faith

15
Feb
2021

God so loved the world

Valentines’ Day focuses attention on love. Traditions say that a priest named Valentine stood up for love and marriage at a time when Rome’s emperor had banned weddings, insisting men be devoted only to their military duty (History.com). Love binds us to each other.

The love we share with one another, of course, is a reflection of God’s love, “for God is love” (1 John 4:8). On this day to celebrate love, let’s look at what may be the most well-known statement about God’s love, John 3:16.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” 

Let’s ponder that passage a word or two at a time.

God – the Author of life (Acts 3:15), the originator of love.  It was he who created us; it is he who sustains us. As human beings, we reach for all sorts of gods, things to believe in. We make ourselves into gods, thinking we have within us all that we need. But ultimately God is who he is, the one self-sufficient Being and source of all existence. “In him we live and move and have our being,” as Paul pointed out to an Athenian audience from their own poetry about the highest deity (Acts 17:28). The true, eternal God is not some inanimate force floating about in the universe. He is our Father who has deeply personal connections to us and concerns for us.

God loved.  Love that comes from God is not merely a sentimental feeling. When we speak of love, our feelings can be short-lived, shallow, even selfish. When God speaks of love, he tells of something pure, profound, and lasting. God’s love is not swayed by our appearance or actions. God is committed to caring for us despite how we appear and how we behave. 

God loved the world.  Every person, every individual, rich or poor, young or old, thin or fat, wise or simple, high or low–God loves all. God doesn’t limit his love to those who look good by human standards–or by divine standards. Thank God he doesn’t, since all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We are full of wrongdoing and God knows it. Yet God has loved us and has given his love to us all.

God so loved the world–so much, so greatly, so amazingly, that he gave.  We tend to think of relationships as give and take. If I’m going to give to you, I expect also to receive something in exchange. But God simply gave. No strings, no conditions, no ulterior motives. He just gave. He gave lovingly of himself, ever so painfully of himself, not for his own gain but for ours. He needed nothing; he already is and has all things. We needed everything, and God gave. He gave so that we might share in what he has.

And consider the magnitude of God’s gift. 

God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.  God did not send a servant to do his bidding. He did not send an angel or even an archangel. He sent his Son–the One and Only, the Only-Begotten, the divine Son who is eternal with Father and Spirit. God gave of himself, a gift of unfathomable love. God the Only Son took on human flesh. He lived in our place and died in our place. God “did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us” (Romans 8:32). The incarnate God in Christ “emptied himself …. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death–even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7,8).  This was the awe-inspiring extent to which God gave.

And now, everyone who believes in him receives this greatest of all gifts. Again, the gift is for everyone, a benefit available to the whole world. The benefit is received by believing, not by doing, not by some act or decision or sacrifice of our own. The gift is ours simply by receiving faith from God, a faith he instills in us, bringing us to believe in what he has done. We are saved by the gift of God’s grace, through faith which is not our own doing–it too is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). From start to finish, God has embraced us by his love.

Thank God for his love–love that means we will not perish but have eternal life.  Thanks to God’s love, we will not end up separated and isolated. We will not languish in loneliness and shame. We are not lost to hopelessness and futility forever.  Thanks to God’s love, we have a living, vibrant, endless relationship with God as our Father and Christ as our Brother. We are encouraged daily by God’s Spirit.  May we “abide in his love” so that our “joy may be complete” (John 15:10,11).

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow
02
Jan
2021

Spiritual resolve

by David Sellnow

The Harris Poll conducts surveys annually about people’s New Year’s resolutions. According to their recent survey, more Americans are making resolutions for 2021 than did so for 2020.  Nearly half the population plans to make at least one resolution for the year ahead. Among younger adults (ages 18-39), the number of resolution-makers approaches 60%. What sorts of resolutions are people making?  Some of the common ones are:
   – exercise regularly;
   – lose weight or manage weight;
   – budget/save/invest money;
   – practice more self-care;
   – learn a new skill.

Resolutions like those aren’t altogether out of line with biblical thoughts.  We are stewards of our bodies and minds, which are “fearfully and wonderfully made” by our creator (Psalm 139:14). We are like a city breached by invaders if we lack self-control (cf. Proverbs 25:28). We know money and resources should be handled carefully, as the proverb teaches: “Precious treasure remains in the house of the wise, but the fool devours it” (Proverbs 21:20).  And caring for ourselves is implied in the second greatest commandment of God’s law: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).  Taking care of ourselves is necessary if we are going to care for our neighbors.

As people of faith, though, deeper resolves have a higher priority.  Scripture focuses on spiritual resolve, on committing ourselves to the Lord who has committed himself to us. As we enter this new year, let’s consider some of the themes that align with what Jesus called the first and greatest commandment:  “The Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).  Allow me to set forth some themes (along with scriptures) that speak of our spiritual resolves. 

Spiritual resolves for our lives in Christ

1. Cling to eternal hope

  • “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.  But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:19,20). So, with clear resolve, we can stay strong in hope always. “God … gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore … be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:57,58).

2. Take hold of our calling as God’s children 

  • That we are God’s children is a miracle of grace. It is because of God’s love “that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are” (1 John 3:1). Since God is our Father, we lay claim to our place with him.  We “take hold of the eternal life to which [we] were called” (1 Timothy 6:12). We resolve to “lead a life worthy of the calling” we have received (Ephesians 4:1), knowing that we have been adopted as “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).

