UNFORGIVABLE

Does anybody remember the call-in radio show with Dr. Laura? For a while, Laura Schlessinger had a very popular radio advice program where she told people exactly what she thought about their behavior and how they should fix themselves. She often didn’t let the caller get to the actual question before she started telling them how to fix themselves.

Anyway, I will never forget the day I heard her tell a caller that she didn’t have to forgive the person who had wronged her – that some things were just unforgivable. I guess I had never really thought about how I felt about forgiveness, but as soon as Dr. Laura told me what she believed, I knew that my belief was different.

I had a similar experience when I was teaching fourth graders. I was talking to the parents of one of my students and one of the parents said, “I’ve told [Tommy] that if anybody hits him, he’s to hit them back harder.” I don’t believe I had ever heard a parent make that comment ever before. I’m not sure I was able to completely hide the shock I felt at that moment.

I realize I have led an extremely sheltered life and it was good that my closed little mind was forced to expand to take in these other ways of looking and dealing with the world.

Given the opportunity to review my belief system alongside these other two philosophies, I still can’t fit either statement into the way I believe followers of Jesus Christ are supposed to live their lives.

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

You’re right, Micah doesn’t say the word “forgiveness” in that verse at all. But try to picture for a minute what a person who is Godly, humble, merciful, and just would look and sound like. See if you can pick him out in this parable:

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.” Matthew 18:23-30

Ellen White commented on this parable in the January 1, 1892 edition of Home Missionary.

“While we must depend so entirely upon the mercy of a sin-pardoning Saviour, shall our hearts remain hard and unsympathizing? Can any provocation authorize unkind feelings, or should it cause us to harbor resentment or seek revenge? Can we cast the first stone in condemnation of a brother, when God is extending his mercy to us, and forgiving our trespasses against him? Should God enter into judgment with us, our debt would be found to be immense, yet our heavenly Father forgives the debt. Men will be dealt with by God, not according to their opinion of themselves, not according to their self-confidence, but according to the spirit they reveal toward their erring brethren. We are not forgiven because we forgive, but as we forgive.” (Home Missionary January 1, 1892)

Is there anything that another human can do to us that we can, with good conscience, refuse to forgive? I could be oversimplifying yet again, I don’t believe so.

Now that doesn’t mean I always feel like forgiving. I haven’t gotten to the place where letting go of hurt is easy. Knowing what is right and being willing to do right every time are two very different things.

A friend of mine once defined forgiveness as “giving up the right to continue to punish someone for the wrong they have done us.” Using that definition, if someone has wronged us and we say that we have forgiven them, can we still go from person to person recounting the terrible thing they did to us? Can we still glare at them from across the room? Forgiving them says that we have decided not to punish them for what they’ve done.

Again, our example has to be Jesus. He has every right to punish each and every one of us, and yet he forgives us instead. He even goes a step farther and refuses to remember that we ever did anything wrong.

“He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:19

I read a great story this week that illustrates this text.

“One old father was reading Micah 7:19 about God’s putting away of our sins by throwing them into the depths of the ocean. He rejoiced over it and shouted, ‘Glory to God!’ His unbelieving son did not like it, so he brought a scientific encyclopedia for his father to read instead of the Bible. After some time, his son again heard his father shouting, ‘Glory to God!’ The son came and asked his father, ‘What do you read here that you are so excited about?’ The father replied, ‘I read that scientists, even with the best modern equipment, are sometimes unable to go deep enough to explore all the depths of the ocean. It means that our sins are buried there, and no one can dig them up!’[1]

Jesus forgives us for the unforgivable every single day – He gives up the right to ever punish us for those actions. In light of that kind of mercy, how can we do any less than forgive anyone who has wronged us?

