R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

I've been pondering a great deal about "respect." Perhaps you can discuss this with me, as I'd really rather this be a dialogue.

Many writers have written about men's need to be respected and women's need to be loved. Indeed the Bible said this a couple thousand years before our "Christian bestsellers." 

However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:33)

(I tend to think that both sexes crave respect, but that it may come across differently for each. That could be a whole other discussion.)

The dictionary defines respect as: "esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability."

Much like worship, which is ingrained in the psyche of mankind, I think we all have a desire—not only to be respected but—to respect. This may be part of the reason we build our hopes in a person and are crushed by the reality. We strongly desire to think highly of, to trust in someone who proves unworthy.

Respect, for me, is harder than the dictionary makes it sound to nail down the full definition.

• There is the effort to give respect to someone no matter what you think of them. 
• You have respect of some sort for friends (or they wouldn't be friends) and family (at least some of them). 
• Then there are those few who you know and have the deepest respect for. 

(This again reminds me of the different types of love—trying to define it; however, the Bible dedicates a whole chapter to define love, but only gives a matter-of-fact nod to respect).

The peak of my pondering, if you will, is a discussion I had recently with my mother about three people where I live, who I think of with the highest respect. These are not men I believe to be flawless. They are not ones who I agree with 100%. They are, however, men with high values, proven character, and a gentle and humble spirit. They are ones who, if they gave me their word on something, I would truly expect they'd keep it (memory permitting).

When I mentioned my respect to one, he expressed his concern that he'd disappoint me, but then added that he hoped he'd recognise it immediately and make it right. Yes, that's exactly the attitude that makes me respect him in the first place!

So I conclude with my own definition of this "highest respect" and then await your response.

True respect is based on character and not perfection; therefore, it isn't lessened by mistakes or bad days.

Oh, that we might all grow in God toward humility, holiness, gentleness and compassion, and might, therefore, be men and women worthy of respect!

What About Me?

FOCUS
I remember once as a child asking God for something and using as my bargaining tool (whether or not it helped) that I rarely asked for anything for myself. Well my prayers have changed. I still love to pray for others, but find my mind often jumping back to my own heart-concerns or desires in the midst of my intercession.

Don't get me wrong. Sharing our burdens with the Lord is one of the things we're admonished throughout Scripture to do (Psalm 37:5, Psalm 55:22, Proverbs 16:3, Matthew 6:25-34, 1 Peter 5:7). It's just a matter of focus. And my focus is frequently off.

WHO'S IT ALL ABOUT?
John the Baptist's disciples were like me. When they baptized repentant Jews at the river and looked across at the crowd Jesus drew to be baptized, they complained to John. Instead of joining them in worrying about his declining position, John simple stated—

"He must become greater; I must become less." ~John 3:30

Jesus Himself did not come seeking the comforts, rewards, or accolades of this life. He told one would-be follower that He had "no place to lay His head." He knew that He was commissioned here for a short while and for a unique purpose. Even in this knowledge, He declared proudly His complete dependence on God the Father.

"I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does....for I seek not to please Myself but Him who sent Me. ~John 5:19, 30b 

WHO CALLS THE SHOTS?
If the perfect Son of God cannot afford to live independently from the Father, we—who are in constant need of putting to death the flesh—certainly cannot afford selfish independence.

Paul describes it this way:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

   Who, being in very nature^a God,

   did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

   but made Himself nothing,

   taking the very nature^b of a servant,

   being made in human likeness.

   And being found in appearance as a man,

   He humbled Himself

   and became obedient to death—

   even death on a cross! ~Philippians 2:5-8

To the Galatian church, Paul wrote—

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." (2:20)

If only this death to flesh was a once for all decision, but it's daily. By daily realizing life is "not about me" and daily recognizing our dependence on God for all that is good, we allow Christ to live through us.

When C.S. Lewis' wife, Joy, began the journey of discovering her own insignificance and remembering with shame how others must view her because of her past life, she concluded: "Who am I, that I shouldn't look like a fool?

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN'T GET IT RIGHT?
Lest we think that some people don't struggle with this, Paul shares his close-to-despairing cry—

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! ~Romans 7:24

What started me thinking about this today was an hour-long conversation I had with God on a walk in a graveyard. I realized how much my own desires have been distracting me from Him. THEY became my focus. (Or, in reality, I was my focus.) My wants consumed my thinking, led me on rabbit trails during prayer or reading. I knew, if my hopes failed (which personal experience has taught me to expect this type of dream to fail), my emotions would plummet. I had centred my energy around—not something bad, but having stolen my focus it became—an idol.

