Hebrews 12:29: The End Result of "On Fire" for God

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. - Hebrews 12:28-29

When I was a young boy, my brother and I had a winter-time ritual. We would sit with our backs to the fire in the fireplace, warming ourselves until we could stand it no further and then we would run to the bathroom and lie down in the coolness of the bathtub. Then, when our backsides had recovered, we would go back and try it again. It was a silly game, but then again, brothers are competitive in a lot of ways.

How many times have I heard that people want to be on fire for God? To burn for Him because our God is a consuming fire. But they also want it to be painless. Like my fireplace, we want to stay close to God until we can't stand it and then go cool off. We want a campfire, marshmallow-roast, Ben-Gay warm spiritual experience, at our convenience.  We are fascinated by the finite and the futile and flammable.

...each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. - 1 Corinthian 3:14-15

The truth is, God's fire is painful because we are too invested in the chaff. Eugene Peterson says, "Chaff driven by the wind is the closest description of nothing that is available to the imagination. No weight, meaning or use....Does chaff exist? It is the dried-up husk of something that once bloomed, bore fruit, and brightened the landscape."[1]

We cling to chaff...to nothing. We have put so much of our heart into it that when it burns, we are seared. When the things that can be burned have been burned, what God has been forming in us remains.

In forest areas in the United States, forestry officials use controlled burns to reduce the impact of wildfires and prompt the natural cycle of regrowth. "Controlled burning stimulates the germination of some desirable forest trees, and reveals soil mineral layers which increases seedling vitality, thus renewing the forest. Some cones, such as those of Lodgepole Pine and Sequoia, are serotinous, as well as many chaparral shrubs, meaning they require heat from fire to open cones to disperse seeds."[2]

It is a dangerous prayer to tell God that you wish to be on fire for Jesus. God does not commit random acts, nor malicious arson, but rather uses controlled burns that leave the long-term growth potential placed in us by the life-giving Spirit unveiled. Are you willing to pray this serious prayer?

[1]Eugene Peterson, As Kingfishers Catch Fire, "Psalm 1: Blessed"
[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_burn, retrieved on 1 October 2017

Psalm 138:8: God's Story In Me

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me. Your steadfast love, O Lord endures forever. Do not abandon the works of your hands. - Psalm 138:8 (ESV)

We don't get to see Ruth often because we don't live close. She is one of the few people who has known Helen and I since before we were married, and, as such, she has a unique perspective on our life story. After breakfast recently, she had written this verse out for me-a reminder to me.

God's Story, Not Mine

It is a reminder that it is God's purpose, not mine. The win is when God gets full credit for who he is and what he does. It his "his name and word" that are on the line (vs. 2, 4). My reputation is expendable. When I try to re-write the script so that my story is foremost, I will be disappointed.  In the psalm, even the gods (vs. 1) and the kings (vs. 4-5) give up the spotlight to God, whose Q score leaves them lost behind the decimal point.

In the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet are absurdly elevated to the starring roles. The spotlight is on them and they get the the monologues. Hamlet, Ophelia, Claudius? Mere bit players! Or so they would make seem. Because whatever their individual plot lines, the play is still Hamlet's. His story drives the plot and their story is a merely sub-plot--no matter how elaborate--within his.[1]

God will have the starring role. Period. The question is: will I take the supporting role graciously? (Phil 2:9-13) For me, when people are pushing and clamoring for more spotlight, my tendency is to join them in the brawl. Its sort of a habit--a sort of significance, wall-flower fear. The sort of habit that says if nine people have some profound prayer to offer, I guess I'd better also. If three other people complain about their spouse, I need to come up with some fault so I can join in. If you went to Maui, I went to Paris. If you figured out the bug in the code, it wasn't very difficult anyway, was it? But if I solved it, it was the bug equivalent of the grand unified theory or the P=NP problem.

Why must "I must have my share in the conversation"?[2] I don't. Today is not about me, and it might even be someone else's sub-plot. But it is my part, uniquely set out for me by God.

