Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Trust in Humanity?
This is the bottom line, I think, of why we need a Savior, who is perfect and yet has been tested in the flesh, and was perfect, so that He can help us when we are tested. Humans are finite; He is not. Do not place unfair expectations on any human; they simply cannot carry that load. Love God, love one another (in good and bad).
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The refusal to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering in human life. It works in this way - if we love a human being and do not love God, we demand of him every perfection and every rectitude, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; we are demanding of a human being that which he or she cannot give. There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Why Our Lord is apparently so severe regarding every human relationship is because He knows that every relationship not based on loyalty to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no man, yet He was never suspicious, never bitter. Our Lord's confidence in God and in what His grace could do for any man, was so perfect that He despaired of no one. If our trust is placed in human beings, we shall end in despairing of everyone.
From Utmost for His Highest, 7/30
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The refusal to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering in human life. It works in this way - if we love a human being and do not love God, we demand of him every perfection and every rectitude, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; we are demanding of a human being that which he or she cannot give. There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Why Our Lord is apparently so severe regarding every human relationship is because He knows that every relationship not based on loyalty to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no man, yet He was never suspicious, never bitter. Our Lord's confidence in God and in what His grace could do for any man, was so perfect that He despaired of no one. If our trust is placed in human beings, we shall end in despairing of everyone.
From Utmost for His Highest, 7/30
Monday, June 6, 2011
Consider Jesus: Another Reflection on Hebrews
From Streams of the Desert: June 6
"Reckon it nothing but joy...whenever you find yourself hedged in by the various trials, be assured that the testing of your faith leads to power of endurance" (James 1:2-3) Weymouth
God hedges in His own that He may preserve them, but oftentimes they only see the wrong side of the hedge, and so misunderstand His dealings.
It was so with Job (Job 3:23). Ah, but Satan knew the value of that hedge! See his testimony in chapter 1:10. Through the leaves of every trial there are chinks of light to shine through. Thorns do not prick you unless you lean against them, and not one touches without His knowledge.
The words that hurt you, the letter which gave you pain, the cruel wound of your dearest friend, shortness of money--are all known to Him, who sympathizes as none else can and watches to see, if, through all, you will dare to trust Him wholly"
I have found myself deeply entrenched in the Book of Hebrews, reflecting on the call of the author to "Consider Jesus" and to "Hold Fast" to the faith. We must "consider Jesus"--the one of foremost importance, the Son appointed Lord and King, who calls us brothers and sisters, promising that He is there to help us in our time of testing, because of His own testing. A testing that included profound suffering, which He was called to on our behalf. It is this suffering that oftentimes we fail to fully consider; the Testing that Jesus obediently suffered for us. Therefore, He does understand our pain, our struggles and our weaknesses, and He calls us to the one thing that can motivate and empower us through these trials--faith.
This is where "Hold Fast" comes in. A faithful heart, empowered by the Holy Spirit, can overcome any obstacle--even moving a mountain! Yet, as the author of this Streams devotion shares, it is somewhat of a "dare" to completely put your faith in Christ, particularly as you "consider" all that He suffered, which is described as being "perfected". Suffering perfects? What are we do do with this realization? In the times of trial and storms, the author of Hebrews is calling us to hold fast to Jesus, in light of our consideration of Him. Jesus was somehow perfect in His suffering, therefore, as our example, Jesus is seeking to make us perfect through our suffering as well. His goal is to make us perfect, as He was perfect. If that is not a challenging statement, I am not sure what it is! I love C.S. Lewis' statement from Mere Christianity where he describes that God is desiring to make us into "little Christ's". To be shaped into "little Christ's" involves possessing that which Jesus possesses--indeed, His powerful healing, mind-jarring compassion and love, and unequaled mercy and grace are all aspects of Him that He desires to give us, his brothers and sisters, however, are we prepared to drink of His cup of suffering, as well?
"Hold Fast X 2". My final point today rests on the other aspect of spiritual formation that the author of Hebrews is emphatic about--"holding fast" cannot happen in a vacuum. "Holding fast" can only happen in community--with other human brothers and sisters in Christ, who can hold us up when we fall, hold us back when we are too impulsive, hold us down when we seek to do harm and to remind us, and them, to "hold fast" to our faith in Christ in all circumstances. Christianity cannot exist independent of this God-given, Spirit-filled, experience of community--otherwise known as the Church. In my angst with the Church, as we all have experienced, I have often been reminded by my Lord Jesus that he loves His Church. If He loves His Church, then aren't I supposed to as well? If Jesus is my Lord, then I desire to do His Will. Jesus is Lord of my life--is He Lord of yours?