“How did the birth of Jesus change the world? Historian Rodney Stark argues that there was one huge factor that helped capture the attention of the ancient world—Christianity's revolutionary emphasis on mercy. Stark writes:
In the midst of the squalor, misery, illness, and anonymity of ancient cities, Christianity provided an island of mercy and security ….. It started with Jesus ….
“In contrast, in the pagan world, and especially among the philosophers, mercy was regarded as a character defect and pity as a pathological emotion: because mercy involves providing unearned help or relief, it is contrary to justice …. [Thus] humans must learn ‘to curb the impulse [to show mercy]’; ‘the cry of the undeserving for mercy’ must go ‘unanswered.’ ‘[Showing mercy] was a defect of character unworthy of the wise and excusable only in those who have not yet grown up.’
“This was the moral climate in which Christianity taught that … a merciful God requires humans to be merciful.”[2]

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

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[1] Jiri Moskala , The Lesson in Brief, Lessons 1–13, and The Learning Cycles 7, The Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide

[2] Rodney Stark, The Triumph of Christianity, (HarperOne, 2012), page 112

Stickers, Thorns and other Blessings

I’m not sure what you call them in your neck of the woods, but where I grew up they were called sticker burs – little globes of pricklies that can cause large amounts of pain to the barefooted and the four footed. I’ve heard them called sand burs. They’re not like the polite but troublesome burs that are like Velcro, sticker burs are just mean.

I’m a barefoot person. My shoes come off at the earliest possible second after I’ve walked through the door and don’t go back on again until the last moment before I leave the house – summer or whatever passes for winter in Texas. I learned painfully that venturing outside without shoes is not a pleasant experience because of sticker burs. What I never expected was to have to learn that same lesson inside of my house. This year, however, I have found walking through my house almost as painful as walking in my yard. Why? Well, apparently sticker burs attach themselves in the fur of long haired dogs until they walk onto carpet and then somehow the stickers come out of the dogs’ hair and stick in the carpet. That is, until my foot finds one and then it sticks in me. I know, if I were wearing shoes, I wouldn’t have a problem … I've been ignoring that advice for fifty-some years.

Anyway, this problem led me to ask the question, “Why do we have sticker burs … or thorns, … or mosquitos, … or any other inconvenient, painful or bothersome thing you can think of?

The answer that all Christians know is, “Because Adam and Eve sinned.” OK, but why does their sin mean that I have to step on sticker burs stuck in my carpet? For a long time my answer would have been that at the moment that Adam and Eve sinned, entropy and genetic anomalies entered all life forms. I still believe that, but that doesn’t answer the why part of the question. “Why?”

But then, I noticed something I had never noticed before.

"To the woman He said: 'I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;  In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.’ Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat of it”: Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.'" Genesis 3:16-19

Did you catch it? “Cursed is the ground for your sake; …” Think for a minute. What are do you usually mean when you make a statement that includes the words “for your sake?” Are you going to help or hurt that person? Well, if you’re doing something for another person’s sake, you’re trying to help that person in some way, right?

So, how does making Adam work harder benefit him and by extension, us?

Consider this: 

“Only one professional football team that plays its home games in a domed stadium with artificial turf has ever won the Super Bowl: The St. Louis Rams in 2000.
“While a climate-controlled stadium protects players (and fans) from the misery of sleet, snow, mud, heat, and wind, players who brave the elements on a regular basis are disciplined to handle hardship wherever it's found. The Green Bay Packers were the 1996 Super Bowl champions, in part, because of the discipline gained from regularly playing in some of the worst weather in the country.
“Endure hardship as discipline. ... No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it’ (Hebrews 12:7),(Hebrews 12:11).”[1]

Challenges make us stronger, but that’s not all. If we allow them to, they can help us focus on what’s really important. Many of us know that Beethoven, the great composer was deaf for a large part of his adult life. He was, in fact, completely deaf by the time he turned 47. The process of going deaf had taken 16 years. Can you imagine being aware that the sense most needed for your chosen occupation was leaving you and you couldn’t do anything to stop it?

Beethoven was severely depressed and actually admitted to thinking of suicide. But he never quit composing music that he could only hear in his imagination.

The best know piece that Beethoven wrote during the time he was completely deaf, is his Ninth Symphony. It’s one of my all-time favorites. Anyway, several years ago, my sons and I had an opportunity to hear the whole symphony performed in person. It was spectacular. As we discussed it on the way home, my oldest son made an observation that has changed my way of thinking about limitations.

I made some comment like, “Imagine if Beethoven could do that when he was deaf, what he could have done if he could still hear.” My son, a senior in high school at the time, and a musician, quickly disagreed with me. He pointed out his belief that Beethoven’s deafness had focused him more completely – so much so that my son felt that the Ninth Symphony was based on the one thing Beethoven could still “hear” – his heartbeat. See if you can’t hear it the next time you’re listening to the Ninth Symphony.