God's Ability, Not Mine

This verse is also a reminder that God's has the ability to pull it off what he plans for me. His plans are not like a Sunday football game that is played "if conditions permit." The author of the psalm has seen this first hand. When he didn't know what to do, he asked and God answered (vs. 3a). When he wasn't sure if he had the internal willpower to do it, God reinforced (vs. 3b.) When others overlooked or ignored him, God didn't (vs. 6). When his life was threatened and people threw up obstacles, God pulled him through (vs. 7).

Have you ever had a two-body problem suddenly become a three-body problem? This happens when I'm working on a project in the back yard of my house--a simple two-body problem consisting of me and the task at hand. Then Helen interjects an opinion of what should be done or how it should be done and suddenly what was a simple two-body problem has become a three-body problem which, as everyone knows, has no general solution. Or, at least not one that makes everyone happy :-)

Yet fundamentally, all of our problems in the life of Jesus followers are three-body problems because we have invited God into our lives. When we did that, our life became more complicated--more than a matter of solving problems to our own satisfaction. But it also gained the potential to become more satisfying and more influential because no problem really worth solving is a two-body problem.

I've come to realize recently that out of cowardice--there's no nicer word for it--I often try to simplify in the worst possible way by factoring God out of the problem. I'd like to do what I want, or do it my way so I just fail to mention it to God or wait for his opinion. It's not like he can't find out, right? But honestly, its my way of trying to keep control. This habit isn't just with God, either.

Life isn't simple or safe. I can use the chainsaw on a crooked ladder while Helen is gone, and it works most of the time. But the one time I fell and ended up unable to move on my back with bruised ribs, I wondered why I didn't wait for her.

How many times have we ruefully asked ourselves why we didn't work it out with God? As Paul says, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." (Phil 2:12b-13)

When God fulfills his purposes for me, he guarantees what is needed. Some of the scars are needful, and others are self-inflicted.

How God Feels About Me

Finally, this verse reminds me how God really feels about me. The writer reminds God "your steadfast love, O Lord endures forever." Ouch. It is one thing to know that God is good. It is another to know how he feels about flawed people like us. It is the question Satan was really asking Eve in the garden, "Is God good? Does he really have your best interests at heart?"

The writer appeals to God's own character: his steadfast, loyal and permanent love--love that is not based on our track record of obedience, but on on God's long-standing promise to his people. That kind of God, the writer reminds God, does "not abandon the works of your hands." (vs. 8)

Paul echoes this: "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (Phil. 1:6)

That cowardice comes back in me: I'm not sure I can handle God's direct attention! He is a "consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29) and we say we want to be on-fire for God, forgetting how fire burns. We are fragile and he is God. Only my confidence in God's regard for me lets me trust what he is pulling me through.




[1] Hamlet, William Shakespeare, Act V, Scene II, line 411. They both end up in the tally of the dead by the play's end.

[2] Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen, Volume 2, chapter 8 (ch. 31), Lady Catherine de Bourgh speaking.

Matthew 6:11: Today, Grace Arrived Because God Thought Of Me Days Before

Give us today our daily bread. - Matthew 6:11

When I was a young boy it was my mother's regular habit to inspect our rooms-and even our closets-before we were allowed to watch our hour of television. So it was on one occasion that she discovered my cache of vitamins, granola bars and other miscellaneous items. Marching me before the closet door, she demanded to know what this was all about.

"In case I should want to run away." I informed her.
"Are you planning to run away?" she asked.
"No, not really." I replied tersely.
"Then why?"
"Just if I should need to?"
"Well, if you think you need to, we should talk about it."

Then she promptly gathered all my hoarded items and put them away. We never spoke of it again.

The sermon at our church was on verse 11 of the Lord's Prayer by pastor Kent Carlson provoked my recollection. What would such a life-style of keeping back bits reveal about our opinion of God and our satisfaction with his provision for us.  I'm sure my mother was worried what was inside my young head when she found my running-away cache. Was it a commentary on how I saw our relationship as mother or our situation as a family at that point?

