Rummaging in the basement for a book recently, I found a book I wasn’t looking for: Encouragement: The Key to Caring by Dr. Larry Crabb and Dr. Dan Allender. It was a good find. The authors define encouragement as “the kind of expression that helps someone want to be a better Christian, even when life is rough.”[1] This is the kind of expression recommended in Hebrews 10:23-25 – “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (emphasis mine)
However, if we don’t believe our words matter – that they have real power – we might think such encouragement is pointless. Making a case for the power of our words, the authors cite these Proverbs:
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” – Prov. 18:21 “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.” – Prov. 12:25 “A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.” – Prov. 15:4 “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” – Prov. 16:24 “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” – Prov. 25:11[2]
In these Proverbs, words have the power of life and death. Power to lift or break a spirit. They have real power to influence others for good, or for bad. They can influence our health, bodily and spiritually. Our words are one of the hardest things for us to control – especially online – and unless we realize their power, we’re too likely to take them lightly. James wrote that taming our tongues may be our biggest challenge, and if we can tame it, we can tame our whole body. (James 3:2-3)
Therefore, pray for more encouraging, more powerful words today, and that God would cleanse our hearts, the spring from which our words come[3], so we may praise Him and provide “sweetness to the soul and health to the body” of those around us.
It won’t happen all at once, and all will stumble, but as the saying goes:
Yard by yard, life is hard! Inch by inch, life’s a cinch!
[1] Crabb, Larry and Dan Allender. Encouragement: The Key to Caring (1984). P. 10. [2] Ibid. P. 19. See also Proverbs 25:20 and James 3:5-6. [3] James 3:11
A hot Christmas gift when I was a kid were G.I. Joe toys. These “Real American Heroes” were a line of action figures, vehicles and other accessories that fought against the evil Cobra organization which was trying to take over the world (of course). In 1982, they were even hotter, after Hasbro added “Swivel Arm Battle Grip” to the design to differentiate G.I. Joe from the also-popular Star Wars figures.
Zap looks much better in action than in the box.
The swivel in the middle of the figure’s bicep allowed 360-degree rotation. The swivel isn’t a shoulder, elbow, or hand, but without it, bazooka soldier (Code Name: Zap) can’t pose as modeled on the package pictured here. I had “Zap” and tried it for myself. It took some experimentation, but eventually the way the shoulder, swivel, and elbow were made worked together and Zap looked like Zap should look.
Why so much detail about action figures in a Christian blog? Because the Christian church is described in the Bible as the body of Christ, and in 1 Corinthians 12:14-16, the apostle Paul assures us that, without every single member of the church participating, the body of Christ is incomplete:
“For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body.”
Like Zap without “Swivel Arm Battle Grip,” the church will not perform as God intended unless all parts of the body participate, but sometimes it’s not clear to each of us what part of the body of Christ we are. To some of us, others may clearly look like a shoulder, elbow, or hand, but we don’t know our part. To some of us, others may look like the “hands and feet of Jesus” (to use a common phrase), but people don’t say the same about us. Remember that Paul says “that would not make it any less a part of the body.”
Today, let’s return to one of this blog’s key verses, Hebrews 10:24, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” When we don’t clearly know the specifics of our part, maybe we are the “Swivel Arm Battle Grip” – the innovative, new part with a weird name that helps the other parts fit together and work as God intended. But also, when we do know our part, is the objective any different?
Since 1942, the United States have celebrated a holiday for Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of every November. For Christians the holiday is a time to remember the source of their blessings, regardless of how large or small those blessings seem. In Ecclesiastes 5:18-19, the Preacher recommends celebrating and enjoying our material things, and recognizing God as the Giver of them all, including the work needed to produce and prepare them:
“Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.”
However, as the Preacher wrote, even those with good jobs and plentiful possessions may find it difficult to truly enjoy them. It is “good and fitting”, but it is also “the gift of God” to find joy in the now instead of chasing things we don’t already have. It does not come naturally.
For many, time and events make each Thanksgiving different. The company around the table may have changed. The meal may be different. The means of providing the meal may be different. The familiarity of tradition may have been shaken by the pandemic and other circumstances. Much has changed, and much will change.
