(publish date ??)
A few years ago, someone started a rumor that there would be a worldwide shortage of toilet paper. Before long, people were buying rolls by the carton and stockpiling it in their basements, just in case the rumor was true.
Those involved in the industry may have been amused or dismayed by this all-out rush on their product; however, they were close enough to the supply to realize there was no danger of a shortage. The rumor simply wasn’t true.
I wonder if that is how other notions, even some widely-held ideas, are spawned. Do they start with rumors from people who are not close enough to the situation to really know for sure if what they say is true? Are they then perpetuated by human fears or other emotions?
For instance, some decades ago, a few people grabbed on to the idea that the Word of God no longer has authority over our lives. These people kept saying we are free to be our own boss, do whatever we want, forget God and the Bible. This notion permeated a culture that once took the Bible seriously. Even though we still make oaths with one hand on our heart and the other on the Bible, for the most part, it gathers dust.
This rumor was further fueled by slogans such as: “God is dead” or “the Bible is outdated” or “it was written by men therefore must be full of errors.” Unfortunately, people seldom checked any of it for themselves. Instead, their Bibles now occupy a bottom drawer or a dusty top shelf.
These notions have also infected the church. Some who call themselves Christian do not believe God’s Book is fully authoritative. For instance, consider the following statistics from the Barna group’s latest findings, published in April of this year. Among Christian men (possibly meaning “Evangelical Christian men”): 28% believe that Jesus was not physically raised from the dead, 27% believe that He committed sins, and 55% believe that everyone will have the same outcome after death, regardless of their beliefs.
Of course the Bible affirms otherwise. It says Jesus was “like us in every way except that He was without sin.” It also affirms that He rose from the dead in a body. It goes on to say that if He didn’t, the Christian faith is totally useless; all who believe it will “die in their sins.”
The Bible also warns about the options regarding eternal destiny. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth: a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God. . . all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.”
Oddly enough, the same survey showed that 47% still believe that there are absolute moral truths. Another 40% believe that the Bible and religion should be the main influences on moral thinking. In other words, the Bible apparently does have value, but not authority?
How then, if God’s Book is not believed in its entirety, is it possible to use it as an anchor for morality? What do we do when our self-focused natures eventually come to a place of resistance to what God says? Is it not His authority that we revolt against, even when we know what He says is true and right?
Mere mental assent to this Book may acknowledge it is God’s book or that it says things that are good for us. Faith is trusting in the One who wrote it and submitting to His authority over us. We already know we are not able to live as we ought. We need help. Faith is turning from our own way and our own efforts and giving ourselves to the care and leading of our Creator. It is yielding to and following Christ, fully dismissing that old rumor that He has no right to our allegiance.
Showing posts with label hiding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hiding. Show all posts
Friday, April 21, 2017
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Hiding under layers? ................ Parables 577
December 16, 1997
There is a lake in the Antarctica with water reading 80 degrees Fahrenheit. However, if anyone wanted to dive in and explore it, they would have to take with them a drill or a saw. Chilled by cold air above it, this lake is covered with ice.
George (not his real name) is like that. If there is a warm person on the inside, he keeps it well hidden under a self-protection layer of reserve. Others cannot get to know him or experience what he is like on the inside.
George might admit that he is afraid if others knew him well, they would not like him very much. He protects himself from rejection by what Christian counselor and psychologist Larry Crabb calls “layers.” Like the ice over the lake, these layers hide what is underneath. Crabb says it is almost always insecurity about acceptance, worth or competence.
Whether or not we use the term “layers,” most of us are aware of what we think are our flaws. We might use cosmetics to hide external marks and blemishes but there are no cover sticks for feelings of inferiority. Instead, we either withdraw or go overboard to prove ourselves.
Some people do it with their possessions. They buy the latest car or computer and show off by boasting about it. Others hide their inadequacy behind shyness, reasoning that if people do not notice them, they will not ask them to do anything and they will never betray their inabilities.
