Changing the rules

(This is a repost of a previously published post from several years ago. We think it deserves another look.)

An all too common occurrence in the Body of Christ today:

Denomination: “You, church, are out of agreement with one (or more) of our moral beliefs.”

Church: We are just following what we have come to believe is true.

Denomination: We can’t have you professing an opposing belief and staying in affiliation with us.

Church: Can’t we talk about this?

Denomination: Talking is over. Either recant, leave, or be removed from our midst.

Church: We can’t recant and don’t want to leave.

Denomination: It’s time to vote.

Church: Can’t we talk about this?

Denomination: The “ayes” have it. You are removed. Good bye.

Now, this isn’t always the way it goes. Sometimes, the church leaves on its own. Rarely, the church recants. But often, the church attempts to stay and, in the end, the denomination votes to remove them or formally reestablishes the disputed belief as an absolute requirement of membership.

This scenario is actually as old as the Christian Church itself. What makes it a contemporary occurrence is what is being disputed. Ancient schisms were primarily over “substantial matters” concerning divine truth. Today, the disputes are many times concerned with morals: i.e. right and wrong human behavior.

But, it is interesting that the current disagreements about morals, often carry the same seriousness and consequences as those over substantial matters.

So having defined the situation, we pose a few questions: Is this scenario a good thing?; Is this a satisfactory outcome?; Is there a better way?

You might think that we will now proceed to provide answers to the questions we proposed. But, guess what? We will not be providing answers here or any where else, for that matter.

By not answering we are making our point that the debate over morals doesn’t belong in the Kingdom of God (the church) in the first place. Debating right and wrong human behavior is strictly a kingdom of the world thing.

Whenever the church gets pulled into deciding how people should or should not behave, it gets itself into a position of either condoning or condemning. This is a “pick one” position that is opposed to God’s “all” character and nature. There is immense wisdom for the church in Jesus’ statement recorded in Matthew 7:1, that we are not to judge.

And it has been shown over many centuries of moral debate (on such things as abortion and homosexuality) just how unsuccessful and damaging is judging behavior. What has been gained by all the disagreeing and voting? Almost nothing except for division among brethren and derision from the world.

While on the earth, Jesus never engaged in moral debate. In fact he went to great lengths to show his acceptance of everyone regardless of their behavior. He fellowshipped with prostitutes and ate with tax collectors.

Even when pulled smack dab into a the middle of a moral dilemma, Jesus refused to play by the world’s rules.

This is the story of the adulteress woman in John 8. Jesus is in the temple courts where “all the people” are gathered around Him. The scene is interrupted as a woman “caught in adultery” is made to stand before Jesus and the crowd.

Jesus is challenged by the “teachers of the law and the Pharisees” to agree that the woman should be stoned for her behavior.

Faced with this moral decision, it seems that Jesus had no option but to either condone her behavior or condemn her to death.

But He refused to play by the rules of the world. He would neither condone nor condemn.

Without a word, He bent down removing himself from the fracas. He closed off the voices of those around Him and, instead, sought the quiet voice of His Father.

When Jesus rose, the words He spoke cut through the tension and shattered the debate into a million pieces. “Let anyone of you who is without sin be the first to throw the stone at her.” (John 8:7)

Having spoken what He had heard from His Father, Jesus stooped down again confident that those 18 words would do exactly what the Father willed. He wouldn’t be disappointed.

“At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there,” wrote the gospel’s author in John 8:9.

And when (and only when) the din and chaos are gone, He again gets up. Now alone with the woman, He can speak calmly and directly – just to her. The scene turns from a public spectacle to one of great intimacy: She, a frightened, desperate woman and He, her loving Savior. With the world out of the way, Jesus turned His full attention to doing what His Father had sent Him to do.

Jesus’ primary mission is totally depicted in the conversation that followed: “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” Jesus asks (John 8:11). “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

What an amazing outcome. Jesus fulfilled the Father’s mission despite the world’s attempts to distract Him from that mission.

This is how Jose Antonio Pagola (author of the Group of Jesus website) puts it: “That’s how Jesus is. Finally there existed in the world someone who hasn’t let himself be conditioned by any oppressive law or power. Someone free and magnanimous who never hated nor condemned, never returned evil for evil. In his defense and his forgiveness of this adulterous woman there is more truth and justice than in our resentful demands and condemnations.”

