencing partner got me started attending a few of our local Griffins' games. Sorry to say, they lost almost all of the ones I saw and many I didn't see.

This year in keeping with our new tradition, we went to see our team on February 25th. Because of some positive stories shared, we kept our eyes especially out for any time #9 Francis (Frankie) Pare was on the ice. Thankfully for the team, it was frequently.

What a difference from last year! The previous season, the team appeared to make up for lack of skill and teamwork with numerous fights. Hockey fans may call me out for this, but the fights usually look to me like immature, bullying boys throwing a tantrum.

In contrast to this (only one fight this game, which was a fist-fight between only two players), this year's Griffins were focused on the game. That doesn't mean there weren't reasons to fight.

For example, my new favourite player—As I watched, the Lake Erie Monsters players (the bad guys) held on to Francis' shoulders (but were never called) and made an obvious (but not to the ref) effort to trip him with a hockey stick, along with the usual slamming and pinning to walls. Instead of concentrating on the person impeding him, Francis worked his way free and concentrated on the goal, becoming the number one player for the evening (and not that evening only).

Last year, the Griffins teamwork stunk, and I used them as an negative example. This year, they are all about the team and working together. They have not only shown it on ice, but declared it in every interview. It's not about themselves, although the pats on the back are appreciated. It's the team that matters. It's helping each other meet the goal.

The Griffins' attitude reminds me of what our Coach has told us:

Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:12-22)

Pass the puck, guard your teammates, help those who fall down, honour those who score, but do it as a team, aim for the goal, and win it for the glory of our Coach.

Onions?

Whenever I work in the kitchen, at least one of my two cats figures there must be something good just out of reach. Last night as I cut up onions, Chiara (the cat above) wandered around my feet, crying. Often the only way to quiet her is to let her smell what I'm cutting up.

It reminded me of myself. And all of us. How many times do we cry out to God telling Him what we need, demanding the meat we know He's hiding just out of reach? Why can't I have that promotion? Why can't I get out of this marriage and into a happy one? Why can't this circumstance change to what I've imagined? Is God being stingy or is He cutting onions?

When I do have something good for my cat, I find it humorous that she feels the need to cry till I give it to her. How would she ever know the good available, if I had not given it to her in the past?

We also only know of good gifts because of what God has given to us before. Why then do we cry out in unbelief, I wonder, so sure that this time He'll be mean? All we know of good has come from God.

God tells us to pray and keep on praying. But, at the back of our prayers is the belief that even if it isn't the "food" we crave, it may be something new and altogether better.

The next time we ask for what we think would be best, I hope you and I both can remember, it may be just onions. With onions come tears. So, let's trust and wait for the good God is preparing.

When You Say You Love Me

I have a confession. I hate Valentine's Day. I don't remember a time in my life where I actually liked the "holiday." Maybe it's because it has the commercial shallowness of a chick-flick.

Regardless of why, it is actually more coincidental and not because of the holiday that I have been pondering on love . . . or the lack thereof.

I'm not sure what started it, except recognition of how easy it is to fall into routine, to make other things priority, which in turn sap my strength or distract me from wholeheartedly seeking God. It isn't really bad things. The activities are neither good nor bad, excepting how my heart responds. So I've begun praying again that the Source of love would give me love to love Him.

It's pathetic, actually. Can you imagine a spouse or child coming and asking you to help them to love you? Ouch! Yet God knows our lack and longs for our honesty. How freeing it is to live without needing to hide from the All-Seeing-Eye, because He also is Love.

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16)

So what does it mean to abide in love? Is love a romantic feeling or a loyal friendship?

The Bible shows us that love is an action, but not just any action is love.We think of helping the poor or being willing to die for someone or something as love. But Scripture says that all this can be done without love.

If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,^b but have not love, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:3)

What then is love? 

Most of you could quote it:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)

We can emphatically make two conclusions from this passage.

1. Hollywood knows nothing of love, either on or off set.
2. Humans cannot love like this, but God commands this kind of love from us.

Furthermore, if we love God, we will love others with this kind of love.

And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.  (1 John 4:21)

Do you think if love came naturally to us, it would be necessary for God to command it from us? And, if it doesn't come naturally, then how can we feel we can "fall out of love" or even "into love"?

Love is an alien attribute to human kind. We crave it. We demand others give it to us, but we have no source within ourselves to conjure up an unselfish love. Whatever emotion, obsession, or lust that we label love always comes with a price-tag.

What's the point? As with everything, we cannot afford to disconnect from God. We need to have love. We are designed to give love, but it is only from the Source that we can get love.