My wife, Helen, told me of an occasion where her mother brought her home an apple from the far-away household where she worked. The apple was so unique and precious that Helen would admire it and smell it. She admired it so much that she could not bring herself to eat it until--finally--the emaciated, rotten apple had to be discarded.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. - Matthew 6:26

What is it that the pea-sized brains of birds know that our 3+ pound brain can't grasp? That today has enough supply for what he wants for us today. That our lives are a necessary celebration of God's goodness. That our needs are met through vast, incomprehensible systems of nature, labor and commerce which God manages to the benefit of his children to arrive each day. That we receive far more than we remember to ask for. 

We can't eat tomorrow's bread. I will not take it for granted that today's bread, or shelter, or health this morning arrived on schedule, but instead regard it as the grace it truly is.

Give us, Father, what we need today. I'm so glad you do-that many days before, you started thinking of what I would need today so that I wouldn't need to worry, because you are good. Amen.

Proverbs 24:32: We Can Only Possess What We Experience

We can only possess what we experience.

Truth, to be understood, must be lived.

There is a difference, a qualitative difference,

Between what I know as a fact and what I know as truth.

It stands as a great divide to separate my thinking

From when I'm thinking foolishly and when I've understood.

- Charlie Peacock, Experience, The Secret of Time

My wife worked for the Department of Agriculture in a rice-growing country. As a young, unassigned researcher, she was the chosen recipient of a bag of potatoes and a guide to growing potatoes. She read the book intently, from cover to cover, because she had no real experience with potatoes or their requirements. Potatoes weren't like rice. There were few potatoes available in the markets. Her family's generations of rice-growing experience was of little use.

So, book in hand, she experimented, planted, harvested and presented her results. Some things worked. Other things didn't. The book had word and diagrams that pointed at truth. But it did not become truth for her until those tubers and that soil and that fertilizer passed through her hands.

Life works this way. We have guidelines-heuristics-rules of thumb-proverbs-that others have gathered for us, that we use to shortcut decision making and bypass mistakes all the time. These guidelines are necessary, but it is experience that leads us through that to the other side. "As long as 'received teaching' doesn't become experiential knowledge, we're going to continue creating a high quantity of disillusioned ex-believers. Or on the flip-side, we'll manufacture very rigid believers who simply hold on to doctrines in very dry, dead ways with nothing going on inside."[1]

The book of Proverbs is wonderful. It shortcuts straight to the bottom line in life. It distills pages of theology and hours of reasoning into a few words designed to instruct. Those words point the way, but you have to watch a few fools in their folly, or be one yourself before the gut level impact of the truth comes home.  The pattern of the wise can be described, but its rewards require first-hand experience.

Truth cannot grab us until it has been filtered through our lives-until our lives have depended upon it. Consider: It is one thing to know that poverty exists, know the effects of poverty and the means of its alleviation. It is another to be poor.

Experience requires time. I often wished I was more mature than I am, where the truth I knew flowed seamlessly into the choices that I made. I wish that there was never a time when I was not mature (mainly so I wouldn't need to forget my penchant for the epic faux pas). Thankfully, though, time and the grace of God have smoothed some rough edges and weathered away stubborn flaws.

Proverbs says, "Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness." (Proverbs 16:31) Living in an age that idolizes youthfulness, we sometimes forget that the core problems for people have not changed: anger, love, selfishness, bitterness, grief, desire, self-deception, envy and malice. Those dynamics have not altered, and wisdom acquired in those storms still holds true.

I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: - Proverbs 24:32

 What I experience now is really all I will carry with me into eternity.  I pray that my hard-earned graying hair speaks to truth that has settled deeply in my soul. Amen.

[1] Richard Rohr, The Divine Dance (What Hods Us Back from Genuine Spiritual Experience?)