Likewise, the Church would do better to resist engaging in the world’s battles, played by the world’s rules, using the world’s wisdom. We can choose instead to seek God’s wisdom and act in complete accord with Jesus’ anointing “to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.” (Luke 4:18)

Mellifluous harmony

(This is a repost. It was first published in March of 2019. This description of the Trinity’s incredible relationship – into which we have all been born – is too wonderful to only post once. Enjoy!)

The title of this blog post might seem a bit redundant. Mellifluous and harmony are very close in meaning. In fact, mellifluous has harmonious in its dictionary definition and harmony has mellifluousness in its definition.

The use of these two very similar words in one title, however, is intentional since this post is about the relationship of the Trinity: i.e. the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Trying to describe this unique and special relationship takes some unique and special words.

Since harmony (a noun) is the more familiar of the two words, let’s look at its meaning first.

“Accord, agreement, peace, peacefulness, amity, amicability, friendship, fellowship, cooperation, understanding, consensus, unity, sympathy, rapport, like-mindedness; unison, union, concert, oneness,” are a few synonyms from the dictionary. Clearly, every word defining harmony can be attributed to the relationship of the Trinity.

But harmony alone doesn’t describe the depth and quality of the Trinity’s relationship. So in our humble attempt to get closer, we add mellifluous, a less familiar adjective.

Expanding harmony with a word that means “honeyed, mellow, soft, liquid, silvery, soothing, rich, smooth” comes closer to the truth revealed by Jesus in John 16: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

Still better, we invite the voice of C. Baxter Kruger, author of The Shack Revisited, to get even closer. “For this trinitarian relationship, this abounding and joyous communion, this unspeakable oneness of love, is the very womb of the universe and of humanity within it.” (The Shack Revisited, 2012, Faithwords, Hachette Book Group, Inc, page 115)

The truth of the perfect, loving, mellifluous harmony between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit of the Trinity is portrayed throughout the Bible. But there is no better evidence that the Creator of the Universe has a unified three-in-one expression than the desire of His creation to live in loving relationship with others.

Part of being made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), is our strong desire to know and to be known by others. As Kruger puts it, if we had been created in the image of a single-personed God we would choose aloneness over togetherness. As it is, man’s deepest longing is to be in intimate, loving, trusting relationships.

The creation of man was a result of the mellifluous harmonious relationship of the Triune God. We were created through this oneness and, once created, invited into it. Is it any wonder that the psalmist frequently uses “honey” as a way to describe the richness and sweetness of God’s love for His creation?

Pause here for a moment, and let it sink in…the Godhead, the Ancient of Days, the incomparable “I Am,” invites us into this breathtakingly beautiful, eternally perfect, and abundant life-giving love fest. It is difficult to fully appreciate the fact that we have access to such an astounding reality and, then, that it comes entirely by God’s grace.

Since living in relationship with others is a natural desire of our creation, it would seem wise to know how we should live.

It is actually very simple. Our relationships should be an extension of the Trinitarian relationship. Mellifluous harmonious relationship is how Christians can and should be living with each other.

It would be a mistake, however, to conclude that mellifluous harmony means sacrificing one’s identity. Once again, we can look to the dynamics of the Trinity for our inspiration.

According to Fr. Richard Rohr, author of The Divine Dance, the mystery of the Trinity, is that it is a “three-way boundaried relationship” yet each is totally surrendered to the others. “Each person (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is totally autonomous and yet perfectly given.”

Since this seemingly oxymoron, self-sufficient autonomy, exists as reality in the Trinity, it can and should also exist in our relationships.

Fr. Rohr, lecturing on his latest book, states that the Trinity’s openness to one another “does not mean conformity to the other” and that this is only possible because each has a perfect sense of their individuality.

“Only people who have a strong sense of their individuality can in fact give themselves away freely,” Rohr said. “You’ve got to, strangely enough, be very sure of yourself to truly give yourself away.”

In other words, we enter mellifluous harmonious relationship solidly knowing our own unique identity and then our “I” (selflessly and joyously) becomes “we” through the working of the Holy Spirit.

The Trinitarian mellifluous harmony is the true unity which the Body of Christ so desperately needs.

Open wide the spigot!