3. Examine ourselves and repent

  • Before rushing to judgment of anyone else and accusing a neighbor of having clouded vision, we realize that there are log-sized splinters in our own eyes (cf. Matthew 7:1-5).  “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8,9). We resolve each day to “test and examine our ways and return to the Lord,” lifting up “our hearts as well as our hands to God in heaven” (Lamentations 3:40,41).

4. Give attention to what God says 

  • In The Book of Common Prayer (1549), Archbishop Thomas Cranmer expressed the prayer that we “hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest” God’s words for our lives, so that through those words “we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life.”  A heart full of spiritual resolve will delight in God’s truth, saying, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth” (Psalm 119:103).  Members of Christ’s family will treasure the good news about what God has done and ponder such things in our hearts (cf. Luke 2:19).

5. Pray and labor in the Lord

  • The God who speaks to us in his Word also listens to our concerns. “When you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you,” he promises (Jeremiah 29:12), and affirms that our prayers are “powerful and effective” (James 5:16). As we set our hearts to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), let’s resolve to pray not just for ourselves. There is a world in need of our concerted prayer and action. We want to offer “prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings … for everyone” (1 Timothy 2:1). And as we pray, we look for ways to be an answer to others’ prayers. Jesus urged seventy of his followers to “ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” as he was commissioning them to go out into communities in his name (Luke 10:1-9). So also as we pray, we will keep our eyes open for opportunities to be agents of God’s mercy to others, knowing that “to do good and to share what you have” and “to care for orphans and widows in their distress” are the sorts of things God considers pleasing sacrifices and the purest expression of our religious convictions (Hebrews 13:16, James 1:27).

May these sorts of resolves–rooted in our spiritual identity and putting into practice our spiritual priorities–be strong in our hearts this year and every year.  “May the God of peace himself sanctify [us] entirely. … The one who calls [us] is faithful, and he will do this” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow
01
Dec
2020

Live in faith, not fear, as you wait for Jesus

A message for Advent

Based on readings from the first Sunday of Advent:

  • Isaiah 64:1-9
  • 1 Corinthians 1:3-9
  • Mark 13:24-37


Live in faith, not fear, as you wait for Jesus

This holiday season is difficult for families. Families want to be together, and the present times are keeping many families at a distance from each other. If you are a parent, you love your children. You want them to be with you. You long to be at home together with your children.  You love them dearly, with a love that doesn’t diminish over time or depend on the things your children have done or haven’t done. 

Parents, have you ever had a time when you went on a brief outing and left your children at home alone on their own? The children were at that age when they’re old enough to be left on their own … but also maybe not mature enough to always make the best choices. So you came home, and the children had made a mess or gotten into things they shouldn’t have. Or they had responsibilities or chores they were supposed to do, but they’d neglected those duties and played games instead. When you arrived home in such a situation, did you disown your children? Did you banish them from your household? I imagine you did not. You still loved them just as much.  Their place as your children isn’t contingent on each instance of their behavior. You may have hoped to find everything in perfect order when you arrived home, but even with all their imperfections, your children are still your children. You’ll love them forever; you’ll like them for always. As long as you’re living, your babies they will be.*

Keep in mind an example like that when you think about Jesus coming back to us at the end of time.  In this season of the year, we generally think of preparing to celebrate Christ’s first coming into our world, when he was born at Bethlehem. But the Advent season also reminds us that Christ will be returning to this world at the end of time. The Bible readings for the first Sunday in Advent focused on that. I urge you to focus on the common theme in those readings. We acknowledge that we are not perfect children of God.  In fact, as Isaiah’s prophecy noted, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth” (Isaiah 64:6). But Isaiah also prayed (as we do), saying, “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father … we are all the work of your hand … we are all your people” (Isaiah 64:8,9).  We may not always be faithful, but “God is faithful” (1 Corinthians 1:9). And he is the one who will strengthen us to the end, so that we “may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:8)–we can’t do that by ourselves. When the day of our Lord Jesus Christ comes, he will be coming to “gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven” (Mark 13:27).  That’s the gospel message about Jesus coming back at the end of days. Jesus is coming back to us as his people. We are the children of God, and he is coming to take us home for eternity.

Sometimes Christian people lose sight of that hopeful gospel message and are afraid when they think about Jesus coming back. I once asked a group of students in a church class to write down their instinctive answer to this question:  “When you think about Judgment Day, what do you think?” Some of the responses were these:

  • Fear of standing before God, answering for everything I have done.
  • It scares me if I think about it too much.
  • How am I going to face the Judgment Day?
  • I’m scared. I hope it goes quickly.

I once heard a preacher in a religious service pressure his hearers, warning sternly against being caught in the midst of a sin when Jesus returns. Many of his hearers went away from that service feeling frightened about their standing with Jesus, not comforted. My own impression was, “When could Jesus come back and not find us in the midst of sin?” We are always struggling with sin in our lives. We do things we shouldn’t do. We omit doing the things we should do (cf. Romans 7:23-25).  We have sinful natures embedded in us (cf. Romans 7:14-20). But Jesus is the one who has rescued us from our sinfulness and gave us his righteousness (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21). The one who is coming as the judge at the end of time is the same one who came into our world as Savior when “the fullness of time had come” for him to be “born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children” (Galatians 4:4-5). He’s not coming so he can say, “Gotcha!” if he catches us in some indiscretion, or if we happen to be taking a nap when he makes his appearance, rather than being busy helping a neighbor at that specific moment.

