Luke 12:34: Such Is Each One As Is His Love

Such is each one as is his love.- Augustine[1]

What we love determines the trajectory of our lives. Even when disoriented, confused or derailed, our natural tendency is to re-orient ourselves toward that which we love. As Jesus said, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12:34)

Sometimes we are not aware of the love which has primacy in our hearts. Or we are not willing to admit it, even to ourselves. Maybe it is acceptance, acclaim, influence, security, comfort, or control. What we love shows in what irritates us, and what we are willing to fight for, what calls forth our utmost exertion and what can cast us into despair. God uses these as tests, to draw our loves out into the open, not so that he would know our deep longings, but so that they would be revealed to us.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? - James 4:1

We find out what kind of person we really are--and what we really love. Then we can (1) run from that, (2) shove that realization to the side, (3) embrace that or (4) reject that as disappointing and ultimately, damaging. It may be a good thing--an excellent thing--but it is unable to bear the weight of our soul. Augustine says:

Wherever the soul of man turns, unless towards God, it cleaves to sorry, even though the things outside God and outside itself to which it cleaves may be things of beauty. - Augustine[2]

So today, I will begin with this determination: to love the Lord my God with all of my heart, mind, soul and strength.

[1] Quoted in David K. Naugle, Reordered Love, Reordered Lives: Learning the Deep Meaning of Happiness (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008), xi., cited in Tim Keller, Prayer, p. 193
[2] Augustine, Confessions 4.10.15, cited in Tim Keller, Prayer, p. 194

Psalm 103: Talking to Yourself in the Presence of God

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— - Psalm 103:1-2

The use of pronouns in the prayers of the Psalms always confused me.

• Sometimes the writer is talking to God (Ps. 22), 
• Sometimes the writer is talking to the audience there with him in the temple (Ps. 68:26) or the nations (Ps. 47), 
• Sometimes the writer is talking to the mountains and the rivers (Ps. 98), 
• Sometimes the writer is switching back and forth (Ps. 25:1-7, 16-22 are talking to God  and 8-15 are talking to the congregation.

But I realized today that there is another category: sometimes the writer talks to his/herself-while praying-in the presence of God. These are the "O my soul" psalms. The writer argues and encourages his "soul" to trust in God. In Psalm 103: "He does this by chiding his heart that tends to 'forget' its salvation...his heart forgets in that our instinctive responses and drives and emotions and attitudes do not connect themselves to the truths we profess."[1]

This isn't just self-talk, such as we do when we're in stressful situations, where we say: "You can do it, Tim!" or "Get your act together, Tim!" Self-talk is focused on convincing me that self can do it or self should do better. But these psalms are focused on what God has done and is doing. For example (continuing in Psalm 103):

...who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. - Psalm 103:3-5

Stress pushes our history with God from our minds. Satan uses this spiritual amnesia to keep us focused on survival fight-or-flight reactions to that stress. For me, prayer revitalizes those hard-won lessons learned while walking with God, bringing them fresh to the current situation. My mind surfaces doubts, regrets and fears and my mind recalls trust in Jesus, forgiveness through Jesus and security in Jesus.

At the end of Psalm 103, the writer (of course) switches pronouns to give a little over-the-top advice for those watching God at work:

Praise the Lord, you his angels...Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts...Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, my soul. - Psalm 103:20-22

[1] Tim Keller, Prayer (New York, NY: Dutton), p. 153

Psalm 1: Conduits vs. Trees

The tree is no mere channel, piping water unchanged from one place to another, but a living organism which absorbs it, to produce in due course something new and delightful, proper to its kind and to its time. - Derek Kidner[1]

I have often thought of God's life-giving grace as something which God gives to us with the intent that we would, in turn, give it to others. We act as a sort of conduit or channel of grace. This word picture was helpful in my conversations to describe God's intent that we were not the intended end-point of his grace. We should not be a point of blockage or diversion.

But in reading this quote this morning, I realized that my working picture was inadequate. The electrical conduit or water channel does not change the form of what it receives, it merely passes it along. Also, the conduit doesn't grow and the channel doesn't alter. But the tree takes what comes in-soil, sun and water-and expresses it in a new, fresh and yet entirely dependent way: trunk, branches, leaves, fruit, shade, and protection.