In this Daily Mail article about what summer was like before air-conditioning, young boys are shown cooling off by the spray of a fire hydrant in New York’s super-heated Lower East Side in 1957.

Beyond God’s completed work of creation, man’s continued relationship with Him is pretty much one-sided: i.e. How it goes – or doesn’t go – is all on our side. We have our hands on the spigot. We can fully open it, open it somewhat, open it to a mere trickle, or close it down.

All the while God’s love and forgiveness is constant and extravagant. God’s love for His creation has consistently filled the entire world and every cell in every body since the beginning.

Nothing can diminish God’s love for us. Neither sin nor rebellion nor apathy nor full-out rejection.

Also nothing can alter God’s perfect justice, which is completely vested in the principles of nature which He set in place at creation, His perfectly timed and executed miracles, and His respect of our free will.

So now that we see God’s part in the relationship, let’s talk about man’s part, which is entirely grounded in our free will. Given to all equally, free will is neither punitive, discriminatory, nor arbitrary. God will never interfere with our free will.

Free will is God’s gift to mankind so that we are free to choose Him, not choose Him, stand against Him, love Him, be indifferent about Him, or, even, hate Him. With our hands firmly on the handle of the spigot, we have the freedom to choose the type and intensity of relationship we want with God.

Speaking from the viewpoint of some who have opened the “God relationship” spigot as far as possible (at this point in our lives, anyway), we can definitely recommend to others that they do the same. In other words, we agree with the author of Ephesians 3:18-19: “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

When we choose to open ourselves to God, He acts in accord with His perfect loving and forgiving nature and His perfect intimate knowledge about each of us. When we choose God we choose to trust His ways. We choose His decisions and plans for our lives.

When we choose God, we are choosing to trust His good intentions toward us. And, since He loves us with unconditional, agape love we are assured that His intentions EXACTLY match what we really desire, what we really need, what we really delight in, what will really fulfill us.

Although, in our estimation, intentionally choosing God is the best use of our free will, it is also true that God’s goodness is available to all of creation whether He is chosen or not. Jesus is recorded as saying in Mark 9:40: “Whoever is not against us is for us.”

In other words, not choosing is still a choice. Failing to exercise our free will to invite God into our life, doesn’t negate His goodness but, rather, negates the flow of his goodness into our lives. In control of the spigot, we can use our free will to stand against God’s goodness and completely block the flow.

Still, God’s protection, mercy, healing, comfort, etc. is always available to all. Jesus, who is the great equalizer, is recorded as not only saying this once in the gospel of John, but He is recorded as saying it twice: “I will do whatever you ask in my name . . . If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14)

God IS love. God is kind. God does protect. God does comfort. God does heal.

So what causes someone to not choose God or, even, stand against Him? It is the influence of generations of men (from Adam and Eve on) desiring their own way according to their own desires using their own power. Men wanting to make their own plans, to operate with their own devices and their own inventions. It is generations of men hurting each other, wounding their children, telling lies about God, hiding His goodness, making the things of God sound like foolishness, craziness, an absurdity. It is generations of men inflating and promoting the value, success and importance of what man can do ON HIS OWN (without God).

So how do we choose God? According to the writer of 1 John 4, God lives in those who have “love for one another.“

Seems simple especially when we consider that it is through God’s love for us that we love others. “We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) “God is love and those who abide in love abide in God and God abides in them.” (1 John 4:16)

It is also out of God’s love for us that we choose to love Him. We don’t choose to love God and open the spigot of His goodness because it pleases God, although it does. God doesn’t need us to choose Him. God has no ego to be stroked or appeased. God isn’t changed by our choosing Him. We are changed by choosing God.

Choosing God is worship and testifies that the Holy Spirit abides in us. “If we love one another, God lives in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we bide in Him and He has given us His Spirit.” (1 John 4:13-14)

When we choose God we stop searching for anything or anyone else to protect us, to provide for us, to satisfy us, to fulfill us. We are saying, “All my hope is in you Lord.” (Psalm 39:7) This makes us free to love ourselves and others.

So, choose freely (open the spigot) and let it flow!

A Father we can trust

videoblocks-silhouette-of-people-rejoicing-and-lifting-up-his-hands-a-group-of-successful-businessmen-happy-and-celebrate-the-victory-on-the-roof-of-the-business-center-slow-motion_bseot2mclw_thumbnail-full01 (1)

Psychology from a world viewpoint is the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context. From a biblical viewpoint, psychology is the study of God’s design and creation of human behavior; i.e. instincts, thought, and emotions.