Others hide in alcohol or drugs, or become involved with one boy or girl friend after another. Some become powerful controllers who manipulate people so no one can see their weaknesses. Some retreat and become doormats. For them, being told what to do is easier than having people find out they are unable (or so they think) to make their own plans, never mind carry them out.
People who try to feel loved, valuable and competent through making demands on others or their own performance or possessions, always fall short. The main problem is that material things never last and people, even at their best, are unreliable.
For people made in His image, these three core needs can only be met by the triune God. He can make us feel complete. He says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love, and in loving kindness I have drawn you.” He always cares, and proved it by sending His Son to die for us. When others fail to love us, God’s love is reliable and unconditional. We do not earn it or deserve it but it is something in His nature. He is a God of love. That is what He does.
We can also measure our worth by the price that God was willing to pay for us. To Him, our value is the life of His Son. That is what He paid to redeem us. We are people of worth to God. We do not need to prove ourselves but entrust ourselves to His love and value system.
Competence comes also from God. He gives His Holy Spirit to each one who believes in Him and receives His Son as personal Savior and Lord. The Holy Spirit is a willing helper but we are not His robots. If we want to have His power and live using His competence, we must yield to Him. That yielding is immediately forfeited whenever we put up layers.
Instead, God tells us to deal with our inadequacies by dropping all self-protecting layers and acknowledging our insecurities to Him. Through Christ, we can know we are loved and have worth. Through His Spirit, we “can do all things.” We do not have to hide or prove anything.
In God’s care, we may at first feel vulnerable without our layers but as we learn to operate in His three-sided triangle of love, worth and competence, feeling weak gradually becomes something to appreciate. The Apostle Paul even said he could “boast gladly” about his inadequacies. He knew that God Himself promised His power is made perfect in our weaknesses and His grace is sufficient to set us free from all our fears.
There is a lake in the Antarctica with water reading 80 degrees Fahrenheit. However, if anyone wanted to dive in and explore it, they would have to take with them a drill or a saw. Chilled by cold air above it, this lake is covered with ice.
George (not his real name) is like that. If there is a warm person on the inside, he keeps it well hidden under a self-protection layer of reserve. Others cannot get to know him or experience what he is like on the inside.
George might admit that he is afraid if others knew him well, they would not like him very much. He protects himself from rejection by what Christian counselor and psychologist Larry Crabb calls “layers.” Like the ice over the lake, these layers hide what is underneath. Crabb says it is almost always insecurity about acceptance, worth or competence.
Whether or not we use the term “layers,” most of us are aware of what we think are our flaws. We might use cosmetics to hide external marks and blemishes but there are no cover sticks for feelings of inferiority. Instead, we either withdraw or go overboard to prove ourselves.
Some people do it with their possessions. They buy the latest car or computer and show off by boasting about it. Others hide their inadequacy behind shyness, reasoning that if people do not notice them, they will not ask them to do anything and they will never betray their inabilities.
Others hide in alcohol or drugs, or become involved with one boy or girl friend after another. Some become powerful controllers who manipulate people so no one can see their weaknesses. Some retreat and become doormats. For them, being told what to do is easier than having people find out they are unable (or so they think) to make their own plans, never mind carry them out.
People who try to feel loved, valuable and competent through making demands on others or their own performance or possessions, always fall short. The main problem is that material things never last and people, even at their best, are unreliable.
For people made in His image, these three core needs can only be met by the triune God. He can make us feel complete. He says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love, and in loving kindness I have drawn you.” He always cares, and proved it by sending His Son to die for us. When others fail to love us, God’s love is reliable and unconditional. We do not earn it or deserve it but it is something in His nature. He is a God of love. That is what He does.
We can also measure our worth by the price that God was willing to pay for us. To Him, our value is the life of His Son. That is what He paid to redeem us. We are people of worth to God. We do not need to prove ourselves but entrust ourselves to His love and value system.
Competence comes also from God. He gives His Holy Spirit to each one who believes in Him and receives His Son as personal Savior and Lord. The Holy Spirit is a willing helper but we are not His robots. If we want to have His power and live using His competence, we must yield to Him. That yielding is immediately forfeited whenever we put up layers.