Peace.
"Reckon it nothing but joy...whenever you find yourself hedged in by the various trials, be assured that the testing of your faith leads to power of endurance" (James 1:2-3) Weymouth
God hedges in His own that He may preserve them, but oftentimes they only see the wrong side of the hedge, and so misunderstand His dealings.
It was so with Job (Job 3:23). Ah, but Satan knew the value of that hedge! See his testimony in chapter 1:10. Through the leaves of every trial there are chinks of light to shine through. Thorns do not prick you unless you lean against them, and not one touches without His knowledge.
The words that hurt you, the letter which gave you pain, the cruel wound of your dearest friend, shortness of money--are all known to Him, who sympathizes as none else can and watches to see, if, through all, you will dare to trust Him wholly"
I have found myself deeply entrenched in the Book of Hebrews, reflecting on the call of the author to "Consider Jesus" and to "Hold Fast" to the faith. We must "consider Jesus"--the one of foremost importance, the Son appointed Lord and King, who calls us brothers and sisters, promising that He is there to help us in our time of testing, because of His own testing. A testing that included profound suffering, which He was called to on our behalf. It is this suffering that oftentimes we fail to fully consider; the Testing that Jesus obediently suffered for us. Therefore, He does understand our pain, our struggles and our weaknesses, and He calls us to the one thing that can motivate and empower us through these trials--faith.
This is where "Hold Fast" comes in. A faithful heart, empowered by the Holy Spirit, can overcome any obstacle--even moving a mountain! Yet, as the author of this Streams devotion shares, it is somewhat of a "dare" to completely put your faith in Christ, particularly as you "consider" all that He suffered, which is described as being "perfected". Suffering perfects? What are we do do with this realization? In the times of trial and storms, the author of Hebrews is calling us to hold fast to Jesus, in light of our consideration of Him. Jesus was somehow perfect in His suffering, therefore, as our example, Jesus is seeking to make us perfect through our suffering as well. His goal is to make us perfect, as He was perfect. If that is not a challenging statement, I am not sure what it is! I love C.S. Lewis' statement from Mere Christianity where he describes that God is desiring to make us into "little Christ's". To be shaped into "little Christ's" involves possessing that which Jesus possesses--indeed, His powerful healing, mind-jarring compassion and love, and unequaled mercy and grace are all aspects of Him that He desires to give us, his brothers and sisters, however, are we prepared to drink of His cup of suffering, as well?
"Hold Fast X 2". My final point today rests on the other aspect of spiritual formation that the author of Hebrews is emphatic about--"holding fast" cannot happen in a vacuum. "Holding fast" can only happen in community--with other human brothers and sisters in Christ, who can hold us up when we fall, hold us back when we are too impulsive, hold us down when we seek to do harm and to remind us, and them, to "hold fast" to our faith in Christ in all circumstances. Christianity cannot exist independent of this God-given, Spirit-filled, experience of community--otherwise known as the Church. In my angst with the Church, as we all have experienced, I have often been reminded by my Lord Jesus that he loves His Church. If He loves His Church, then aren't I supposed to as well? If Jesus is my Lord, then I desire to do His Will. Jesus is Lord of my life--is He Lord of yours?
Peace.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Sex and the Church: A strange historical perspective
After reading a really good book, Untamed, by Alan and Deb Hirsch, on discipleship, I have come to a point in understanding discipleship in a new way--though it really isn't new at all. It is what Ben talks about here in his article, though his topic is on the validity of the NT Epistles, which is being challenged, unsurprisingly, by Bart Ehrman. I copied the quote because I believe that the issue of sexuality has a bad rap in the church, and frankly, I am tired of it. Why am I tired of it? Let's not go there just yet.
Here's an excerpt from the blog:
"In the second century and later in Christianity we have the rise of extreme asceticism, asceticism of a form that sexual abstinence is seen as a key to being holy at all, much less be a holy man or woman proclaiming God’s Word. This certainly did not characterize the lives of the earliest Christians, especially not the Jewish Christians, and reflects the growing dominant Gentile ethos of the church in the second century and thereafter. Unfortunately this deficient view of the goodness of human sexuality and sexual expression in the right context has continued to infect and affect large portions of the church ever since then. So here it needs to be stressed— sexual asceticism has nothing to do with the NT ideas about holiness, except if we mean by that sexual abstinence in the life of an unmarried person. The church sadly has long proclaimed a mixed and oxymoronic message about sex—- the message I was given in MYF in junior high school was basically—- ‘sex is dirty, save it for the one you really love’. The Acts of Paul and Thecla sadly perpetuate that sort of view, and go beyond it, even calling for abstinence within marriage."