Therefore, focus on the Giver behind the gifts you have, and seek contentment with thankfulness that He has provided everything you need. For now, and in eternity. You are in good company.
From earliest times, debate has raged over whether God’s word can be taken literally. Since the serpent asked, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”[1] people have debated if the world was created in 6 days. If Moses really parted the Red Sea. If Jonah really spent 3 days inside a great fish. And so on. Talk about whether the Bible means what it says often focuses on the miraculous events within.
But what about verses like Ephesians 4:29? “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” When Paul wrote that, did he literally mean “no corrupting talk,” or just to aim for less crude language than the average person? Did Paul mean each word needs to “fit the occasion,” or to repeat whatever catchphrase seems to work in most situations? Did Paul mean everything we say should “give grace” to others, or is it ok if sometimes we want to look good or appear gracious? Do we need to always build up those who hear us? Did Paul “actually say” what he wrote in Ephesians 4:29?
Failure to meet our ideals does not mean that we should change them.
We might reply that this is an impossible standard, but Jesus in Luke 18:19 said “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” In that one statement, Jesus testifies that no one is good (everyone misses the mark), and also that He is God in the flesh, come to save us from failing to meet the standard.
So yes, Ephesians 4:29 should be taken literally, but we should also take literally that only Jesus can meet the standard, and that He did meet the standard. Failure to meet our ideals does not mean they are the wrong ideals and that we should change them. Holiness is holiness.
G.K. Chesterton wrote in his book Orthodoxy that “it does not matter (comparatively speaking) how often humanity fails to imitate its ideal; for then all its old failures are fruitful. But it does frightfully matter how often humanity changes its ideal; for then all its old failures are fruitless.”[2]
In film editing, “the cutting room floor” refers to pieces of physical film that (in pre-digital times) were cut out of the movie and left lying on the floor. When writing this blog, one of the hardest things to do is to cut out parts or phrases I care deeply about, but sometimes it’s necessary, because my words aren’t always Ephesians 4:29 words. Finding these failures can be fruitful if I learn from them and move closer to the ideal. In real-time, daily conversation it’s even harder, but to take Ephesians 4:29 literally, we all have to figuratively ask:
What are we willing to leave on the cutting room floor today?
[1] Genesis 3:1 [2] Chesterton, G.K. Orthodoxy (1908). P. 163.
Saint Augustine wrote in his Confessions “for it is one thing to see the land of peace from a wooded ridge….and another to tread the road that leads to it.” Often along that road we get stuck in a rut, but what is a rut?
According to Dictionary.com, “rut” is a noun meaning: “a furrow or track in the ground, especially one made by the passage of a vehicle or vehicles” or “a fixed or established mode of procedure or course of life, usually dull or unpromising: to fall into a rut.”
The second meaning comes from the first, earlier meaning. On dirt roads, vehicles create a rut along a repeated path, and the vehicles that come after find it easier to follow the path of least resistance. Therefore, without someone intervening and repairing the road, the rut gets deeper and its harder for any vehicle to avoid the rut. The second meaning is a metaphor of people doing the same thing. It’s easier to do what others have done before, or to continue what you’ve already done before, especially if repeated for a long period of time.
However, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” (Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25)
The Diversity of Ruts Over time, I have found many ruts to get stuck in. In my earliest memories I was already in a rut of passive Christianity, going through rituals that didn’t mean much to me. As a young adult, I was in a different rut as a visibly vibrant church member, doing things like leading Bible studies and worship services. Later, I was in a rut of private faith, studying the Bible and praying nearly every day but rarely talking to anyone else about it. At other times I’ve been ruts of tribalism, comfortable practicing religion as acceptable to “my tribe,” whether a political tribe, a denominational one, or many others.
There were times in my life where I looked like a Christian but wasn’t, and also times where I was a Christian but didn’t look like one. There were times where some people approved, and there were times when other people approved.
Much of what I’ve done has been potentially “good,” at least in appearance, but in all cases there was always something not quite right with it. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote that “There was an Eden on this very unhappy Earth. We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it: our whole nature at its best and least corrupted, its gentlest and most humane, is still soaked with the sense of ‘exile.’” We’re stuck somewhere we’re not meant to stay. Each of our experiences is different, and the wrong paths I’ve been on are not always the same wrong paths you’ve been on, and what was wrong for me might be right for you. But for many of us, ruts are comfortable.