Instead, God tells us to deal with our inadequacies by dropping all self-protecting layers and acknowledging our insecurities to Him. Through Christ, we can know we are loved and have worth. Through His Spirit, we “can do all things.” We do not have to hide or prove anything.
In God’s care, we may at first feel vulnerable without our layers but as we learn to operate in His three-sided triangle of love, worth and competence, feeling weak gradually becomes something to appreciate. The Apostle Paul even said he could “boast gladly” about his inadequacies. He knew that God Himself promised His power is made perfect in our weaknesses and His grace is sufficient to set us free from all our fears.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Isolated? ................ Parables 326
July 14, 1992
Living in Moose Jaw has been something like living on a deserted island — most news is local to the point we pick up an Alberta newspaper twice a week just to find out what is going on in the rest of the world! However, there is some advantage to deserted-island living — the news from the rest of the world is generally depressing. Who wants to hear about it, much less be involved in it? Isolation seems to be safer.
Not that smaller communities in Saskatchewan are problem-free — the scandal from Martensville attests to that. Local news in our town involves conflicts over funds for the new library, whether or not to build a spa to attract tourists and discussion over the value of the latest provincial legislation and how it will affect the farming community.
There is one benefit to isolated living though — we find it easier to relate to what is happening on the other side of the world in Russia. There, communist leaders choose isolation from capitalistic free-enterprise systems for seventy years and the entire Soviet bloc has lived in a world apart, a deserted island of sorts.
Now as the borders are opening up, the western world has been invited to come in and the results of isolation are becoming evident. For example, the Soviet economic system is almost a fantasy. A recent visitor to Moscow reports purchasing a steak dinner, salad, and all the fixings for himself and a friend for the U.S. equivalent of 40 cents — yet a pair of running shoes costs a Russian six months wages. No farmer can raise a 20 cent steak so government subsidies make up the difference. Also, children can sell cans of pop on street corners and make more money than their parents who have professional careers.
Up front, their deserted-island living may have sounded like a paradise, but it robbed the Soviet citizens of some very real benefits. Refusal to rub ideas with ingenious and resourceful capitalists has resulted in economic chaos, wide-spread hunger, despair and hopelessness. Insulation from what they thought were the undesirables of the world has cost far more than was gained.
Sometimes Christians are accused of hiding from life too, and of having a head-burrowed-in-the-sand mentality. Sometimes it does happen as an attempt to create a deserted place to hide from evil and sorrow.
However appealing the concept, I don’t think that is what Jesus had in mind when He indicated His people were in the world but not of it. He plainly offers abundant life for those who follow Him and live godly lives, but Paul added that “those who live godly shall suffer persecution.” So even the godly will have problems. The full life Jesus was talking about includes both joy and sorrow, and there is nothing Biblical about hiding from either one.
Drawing the idea out more broadly, all of us are like the nation of Russia or the isolated communities in our country — if we try to protect ourselves from some of the bad we will lose out on some of the good too. And just as Russia slammed the door on free-enterprise only to find they shut out economic freedom and incentive along with it, Christians who opt out of experiencing all of life will miss that abundance Jesus talked about.
For that reason, even in the relative safety of where we live, God does present challenges to get us off our deserted islands. Without some risk, there is no need for faith. Rather than give in and hide, we are called to abundant living, with all of its ups and downs, a radical kind of living that when others observe us, they must immediately conclude that no one could live like that unless God is involved.
Living in Moose Jaw has been something like living on a deserted island — most news is local to the point we pick up an Alberta newspaper twice a week just to find out what is going on in the rest of the world! However, there is some advantage to deserted-island living — the news from the rest of the world is generally depressing. Who wants to hear about it, much less be involved in it? Isolation seems to be safer.
Not that smaller communities in Saskatchewan are problem-free — the scandal from Martensville attests to that. Local news in our town involves conflicts over funds for the new library, whether or not to build a spa to attract tourists and discussion over the value of the latest provincial legislation and how it will affect the farming community.