Why did God introduce struggles and challenges after the Fall? Well, for one thing, have you ever met a child who has no limits? Challenges teach us discipline. Like for Beethoven, they can help us block out the trivia and noise around us and help us focus on what’s important.

And, as Paul reminds us, learning to live within our limitations teaches us humility and our need for a Savior.

“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

And finally, there’s this:

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4

Why do I have sticker burs in my carpet? Probably because I need to vacuum more. But God gave us thorns  for our sakes, because He wants us to stay close to Him

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[1] Greg Asimakoupoulos, Leadership, Vol. 17, no. 3

Too Big …

Thoughts on the Sabbath School lesson for 2.4.12

Did your parents ever tell you that you’d gotten too big for your own britches?  Usually your parents were giving you fair warning that you had stepped over the disrespect line and you needed to step back quickly or experience a refresher course in who was the parent and who was the child, right? 

Well, I’m thinking that, with respect to honoring the holiness and sanctity of God, we crossed that line so long ago that we don’t even remember it.  I know, I know, not you, but some of us have, so stick with me for a few minutes.

Can you remember a time when the word ‘holy’ actually meant something; when it wasn’t just the first word in a two word phrase that ended in something like ‘cow’ or ‘moly’?  Do you remember when we had clothes and shoes that were only for church?  Do you remember when we were taught to treat the Bible itself with respect and reverence?

I think over the years that many of us (I know, not you) have come to a place where church is just another place to be, the Bible is just another book, and God is just another Person in our lives.

“In his book Soul Searching, Christian Smith summarized perceptions about God that are prevalent in the church and in contemporary culture. He said that most young evangelicals believed in what could best be described as ‘moral, therapeutic deism’ (we could also call this viewpoint ‘the Santa Claus god’).
“Moral implies that God wants us to be nice. He rewards the good and withholds from the naughty.
“Therapeutic means that God just wants us to be happy.
“Deism means that God is distant and not involved in our daily lives. God may get involved occasionally, but on the whole, God functions like an idea not a personal being actively present in our world.
“According to Smith, this is the version of God that's prevalent in our culture and in our churches. Often without realizing it, every culture quietly molds and shapes our views of God. But we can't grow in our relationship with God when we insist on relating to God as we think he should be. …
“That's why our surrender to God-as-he-is, as revealed in the Bible, is so important. Otherwise, we will have a god of our own imaginations—and, embarrassingly, our American god is an obese, jolly toymaker who works one day a year.”[1]

It’s one thing to want to become closer to God – that’s something we all want, but becoming closer is not becoming equal to.  In fact, if we look in the Bible at people’s interactions with God, we see that the closer their relationship with God, the more humble and unworthy they felt.  Isaiah for example:

“… I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.  Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: … And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!’ … “So I said: ‘Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts. …’”  Isaiah 6:1-5 NKJV

“I knew a girl who used to think the stars were tiny specks of light just over her head. I'm not kidding. And she wasn't in grade school when she believed this. She was in college. … She was intelligent in many ways. But one day in a conversation she mentioned that she had just learned that stars in the night sky were actually really far away. I asked her what she meant. She said, ‘You know, they're not just right up there. They're not just tiny dots. They're really far away.’
“I was incredulous.
“‘What did you think they were before?’ I asked.
“‘I thought they were, you know, just right up above us.’
“If you were to ask me why it matters that we study the doctrine of God, I'd say for the same reason that it's worth knowing that stars are not tiny pinpricks of light just above our heads. When we know the truth about God, it fills us with wonder. If we fail to understand his true character, we'll never be amazed by him. We'll never feel small as we stare up at him. We'll never worship him as we ought. We'll never run to him for refuge or realize the great love he's shown in the measureless distance he bridged to rescue us.”[2]

Do we feel that awe for God anymore?  I remember hearing a story about Teddy Roosevelt.  Supposedly, when he had a meeting with difficult people over difficult things, he would schedule the meeting in the evening.  Before they’d start the meeting, he’d walk outside and just look up at the stars for what I’m sure his guests thought was a very long time.  But, after a while he would look around and say something like, “Well, I think we all feel small enough now.”  And then walk back in and have his meeting.