So don’t misunderstand the point of Jesus’ story about the man going on a journey who tells his servants to be sure they’re awake when he comes back (Matthew 13:32-37).  What does it mean to be “awake”?   Yes, we want to be alert. Yes, we want to be attending to what’s important in our daily lives as Christian people. But that’s a positive attitude, not one of fear. We are not constantly worrying, “Am I doing the right thing? Am I doing this right? Am I doing that right? Am I doing enough? Am I living my life perfectly enough for when Jesus comes back?” 

The Gospel reading two weeks ago pictured someone who misunderstood the master’s instructions in a fear-filled way. Jesus spoke of a man who had received a talent (an amount of money) from his master. Rather than investing it or using it, he hid it in the ground, afraid that his master was a hard man who would punish him if he did anything wrong or failed to earn a profit (cf. Matthew 25:14-30). Living in fear of our master is not the way Jesus wants us to live.  Jesus said that he came to set us free (cf. John 8:36). He said that he came that we might “have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). He does not want fears about what we are supposed to be doing or fears about his return paralyzing us. He wants us living freely by his Spirit.

One way I’ve pictured it is this:  Let’s say you’re trying to play a game of basketball. You’re in the game, and all you’re thinking about is whether you’re doing everything correctly–from the rules of the game to every detail of your performance. You’re thinking, “Am I staying in bounds? Am I careful not to double-dribble? Do I have my hands holding the ball in the right way? Do I have proper form when shooting? Do I keep my elbow tucked in? Do I release the ball smoothly at the top of my shot? Did I follow through sufficiently?” You’re fixated on every little detail and fine point, and your focus is on yourself.  Will you be much of a basketball player like that in a game situation? Probably not. The details are something you study, things you work on in a practice session. But in the game, a basketball player simply plays. You keep your focus on what’s happening on the court around you and you keep your eyes on the goal. You’re looking at the rim as you aim to make a basket, not analyzing if your hands are in precisely the right position on the ball.

So it is with our Christian life. We gather in church (or connect online) to study, to practice, to get ingrained into our mindset the truths of Christ and the way of life in Christ. But when we’re out there in our daily lives–“in the game,” so to speak–we simply run and do and live.  We live in freedom as Christians. If we were standing apart from the ways of God or at odds with the ways of God then, yes, we’d have reason to fear the day he comes back to judge the earth. But we are standing with Christ; we are in Christ. We are God’s children. So we can live each day with confidence and hope, freely going about our activities as members of God’s family. That’s what it means to be “awake.” It means to live with faith always awake in our hearts–the faith, hope and love that God has awakened within us.  We live with the constant assurance that our Savior is always with us, because he promised to be with us “to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). And we live in expectant anticipation of his return to take us home. Remember how Jesus told us to think about signs that the end of this world is drawing near. He said, “When these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28). 

We are like children who are managing on our own while a parent is away, and when he comes back, we will still be his children even if we have made mistakes. We certainly want to live in such a way that pleases God, who is our Father through Jesus Christ. But the way to do that is not through anxiety over rules to be obeyed moment by moment. We live in freedom as Christians. As people who have been awakened by God’s Spirit, we simply live our lives by that same Spirit. When Christ, our Savior, arrives, he will see the faith which is in our hearts, not just whatever actions are occurring at that moment.

The apostle Paul described our outlook on life in words he originally wrote to Christians in the city of Philippi.  His words are an encouragement for all of us to take the same view as we wait for Christ to come to earth once again:

  • Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. …  I do not consider that I have made it my own, but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.   Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. … Our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. … Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way (Philippians 3:12-4:1).

May we so stand firm, and anticipate with joy (not fear) the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

* Reference to book Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow
05
Oct
2020

When you realize everything you were was wrong

Becoming aware that mercy triumphs over judgment

by David Sellnow

The evangelist Luke, chronicler of the Acts of the Apostles, was a writer who sought to give “an orderly account” of events (cf. Luke 1:3).  Luke’s reporting concerning the conversion of Saul (also known as Paul) sticks to the facts of what happened. Saul had been “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1).  He sought permission from the highest religious authorities to go to Syria to round up followers of “the Way” — believers in Jesus as the Christ. Saul wanted to take them into custody and bring them back to Jerusalem as religious criminals.  The Lord had other plans. He blinded Saul with light from heaven and said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”  Those traveling with Saul “led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank” (Acts 9:8-9). In Damascus, Saul was brought into the Christian community and baptized, and “began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God’” (Acts 9:20).

