Perfect Faithfulness

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.  And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him … -- Hebrews 5:8-9

These verses, speaking of Jesus, trouble some people.  Wasn’t Jesus perfect in every possible way, sinless and holy and always loved and accepted by God the Father?  Yes, He was.  How could He be perfected or “made perfect”?  In His Person, as the Second Person of the Trinity, He was, without any question, flawless, ideal, and complete.  However, He took on flesh, and, though He remained God Incarnate, He had a mission to fulfill. 

Personally, I would not have blamed Jesus if He had, after walking among us for a while, said, “They really are not worth saving.”  If He had turned away from the Cross, said He wanted to give it up, skip the suffering, and let us all go, I do not believe I could call that choice a sin on the Lord’s part.  He would have left us – to quote Oh, Brother Where Art Thou, in a tight spot, but we would not have much room to complain.  It’s our own fault. 

Still, Jesus would have failed in His mission.  He would not have been made perfect in that regard.  He could not have been condemned, but He would have, as far as we are concerned, failed.  Is the same true for us?  Can we be good and righteous failures?  Can we be “acceptable” Christians yet miss the mark because we fear and recoil from our own cross? 

What I do, in one sense, doesn’t matter much.  I am about as unimportant and insignificant as a human can be.  I am not called to bear a very large or difficult cross; nevertheless, I do have a cross.  There is a reason I am still in this world.  I can hold back, look out for myself, not hurt or take advantage of others, avoid scandal, stay out of obvious trouble, maybe even do the occasional good deed, and be thought of as a “good enough” person.  When my time comes to die and I stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, I might say that I believed in Him, that I was not much of an adventurer, that I was perhaps a bit fearful and overly cautious and did not much that was very bad and perhaps a little more that was good. 

Jesus will say to people with that attitude, No!  Be hot or be cold.  Do not be lukewarm.  Whether our lives are noticed or not does not matter.  It does not matter if we are not powerful and influential.  It matters only that we are faithful and fully committed.  We are called to be like the woman’s alabaster jar of ointment (Matthew 26:7-9) – broken and poured for Christ even if the world’s looks on and calls what we have done foolish and pointless. 

Anxiety holds us back from so much.  There is a line, sometimes difficult to define, between being wise and being overwhelmed by dread of what might happen.  Prudence is a virtue.  Cowardice is a sin.  What we have to do, no matter how small it seems, may be what no other can do.

Love and Fear

Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.  Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not!  Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God.  He will come and save you.” – Isaiah 35:3-4

We operate on a continuum with two poles.  A lot of the time, we Christians will say those poles are fear and faith.  So we will say to our fearful and anxious friends – or to my fearful and anxious self – Have faith in God.  I think, though, we can be fooled by the neat alliteration.  Perhaps the other pole -- the non-fear pole, is really love.  When we read those two verses above, we know we ought to buck up and be strong.  Why?  Because God will come and save us.  And why would God do a thing like that?  Because He loves us.

If you look at most of humanity for most of history, it’s not a very pretty picture.  I am fairly convinced of the depravity of human nature.  There’s more proof of it every day.  There are wars and rumors of wars, disasters, oppression, and disease -- it seems, on every side.  Some will say we are surrounded by the wicked. 

I’m reminded of that passage we’ve talked about in 2 Kings 6 where we read of Elisha’s servant terrified by the horses and chariots of the Syrians which had surrounded the city.  Elisha prays that his servant’s eyes be opened, and the man sees that it is really the Syrian army that is surrounded by the Lord’s host – a “…mountain full of horses and chariots of fire …” protecting the man of God. 

Elisha had faith because he knew the love of God.  I was thinking about betrayal and traitors and unfaithfulness last night.  I do not have many good qualities.  I have maybe one:  I am loyal.  I will not turn my back on a friend, even if it means both of us get the crap pounded out of us.  Dante tells us that the deepest circle of hell is reserved for the traitor.  In other words, that is the farthest you can get from God.  So the one Person who will never fail you is God. 

As much as God hates betrayal, so much He loves the traitor.  Right there in the garden when Judas betrayed his Lord with a kiss, Jesus yet called him “friend”.  He would have forgiven Judas the same as He did the rest who fled, and Peter who, in fear, denied Him.  The love of God knows no bounds, and this is the reason we can be strong and be not afraid.  This is the reason we can have faith regardless of the terrors that array themselves against us.  This is the reason we must have faith.        