Do we feel humbled and small when we look at Creation?   We live in cities that are so full of light that we can hardly see the stars, at all.   We know enough science that we can explain the mechanics of most of the natural things we see. Historians and scientists have done their best to explain away any miraculous happening, past or present.  Men have walked on the moon; we’ve seen pictures of Mars.  Is there any part of Creation that takes your breath away?  

I have to tell you that when my sons were small we would go to SeaWorld from time to time.  It was interesting and the boys enjoyed seeing all the animals.  I usually spent most of the day appalled at the price of everything in the park.  That is, until we sat down in the killer whale theater; something very strange would happen to me there.  I would become completely overwhelmed with awe while watching the whales do their stuff.  The people around me would be talking, screaming, laughing, trying to either get splashed or stay dry, but I would be crying and praising God for making such amazing creatures.  It sounds silly now, to be so moved by watching some animals, but I think those were some of the times that I felt the holiness of God.

“The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man the roles are reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge: if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God's acquittal. But the important thing is that Man is on the Bench and God in the dock.”[3]

Let’s not get “too big for our britches.”  Let’s remember Who’s in charge and worship Him in reverence and awe.

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[1] Preaching Today,  Submitted by Dave Dorr, Cincinnati, Ohio

[2] Joshua Harris, Dug Down Deep (Multnomah, 2010), pp. 48-49

[3] C.S. Lewis in God in the Dock. Christianity Today, Vol. 35, no. 13.

The Meek Shall Inherit ...

not published


... well, right now, the meek shall inherit the jokes.  So many jokes about the meek inheriting the earth and not knowing what to do with it once they get it, or after everybody else is through with it, etc.

I guess a lot of folks find those jokes funny because they really don't get what Jesus means when He talks about meekness.  The people who make the jokes equate meekness with mousiness and weakness.  But is that what Jesus meant?  Does He want us to be door-mats and let people walk all over us?

 

Here are some people who are described in the Bible as meek.  See if they fit the world's definition of meek.  Moses is described as the meekest man on earth.  Jesus is described as meek, as are David, Steven, Paul .  Not one of those guys looks like a pushover to me, what about you? 

Although the folks who painted pictures in the middle ages tended to paint Jesus looking pretty sappy, the Bible tells us that He was not a weakling.  He worked hard as a carpenter for at least fifteen years.  We also  know that neither David or Moses were wimps either.  They both were in charge of lots and lots of people that they had to keep in line.  Weaklings don't handle those types of jobs very well.  A leader on the level of Moses and David has to possess a considerable amount of internal steel.

So how could those guys be considered meek? By anyone's definition!  But check this out: 

“Meekness is defined as 'enduring injury with patience and without resentment.'” 

Ah hah!  That makes a big difference doesn't it!  Meekness isn't standing in the background hoping to be anonymous.  A meek person can do one of the hardest things in the world:  face mental and/or physical pain, torture, unfairness and humiliation patiently and without getting mad. 

In the fifth century, St. Benedict wrote down a guide to becoming humble.  In it he describes the twelve degrees of humility.  The fourth degree of humility is this: '...if hard and distasteful things are commanded, nay, even though injuries are inflicted, he accept them with patience and even temper, and not grow weary or give up…'  But beyond that degree, things take a bit of a turn. 

In the sixth degree, Benedict says this:  '...when a monk is content with the meanest and worst of everything, and in all that is enjoined him holdeth himself as a bad and worthless workman, saying with the Prophet: 'I am brought to nothing and I knew it not; I am become as a beast before Thee, and I am always with Thee.''

Hmmm. Well, I can still see that as part of humility or meekness...but something seems to be missing.  Can you spot what's missing?  Read on...