Today, we’re used to journalists asking, “How did you feel?” when they interview persons after some life-changing experience.  Luke didn’t pause to provide insights into Saul’s emotional state. We can well imagine the shock of it, though — suddenly becoming aware that everything he thought and everything he’d done had been aimed in the wrong direction. He had felt he was serving God by the rigid religious principles he pursued. But his insistence on his own rightness had prevented him from seeing what a merciful God really had in mind. In the encounter on the Damascus road, Jesus had said to Saul, “It hurts you to kick against the goads” (Acts 26:14). Like a work animal kicking back against a master prodding it forward, Saul was resisting the message of grace that God was calling him and all people to believe. Rather than striving to squelch and suppress those who had come to see Jesus as Christ, the Messiah, Saul should have been joining “the Way” and working with them.  And by God’s grace, that’s exactly what he then did.  As the Apostle Paul, he later expressed his amazement that even though he had been “a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence,” yet he received mercy because he “had acted ignorantly in unbelief.” He was awed by the grace of God that overflowed to him “with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:13). 

The Epistle lesson for this Sunday (the 18th Sunday after Pentecost) provides another window into how Paul felt about his conversion from self-righteous Pharisee to someone trusting in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote:

  • If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
  • Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith (Philippians 3:4b-9).


In the church today, the tendency easily resurfaces to become adamant against “sinners” and “heretics,” the way Paul was prior to his face-to-face encounter with Jesus. Being convinced of one’s rightness and propriety can lead to overzealous efforts to keep the church “pure,” purged of those who aren’t the “right sort” of persons. When that thinking sets in, the fact that no one is the “right sort” of person has been forgotten. The truth is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and all are to be extended the mercy in Jesus’ name without distinctions or prejudices. The purpose of the church is not to police people’s opinions and condemn those who don’t comply with existing traditions. In fact, the Lord is unhappy with those who try to impose their own expectations and restrictions on others. “For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).  Love and mercy and welcome are to be shown to “a poor person in dirty clothes” who comes into a church assembly no differently than if a rich person “with gold rings and fine clothes” walked through the door (James 2:2).  God is defined by love and mercy toward all persons more so than by laws and policies and dress codes and rules. 

If you catch yourself thinking that your religious convictions are elevated above others, or that there are certain types of persons you don’t want in your church with you, be careful. You may be kicking against the Lord, insisting on maintaining a form of spiritual inertia rather than moving forward in mercy where the Lord calls you to go. What you have thought may need to be discarded as rubbish, compared to “the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord”  (Philippians 3:8), and the compelling mission of extending mercy to all others in his name. 

—-

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow
18
Jan
2020

Faith cries out

Originally posted on the Electric Gospel on November 10, 2019.

Faith cries out

by David Sellnow

What happens inside your soul when crisis or disaster strikes your life?  How do you feel?  What do you say? Let me share with you words of pain from someone whose faith was put to the test by devastating losses. When life hurts, have you ever screamed thoughts like this?

  • “Why didn’t I die at birth, my first breath out of the womb my last? … I could be resting in peace right now, asleep forever, feeling no pain.”
  • “I hate this life! Who needs any more of this?”
  • “God, how does this fit into what you once called ‘good’? … Can’t you let up, and let me smile just once …before I’m nailed into my coffin, sealed in the ground, and banished for good to the land of the dead?”
  • “Please, God … address me directly so I can answer you, or let me speak and then you answer me. How many sins have been charged against me? Show me the list—how bad is it? Why do you stay hidden and silent? Why treat me like I’m your enemy?”
  • “My spirit is broken, my days used up. … I can hardly see from crying so much. … My life’s about over. All my plans are smashed, all my hopes are snuffed out.”
  • “Why do the wicked have it so good, live to a ripe old age and get rich? … Their homes are peaceful and free from fear; they never experience God’s disciplining rod.”
  • “God has no right to treat me like this—it isn’t fair! If I knew where on earth to find him, I’d go straight to him. [But wherever I go, he’s not there.]”
  • “People are dying right and left, groaning in torment. The wretched cry out for help, and God does nothing, acts like nothing’s wrong!”
  • “I shout for help, God, and get nothing, no answer! I stand to face you in protest, God, and you give me a blank stare! … What did I do to deserve this? … Haven’t I wept for those who live a hard life, been heartsick over the lot of the poor? But where did it get me? I expected good but evil showed up. I looked for light but darkness fell. My stomach’s in a constant churning, never settles down. Each day confronts me with more suffering. I walk under a black cloud. The sun is gone.”

Have you ever had thoughts like that in the midst of trouble? If you have, does that mean you aren’t a good Christian? If you scream at God when you feel like God has disappeared from your world, have you failed the test of faith?  Should you be more like Job, famous for his faith when afflicted with suffering?  He lost his family (his adult children were killed). He lost his wealth. He lost his health. And yet he spoke with rock-solid conviction.  Job’s famous words were written down and inscribed in a book forever:  “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another” (Job 19:25-27 NRSV).

Perhaps you are more like Job than you realize.  All of the words I quoted to you at first — words of complaint, of accusation against God, of desperation and wanting to be dead — those all were words of Job.  (Bible quotations were from The Message, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Referenced verses – Job 3:11,13; 7:16; 10:3,20-22; 13:20-24; 17:1,7,11; 21:7,9; 23:2-3,8-9; 24:11-12; 30:20-28.)