We receive God's grace, it transforms us and we produce the fruit of the Spirit and (my wife mentioned) shelter for others to grow and flourish (shalom). God's grace does not retain the same form. It is expressed in as many unique ways as there are children of God.

His grace takes many forms, but one of the most available is his Word. The Bible says that God's replenishes those "...whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers."(Ps. 1:2-3)

So this week I am considering myself a tree.



[1]Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, vol. 15 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), p. 48 as cited by Tim Keller, Prayer (New York, NY: Dutton, 2014), p. 148

Help, Thanks, Wow...Sorry?

I remember when I read Anne Lamott's book, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers, I really appreciated her taking a step back and discussing frankly what can and ought to prompt anyone to prayer. She didn't assume a Christian or even a traditionally religious viewpoint for the beginning of her discussion. I found her thin little book thought-provoking and refreshing.

When I finished it, however, it seemed somehow incomplete--missing a word. As I cataloged my own prayers, there was one category that wasn't categorized by the help/thanks/wow trilogy and I summarized it as: Sorry.

As I've worked my way through Tim Keller's book, Prayer, I found similar thoughts: "It is striking, though, that the book leaves out one of the most crucial classical categories of prayer, namely confession and repentance." (p. 61) Sorry.

Helen reminded me of the old acronym that we heard for pray: ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication). Adoration is Wow! Thanksgiving is Thanks! and Supplication is Help. But, there it is again, that missing piece: Sorry.

I realized that Sorry is essential because we have a relationship with God. With any relationship, there is the potential for hurting the other person, realizing that we have caused hurt, and seeking restoration. 'Sorry' starts us on the path for closing the relational gap with God.

Church Introductions to Jesus

This question was presented to me while I was having coffee with a pastor friend of mine. For him, it has been the meat of his wrestling with God over the course of a few pastorates. As people become less familiar with the language and culture of the Bible, the church and the Christian faith, how do churches facilitate the process in keeping with the mandate to make disciples?

When we speak of making disciples, we both refer not just to the initial apprenticing to Jesus (conversion), but the lifelong apprenticeship (discipleship). The means that we use for the latter may obstruct those interested in the former. Further, what is the role of Sunday morning in this? I didn't have a good answer for him.

But I was reminded of a book that we had both read (Vertical Church) where the author, James MacDonald insists that the church must focus on what is available nowhere else. So I followed that thought and see where it led me. I've come up with three:

1. The Presence of God. God is unique, and wholly other. The church strives to invite people to meet God, with all the emotions that can bring. Paul says, But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in ... they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” (1 Cor. 14:24a, 25b). His presence is solely at his discretion and that is what make's it unique. It cannot be manufactured. The genuine sense of his presence, the conviction of his Spirit and the miraculous cannot conjured up and therefore act as pointers to a God who is not like us but is with us.
2. The Power of God's Word. The words of God are unique. They are life-changing, heaven-initiated revelation. These words are the authority on which the truth-claims of the faith are based. Paul says, "His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.." (Eph. 3:10)  People were hungry for this (Matt. 7:28)
3. The People of God. The love expressed with the community of God's people is unique. Jesus testified: By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:35) 

Jesus often drew crowds. The early church drew crowds (Acts 2:47). These crowds came because they hungered for the presence of God, the power of God's word and new identity as His people.

Hurry and the Promised Land

"God is not in any particular hurry to get us to the Promised Land." - Ruth Haley Barton, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership

Truth. When the Israelites came to the banks of the Jordan River but grumbled and complained at the plan to cross over into Canaan, God let them wander for 40 more years, because he wanted his people's hearts and character to be ready for the blessing that he wanted to give.  When they changed their minds and insisted that they had learned their lesson (Numbers 14:40), he chased them away from the river.

Sometimes God has things for me to do, and I grumble, complain and hesitate. Rather than demanding compliance, he takes me on another loop around Mt. Sinai and brings me back to the same decision again. Again, I am asked to compare the desert of my circumstances with the blessings of his promise and choose whether I will trust Him. He is in no hurry. He will wait for me.