Witherington, Ben. "Forged: Chapter Three". http://www.patheos.com/community/bibleandculture/2011/04/06/forged-chapter-three%E2%80%94an-appalling-numerber-of-forgeries/
First off, Ben is writing, in the article, about a fictional story (pointed out by Ehrman as a forgery) about St Paul that ascribes, or associates, asceticism in Paul's preaching, so that when folks read 1 Cor 7, they might assume that Paul is preaching that sexuality and holiness just don't mix. That is quite far form the 1st century historical and cultural reality of the NT letters and Paul. (Paul also appeared to allow women to preach the gospel. After all, in 1st Corinthians, Phoebe was walking around with a copy of the letter, delivering Paul's message of the gospel.) Now asceticism defined, in simple terms, is the understanding that anything associated with the human body or the human/flesh experience somehow limited your spirituality. In essence, to grow spiritually, one should suppress these annoying human desires, sort of. I mean there are some rather crazy stories of folks in the 3rd and 4th century who did some crazy things to their bodies to try to extinguish the perceived "problem" of sexual lust; the problem was that no matter what they did that ole curmudgeon "lust" just kept coming back.
As I look the landscape of our culture today, there is a profound problem with how we understand sexuality. Sexuality is always somehow limited to the act of sex. This is an extremely narrow perspective on human sexuality, which the Hirsch's discuss in their book (the Chapter on sex is titled, "Too Sexy for the Church?"). They also discuss understanding sexuality with regard to the purpose and function of how God created humans to be. We are created to be sexual creatures: we are male and female. Male and females are different (duh!). Males have a way of relating to one another in way that is distinctly different from how females relate to one another. Our sexuality is much more than just the pinpoint dot that is the act of sex. Because of this lack of understanding, it seems the the problems with sexual addiction, pornography addiction, sexual identity issues, gender identity, etc. all seem to stem from this primary problem. We don't know what our sexuality really is. It doesn't help that the Church, in the West, simply does not know how to talk about sexuality in a healthy, functional manner. Like Ben notes, sex was either not spoken about, or if it was, sex was bad--unless you were ONLY participating to have help multiply the earth.
So, what can the Church do in this arena? It is evident that the church struggles in this area. Infidelity in marriages are happening just as much in the Church, as outside of the church. Pornography addiction is a real issue in the church, as it is outside the church. If anyone should be talking about sexuality, in today's culture, it should be the Church, right? I mean, if we believe what we say we believe about Jesus Christ, that this Christian walk is a way of life, a way of living, then shouldn't be we modeling how to live in all areas of our human experience. That is where the Hirsch's book really speaks to me the most--they talk about the typical areas of discipleship in a missional context AND they include the important issues on self-deception and sexuality within that discipleship framework. And why not? I mean, clearly, human beings are sexual creatures. It is part of our human experience. God created us this way. Shouldn't we talk about how to live a holy life with our sexuality? That sex, in and of itself, is not bad, or wrong, or dirty. That put in the correct framework it is quite good, according to God (See Genesis (-: ).
My initial statement was I am tired of sexuality getting a bad rap in church, which today usually means its like politics, "we don't talk about that stuff at church". I certainly don't intend to make a blanket statement that all Churches don't talk about this stuff, but in the educational/discipleship arena, there is a distinct lacking. And yes, I am tired of it, because our sexuality is a powerful human condition. It can be quite powerful for good, and equally so, if not more powerful, for bad. If we don't talk about it, it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist; it simply means that there is more freedom in its hidden state. I am passionate about discipleship, meaning walking with folks and truly introducing them to a new way of living in Christ Jesus. In all aspects of life, not just the spiritual.
Sounds like the gospel to me. What do you think?