Job’s words of resurrection confidence are surrounded in Scripture by many words of grief and doubt and heartache. People speak of “the patience of Job” — and yes, the patience of a faithful heart remained alive in Job.  But that patience of faith existed in the midst of the frayed nerves and tortured soul of a life under horrible strain. Job’s wife is often criticized for telling her husband to “curse God and die” (Job 2:9) when everything fell apart for them. But I’m sympathetic toward Job’s wife. She was a mother who lost her children and could not be comforted. Her heart was overwhelmed with pain. And Job, too, struggled with that pain. Job wrestled with God in his heart, and went back and forth in his thoughts.  The same person who expressed all the anger and hurt I shared with you a few moments ago also said:

  • “Even if God killed me, I’d keep on hoping.” (Job 13:15 The Message)
  • “All through these difficult days I keep hoping, waiting for the final change—for resurrection!” (Job 14:14 The Message)
  • “Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? … God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. … Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”  (Job 28:20,23,28 NRSV)

Isn’t that the way that faith is in our lives? We go back and forth in our thoughts, between hurt and hope. We cry out to the Lord, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)  If you read the Psalms, you’ll hear words of joy and praise as well as words of anguish and questioning. If you listen to Jesus himself, hanging on the cross, you’ll hear him scream, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) as well as, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46 NRSV). You’ve likely seen this same thing in the lives of Christians you have known, or in your own hearts as God’s people fighting the good fight of faith. I’ve sat with a woman outside the intensive care unit, where her husband was going through organ failure after diabetes had done decades worth of damage to his body.  I’ve sat with the family of an Air Force colonel  who died in a tragic plane crash — not in battle, but while assigned to supervise younger pilots practicing for an air show.  Things happen that seem senseless, merciless, unfair, intolerable.  We cry out in distress and anguish, and at the same time call out to God in hope.  When God seems to have abandoned us, that’s when we cling most urgently to his promise that he never will leave us, never will forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6, Hebrews 13:5).

Martin Luther spoke often about how God reveals himself to us in hidden ways, in the midst of pain and suffering and the cross. We tend to want God to show himself by big and bold and obvious blessings happening in our lives. But more often, God’s deepest work on our hearts happens through difficult things we don’t want to endure. In his Heidelberg theses (which he composed when under pressure to defend his teachings), Martin Luther said this:

  • “Now it is not sufficient for anyone and does no good to recognize God in his glory and majesty, unless he recognizes him in the humility and shame of the cross. Thus God destroys the wisdom of the wise, as Isaiah 45:15 says, ‘Truly, you are a God who hides himself.’” 

God’s greatest work in this world was accomplished when God seemed to be absent from the scene, when Jesus was hanging on a cross, dying in shame, with people shouting obscenities at him.  That’s not where people thought they’d find God. Yet that was how God had chosen to show himself and to save the world, through Jesus’ suffering.  And in our own lives too, we are drawn closer to God, made more dependent on God, when facing life’s agonies and, ultimately, death.  So when the difficult days come, yes, we will cry, we will scream, we will hurt. But we also will trust God is working in his own mysterious ways to draw us closer to himself and to draw us on in the direction of heaven.  Because ultimately, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 NRSV).

The fact that we have faith doesn’t make us immune to hurt. Sometimes we forget that. I’ve known some Christians who’ve undergone a great loss or catastrophe, and they paste on a smile because they think a Christian should never be sad. They don’t allow themselves to grieve because they think grieving would mean they weren’t expressing hope. They may shed a tear at the funeral, but the day after they expect themselves to be putting all the sadness behind them. That’s an artificial understanding of our Christian hope. We don’t pretend we aren’t hurting. We acknowledge the full reality of pain and suffering, of sin and death, of the grave and loss. And at the same time, we cling to hope in the power of the resurrection. Think of Jesus, who broke down in tears when his friend Lazarus died – even while he knew he was going to raise Lazarus back out of his grave. Jesus felt death’s pain even when he had the power to overturn death. We need not gloss over the ugliness and bitterness of awful things that happen to us in this world. In the midst of that ugliness, we still seek God’s face (Psalm 105:4) and believe in his mercy.

When you’re facing loss, hardship, heartache, tragedy, it’s normal for you to cry out in pain. The great patriarch Job cried out again and again, begging God for answers. God remained silent for a time, but he did hear Job and he did finally answer him. And God hears you when you cry too. God is helping you even when you have a hard time feeling his support. He reminds you of his promises. His Spirit helps you hang on and have hope. Maybe you don’t have the patience of Job. Then again, even Job didn’t have the patience of Job! But all of us, as God’s people, will join with Job in confessing our faith. We say:

  • “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another” (Job 19:25-27 NRSV).

That is our confidence, our cry of faith, even when this life is so often so full of so much pain. We cry with hurt, but we also cry with hope. How our hearts yearn within us!

Posted by David Sellnow
18
Jan
2020

Jesus turns and looks at us

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on April 14, 2019.

Luke 22:54-62:

         He denied Jesus, saying, “Woman, I don’t know him.”         They seized him [Jesus], and led him away, and brought him into the high priest’s house. But Peter followed from a distance. When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard, and had sat down together, Peter sat among them. A certain servant girl saw him as he sat in the light, and looking intently at him, said, “This man also was with him.”

         After a little while someone else saw him, and said, “You also are one of them!”