When people, like vehicles following a rut in the road, follow others, it doesn’t “feel” risky. But when in a rut, new ground is never uncovered, and new paths are never found. There is no fruit of the Spirit from staying in a rut, doing something because someone else did it or because it feels “normal.” God’s people grow in “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”[1] as they find and follow His path for them, not by accident, by routine, or by doing nothing.
What may be less obvious is that the right path I should be on is not the same path you should be on. As I’ve written, “Each of us is an intricate matrix of beliefs, at different levels of truth and of conviction on every possible topic.” We all try to follow the same Shepherd, but we’re all in different places and He has different paths for all of us. A person can be a passionate, sincere believer with characteristics from any or all of what were my ruts, while I may by grace have avoided the ruts of others.
Compelling, Clear, and Charitable Why am I writing this? I picked up a few new followers this week, thanks to a post of mine being shared by Mitch Teemley (please visit his amazing blog!) and wanted to publicly thank him and to welcome any new readers!
Here, inspired by Ephesians 4:15, I try to write posts that are “Compelling, Clear, and Charitable” as explained in this earlier post. I try to write posts that “stir up my readers to love and good works.” (Hebrews 10:24).
It’s easy to use doctrine to criticize. Luke 13:26 and elsewhere criticize public faith if done incorrectly, while Matthew 6:4, 6:6, 6:18 and elsewhere describe sincere religion as private, done in secret. Politically, God’s people were exiled from the Promised Land because they used God’s institutions for their own purposes, but in exile were told to honor God in ways that benefit the nations they lived among.
Likewise, the people in the many ruts I’ve been in are often in conflict with each other. For example, “visible” Christians can get frustrated with “private” Christians, and in fact make it more difficult for them to get out of it. Strangely, I find myself often in conflict with past and current versions of myself.
If I write about a situation that feels like one you’re currently in, you might get offended because to you it’s not a rut. It might be your true path. Or you might be offended because the rut is comfortable and too deep to see out of. It’s sometimes easier to see someone else’s rut than your own, especially if you’re in the same ditch together. The ditch may be comfortable to both of the people in it.
Because of this diversity of ruts, being charitable is harder than being clear or compelling, but it is infinitely more important. On the other hand, on a blog where I don’t know many of my readers, charity at a personal level can be impossible.
Now, Not Yet We must try. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus commands God’s people to “make disciples of all nations.” We all experience failure on this mission, but the only way to guarantee failure is to not try at all. If I an Compelling and Clear here, I might have succeeded, but at something other than discipleship, for myself and for you. If we have not love, we are nothing. In addition, Proverbs 27:17 describes discipleship as “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” This verse is sometimes quoted with a smile as if it’s always rainbows and sunshine, but the verse is describing the violence of one piece of metal scraping bits off another piece of metal. In the metaphor of this post, it might be describing the work needed to dig out of a deep rut. Here, I make a humble attempt to make a better disciple of myself, but also to (hopefully charitably) share what I’ve learned in a way that helps others find their own path that is not a rut.
Even blogging may become a rut for me – it might have already – but it helps me move out of past ruts. The path of comfort and of least resistance is appealing. The temptation to create a new path defined by resistance to my past ruts is also appealing. I may steer clear of Scylla and crash headlong into Charybdis.[2] For now, I take comfort that God has used my past ruts to teach me what I didn’t know at the time and wouldn’t have learned otherwise, and that Paul encourages us all to use whatever diverse gifts we have: “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.” – Romans 12:6-8
When we arrive finally in the eternity we have been craving, Jesus will completely and finally pull all His people out of their ruts, and each will blaze their own perfect trail as an untainted bearer of His image. Future me (and future you) will all be vibrant members of God’s family, constantly worshiping God in private prayer and public work, while perfectly manifesting the political Kingdom of God in a new heaven and new earth. While the road between here and there is full of ruts, God is faithful and will get us there. He promises that every rut we currently are stuck in is temporary, and also that in eternity the path of righteousness we should be on will be as easy and comfortable as our current ruts promise to be but fail to deliver on. The good we did imperfectly in this world will be done perfectly there.
“And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.” – Revelation 21:21
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 