'The seventh degree of humility is, when, not only with his tongue he declareth, but also in his inmost soul believeth, that he is the lowest and vilest of men, humbling himself and saying with the Prophet: "But I am a worm and no man, the reproach of men and the outcast of the people.'The eighth degree of humility is, when a monk doeth nothing but what is sanctioned by the common rule of the monastery and the example of his elders.'The ninth degree of humility is, when a monk withholdeth his tongue from speaking, and keeping silence doth not speak until he is asked; for the Scripture showeth that 'in a multitude of words there shall not want sin.''The tenth degree of humility is, when a monk is not easily moved and quick for laughter, for it is written: The fool exalteth his voice in laughter.'The eleventh degree of humility is, that, when a monk speaketh, he speak gently and without laughter, humbly and with gravity, with few and sensible words, and that he be not loud of voice, as it is written: 'The wise man is known by the fewness of his words.''The twelfth degree of humility is, when a monk is not only humble of heart, but always letteth it appear also in his whole exterior to all that see him; namely, at the Work of God, in the garden, on a journey, in the field, or wherever he may be, sitting, walking, or standing, let him always have his head bowed down, his eyes fixed on the ground, ever holding himself guilty of his sins, thinking that he is already standing before the dread judgment seat of God, and always saying to himself in his heart what the publican in the Gospel said, with his eyes fixed on the ground: 'Lord, I am a sinner and not worthy to lift up mine eyes to heaven;' and again with the Prophet: 'I am bowed down and humbled exceedingly.''  "The Christian Classics Ethereal Library," http://www.ccel.org/ccel/benedict/rule.ix.html

Were you able to see the flaw in Benedict reasoning?  He concentrates only on our unworthiness without moving into the hope of redemption.  Someone who used Benedict's model for humility would look like a wallflower, somone who is weak.

Let's look back at the Bible figures I mentioned earlier.  Did they walk around with their eyes downcast and their heads bowed?  Truthfully, I can't imagine any of them walking around like that, can you?

So, then I found an essay by Matt Friedeman.  And it really helped me to see the true power of meekness.  Friedeman describes meekness not as weakness or wimpiness; 'not lack[ing] of energy or strength; rather, power under control.'  In fact, he paraphrases the third beatitudes this way; 'Blessed are the meek...for their power is controlled by the Master.'

Friedeman describes meekness in terms of a meek horse and here's how a horse trainer describes what that looks like.

'Once broken, a good horse doesn't require much correction.  He has learned to accept the reins of his master, and a gentle tug is all that is needed to urge him one direction or the other. The process of “breaking” a horse does not 'remove the power and verve that used to make the animal wild; rather it places the energy under control.”  Horse trainers use the phrase 'channel their spirit' and have found that with 'appropriate channeled, the horse is generally able to jump higher, run faster, and even work harder than an uncontrolled animal.'

It gets better. 

'A special relationship develops between the horse and master.  After years of working together, they develop a rapport that becomes second nature to both of them.  Thus trained, a good horse can sense a bad rider and will resist false guidance.'

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have that relationship with God?  To be able to know Him so well, that we can sense false guidance and not be lead down a wrong path?

Friedeman also talks about the partnership between a well trained horse and his rider.

'The horse knows its job and is capable of working even when it doesn't feel the immediate presence of its rider.  They work as a unit, even when physically apart.'

According to Friedeman, 'the meek horse has an elevated sense of loyalty and commitment.'  He goes on to describe horses from the old west and the pony express. 

'The lives of the mail carriers depended upon the horses they rode.  A Pony Express horse needed to be swift and hardy, with a certain measure of grit that enabled it to keep going, no matter what.  Those horses would die in the running if that is what it took.  They were bent upon completing the course.  And despite the heat, the parching thirst, raging storms, Indian attacks, and injury, horses of that caliber never whined or whinnied in protest. Meek horses...have learned the secret of submitting to the control of their master.  They trust that rider enough to follow uncomplainingy wherever he leads them.

And finally, Friedeman reminds us that 'a horse does not become [meek] overnight.  It takes a long, hard period of training.'

What an excellent picture of a meek Christian!  

'Those who have placed the reins of their lives in the guiding hand of the Master may give up control.  But in its stead they will receive the guidance and protection of One whose vision is far higher than theirs.  Instead of spending their energy in frivolous pursuits, their lives will reach their full potential-and they will inherit the earth.'

Meekness is not weakness; it is power under control.  Think about Moses, David, Paul and Jesus.  They weren't wimps.  They were powerful people who allowed God to hold the reins and direct them into their full potential.  I want that kind of meekness, don't you?