         But Peter answered, “Man, I am not!”

         After about one hour passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, “Truly this man also was with him, for he is a Galilean!”

         But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about!” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the Lord’s word, how he said to him, “Before the rooster crows you will deny me three times.” He went out, and wept bitterly. 

Jesus turns and looks at us

by David Sellnow

That look of Jesus when Peter denied him – what did that look look like?   Luke only tells us that Jesus looked at Peter, he doesn’t specify how he looked at him.  But from what has been revealed to us about Jesus, we can know something about that look.

It could not have been a look of shock or outrage.  Jesus had known exactly what Peter was going to do that night.  He had told Peter in advance about how he would deny his Lord three times.  Everything was playing out just as Jesus had said it would go.  So Jesus was not taken aback by what Peter was doing.  His look at Peter was a reminder.  His eyes said what he had already told Peter in words earlier that night:  “You will deny me three times.”  Jesus didn’t have to say anything further.  Peter knew Jesus had spoken the truth.  Peter was reminded that Jesus is the Truth.

It could not have been a look of spite or hatred.  Jesus was not doing what he was doing because he hated Peter or anyone involved in what was happening.  Jesus came into this world because God so loved the world.  Jesus “loved his own who were in the world; he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). And he demonstrated his love for us in that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). While Peter was sinning against him, denying him with curses, Jesus still loved Peter and was reaching out to him.  When Jesus looked at Peter, it could not have been a look of indignation.

It could not have been a look of rejection or condemnation.  “For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him” (John 3:17).  And specifically toward Peter, Jesus had shown his constant love and care.  Earlier that night, before telling Peter the prophecy about how he would fall into denial, Jesus had said to him:  “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has asked to have all of you, that he might sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you, that your faith wouldn’t fail. You, when you have turned again, establish your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32).  Jesus did not desire to condemn Peter. His overriding concern was to preserve Peter, to save him.  Even if we are faithless in our actions, Jesus “remains faithful; for he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).   So says the promise of Scripture.  And Jesus made good on that promise to Peter.  Satan sifted him like wheat, that’s for sure.  But Jesus held on to Peter.  With just one look, through the doorway, out into the dim light of the outer court, Jesus grabbed hold of Peter’s eyes and his heart.  And Peter ran out and wept bitterly.  He was ashamed.  He was acutely aware of his failure of faith.  But he had hope.  He had a Savior who had told him he was going to fail but that he would be brought back.  He had a Savior who led him to hear the rooster’s crow as a warning.  He had a Savior who in the darkest moment looked at his friend with a look that showed that he knew Peter, that he loved Peter, that he was seeking Peter’s soul.

Like Peter, we also have our failures, our cowardice, our weakness of faith.  But as with Peter, our Lord does not look at us with outrage or hatred or condemnation.  The look in Jesus’ eyes is the look of the eternal God who stooped down from heaven to stand trial in our place, the look of someone who was willing to suffer unimaginable pain and horror for our sake, the look of a Savior who was willing to give himself up completely in order to win us back to our Father in heaven.  We have been turned back to Jesus by his redeeming look at us, again and again.  So with renewed strength, we can strengthen our brothers and sisters.

All Bible quotations from the World English Bible (WEB).

Posted by David Sellnow
18
Jan
2020

Still Standing

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on March 31, 2019.

Still standing

by David Sellnow

***************

Don’t you know I’m still standing better than I ever did
Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid
… I’m still standing – yeah yeah yeah

“I’m Still Standing” – Elton John / Bernie Taupin

Too Low for Zero (1983) – Rocket Record Company (UK) / Geffen Records (USA)

***************

It’s customary to begin a devotional thought with verses from the Bible.  So I suppose starting with a Bernie Taupin lyric from an Elton John song is rather unconventional.  But the chorus of that song has been running through my head a lot lately.  The theme started a couple weeks ago.  As I was exiting the post office, I held the door for an older gentleman, somewhat hobbled, who was on his way in. “Have a good day,” I said to him.

“I always have a good day – I’m still standing up!” he replied, with a big, broad smile.

Not many days later, a sermon I heard mentioned the same sentiment.  “I’m up and I’m moving – I’m okay!”  The pastor had heard that thought expressed by a person of faith during life’s hard times.  It is the way that faith looks at life, constantly trusting a God whose everlasting arms are underneath us, holding us up (cf. Deuteronomy 33:27).

To be honest, though, thoughts of faith like that are unnatural for us.  We tend to have in mind an ideal image of life, of what we want life to be.  More accurately, we concoct an idol of how we expect life should be.  We worship that idol; we yearn for that ideal.  But even a non-biblical thinker such as Plato, the Greek philosopher, recognized the flaw in such thinking.  There is no “ideal” in the earthly realm.  Life in this world is imperfect, mortal, characterized by struggle.  Plato envisioned that perfect things could exist only in a higher realm.  He wasn’t wrong.  Through the testimony of Scripture, we know that “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19).  But we also know “that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20).  And the true God calls upon us to keep ourselves from idols (1 John 5:21) – idols such as imagining that life on this earth should always be full of easiness for us.

The truth is that “through many afflictions we must enter into God’s Kingdom” (Acts 14:22).