Whether from a world or biblical viewpoint, psychology always holds the potential for (excuse the pun) mind-blowing discoveries. Over the centuries, psychology has taken us further and deeper into making what’s unknown known but, at the same time, revealing the vastness of what remains unknown.

Human relationship is an integral aspect of psychology with love identified as the most profound emotion known to man. Science has concluded that the need for human connection is innate (natural to the human experience) but that the ability to form healthy, loving relationships is learned.

“Some evidence suggests that the ability to form a stable relationship starts to form in infancy, in a child’s earliest experiences with a caregiver who reliably meets the infant’s needs for food, care, warmth, protection, stimulation, and social contact,” wrote the author of “Why Relationships Matter” published in an issue of Psychology Today magazine. “Such relationships are not destiny, but they are theorized to establish deeply ingrained patterns of relating (well) to others.”

For Christians, any time that science determines something to be “innate,” the source is God, who is the creator of all things. Also for Christians, any time science brings up love, the source is God, who in our belief (and experience), IS love.

So from a Christian viewpoint of a scientific conclusion, God created us with a natural desire for relationship but then assigned the formation of healthy, loving relationships to the human experience.

From years of ministry to hurt and wounded people, we have seen that this also applies to our relationship with God.

Scripture tells us that God desires a “father-child” relationship with His creation. “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we could be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1)

Children whose experience is with an abusive, contradictory or distant parent(s) have great difficulty building healthy relationships with themselves, others, and, especially, parental figures. This is termed “insecure attachment.” The scientific theory that forming healthy relationships is learned behavior is clearly demonstrated here.

It isn’t hard to see, then, that people suffering from “insecure attachment” also have great difficulty entering into a loving relationships with God as Father. When our childhood experience is with an unsafe, neglectful, or missing father (or mother), any confusion regarding the consistent good of God will result in an inability to form an intimate relationship with Him.

Also, if we have been raised in a faith that teaches that God is punitive and that He punishes us for bad or disobedient behavior, we can be fairly certain that our relationship with Him will feel unsafe and inherently damaged.

This is where the battlefield of the mind wreaks havoc as we wrestle with faulty core beliefs about God as Father.

This is a timely matter.

As the Body of Christ continues to share words, visions, insights and opinions with the world regarding God’s role in the current COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative that we accurately communicate the true nature of God.

Some people are inarguably turning to faith during this time of distress – and that’s a reason to celebrate – but we need to be clear that God did not cause this pandemic to coerce people to turn to Him. So much of what is being spoken by Christian voices are nothing more than long-held mistruths about God being applied to a new situation. We need to be willing to go deeper and sincerely seek God for His wisdom about every aspect of what’s happening.

This includes, dear brothers and sisters, sincerely seeking God for His perfect definition of “judgment” and “discipline.” A personal introspection into consciously or subconsciously desiring that others are punished for what we judge to be their failures, weaknesses, and transgressions, would also be in order.

If we don’t get the truth about God’s character and nature straight, we are setting-up fragile new believers for a lifetime of second-guessing whether God is consistent in His goodness. They need to know that He is a Father they can trust. This will ground them in the present storm and also during any other hardship they may encounter in the future.

Just like any child needs the stability of a secure attachment to their earthly parents, we humans flourish in the context of being attached and dependent upon a faithful, one-hundred-percent reliable, heavenly Parent. Then He becomes our sturdy rock, our strong tower, and our immoveable anchor, no matter what happens.

Knowing God as a loving forgiving Father radically grounds us and gives us peace. When the world sees this peace displayed in us – which defies understanding given the current conditions – a relationship with God becomes desirable.

A golden opportunity for the church to be a light? Yes! But absolutely not God pulling strings like some cruel puppeteer to manipulate the fickle hearts of men.

As traumatic times and events present themselves, the cause (as well as the flurry of anxious activity as we attempt to find solid ground) is our doing. God is, and always has been, and always will be the solution. God is not surprised and He is not shaken. He is fiercely and serenely constant, remaining steadfastly devoted to our well-being by loving us, forgiving us, counseling us, encouraging us, inspiring us, and strengthening us every step of the way.

(Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash)

COVID-19: Who did it?

Christian commentary on the COVID-19 pandemic primarily waivers between it being an act of God and the work of Satan.

One writer suggests that God is using the virus to cause people “to depend on and obey our Maker and Savior” and to make us “realize just how vulnerable we humans are in a broken world” so that we will “call out to . . . the Creator and Redeemer.”

Along the “work of Satan” theme, other Christian writers say that the virus is brought by the devil “to kill off the elderly who are more knowledgable of the Bible than younger people” and as “a direct attack against” a coming global move of God.

Those familiar with our blog, know that moving away from dualistic thinking has been a major part of our personal and collective ministry development in the past year. This means that we don’t spend a lot of time debating “this or that” but, instead, try to take an “all” viewpoint. What we have discovered (besides lots of freedom) is that there is always a third option.

Thinking non-dualistically about COVID-19, we have come to that same conclusion.

With no motive to change others’ beliefs, we submit this “third option” as a service to enlarge and enhance the current discussion and discernment. Held loosely, it can be considered without fear of indoctrination and, either, retained as valuable or discarded with yesterday’s trash.

The rhetoric among Christians about COVID-19 involves a lot of finger pointing. God did it! Satan is doing it! Man is at fault.

After much discernment, research, and prayer, our non-dualistic conclusion is that all of the above is true. This is the third option.

To explain, we have to go back to what science knows about the origin of virus. This is where our “God did it” view is grounded.

Viruses are natural. To date, science has no clear explanation for the origin of viruses but they agree that viruses are ancient and originated in wildlife.

For Christians, who believe that the world was created and designed by God, the natural-origin of virus means that God is the source of their existence. Whether viruses were created on the fifth or sixth day (Genesis 1) with all other “living things” or later developed naturally in or among living things, doesn’t change the fact that they were part of God’s design for the world.

So, God did it. He made viruses either directly or indirectly through His creation AND, as part of His creation, God declared them as “good”(Genesis 1:21 and 25). But how could something that God created as “good” cause the suffering and death of so many?

This is where “Satan is doing it” comes in but not, at all, in the way that some Christians are concluding. The answer rests in the meaning of “good” as used in the story of creation.

God’s declaration that something is “good” is entirely linked to it’s intended purpose in the whole scheme of creation. Creation is systematic. Everything that was created is connected in some way or another.

Opposition to God’s “good” creation started in the Garden of Eden. Boiling down the whole Adam-Eve-apple story to it’s most simplistic form, what ensued was a power play by man. Operating with their God-given freewill, the first humans began to doubt God’s goodness, opened their minds and hearts to rebellion (sin/evil), and broke covenant with God.

Their actions didn’t just upset their lives and life within the garden but also affected God’s entire creation, which is inexplicably, indivisibly, and eternally linked.

This is where the finger points to man.

The little that modern science knows about the origin of virus suggests that many of the “new” viruses (COVID-19, Ebola, SARS, HIV) likely originated in insects many million years ago and at some point developed the ability to infect other species. This is only conjecture on our part, but could it be that God’s plan for viruses at creation was to give the lowest creature on the food chain a significant natural defense mechanism? Regardless, God had a perfect plan for everything He created; right down to the tiniest virus only detectable with a high-powered microscope.

The interconnectedness of God’s creation is clearly seen in the progression of virus from animals to humans. Monkeys, pigs, rats, birds, and especially bats are all natural hosts to virus. The natural immune systems of these animals, protect them from getting wiped out by the viruses they carry or by viruses carried by other animals. The animal’s unique immune system (particularly evident in bats), which is a safeguard to their survival, actually encourages the virus to strengthen and reproduce. When it crosses over to humans, through some kind of interaction with blood or other bodily secretion, it is highly contagious and incredibly fatal, such as what we are experiencing with COVID-19.

Knowledge of this has been around the halls of science for a long time. But, unfortunately, there is a lack of widespread understanding and acceptance of scientific reality among the general population, including in the church. We should have seen this coming but we chose to look the other way.

So where have we gone wrong? We have failed to understand that God created a unified, interconnected world. Since the first division (man from God in the Garden of Eden) we have continued to divide and separate ourselves from His creation. We have not treated His creation rightly. We have chosen to ignore the laws of science which God instituted when He created the natural world. We have let greed and love of money dictate how we treat animals, raise crops, process food, and steward the environment.