Even in "releasing" my grasp on this dream, my silly self betrayed partial motive. I had to also confess that in surrendering, something inside me hoped it might lead to God to reward me with what I wanted.

Oh, wretched one I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

WHAT'S THE ANSWER?
So what's the answer? What's the twelve-steps we need to take to master the old and put on the new? If Jesus death was in essence our own death to our old nature, then why do we still struggle with it?

In older times, Christians referred to the "mortification of the flesh." Their extreme view of this is not what I'm after. In, however, the realization that daily "I" am the enemy of my soul, the continual need to receive from God through His Word and give up "my rights" to Him prayer, and the understanding of my absolute need of Him to be my righteousness—this is the mortification we need. While we still live in this body, we will always need to engage in this battle.

Paul says in Romans 7:25 that in the mind we realize our need of God, but in our old nature we are slaves to sin. We must feed the new nature.

Keith Green, a popular 1960s Christian rock singer, wrestled constantly with surrender. In his song Draw Me, he cries:

Help me, oh help me, please help me my Jesus.
Save me from sins that I thought were all gone.
Kill me with kindness, and break through my blindness.
I know till I'm dead I can never live on.

So what about you? Am I the only one who struggles so much with self-centredness? What do you struggle with and what have you found that helps?
_______________________

If you haven't read it, I'd recommend reading the biography of Keith Green—No Compromise.
 

Is Your Faith Completely Naked?

My friend, Leesa Barnes, is hosting a blog series featuring faith-centered professionals providing advice on how to add more naked faith to your business.

These faith-centered workers are men and women who are bestselling publishers, success coaches, association directors, solopreneurs, online community managers, motivational speakers, professionals who have been on their own journey to add more faith to their sales, marketing and customer service.

Beginning on April 2, 2012, Leesa and her guest authors (including yours truly on April 4th) will provide you with tips over a 30-day period. You’ll also get action steps that you can take each day to help you on your journey to reintegrate more faith into your business. Whatever your work (paid or volunteer), you can benefit from these insights.

Are you ready to get naked with your faith?

Click here to add yourself to the announcement list so you can join the community of other faith-centered men and women.

K.R. Pent

Pure Power

Power. The word expresses something you are either under or are endeavouring to wield. It is the cause, humanly speaking, of the rise and fall of nations and empires.

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.  ~President Abraham Lincoln

Power is the vehicle with which one forces or guides others to fulfil one's will—for good or for evil. It may seem strange then that the Apostle Paul includes power as part of the inheritance (now) for Christians.

Paul writes to the believers in Ephesus sharing his prayer for them. He says he wishes for them to know, amongst other things, "[God's] incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He"—don't miss this!—"exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand..." (1:19-20)

Napoleon didn't have power like that. Hitler didn't either. They could kill and destroy, but they had no power of resurrection and heavenly enthronement. Their empires came to an end. Christ's reign has barely begun—in the light of eternity.

If this power is for us who have the Holy Spirit living inside, what does that mean?

The picture above is of windmills, which I pass on the way to my parents. What is significant about these sources of power is that they have no power in themselves. If their bolts were too tight so their arms would not spin, they would merely be towers of medal. Useless. But, as they yield to the strength of the wind, they pass along power to light homes, to milk cows, and to give comfort and help to those living around them.

As I mentioned in another post, my pastor has been preaching on (sin, but also) the fact that God created humans as dependent beings. In the fall, we chose a pseudo-independence thus cutting ourselves off from all that we need.

"When—Listen!—a necessarily dependent creature attempts to live independently, he cuts himself off from the very Source of true knowledge and experience, which can only come from God Himself...Man did not actually achieve independence when he sinned. Nothing changed in regard to that, b/c we are of necessity, by creation, dependent creatures. And so nothing has changed simply because we decided to go our own way...We simply cut ourselves off from the necessary and essential supply that we must have as dependent creatures. When a dependent creature tries to live independently it is a DISASTER." ~Dr. Rich Liverance

What does this have to do with power?