The truth is that if we’re so much as standing up, it is because the Lord has given us the strength to be on our feet.  It is he who brings us up out of the pit, out of the miry clay.  He sets our feet on a rock and gives us a firm place to stand (cf. Psalm 40:2).

So our confession of faith will always be this:  “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust the name of Yahweh our God.  They are bowed down and fallen, but we rise up, and stand upright” (Psalm 20:7-8).

If you’re still standing—or even if you’re flat on your back, but still partaking in life—rejoice and be glad in that day.  As Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Ecclesiastes reminds us:  “Relish life … each and every day of your precarious life. Each day is God’s gift. It’s all you get in exchange for the hard work of staying alive” (Ecclesiastes 9:7-9, The Message).  Our God took away the sin of the world in a single day by giving his One and Only, Jesus Christ, into death for us. And then Christ stood up again after giving himself over to death.  Christ’s victorious standing up again (resurrection) gives us reason to stay standing even in life’s darkest days …  and gives us promise that even after we have been laid low, we will stand with our Lord again in eternity.

I’m still standing.  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bible quotations from World English Bible (WEB) except where indicated.

Posted by David Sellnow
18
Jan
2020

Jesus, our Brother

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on February 28, 2019.

Jesus, our Brother

by David Sellnow

While Jesus was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him.  One said to him, “Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you.”

But he answered him who spoke to him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” He stretched out his hand toward his disciples, and said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers!  For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matthew 12:46-50).

Jesus made it clear that having a relationship with him is a matter of faith. Doing the will of the Father–which means believing in Jesus as the source of life (cf. John 6:29,40)–is what makes us Jesus’ brothers. Even Jesus’ own blood relatives on earth had no more special relationship with him or with God than is accessible to us through faith in Jesus.

On the night before his sacrificial death, Jesus spoke to his disciples as brothers, bracing them for what lay ahead (John 16:17-33). He emphasized that their relationship with God would not become diminished by his absence, when he returned to the Father. Rather, their relationship would be just as direct–they could go straight to the Father with any request.  He assured them, “The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God” (John 16:27).  The same is true for us today. We may have trouble in this world, but we cling to God with confidence, knowing Jesus has overcome all things in this world on our behalf.

It is significant that in his first appearance after rising from death (John 20:10-18), Jesus emphasized to Mary Magdalene his relationship with all the believers.  He said to her, “Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17).   Believers are Jesus’ sisters and brothers, and his Father is our Father. Through our living Lord Jesus, God listens to us and loves us just as he listens to and loves his One and Only Son.

The writer to the Hebrews (2:10-18) summed up what Jesus has done for us as our brother. He became like us, one of us, in order to overcome sin and death for us and bring us into eternal life with him and the Father.  He is not ashamed to call us his brothers, saying, “I will declare your name to my brothers. Among the congregation I will sing your praise” (Hebrews 2:12).  Especially significant for our prayer life is the last verse of Hebrews chapter 2: “For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).  Jesus, our Brother, understands every temptation and struggle that we face. When we go to him in prayer, he is not far-removed or detached or unsympathetic. He walked a harder path on this earth than any of us will ever walk. He knows just how we hurt. We are able to confront and endure life’s trials with him at our side.

All Bible quotations from World English Bible (WEB), public domain.

Books available on Amazon.com –

The Lord Cares for Me: Stories and Thoughts on Psalm 23

Faith Lives in our Actions: God’s Message in James chapter 2

Posted by David Sellnow
18
Jan
2020

Prayers in place of resolutions

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on January 1, 2019.

Prayers in place of resolutions

by David Sellnow

Rather than making promises to myself that I likely can’t keep, this year I want to focus on things outside of me that are more enduring — things that remain constant and true whether I have stamina or not.  They are, in fact, the things that will give spiritual stamina — the  strength to keep going, one day at a time, in the new year.  “Faith, hope, and love remain — these three. The greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).I’ve never been a big believer in New Year’s resolutions.  Maybe it means I just don’t have enough resolve, that I’m weak on willpower.  But such is a symptom of the human condition in general, not just me.  Researchers consistently find most people fail at keeping New Year’s resolutions.  One frequently cited statistic says 80% of people’s resolutions fail within six weeks.  The most generous estimate I’ve seen says more than half of resolutions don’t last six months.

So these are the things for my focus in the new year — and invite you to share that focus with me. I offer these three prayers:

For faith:

Lord, help me trust in you and what you have promised. As a man like me once said, “I believe. Help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).  Believing is hard when we’re faced with demons in our lives (as that man was).  Believing seems insane when we can’t see you, God, and haven’t a clue what you’re doing. But I pray for confidence, for contentment, for the ability to be thankful for what I do have … and to be assured that when my heart is seeking God, I “shall not lack any good thing” (Psalm 34:10).

For hope:

“The days of our years are … but labor and sorrow” (Psalm 90:10).  Your word warned me of that, Lord.  Jesus said so, too: “In this world you have trouble” (John 16:33).  The daily grind and obstacles in my path make hanging onto hope exhausting. God, I need reminders that hope in your goodness can’t demand that you prove your goodness in ways obvious to me.  “Hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?” (Romans 8:24).  Help me, Lord, to hope for that which I don’t see, and to wait for blessings with patience.