Psalm 40: Waiting Is Active

I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. - Psalm 40:1

Around my house, I would not be characterized as a person who likes to wait. I'm usually the first person in the car. I'm usually the one who has timed things down to the minute. I am the one who has comments about those people in restaurants who only make up their mind what to order when they've reached the counter.

For me, waiting is not a passive thing--waiting is active. I must consciously restrain myself from fidgeting, pacing, or grumbling. When waiting, I am full of nervous energy. I feel uncomfortable in the nothing periods before the something happens. In a word, I am impatient.

While I have become more capable at restraining the outward signs of my impatience, inwardly I am still focused on the then rather than the now--a bubbling cauldron of anticipation. Rather than being patient, I have adopted the appearance of stoicism.

Recently, I have started to watch how I respond to waiting, not outwardly, but inwardly. Sometimes, I just bubble - replaying my plans or worries or frustrations. Sometimes, I try blankness, a mental state with deliberate lack of focus. Sometimes, I try to distract myself by engaging my attention through some small chore, activity, or FaceBook or a game--keeping busy.

But these activities waste much of the value of waiting. Many times God can't seem to get a word in edgewise because I am so busy. So he introduces a wait into my life, so I can hear him. Then I promptly ruin a perfectly good waiting period by finding ways to fill it.

Look at the things David was able to do during his waiting period:

1. Learn a new song from God (Ps. 40:3). 
2. Avoid spiritual shortcuts (Ps. 40:4). 
3. Take a break from doing stuff for God and, instead really, hear from God (Ps. 40:6). 
4. center himself on God's agenda rather than his own (Ps. 40:7-8).
5. Encourage others (Ps. 40:9-10). 
6. Talk honestly with God about his problems, including the ones that were self-inflicted. (Ps. 40:12ff).

When I notice that I am struggling with waiting (I don't always notice it when its happening), I try to pull back and use the opportunity God is giving me.

Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city. - Proverbs 16:32

Amos 4:13: You Didn't Come Back To Me

“Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God.”

He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the Lord God Almighty is his name. - Amos 4:12-13

What is God like? This is a question which has dominated the thinking of people for most of recorded history. Maybe there was one god in their thinking, maybe there were many. Whichever, the question as to the nature of God (or gods) and what he/they require has skewed nearly every field of human endeavor in one direction or another-art, government, religion, music, architecture, and festivals. Only in recent years has the notion of God has receded from the popular imagination.

God is not silent. We are not listening. In the book written by the prophet Amos, God has tried nearly every possible means of communication to get through to the people he loves, to warn them about the direction they're headed, to save them from self-destructive behavior, to cry and weep the type of people they have become, to find a way of forgiveness and reconciliation. But the refrain from Amos, chapter 4-five times-is "yet you have not returned to me."

Let's not rush over that phrase. Some people look at the prophets and they see an angry God. Always "you did this, therefore I'm going to bop you on the head." Cosmic little bunny foo foo. But that misses the point. At the heart of the message of every prophet is a God who is heart-broken over men and women--his people--who have forgotten the special relationship they have with God.

You can't just put the God relationship on maintenance mode. You can't do that with your spouse. You can't do that with your kids. You can't do that with your close friends. And you certainly can't do it with God. He notices. He is hurt. He is not some spiritual force, a law of nature or a principle--he is a person. And because of who God is, neglect in that relationship hurts us, because our DNA was designed to thrive in an environment of loving interaction with God.

Someone once said that there are two types of people: those who believe in the power of words and those who don't. If God wants the relationship with you so bad, what language is he going to have to speak in order to communicate the urgency and necessity of fixing things up with him? Well, he has the prophets, like Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and all those other weird short books at the end of the first half of the Bible--the Old Testament.

Then, if words don't work for you--if actions speak louder than words--he will switch to a language you do understand: your bottom line, your health, your family, your business. Amos, in the 4th chapter, lists a scenario where, literally, one farmer is getting rain for his crops and just over the fence line, another farmer is experiencing drought. The whole thing is set up to remind the farmer of that story they used to learn back in Sabbath school about the plagues in Egypt.