COVID-19 is not God’s judgment or Satan’s attacks. C0VID-19 is a natural result of man’s ignorance about and lack of appreciation for God’s creation. And no one should be seeking more knowledge and have greater appreciation for the world than the Body of Christ.

If this is a wake up call, let it be a wake up call to the Church.

Let’s begin by seeking to genuinely understand the interconnectedness of God’s creation, pledge ourselves to humane common sense stewardship of the earth and everything in it, and show true appreciation for God’s handiwork so beautifully displayed in the world.

Anxiety solution

“Don’t be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God.”

This Bible verse, Philippians 4:6, was the most searched verse in 2019, according to statistics released recently by the 400-million-user YouVersion Bible App.

Ours is not the only, or first, blog published this year highlighting this statistic. But more than reprinting an interesting fact, we are more concerned about discussing what may be behind the large search for a Bible verse about “anxiety.” It seems that there may be a significant rise in anxiety and fear afflicting people both inside and outside the church:

Not only Christians search the Bible for answers to life’s problems.

Living in fear and anxiety is difficult for followers of Jesus Christ as well as those who are not in His Kingdom, but faith in an all-powerful, all-loving God should ease the believers’ suffering. If this is not the case then, perhaps, the church’s message about God’s goodness and protection isn’t getting through. Or is the church promoting a confusing, double-minded message concerning the goodness of God?

Sound advice in these anxious and fearful times is found in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5: “We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.” Other Scriptures describe how to attain peace. Philippians 4:8-9 says: “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.” And then 1 John 4:18 reminds us that that our certainty concerning God’s perfect love and unconditional forgiveness, will effectively free us of fear: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear . . .”

Sounds incredibly wonderful, doesn’t it? And it’s all true, too!

But what if, buried deep inside our subconscious, we hold a false knowledge of God? This will definitely be an obstacle to finding peace through the many Bible verses about God’s goodness, perfect love, unconditional forgiveness, and protection.

If we (or someone teaching us) form God into our own human image then anxiety and fear will abound. We, and other humans, have limits. God does not. We withhold good things from ourselves and others. God does not. We are punitive in our dealings with each other. God is not. We are fickle and unfaithful. God is not.

And most importantly, we hate, we are angry, we resent, we condemn; God has never been, is not now, nor ever will be hateful, angry, resentful, condemning.

Once the revelation of God’s magnificent goodness and love is firmly planted in us by the Holy Spirit, all fear and anxiety will be dispelled from our lives. As is written in Colossians 1:27, it is “Christ in you” that is the “hope of glory.”

Jesus addresses anxiety and fear directly in John 16.33: “I have said this to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!”

Author Max Lucado states in his book Anxious for Nothing (which is centered on Philippians 4:6), “Fear sees a threat. Anxiety imagines one.” In other words, we are to cast down vain imaginations and fill our minds with the truth about God; that He is always for us. This will inspire profound gratitude and joy, which will cast out anxiety and fear.

Safe in our weakness

strength_made_perfect_in_weakness.12144811_std.jpg (500×179) In a previous post, we wrote about God’s definition of “covering” as His covenantal promise to never use His superior strength against us. Now, we look at the other side of that same coin: i.e. God’s covenantal promise to never use our weakness against us.
In any relationship where there is an expectation of intimacy (into-me-see) and transparency, trust is paramount. Consider Samson, who naively allowed Delilah to “see into” him. Discovering his weakness – his hair – she participated in an enemy plot to shave Samson’s head. This eventually led to his demise.

Married couples can experience this same phenomena. After a day battling in the world, they come home seeking safe haven, remove their hard, heavy “armor,” and don soft, light “tunics” which leaves them wide open and vulnerable. Any attack, even if it’s merely a verbal one, can be devastating and cause irreparable damage. Our need for intimacy with one another can be used against us, and in the hands of someone who is not trustworthy, it can set the stage for hurt, manipulation, and control.

In the garden, after eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve knew they were literally and figuratively exposed and quickly donned fig leaves to hide themselves. Of course, God knew everything that had transpired and was not the least bit surprised at their actions. But instead of using their weakness against them, He provided more substantial clothing so they could better survive the consequences of their choices. And, He set into motion the plan to restore them into full “pre-fall” relationship with Him.