There is one benefit to isolated living though — we find it easier to relate to what is happening on the other side of the world in Russia. There, communist leaders choose isolation from capitalistic free-enterprise systems for seventy years and the entire Soviet bloc has lived in a world apart, a deserted island of sorts.
Now as the borders are opening up, the western world has been invited to come in and the results of isolation are becoming evident. For example, the Soviet economic system is almost a fantasy. A recent visitor to Moscow reports purchasing a steak dinner, salad, and all the fixings for himself and a friend for the U.S. equivalent of 40 cents — yet a pair of running shoes costs a Russian six months wages. No farmer can raise a 20 cent steak so government subsidies make up the difference. Also, children can sell cans of pop on street corners and make more money than their parents who have professional careers.
Up front, their deserted-island living may have sounded like a paradise, but it robbed the Soviet citizens of some very real benefits. Refusal to rub ideas with ingenious and resourceful capitalists has resulted in economic chaos, wide-spread hunger, despair and hopelessness. Insulation from what they thought were the undesirables of the world has cost far more than was gained.
Sometimes Christians are accused of hiding from life too, and of having a head-burrowed-in-the-sand mentality. Sometimes it does happen as an attempt to create a deserted place to hide from evil and sorrow.
However appealing the concept, I don’t think that is what Jesus had in mind when He indicated His people were in the world but not of it. He plainly offers abundant life for those who follow Him and live godly lives, but Paul added that “those who live godly shall suffer persecution.” So even the godly will have problems. The full life Jesus was talking about includes both joy and sorrow, and there is nothing Biblical about hiding from either one.
Drawing the idea out more broadly, all of us are like the nation of Russia or the isolated communities in our country — if we try to protect ourselves from some of the bad we will lose out on some of the good too. And just as Russia slammed the door on free-enterprise only to find they shut out economic freedom and incentive along with it, Christians who opt out of experiencing all of life will miss that abundance Jesus talked about.
For that reason, even in the relative safety of where we live, God does present challenges to get us off our deserted islands. Without some risk, there is no need for faith. Rather than give in and hide, we are called to abundant living, with all of its ups and downs, a radical kind of living that when others observe us, they must immediately conclude that no one could live like that unless God is involved.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
One Person we cannot hide from ................ Parables 324
June 30, 1992
. . . Ninety-eight . . . 99 . . . 100 . . . coming, ready or not!
The perennial favorite, hide and seek, needs no instruction from generation to generation. It is just one of those things that people do. Babies love to peek-a-boo, children enjoy taking turns hiding and hunting on rainy days in the house or sunny days out in the yard. My husband and I even play hide and seek with a comical ball. It is fun... as long as the seeker can find the hidden person or thing. If the game goes too long without discovery, most players get bored.
I never connected hide and seek with a certain age old story until this week. I was re-reading Genesis chapter three. It is the account of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden, suddenly realizing they were naked and then sewing fig leaves together to cover themselves. When they heard the sound of God walking in the garden. they promptly went into the bushes and hid.
These first people were playing the first game of hide and seek. One thing is sure — for them it was not fun and games and they most definitely did not want God to discover them. They had done the one and only thing He told them they could not do and, whatever that means to us, it meant agonizing shame and deep guilt to them. They knew they could not face God.
It is difficult for us to imagine what it would be like to know God and talk with Him face to face without any hindrance. Adam and Eve had enjoyed a good relationship with Him before this happened. Their intimacy had not been marred with sin and held a wonderful closeness that only innocence can know. Because of that, I suspect their sense of disgrace was much deeper than is our sense of shame and loss when we sin.
Anyway, God went looking for them and even though they tried to hide, His eyes missed nothing. He knew what they had done, knew why they were hiding, and knew what they would say when He found them. The count was over, Adam and Eve were caught.
As I read the story, I realized God wasn’t really “IT,” for He did not need to hide His eyes, count to 100, then overturn rocks or sweep away tree branches to find them. Actually, Adam and Eve were “IT.” Because of their disobedience, they had “lost God.” They knew they could no longer enjoy their intimacy with Him (or with each other) and that loss sent them into hiding. In fact, if God had not come searching for them, they might have stayed hidden in the bushes until they died. That is what sin does to people.