God is not silent. We are not listening. He continues to "reveal his thoughts" by any means necessary because there is nothing more important for you-as a person-than to be restored to a life-fulfilling relationship with God.

Now this raises a whole boat-load of questions: Who does God think he is? What right does he have to do this kind of thing? How can God claim to be good and still allow all of the stuff that's listed in this chapter?

That's good. Keep those questions coming. Because it comes back to the fundamental question I asked at the beginning of this article: What is God like? Much of the Bible is written to give us a no-holds barred answer to this question: Is God good? That is the question, isn't it? From the serpent in the garden until the end of Revelation, the Bible records incident after incident of God's dealings with us. It doesn't try to sugar coat anything with an "life with God is gravy" message, but still the Bible's answer is a resounding, "Yes"

It is not enough for the Bible to say it. We must say it. God is good. We trust-that relationship word-a good God. God is a whatever-it-takes God. Amos calls him Lord God Almighty-the one who can and will do what he wants. And what he wants-more than his son's life-is for you to be close to him. It is a dangerous presumption for you to ask God to prove himself to you, and then do nothing when he reveals himself. Stripping away every excuse, our heart is revealed--either barren stubbornness or else brokenness.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. - Psalm 34:18 

Exodus 31: Novelty Is Revealing The Temporarily Hidden

But there's no such thing as the unknown-- only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood. - James T. Kirk, The Corbomite Maneuver

For my company, I regularly put on a half-day workshop on the topics of patents because of my experience. One of the key requirements for an invention is that it must be novel. It must not be obvious. Someone from my field (a "man of the art") must look at the existing materials or components and look at the resulting invention and agree that it is new.

Now, as an apprentice of Jesus, this seems a bit ironic because I am sure that God is not surprised by what I've invented. At no point did God look at my finished work and scratch his head and say, "Gee, I wish I'd thought of that." No, God is the engineer and he invites me to delight in discovering what he already knows. I am following after Him.

There are two aspects the creative work product where we are invited to enjoy beauty. I call these the craft and the art. These may not be the right technical terms, but I use them because they are broad enough to include many fields of endeavor which are not traditionally thought of in terms of beauty.

The first is craft. That is, there is a beauty that is found in a work crafted or put together. The brush stroke or well-honed line of prose or the arched span of a bridge or portal. Or even an elegant line of code, a well-arranged interior or beautifully integrated garden. One of my favorite books is Beautiful Code. Software may not be everyone's cup of tea, but there is a definite appreciation-programmer to programmer-for the way lines of code come together to implement an algorithm with no more lines and no fewer lines than necessary.

The second is art. Art is something that creates an environment in which others can thrive. Good paintings or photographs draw you in and view the world from a new, enriching perspective. Good books or theater or movies lead you to truth through the drama of the characters. Good software lets you interact with data seamlessly.

Let me give you an example from the Bible.

See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts - Exodus 31:2-5

God picked out Bezalel because he was an excellent craftsman. He was recognized as skilled and artistic. Other craftsmen saw what he did and could recognize the beauty of the designs in metal, precious stones and wood. This is craft.

Then the Bible continues:

Also I have given ability to all the skilled workers to make everything I have commanded you: the tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant law with the atonement cover on it, and all the other furnishings of the tent...and also the woven garments...and the anointing oil and fragrant incense for the Holy Place. - Exodus 31:6b-11a.

Notice the environment that their craft was creating: an environment for worship-in the architecture, in accessories, in the clothing, and even in the smell. This is the art. It can also be found in a palace (1 Kings 7), in words of wisdom (Proverbs 1; Psalm 119), in the human body (Psalm 139) and the stars (Psalm 19), of which is put into place as an environment for thriving.

I still try to be novel and create new things--at least new to me. Often I ask God for help in the craft and art of computer programming, because I know he enjoys my delight in what I find after him, in both the art and the craft.