Little did they realize that God’s intention was never to harm them. Rather His restorative plan was to reveal Himself, through His son, even more intimately and vulnerably to His creation. Jesus spent His entire earthly ministry advancing the truth about His Father; i.e. How much He loves His creation and that He loves and forgives, unconditionally.

Jesus also revealed the truth about our human condition; that we have freedom to choose or reject God, just as Adam and Eve did in the Garden. Also that through free will, given as a gift from God when we were created, we can decide to live independent from God, and end up hurting each other and defiling God’s creation.

But Jesus came to show us a more excellent way; that an intimate relationship with Him and dependence on God the Father results in true freedom and abundant life.

Jesus also came to show us that we can trust God. That He is true to His promises. That God is for us and never against us. That we can show our weaknesses before God and He will cover us.

This is what Paul meant in 2 Corinthians 12:9 when he said God’s grace – unmerited favor – was sufficient for him.

Because God is for us, we can provide others with “sacred spaces” where their weakness will not be used against them; a place where God will cover them and healing and wholeness can happen.

The world needs shalom pursuers

Jesus declared “Blessed are the peace makers . . .” (Matthew 5:9)

The Hebrew words which Jesus used can be translated, according to some biblical scholars, as blessed are the “shalom pursuers.”

This translation brings His declaration in line with the words and actions displayed throughout His public ministry.

Peace – shalom – was His often repeated greeting to His disciples. John 14:27 records Jesus’ words to those who were with Him at supper: “Peace (shalom) I leave with you, my peace (shalom) I give you,” he is recorded as saying.

And then He goes on to qualify the shalom He is giving: “I do not give to you as the world gives.”

In other words, this shalom is “other worldly.” And the inference is that Jesus’ shalom is far greater than anything the world would call peace.

The dictionary definition of peace is “a state of quiet and tranquility.”

Shalom incorporates that definition of peace and expands it with “harmony, wholeness, and completeness.”

In Jesus’ “sermon on the mount” declaration, He was describing the peace maker (the shalom pursuer) who would stand before the fearful group in the locked house after His death and resurrection. “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you’.” (John 20:19)

In that room, filled with fear and anxiety, Jesus pursued shalom and then flooded it into the situation and to everyone there. Jesus’ shalom filled every crack and crevice with peace, tranquility, harmony, wholeness, and completeness.

This is the picture of what Jesus was talking about when He said “Blessed are the peace makers (shalom pursuers).”

Shalom pursuers come into a space and infuse everything, everyone, and, indeed, the very atmosphere with shalom.

Jesus spoke the words “Blessed are the peace makers, for they shall be called sons of God” over 2,000 years ago, but His declaration is just as applicable for us today.

Three actual modern day examples of “shalom pursuers” in action:

The city’s leaders were made aware that a level three sex offender was intending to move into one of their neighborhoods. Fear set in among the people. Christian leaders in the city came together to pray about the situation and “shalom” came upon them. Fear lifted. They became excited to welcome the young offender back into the community since It was learned that he was a former resident. The Christian leaders began to pray for him, always using his first name, and prepared to serve him in whatever way the Lord directed. Shalom seemed to come over the entire community as the day for the young offender’s move came closer. No public outcry was heard. At the last minute, the young offender decided not to move to the city. There was actually disappointment expressed by the church leaders. They continued to pray for him.
News of a local bank robbery spread quickly throughout the small community. It soon became known that one of the bank robbers was a young resident of the community. The robbers turned themselves in and were sentenced to serve jail time. A few weeks after the sentencing, one of the bank robbers walked into the weekly community prayer meeting escorted by a regular meeting attendee. With the bank robber sitting among them, the leaders asked if they could pray for her. She told them that she had attended one of the churches in town throughout her childhood years and had even taught confirmation classes there. “I don’t know where I went wrong,” she said sobbing. Spontaneously, the male leaders at the meeting knelt before her and asked forgiveness for anyway they, as fathers of the community, had failed her. A local government official prayed for her. “I can’t release you from the consequences of your actions,” she said “But I can say on behalf of the community that you are forgiven.” Shalom filled the room with peace, tranquility, harmony, wholeness, and completeness.
A young Christian women attending a friend’s wedding was seated next to a girl who had always been rude to her whenever they met. The young women never understood the reason behind the girl’s cruel treatment. The girl was now the one being treated rudely and was shunned by other’s at the wedding who were close friends of her ex-boyfriend. The young women felt compassion for the girl and spent most of the evening talking with her. By the end of the evening, the girl indicated that she would like to get to know the young women better and suggested that they meet in the near future. The young women’s kindness to the girl was noticed by others at the wedding and it inspired an outpouring of greater friendliness and respect throughout the group.