If today you feel love towards someone, it's great to feel that, is it not? But it won't last.

"Ironically," in my church bulletin today was an article from Gary Chapman (author of The Five Languages of Love). In it, he shares about a man who came to him saying he no longer loves his wife.

Since this husband couldn't manufacture warm, romantic feelings, he concluded that his marriage was over. . . True love, the kind of love that keeps a couple together for a lifetime, is not a feeling but an attitude. It says, With the help of God, I'm going to do everything I can to enhance the life of my spouse. . . . .

Remember that warm, romantic feelings are the result of love, not the essence of love. . . . The good news is that whatever God commands, He enables us to do.

That is good news and applies to all our relationships, even our relationship to God—do all you do for His glory whether you feel good or not. It also is a love I long to give to my friends and family—one that loves without requiring an equal return. May God make it so in all of us!

Do I Know You?

Have you ever been introduced to someone through other people's descriptions long before you met the person?  If so, were you disappointed or pleasantly surprised?

On the other hand, have you ever known someone all your life only to find a mystery in their person that you'd never guessed?

Both of these levels of acquaintance are applicable to our introduction to the Christ or Messiah.

You've Heard the Whisperings
Dr. Richard Liverance explains that the promise of a Messiah is the most ancient hope of humanity.

A misconception among many today is that Christianity began two thousand years ago. In reality, it began at the fall of mankind when God promised a "Seed" that would strike the head of the devil (Genesis 3:15). From that time forward, thousands of generations retold the expectation to their children and their children's children: There will some day be a Hero born who will save us.

When God chose Abram (later renamed Abraham), He further narrowed the promise (Genesis 12 and 15). The Seed would come through Abraham and would bless the whole world.

When in faith Abraham brought Isaac to Mt. Moriah to sacrifice him to Yahweh, we see a foreshadowing of the Heir to come.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” (Genesis 22:7b-8)

Narrowing still further, Jacob announces that the Seed will be a King and be born from Judah's descendants (Genesis 49:8-12).

Why is this important? It's a telescopic lens focusing our attention on someone to come. Every birth in Judah's line could have been accompanied by a drum role. Is this the one?

But it's made clearer still. We're told where He'll be born.

"But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity." (Micah 5:2)

Then Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 go further to elaborate on the illustration we glimpsed on Mt. Moriah. This King would suffer and die for our sins.

Surely He took up our infirmities

and carried our sorrows,

yet we considered Him stricken by God,

smitten by Him, and afflicted.

But He was pierced for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him,

and by His wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on Him

the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:4-6).

But You've Known This All Your Life!

In a sense, you're reading an assignment I was given this morning at church.

How many of you, who have sat here for years listening to the exposition of Scripture, could show through the Old Testament who Jesus was?

It is astounding. I've barely touched on the detailed predictions of the "Jewish" Scriptures concerning the Messiah. It is some of these passages that Jesus used to explained the prophecies concerning Himself to the two on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32). It is from these that Paul also argued the truth of Jesus as Messiah (Acts 17:2).

To most of us, this assignment isn't a hard task (although it is a necessary one to be able to voice what we know to be true). Yet I believe we often, like the disciples, have become so familiar with aspects of who Jesus is—with truths that we have memorized, with good habits of learning that we have formed—that we fail to grasp the fear of Him.

The transfiguration was one of the early moments that Jesus used to give three of His followers a glimpse of who He really was (Matthew 17). Peter, whose astonishment left his tongue loose, rattled something nonsensical till God the Father's voice boomed from heaven. The three fell on their faces before Him. All cliche's crumbled from their lips. Instead of giving Him answers, they seek the answers from Him.

We all need that revelation from God to scare us out of complacency; to understand, as my pastor pointed out this morning, that He did not come to bring peace to the earth, but to bring man peace with God (Matthew 10:34-39). 

The peace He puts in our heart becomes the power to obey. Those who reject this peace fight against those who have it and against the One who gives it. Our concern should not be with being agreeable, but with lovingly sharing the Truth. Some will hear and gladly receive it. Others will hate us for it. 

The claims of this Christ are such that every man ought to be busy fighting Him, or fighting for Him.
~G. Campbell Morgan 

If you have ten minutes to watch, I love the last part of this opening to The Passion of the Christ where Satan taunts Jesus. Suddenly Jesus stands and crushes the serpent's head—a beautiful visual illustration of a spiritual fulfillment.

The Unfallen Hero

Have you ever had a hero fall? It may have been someone close to you: a parent, spouse, pastor or teacher. It may have been someone far off and untouchable. The fall may have been moral or ethical; they may have died or merely disappointed your expectations.