Peace,
Heather
Here's an excerpt from the blog:
"In the second century and later in Christianity we have the rise of extreme asceticism, asceticism of a form that sexual abstinence is seen as a key to being holy at all, much less be a holy man or woman proclaiming God’s Word. This certainly did not characterize the lives of the earliest Christians, especially not the Jewish Christians, and reflects the growing dominant Gentile ethos of the church in the second century and thereafter. Unfortunately this deficient view of the goodness of human sexuality and sexual expression in the right context has continued to infect and affect large portions of the church ever since then. So here it needs to be stressed— sexual asceticism has nothing to do with the NT ideas about holiness, except if we mean by that sexual abstinence in the life of an unmarried person. The church sadly has long proclaimed a mixed and oxymoronic message about sex—- the message I was given in MYF in junior high school was basically—- ‘sex is dirty, save it for the one you really love’. The Acts of Paul and Thecla sadly perpetuate that sort of view, and go beyond it, even calling for abstinence within marriage."
Witherington, Ben. "Forged: Chapter Three". http://www.patheos.com/community/bibleandculture/2011/04/06/forged-chapter-three%E2%80%94an-appalling-numerber-of-forgeries/
First off, Ben is writing, in the article, about a fictional story (pointed out by Ehrman as a forgery) about St Paul that ascribes, or associates, asceticism in Paul's preaching, so that when folks read 1 Cor 7, they might assume that Paul is preaching that sexuality and holiness just don't mix. That is quite far form the 1st century historical and cultural reality of the NT letters and Paul. (Paul also appeared to allow women to preach the gospel. After all, in 1st Corinthians, Phoebe was walking around with a copy of the letter, delivering Paul's message of the gospel.) Now asceticism defined, in simple terms, is the understanding that anything associated with the human body or the human/flesh experience somehow limited your spirituality. In essence, to grow spiritually, one should suppress these annoying human desires, sort of. I mean there are some rather crazy stories of folks in the 3rd and 4th century who did some crazy things to their bodies to try to extinguish the perceived "problem" of sexual lust; the problem was that no matter what they did that ole curmudgeon "lust" just kept coming back.
As I look the landscape of our culture today, there is a profound problem with how we understand sexuality. Sexuality is always somehow limited to the act of sex. This is an extremely narrow perspective on human sexuality, which the Hirsch's discuss in their book (the Chapter on sex is titled, "Too Sexy for the Church?"). They also discuss understanding sexuality with regard to the purpose and function of how God created humans to be. We are created to be sexual creatures: we are male and female. Male and females are different (duh!). Males have a way of relating to one another in way that is distinctly different from how females relate to one another. Our sexuality is much more than just the pinpoint dot that is the act of sex. Because of this lack of understanding, it seems the the problems with sexual addiction, pornography addiction, sexual identity issues, gender identity, etc. all seem to stem from this primary problem. We don't know what our sexuality really is. It doesn't help that the Church, in the West, simply does not know how to talk about sexuality in a healthy, functional manner. Like Ben notes, sex was either not spoken about, or if it was, sex was bad--unless you were ONLY participating to have help multiply the earth.
So, what can the Church do in this arena? It is evident that the church struggles in this area. Infidelity in marriages are happening just as much in the Church, as outside of the church. Pornography addiction is a real issue in the church, as it is outside the church. If anyone should be talking about sexuality, in today's culture, it should be the Church, right? I mean, if we believe what we say we believe about Jesus Christ, that this Christian walk is a way of life, a way of living, then shouldn't be we modeling how to live in all areas of our human experience. That is where the Hirsch's book really speaks to me the most--they talk about the typical areas of discipleship in a missional context AND they include the important issues on self-deception and sexuality within that discipleship framework. And why not? I mean, clearly, human beings are sexual creatures. It is part of our human experience. God created us this way. Shouldn't we talk about how to live a holy life with our sexuality? That sex, in and of itself, is not bad, or wrong, or dirty. That put in the correct framework it is quite good, according to God (See Genesis (-: ).
My initial statement was I am tired of sexuality getting a bad rap in church, which today usually means its like politics, "we don't talk about that stuff at church". I certainly don't intend to make a blanket statement that all Churches don't talk about this stuff, but in the educational/discipleship arena, there is a distinct lacking. And yes, I am tired of it, because our sexuality is a powerful human condition. It can be quite powerful for good, and equally so, if not more powerful, for bad. If we don't talk about it, it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist; it simply means that there is more freedom in its hidden state. I am passionate about discipleship, meaning walking with folks and truly introducing them to a new way of living in Christ Jesus. In all aspects of life, not just the spiritual.
Sounds like the gospel to me. What do you think?
Peace,
Heather
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