For us, the setting is different, as is the number of commands. But the story is the same. We have disobeyed too — not one injunction but a whole raft of them. Because of it, we are estranged from our Maker. The symptoms are much the same too; when we hear what we suspect is the sound of God, we tend to run and hide, not wanting Him or anyone else to see how sinful we really are.
God does promise, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” We need to come out of our hiding places. Then we will find that it is really God who is seeking us so He can reverse the awful consequences of sin and graciously give us eternal life.
. . . Ninety-eight . . . 99 . . . 100 . . . coming, ready or not!
The perennial favorite, hide and seek, needs no instruction from generation to generation. It is just one of those things that people do. Babies love to peek-a-boo, children enjoy taking turns hiding and hunting on rainy days in the house or sunny days out in the yard. My husband and I even play hide and seek with a comical ball. It is fun... as long as the seeker can find the hidden person or thing. If the game goes too long without discovery, most players get bored.
I never connected hide and seek with a certain age old story until this week. I was re-reading Genesis chapter three. It is the account of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden, suddenly realizing they were naked and then sewing fig leaves together to cover themselves. When they heard the sound of God walking in the garden. they promptly went into the bushes and hid.
These first people were playing the first game of hide and seek. One thing is sure — for them it was not fun and games and they most definitely did not want God to discover them. They had done the one and only thing He told them they could not do and, whatever that means to us, it meant agonizing shame and deep guilt to them. They knew they could not face God.
It is difficult for us to imagine what it would be like to know God and talk with Him face to face without any hindrance. Adam and Eve had enjoyed a good relationship with Him before this happened. Their intimacy had not been marred with sin and held a wonderful closeness that only innocence can know. Because of that, I suspect their sense of disgrace was much deeper than is our sense of shame and loss when we sin.
Anyway, God went looking for them and even though they tried to hide, His eyes missed nothing. He knew what they had done, knew why they were hiding, and knew what they would say when He found them. The count was over, Adam and Eve were caught.
As I read the story, I realized God wasn’t really “IT,” for He did not need to hide His eyes, count to 100, then overturn rocks or sweep away tree branches to find them. Actually, Adam and Eve were “IT.” Because of their disobedience, they had “lost God.” They knew they could no longer enjoy their intimacy with Him (or with each other) and that loss sent them into hiding. In fact, if God had not come searching for them, they might have stayed hidden in the bushes until they died. That is what sin does to people.
For us, the setting is different, as is the number of commands. But the story is the same. We have disobeyed too — not one injunction but a whole raft of them. Because of it, we are estranged from our Maker. The symptoms are much the same too; when we hear what we suspect is the sound of God, we tend to run and hide, not wanting Him or anyone else to see how sinful we really are.
God does promise, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” We need to come out of our hiding places. Then we will find that it is really God who is seeking us so He can reverse the awful consequences of sin and graciously give us eternal life.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Hiding your identity? .............. Parables 264
April 24, 1991
“If being an American abroad presents safety concerns for you, consider Passafe passport covers...” entreats a recent ad in the New York Times.
The pitch promoted phoney cardboard covers labeled “Canada,” “Argentina,” or “Guyana.” Supposedly, anyone from south of our border could tuck their passport into a false cover and breeze through transportation terminals without any hassle from anti-American activists.
Cowardly or sensible? Personally, I thought twice about passing judgment on people who are afraid to admit their citizenship. I’m a citizen of heaven and should always be willing to declare it, but sometimes I don’t – for fear that someone might hassle me.
Logically, it seems there should be no problem. God made me His child and an heir of salvation. He rescued me from the penalty of sin, exalted me to sit with Christ in heavenly places and gave me the awesome responsibility of being one of His ambassadors here on earth, a representative for Him to those who are still citizens of the world.
Yet sometimes declaring it is a problem. It’s hard to speak to people who don’t know how to change their citizenship, even though we Christians have an obligation to tell them. Anyone can be a heavenly citizen by admitting their sins and putting their faith in Christ. He offers all the free gift of eternal life and the good news concerning that life is a treasure to be shared, not hidden or covered up in silence.