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.  (1 John 4:18-19)

The Whole

Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.  Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky.  -- Psalms 85:10-11

 There is always a wholeness to what God does.  It is something we crave.  I have had the experience of being fragmented, of my life having parts that make no sense and do not fit in with the rest of me.  We sometimes have relationships that seem at odds with who we are and where we are going or want to go.  Brokenness can be painful.  We may try on our own to put ourselves back together.  We find something to use for glue, maybe get some directions from another shattered person and attempt to figure out where everything ought to go.  We sometimes end up more than a little dysfunctional as a result. 

 The Lord offers us the wholeness we seek in Christ.  Our brokenness can become a blessing as God takes these useless, hurtful fragments and integrates them through the Cross.  The water and the blood make us pliable again and allow Him to reshape our lives with a new and eternal purpose. 

We become new creations in Christ.  Now we are made right, that is, we are righteous.  Righteousness brings peace.  Peace helps us to maintain our integrity.  We know we are missing something or in danger of again being shattered when we lose that peace. 

The psalmist says that faithfulness springs up from the ground.  God is always faithful on His side, but we can be true as well.  The imagery of a crop coming up from the dust of the earth reflects that faithfulness arising from within us.  It grows from the seed of love the Lord has planted in our hearts. 

Like any plant, our faithfulness will orient toward the light.  Righteousness shines down upon us, and we align ourselves with it.

This is how God means for us to live in relationship with Him.  It is a glimpse of the Kingdom Way, calling us to trust and rest and devotion. 

All and Not All

What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 

By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged. – Romans 3:3-4

One of Paul’s main points in his Epistle to the Romans is the universality of both sin and redemption.  Sin pervades every heart and soils every soul.  Yet the Cross is raised to trump our fall and deliver every soul from both iniquity’s penalty and power. 

To the believer, the nearness of salvation is axiomatic.  When one realizes – and that’s really what it is – that one is saved, the power of God becomes an ever-present reality that is, at times, almost tangible.  Before we believe, though, God often seems distant both in location and time.  After all, God’s throne is in heaven – wherever that is.   Up there, we say.  We are down here in the dirt of earth.  The miracles of the Bible happened a long time ago.  God used to speak to prophets, but He doesn’t do that anymore.  Jesus was crucified back two thousand years ago.  The Apostles died and were buried.  The men and women who heard them and were taught by them are dead and decayed, and so on for generations and generations.    

Nevertheless, we … seek God, in the hope that [we] might feel [our] way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’ … For we are indeed his offspring (Acts 17:27-28).  This is the truth, not for some only but for all.  The truth is true whether everyone believes it or no one believes.  That some of us fail to accept, refuse to hear or acknowledge the truth does not negate the price that Jesus paid for our redemption; it does not restrict His grace or void His faithfulness to us. 

All are redeemed in Christ, just as all in Israel were God’s chosen, just as we are all His offspring.  Any given individual may realize and recognize this, or he or she may continue to follow the gods of self and sense, dust and dung, metal, matter and mortality. 

Paul continued in his warning to those very religious Athenians:  Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man (Acts 17:29).  The carnal mind craves a carnal god.  Christians have no quarrel with physics, chemistry or biology.  We only reject the dumb god, Chance, and its imaginary brethren dwelling atop the dung heap that is their holy hill. 

There are many reasons not to believe – pride, fear, ignorance, rebellion, misunderstanding, et al.  Many will embrace those reasons, rationalizations, and excuses and continue to bow to dead idols.  I wish there was a way to change that, for through disobedience and unbelief the world will be rocked and racked with suffering and destruction and turmoil.  Still, God reigns, and all who enter His kingdom will know His peace.

Layers

Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. -- Proverbs 13:11*

Back in the olden days, I worked for a credit card company pulling data out of massive files for accounting, marketing, risk management or collections.  Most of the time users were interested in aggregate information.  But collectors, of course, were targeting individuals.  I will never forget pulling a list of problem cards and seeing "lottery winner" in the job description of one.