If you have a full life, you'll see your heroes fall. Similar to nature's testimony of God's character, this common occurrence should reveal to everyone the truth that we all "have sinned and continue to fall short of God's glory."

What initiated this pondering was a post on Tim Challies' blog about one of my heroes (dead before I was born, which usually makes them less likely to disappoint). Challies brought up discrepancies raised by scholars over some of my hero's beliefs and a discussion started about whether the difference matters, since we've learn so much from him still.

The man, the discussion are a moot point here. What matters is that I struggled with the fallen image, true or not. I had thought the inspiration I had gained went beyond him, but when I was disappointed I realized just how focused on him it was.

As I wrestled with all this, another insight arose. It's good to be disillusioned! Everyone should be.

Once your star has fallen, you notice a brighter light in the night sky. Every time an image tumbles, I look up and God is still there.

What about you? Have you been disappointed by someone? Do you hold bitterness towards them or towards God because of their failure? Maybe you were clinging too much to a person, a sinner just like you.

The grace we have received, we also must give. . . even to our fallen heroes. Compare their faded light and your flickering light against the blinding light of God's faithfulness and love. You and I disappoint Him, but He never lets go.

. . . let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1b-3)

A Story

An Author once imagined a beautiful story. He planned for it to be a comedy in the original sense of the word—a story ending in a feast or wedding. Another way of stating it—a story filled with joy.

This Author wasn't like other writers. He wanted to interact with His characters. He wanted them to participate in His story, so He wrote in a "will" (the ability to determine to obey or not to obey) for each of them.

The gift of the will caused great rejoicing. Instead of being robots and performing their part of the story without a say, they could interact with the Author, ask questions, share ideas—have a relationship.

This freedom included only one "do not." In order to exercise their will, they could do anything in the created world of the Author except ONE thing. They had castles they could build and explore; mountains they could climb. They built homes of the very best quality, and the Author enjoyed their work and their delight. There was one door, however, that He told them not to enter. If they did, they would be cut off from the world where they now lived and from Him.

Gradually, the characters moved closer to the door. Why should the Author include a door they could not enter? If all in this story was full of wonder and fun, what might there be on the other side of that door? What if what is there is better than what is here? And so they crept ever closer, tempting themselves by constant watch.

Inevitably, they persuaded themselves to try the door. One by one they all filed through. Although one entered first, the others followed till every one was on the other side. Then...it shut.

They rubbed their eyes. It was pitch blackness. Slowly their eyes began to focus on the barren land ahead of them and the bolted door behind them.

Generations would be born in this dark land. What is the purpose of this story? each and everyone would ask. 

Some exited the story early on, by their choice or another's. Others decided to create their own story. This became quite a game, and soon all the characters had a story. Sometimes they combined their ideas and created a community that followed the same story. When enough decided that the story wasn't going their way, they would branch off and begin their own version.

Some sought to make their story good for others. Their version would bring smiles to those around them. Surly this is what the story was about, after all, making happiness for those around you? But they did not seek to know the Author and learn the story He desired for them.

Sometime in the new story, a lamp was placed in the midst of them. This aggravated most, who had become accustomed to seeing in the dark. The light only blinded them and exposed that they were different than how they had described themselves to those around them. 

Because of this, some tried to hide the light. Others, to snuff it out. Others just ran from it, moving as far away from it as possible till they gained some sort of darkness again.

A handful of characters approached the light. They were curious to see what really existed around them. Here they learned of the Author, forgotten or recreated by the tales of the original characters. They learned He still wanted to use them in His story. If they would accept His light and follow His story, He would eventually take them out of this story into one that would be beyond their dreams. 

Some of the characters accepted the light gladly and went throughout the new world offering to share the light. Some began to pick up the light, but when they read their part of the story, it was too small. They were capable of great things! Why should they give up their own stories for these no-name parts?

Those who fled from the light mocked the carriers of light. If this Author cared for them, why did only a handful have His special light and the knowledge of a place in His story? Why were they promised a new story of "happily ever after"? If He was a real Author, He would make good of the story here.

The Author continued to lead His story to the new ending He had determined for it. Only those who held His light and followed His storyline found joy in it. Those who created their own stories, no matter how good they were, stumbled around in the darkness far from the Author.

_________________

Whose storyline do you follow: your own or the Author's? The ending is determined by your acceptance or rejection of the Light.

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, "I Am the Light of the world. If you follow Me, you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the Light that leads to Life."