For love:

Forgive me, Spirit of Christ, for valuing things that are of little value when the greatest of all things is love.  On this earth, institutions and corporations seem to matter so much.  Careers and accomplishments are seen to define who we are.  But that’s not true.  A wise old man called all such things meaningless — “a chasing after wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:11).  What really matters is being “rooted and grounded in love,” and comprehending “the width and length and height and depth” of that love (Ephesians 3:17,18).  Lord, enable me to “know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19), and to extend that love to people around me, knowing love matters most of all.

All Bible quotes from World English Bible (WEB).

Posted by David Sellnow
18
Jan
2020

Answering questions

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on October 25, 2018.

Answering questions

by David Sellnow

Once, in a religion class I was teaching, a student started the day by asking a question.  He said no one had ever been able to give him a good answer before, and he really was hoping I could.  He asked:  “In heaven, if everyone is perfect, how does that work?  If you’re playing basketball in heaven, and the offense is perfect at scoring and the defense is perfect at shutting down offenses, what happens?”

I rolled my eyes. I didn’t take the young man seriously. I thought he was joking. I later realized he was serious.  He was struggling with a concept.  He honestly wanted an answer.  I owed him an apology for the way I had laughed off his question initially.

When people have religious questions, no matter how odd the questions might seem to us, we do well to listen carefully and answer thoughtfully.  Their questions and curiosity — even their objections and counterarguments — provide us with opportunities to speak gospel words that bring attention to Christ.

There is a Christian author named Alicia Britt Chole, who was not always a Christian.  Her book Finding an Unseen God tells her story, of how she did not believe in God as a child and was very much an atheist during her high school years.  She didn’t fit in at all in her Texas high school where most folks were pretty religious.  But two girls whom she refers to as the “Bowheads” (because they always wore bows in their hair) decided to be her friends even if she didn’t share their beliefs. Their patience and genuine friendship made an impact on her.  In college, she began pursuing religious questions with more seriousness.  And she writes this about her questioning:

What a relief it was for me to discover that [my] continual questioning did not make God nervous.  Interrogatives do not irritate God.  Emotionally charged query does not shut God down.  … God is, after all, rather secure. 

The problem is not that we have questions. …  Personally, I have found that God takes pleasure in an inquiring mind.  God delights in sincere questions. 

–          Finding an Unseen God (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2009), 142

During Jesus’ ministry, a group known as the Sadducees had a question for Jesus. It was an insincere, eye-roller sort of question.  Still, Jesus took up the question seriously and answered in a meaningful, educative fashion.

Here’s the account of that event (Luke 20:27-38 WEB):

Some of the Sadducees came to him, those who deny that there is a resurrection. They asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies having a wife, and he is childless, his brother should take the wife and raise up children for his brother.  There were therefore seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died childless.  The second took her as wife, and he died childless.  The third took her, and likewise the seven all left no children, and died.  Afterward the woman also died.  Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them will she be? For the seven had her as a wife.”

Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry, and are given in marriage.  But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. For they can’t die any more, for they are like the angels, and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.  But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’  Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.”

Notice the manner in which Jesus responded to the Sadducees’ question, even though the Sadducees were opponents of Jesus and were attempting to refute the idea of a life after death.  They had decided there is no resurrection, no afterlife — that the meaning of religion is to give morality to this life.  So their question was just a doozy dreamed up to test Rabbi Jesus and see if they could stump him.  But even with their not-so-sincere question, Jesus answered as a true teacher.  He looked his questioners squarely in the eye and taught them something of what heaven really is like.  He pointed to the Scriptures, showing how Moses expressed faith in the God who is “not the God of the dead, but of the living.”   The Scriptures point us to God, to our salvation in God, to a resurrection to life with God.   This was the message of good news that Jesus consistently proclaimed — good news that he was fulfilling in his own person.

How do we answer the questions that come to us?  Let me tell you a story of another woman whose perspective on religion changed when she was a teenager.   This woman, Elaine, was raised in the church and took the pastor’s class for the teens at her church.  She had lots of questions, such as how on earth did Noah manage to get dinosaurs on the ark, and other curious wonderings like that.  The pastor was always irritated by her questions, pushed aside her questions, didn’t want to answer her questions. He had his agenda that he wanted to get through in class, and she was interrupting.  After a while, he wouldn’t let her ask any more questions.  And after a while further, Elaine decided the church wasn’t for her.  She stayed away from the church throughout her adult life.   She only came back into a church class years later (that’s when I met her) — when she was working as a caregiver for a disabled woman who wanted to attend the classes.  Elaine came along with Nadine as caregiver … and thank goodness I didn’t roll my eyes at questions Elaine started asking again, decades after she had previously given up on the church and its ministers.

The Lord Jesus wasn’t afraid of questions.   When given the chance to speak to a question, Jesus answered in an evangelical, gospel-centered fashion.  God grant us the attitude of Jesus as we deal with others, that we don’t dodge questions or reject their questions, but point every struggling or wondering soul to Jesus and his Word for the answer.  And even when the questioners are Sadducee types who may think they already know more than we do, let’s still be serious and solid in our answers, saying what the Word of God says, calling attention to the Lord our God.  “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.”  And our testimony in Jesus’ name is to point others to the life that is in him.

Posted by David Sellnow