What causes lottery winners and those who suddenly "come into" money to be so susceptible to mismanagement and bankruptcy?  Not having money is very different from having some money.  Anyone who has learned to save has learned to budget.  The budget may not be a formal spreadsheet or log.  I never had one, but I knew I couldn't buy everything at once.  I also never had a credit card until I was well up in my thirties and needed it for travel.

The very fact that a person will blow money on a lottery ticket indicates a certain lack of understanding of basic arithmetic.  I know people who are good at math and have a lot of money who play Powerball and gamble in casinos, but they have a different motivation.  The average consumer, if you will, of Lotto tickets is hoping to hit it big.  In Essays on Political Economy, Bastiat explains:

It was remarked, that during the most distressing period, the popular expenses of mere fancy had not diminished. The small theatres, the fighting lists, the public-houses, and tobacco depots, were as much frequented as in prosperous times. In the inquiry, the operatives themselves explained this phenomenon thus:--"What is the use of pinching? Who knows what will happen to us? Who knows that interest will not be abolished? Who knows but that the State will become a universal and gratuitous lender, and that it will wish to annihilate all the fruits which we might expect from our savings?"

In other words, they plan on living from paycheck to paycheck, as we say these days.  They have a certain set of skills related to managing money that way.  They aren't good skills, but they are skills.  If such a person is made suddenly wealthy, probably 7 or 8 times out of 10, they will squander their riches because they do not understand capital, investment and earnings. 

This is true of realms other than material wealth.  True education of any sort is built layer upon layer.  Quick fixes and crash courses are ineffective for those with a poor foundation.  We often see college students failing because they were not given a solid foundation in the basics  -- like reading, and they never even learned to learn.

With regard to spiritual truth, the situation is much the same.  We have to, as Jude advised, "build [ourselves] up in [our] most holy faith" by persevering in prayer and other Christian disciplines.  It doesn't have to be a chore, but most of us are not going to have a Damascus Road experience.  Plus, Saul of Tarsus was not turned into Paul the Apostle overnight.  Moses had to spend forty years tending sheep before he could shepherd Israel.  David was pursued by Saul and driven into exile before he returned to rule.  Jesus Himself was 30 years old before He began His ministry and spent forty days fasting in the wilderness to start.

One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.  If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?  And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? (Luke 16:10-12)

Whatever God entrusts to us, little or much, it is training and testing.  If we take care of it and use it wisely, though it is small and insignificant, we are laying the foundation for a greater blessing to come.

* I see that I touched on this verse and subject in a similar way just a few months back.  I guess it bugs me.

Christmas Lights

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” – Luke 2:29-32

As I get older I tend to be more sympathetic or empathetic with elderly men like Simeon.  Maybe it’s just pathetic.  All his life he waited for the consolation of Israel.  He had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he saw the Messiah.  We don’t know when this was revealed to him, but we might imagine that it was when he was young, perhaps a child or teenager.  For all we know, he may have waited sixty or seventy or even eighty years. 

As he was waiting, he had no way of knowing what day would be the day.  It’s not like the amusement park signs that tell you that you have another hour, another 30 minutes, or another 15 minutes before you get to the ride.  This is real life.  What he was waiting for could have been tomorrow, but it wasn’t.  Until it was today. 

I look at God’s promises, and I wonder how long it will be until Christ is formed in me (Galatians 4:19).  I see where Jesus Himself will abide in me and I in Him, Vine and branch.  Then there is 1 John 3:2  -- Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.  I believe this, but I don’t necessarily see it happening. 

From Simeon perspective, he didn’t see anything happening either.  As far as he was concerned, for all those years, nothing was taking place.  There was no outward evidence that the process had even been started.  He had no idea what was really going on.  All he knew was that he was still alive, and he hadn’t seen the Messiah.  But just as God was faithful with regard to the vision He had given Simeon, He is faithful to fulfill His promises to us, to transform us into the image and likeness of Christ. 

No matter how it looks now, you and I are going to get up one morning, drink our coffee, head off to work or whatever our routine is, and it will turn out to be the day.  Until we see Him, it will be just like every other day we have experienced all these long years.  Suddenly, the Light will appear and our eyes will see the salvation and the glory, and we will understand. 

Merry Christmas!