The point is this—we are like windmills. Unless we yield to the strength of the Spirit of Christ, we have no power on our own. As we realise our dependence—not a crutch, but full life-support—God pours His strength in us, turning on the light for whole communities—the SAME power that raised our Messiah from the dead.

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)

Once our dependence frees us to the "blowing" of the Spirit, we will experience this power at work in us. This is why the Apostle Paul gloried in his weakness.

And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Why did Paul boast of his weaknesses? Because it was by them that he realised his dependence on God. When he put his dependence on God, then God had the freedom to flow His power through Paul. As my dad would say, Paul learned to "plug himself into the Source." 

GETTING PERSONAL

What are the weaknesses with which you struggle? Do these weaknesses cause discouragement (like mine so often do to me)? Maybe that's because we are trying to be INDEPENDENT of God. Maybe we all need to realise—deep in the core of us—the truth we so glibly claim—our ONLY righteousness comes from Him.

PLUG INTO THE SOURCE

Let's lift our arms of dependence up to our Father and be moved by His power to change our world—one life at a time. 

Momentary Troubles Lead to Triumph

WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?
Most of us would not label any of our problems "light," even if we might recognise them as "momentary."

But the Apostle Paul said:

For our light and momentary troubles—Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers—are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
(2 Corinthians 4:17—2 Corinthians 11:25-26)

Reciting the reason why Paul responded to his trials as he did may be easy, but it's harder to apply, is it not?

Paul focused on Christ. He aimed for a reward in eternity, not one he could place on his trophy shelf now. He "gloried in weakness." He understood (as Peter did) that suffering for righteousness gives us—for the sake of illustration—tokens which we trade in for lasting treasure in heaven.

MIND RENEWAL
How could Paul view the troubles of life that wore him down physically, emotionally, mentally as merely "light and momentary"? He wrote this sentence just before it.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)

How? If one is "wasting away," how can one be internally "renewed"?

Paul gives us a huge clue in Romans 12:2—

Don't copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

If God does the mind-changing, how does He do it?

The composer of Psalm 119 tells us:

How can a young man keep his way pure?

   By living according to Your word.

I seek You with all my heart;

   do not let me stray from Your commands.

I have hidden Your Word in my heart

   that I might not sin against You.

The longest Psalm in all Scripture focuses not on man's struggle or even God's triumph, but merely delighting in God's Word and pursuing Him constantly.

RENEWED "DAY BY DAY."

"That's what you do. You sell a big lie, and wrap it up in a truth to make it more palatable." ~ Sherlock Holmes

We've all heard it, and—having worked at a bank over ten years—I know it. You detect counterfeit not by studying it, but by studying the true item.

How many Christians study the Bible "day by day"?

How many Christians believe sex outside of marriage is normal? How many believe homosexuality is not a sin? How many lie or twist truths to avoid a consequence? How many church-going people act more vicious and unloving than an atheist down the street?  How many religious people divorce or are captive to pornography?

HOLISTIC CHRISTIANITY
Holistic care and holistic medicine have been catch words in our society recently. The writers of the Bible, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, could have coined the word "holistic" thousands of years before its recent popularity.

What the prophets taught, what the apostles taught, what Jesus taught—holistic Christianity (even if it was not called "Christianity" until years after Jesus resurrection, they all anticipated the solution in the Messiah).

What is holistic Christianity?

"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 

The second is this: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these.

He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Yahweh require of you—But to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. "

WHAT NOW?
To know it initially, to believe it cognitively is not enough.

We must continually inhale the fragrance of grace, hear the constant whispers of our Saviour, see the nail-scarred hands, savor the meat of the Word, remember the bondage of sin, and feel the embrace of forgiveness.

With this daily renewal, we can step out in love and forgive our enemies, do good to those who wrong us, and see what we suffer here as "light" compared to the surpassing greatness of what our Lord has done for us in the past and what is waiting for us—perhaps today!

(Need Help? If you need a little accountability or just a daily reminder, goTandem allows you to request a Bible passage be sent via text, phone, or email at whatever time or times of day you choose.

You can also ask to have someone call you to ask how you're doing with your reading. Ideally, we should each have a Christian friend to do this—and be one to another—but, if you don't, goTandem at least provides one for starters.)

Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

You're an Angel

Somebody posted the comment "You're an angel" on Facebook this past week, which started me thinking about people vs. angels.

Most people have an elementary understanding of angels (and it isn't my intention to do an in-depth analysis on angelology). Most know that there are good angels and "fallen angels."