We sometimes call ourselves “Closet Christians” when we are afraid of ridicule and rejection. We realize some people are not at all interested in hearing the gospel and will ridicule both the message and the messengers. Sometimes they do more than scoff and we back-off, claiming to be “sensitive” when our problem is a strong sense of self-preservation. It is easier to simply not tell anybody than cope with rejection and humiliation.
Jesus offered some encouraging words about the importance of telling people we are Christians: “Whosoever... shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32). That is, if we expect Him to put in a good word for us, we need to speak up.
However, eternity is an unseen future. No matter how much we might want God to think well of us, it is difficult to get around our desire to be accepted by others, even more so if rejection has been a big part of our life. We may even think God will surely not be too hard on a shy person who has trouble even saying “hello” or an abused person who is not sure of who they are. After all, doesn’t the way people treat us have a big bearing on our personalities? Not everyone is out-going and confident. Doesn’t God relax the rules a little for bashful and timid people?
Not so. Jesus also said, “But whoever denies me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven” (vs.33). There is one standard for all: “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
It is clear that all Christians are required to speak up, not cover up. Understandably, not everyone wants to hear what Christians have to say, however that is not an excuse for denying Him. He was willing to die for our sinfulness; surely we can admit we believe in Him and love Him.
The American government is committed to protect its citizens. Will not God protect those who, openly and without shame, display His passport?
“If being an American abroad presents safety concerns for you, consider Passafe passport covers...” entreats a recent ad in the New York Times.
The pitch promoted phoney cardboard covers labeled “Canada,” “Argentina,” or “Guyana.” Supposedly, anyone from south of our border could tuck their passport into a false cover and breeze through transportation terminals without any hassle from anti-American activists.
Cowardly or sensible? Personally, I thought twice about passing judgment on people who are afraid to admit their citizenship. I’m a citizen of heaven and should always be willing to declare it, but sometimes I don’t – for fear that someone might hassle me.
Logically, it seems there should be no problem. God made me His child and an heir of salvation. He rescued me from the penalty of sin, exalted me to sit with Christ in heavenly places and gave me the awesome responsibility of being one of His ambassadors here on earth, a representative for Him to those who are still citizens of the world.
Yet sometimes declaring it is a problem. It’s hard to speak to people who don’t know how to change their citizenship, even though we Christians have an obligation to tell them. Anyone can be a heavenly citizen by admitting their sins and putting their faith in Christ. He offers all the free gift of eternal life and the good news concerning that life is a treasure to be shared, not hidden or covered up in silence.
We sometimes call ourselves “Closet Christians” when we are afraid of ridicule and rejection. We realize some people are not at all interested in hearing the gospel and will ridicule both the message and the messengers. Sometimes they do more than scoff and we back-off, claiming to be “sensitive” when our problem is a strong sense of self-preservation. It is easier to simply not tell anybody than cope with rejection and humiliation.
Jesus offered some encouraging words about the importance of telling people we are Christians: “Whosoever... shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32). That is, if we expect Him to put in a good word for us, we need to speak up.
However, eternity is an unseen future. No matter how much we might want God to think well of us, it is difficult to get around our desire to be accepted by others, even more so if rejection has been a big part of our life. We may even think God will surely not be too hard on a shy person who has trouble even saying “hello” or an abused person who is not sure of who they are. After all, doesn’t the way people treat us have a big bearing on our personalities? Not everyone is out-going and confident. Doesn’t God relax the rules a little for bashful and timid people?
Not so. Jesus also said, “But whoever denies me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven” (vs.33). There is one standard for all: “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
It is clear that all Christians are required to speak up, not cover up. Understandably, not everyone wants to hear what Christians have to say, however that is not an excuse for denying Him. He was willing to die for our sinfulness; surely we can admit we believe in Him and love Him.
The American government is committed to protect its citizens. Will not God protect those who, openly and without shame, display His passport?
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