Shalom is the opposite of drama, of anxiety, of anything that would stem from fear. Shalom was the lifestyle of Jesus Christ and we are invited to pursue the same shalom within ourselves and let it flow out into the world. What would hold us back from the desire to be shalom pursuers?

Recovering from covering

“Covering” is a word that has become common nomenclature in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), a Christian movement focused on advancing the Kingdom of God in the world.

Many in the movement put apostles in the highest authority and the ones who provide leadership, direction, and spiritual “covering.” They see 1 Corinthians 12:28 as biblical justification for this leadership structure: “And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers.”

What is missed from this conclusion, however, is that “forms of leadership” is also in Paul’s list and actually mentioned second to the last: “Then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, FORMS OF LEADERSHIP, various kinds of tongues.”

Could it be that Paul’s list was in “foundation-building” order rather than descendent authority?

Throughout the church’s existence, the practical application of apostolic “covering” has shown to be greatly problematic. Where ever Christians have looked to someone other than God as a kind of spiritual insurance, the stage has been disastrously set for leadership abuse, particularly when a leader is consciously or unconsciously seeking power and using it to advance their own personal agenda. In these cases, apostolic covering has become a costly service paid with tithes and obedience.

And this is in stark difference to what Jesus taught in Luke 22:24-27: “Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. And He said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.”

In God’s Kingdom, leadership is entirely about service, PERIOD.

So is there any truth to the NAR teaching about apostolic covering? The answer is “yes” if “covering” is a covenantal promise that “I will use my strength (in whatever form) for you and never against you.” Like a safe haven under protective wings. Think of the rainbow in the story of Noah and the ark. It is God’s radiant reminder that He is a covenant-keeper and will not use His strength against His creation.

Consider the story of Adam and Eve in the garden after “the fall.” They hid from God because they were afraid He would use His power against them. They feared that the one who had been their loving daily companion would become their angry chastiser.

What they feared, however, was not the truth. Instead, God in His unwavering kindness extended grace, covered them with “garments of skins,” and sent them from the Garden of Eden to protect them from living eternally in their fallen/wrong-thinking condition. He already had a plan in mind to restore them to full relationship with Him. He would not use His strength against them.

Another example of covenantal “covering” are the promises made between a man and woman in Christian marriage. In this covenant, the couple pledges to live “for” and not “against” one another. Because of this covenant, as it states In Proverbs 31:11, the couple can entrust their hearts to each other without fear.

Medical doctors, who wield immense power over vulnerable patients, covenant with them by taking the Hippocratic Oath and profess to “First do no harm.” They pledge to use their strength, their knowledge, their experience for their patients and never against them.

So it must be with any form of leadership existing in the Body of Christ.

Changing the rules

An all too common occurrence in the Body of Christ today:

Denomination: You, church, are out of agreement with one (or more) of our core beliefs.

Church: We are just following what we have come to believe is true.

Denomination: We can’t have you professing an opposing belief and staying in affiliation with us.

Church: Can’t we talk about this?

Denomination: Talking is over. Either recant, leave, or be removed from our midst.

Church: We can’t recant and don’t want to leave.

Denomination: It’s time to vote.

Church: Can’t we talk about this?

Denomination: The “ayes” have it. You are removed. Good bye.

But, it is interesting that the current disagreements about morals, often carry the same seriousness and consequences as those over substantial matters.

So having defined the situation, we pose a few questions: Is this scenario a good thing?; Is this a satisfactory outcome?; Is there a better way?

You might think that we will now proceed to provide answers to the questions we proposed. But, guess what? We will not be providing answers here or any where else, for that matter.

Whenever the church gets pulled, by the world, into deciding how people should or should not behave, it gets itself into a position of either condoning or condemning. This is a “pick one” position that is opposed to God’s “all” character and nature. There is immense wisdom for the church in Jesus’ statement recorded in Matthew 7:1, that we are not to judge.