With this knowledge, one can than deduce that there are "perfect" angels that do God's bidding or there are rebellious angels that fight against God.

Why is this significant?

Since this is true, that statement declares one of two things. If that "compliment" is to be taken seriously, either the person receiving it is perfect, never sinning, or is working for the devil.

You see, angels have no hope of salvation. Those who rebelled against God had no Saviour to take their punishment. The Apostle Peter said that "God did not spare angels when they sinned." But we who are less than angelic beings have a chance to repent (Hebrews 2).

Have you ever thought about that?

It's important to be grateful for the physical and material blessings of life when we see examples of those in ill health or impoverished circumstances. Yet we also should remember the grace given us by our Lord Jesus, who saw us as rebellious sinners and came down to die in our place.

Peter wrote that the prophets who prophesied about this salvation and also the angels longed to know this gift given to us. Because of its indescribable worth, he exhorts us—

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  (1 Peter 1:13-19)

This week, let's remind each other to live lives of gratitude for the Gift no other created being has been offered.

Stand and Fight

I don't remember my age—although I'm told I was four or five—but I remember vividly the day I asked Jesus into my life. I may have told it before, but such a day always bears repeating.

My sister, Connie, and I walked home one evening after church (we lived across the street). She asked me if I was a Christian. I told her yes. That night I lay in bed and analyzed my answer (I still do this with conversations) to make sure I had told her the truth. Since our father is a pastor, I've heard about Jesus while in my mother's womb. Yet, as I lay there, I realized He was not my Saviour.

It was as if a veil lifted from my eyes. One moment the state of my soul did not concern me. The next, I knew emphatically that I had not surrendered, but I needed to. No prayer. No special formula. God touched my eyes, and I could see.

Following up this moment, which I now claim as my conversion, I acted upon it by going into my parent's room and asking my father to lead me to Jesus. We knelt together and prayed, confessing my sins and my need of a Saviour. I waited three or four years before I had the courage to stand in obedience and  confess before our church that Jesus is my Lord and be baptised.

That was the easy part of my years as a Christian. I responded to a work of God in my heart. The hard part followed.

I have not had a rebellious life. I credit that partly to personality and a great deal to God's answering the prayers of my parents. I can't claim to have learned the hard way. In fact, my prayer has always been that I may learn the easiest way possible.

The battle for me is much more subtle. It's maybe like someone who grows up in a war zone. The bullets fly so continually around you that you begin to forget their significance, forget the threat they are to your life. Because I grew up dwelling on the spiritual life, it became easy to think going through the motions was good enough.

Don't get me wrong. I hate hypocrisy, so I run from anything that smacks of inauthenticity, even in myself; but it's not always so simple to see you've crossed that line. It wasn't bad things. No obvious breaking of the Ten Commandments.

It was the little things. The "lesser gods," as C.S. Lewis calls them. The gods that when given the place, block one's vision of Yahweh. 

Boredom, more than anything, is dangerous. The same Bible reading and prayer routine, when done as a routine, can lose significance. One can grow deaf. You know what I mean?

It hasn't been big moments or large chunks of time. Graciously, God gives me little "checks" to let me know I'm fading in my attention.

This thought came up while my mother and I were discussing a couple that not long ago was on fire for God, zealously attending Bible study and church. Now, they ski on Sunday, leave their Bibles on the shelf, and confess confusion that their daughters are going their own way.

I know how it must have started. At least, I think I do. You go to do the routine and wonder what's the point. You fail at the same things over and over all your life, what makes you think you're going to change now? Maybe, just maybe, you wonder if there isn't some easier way, some fun you're actually missing out on.

These have been fleeting thoughts, just enough to scare me back to reality. When I'm there, when my love for God is distant, I can do nothing, but tell Him. Tell Him the truth about where I am. Sometimes all I can say is "help."

The only solution for cold moments is to cry out to our Father. When we've put our guard down and the enemy points the gun in our face, only God can shoot him in the back and save us. There is no formula. No spiritual exercise.

The wonderful thing is, when we tell Him our failing, our wicked desires, He scoops us up in love. Instead of scolding us, because we've known better (we've told others the other side's not worth it), He blesses us with His grace because we called upon His Name.

His Name saved us in our first moments of rebirth, and it is the Name that will keep us till our dying breath.

Let's be on our guard then. Stand and fight!