We’re All in Different Ruts Together

November 19, 2022December 31, 2022Todd R 6 Comments

Dear fellow travelers,

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)

^{Life often feels like this. Photo by Aubrey Odom-Mabey on Unsplash}

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

There are no ruts in that road.

Welcome to my new and old fellow travelers.

Soli Deo Gloria

[1] Galatians 5:22-23
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_Scylla_and_Charybdis

The Part of Us That Matters

November 9, 2022November 8, 2022Todd R Leave a comment

The Apostle Paul wrote an amazing contrast in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, which says:

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

On the one hand, there are things that are transient, described as: outer, wasting away, light, momentary, affliction, and seen.

On the other hand, what is eternal is: inner, being renewed, weighty, glorious, beyond all comparison, and unseen.

These things are part of each of us, but what is eternal matters infinitely more than the other. Don’t confuse the two, or you may lose heart because Paul earlier assured us in verse 14 that “he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.” At that time, only what is eternal will remain.

Amen.

[Revised from a December 2021 post]

He Who Sits in the Heavens Laughs (Part 2)

November 4, 2022Todd R 3 Comments

As someone who collected comics years ago, I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. The decades of characters and stories created in the comics combine with modern special effects to create the ultimate “popcorn” events. Thor: Ragnarok, released in 2017, was one I really looked forward to since I had read the original Ragnarok story line that culminated in The Mighty Thor issue #353 in March 1985.

(Caution: Mild movie spoilers follow!!!) The movie’s conclusion is significantly different than the comic version, with a twist that the heroes decide victory lies in not fighting the “Big Bad” of Surtur, a massive fire demon. However, after realizing this, they must convince the Hulk to follow the plan, resulting in one of the funniest exchanges in any of the MCU movies:

Thor: Hulk, no! Just for once in your life, don’t smash!
Hulk (in sullen voice): But big monster!

You can watch the 1 1/2 minute scene here:

Hulk logic is simple. Big monster is here. Hulk must smash big monster. That’s the plan.

In Part 1, Jesus was pictured in Psalm 2:4 as being enthroned in heaven, laughing in derision at the rulers of the world who sought to break free from His “bonds” and “cords”. This description of Jesus is a reassuring reminder to us that no worldly kingdom is a threat to Him, and we can trust in His protection. The post ended with a question of whether we also laugh as Jesus does? Do we hold our (and His) enemies in derision?

Peter Smash!
Here we began with a Marvel movie scene, because in a way, Thor convincing Hulk that fighting fire with fire wasn’t the answer is like Jesus’ rebuking of Peter for fighting back against the mob that arrested Jesus, and soon delivered Him to be crucified. In John 18:1-11, Judas leads a “band of soldiers and some officers” to arrest Jesus, and Peter (possibly thinking “Big Monster!”) drew his sword and cut off the right ear of one of the high priest’s servants, named Malchus. Jesus says “Peter, no! For once in your life, don’t smash”, or as more accurately rendered in the ESV: “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

Matthew’s account (26:52-54) adds: “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?’”

Jesus knows that He can beat any “Big Bad” the world has to offer at any time with an “appeal to my Father”. In Psalm 2:5-9, right after He laughs, the Psalmist writes:

“Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
            and terrify them in his fury, saying,
‘As for me, I have set my King
            on Zion, my holy hill.’
I will tell of the decree:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
            today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
            and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
            and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

But rescuing His people must come first, and until then final judgment is delayed. Jesus knew when Psalm 2 was written that He would eventually judge all the nations, but He also knew what sort of death He would die to accomplish salvation for His people. Jesus does not laugh because His enemies can be taken lightly – He is fully aware of the evil of the world. His enemies cause real pain and suffering on earth, and He takes each offense personally. But if He decided to spend all of history laughing in heaven, we would all be without hope. Fortunately, He lived among us, and suffered terribly as a servant, knowing “that he had come from God and was going back to God”[1]

At the time of Judas’ betrayal, Jesus had told His disciples multiple times, citing Old Testament prophecy, that His plan required being rejected, suffering, and dying, then rising again[2], but when the mob came for Jesus, Peter didn’t make the connection. He did not understand the plan, but later he would. We are not alone when we don’t understand God’s will for us. The twelve disciples were constantly out of step with Jesus. When asked to do something against our natural impulse we sometimes drop our shoulders, and our voice becomes sullen like Hulk’s.

But we have hope. Years later, Peter would write about his progress from his early impulsive days in 1 Peter 1:13-15:

“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.”

The “passions of Peter’s former ignorance”, may include the time Peter cried “big monster!” and cut off someone’s ear. None of us are immune from the same Hulk logic when threatened. But it might also be said that Jesus looked at Peter in derision when he did this[3]. But for the grace of God, there go I.

Peter writes of the implications of understanding Christ’s mission on the cross, that Christ’s followers are part of the plan, as active participants in the mission. He calls the church to be holy, set apart for God’s purposes, to pursue the mission of the church, most succinctly spelled out at the end of Matthew’s gospel: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (28:19-20). In this kingdom, the two most important commandments are: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”, and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”[4]

To answer to the question at the end of Part 1, the prescriptive truth that is like Proverbs 14:21[5] is love. Love defines how subjects in the kingdom of the One who laughs should behave. A love more thoroughly defined in 1 Corinthians 13 as patient and kind, and not envious, boastful, arrogant or rude[6]. Or, as Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:1: “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.” Paul adds in Rom 12:14 – “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.”

Jesus laughing in heaven is only a comfort to us if He is our King, and if He is our King, we seek to follow the laws of His kingdom. The laughter of Jesus is not a model for us, but is a source of comfort and strength if we are His. In contrast, the nations, kings and rulers of this world refuse the “bonds” and “cords” of the Lord, which are these laws of love. They make up their own system of “righteousness” by laws, and therefore “the Lord holds them in derision.” Their earthly rules and systems cannot measure up to His righteousness and are at best narratives and at worst tyrannies.

Love When Bad Things Happen
Jesus’ laughing is precisely what enables us not to hold people in derision, and to not mock and laugh at them. It is a key to achieving the “Us for Them” ethic described in an earlier post. Jesus laughing tells us that there is no monster scary enough to make His plan to love the wrong answer. Whatever your circumstance, “Love God”, “Love your neighbor” and “Love your enemies” apply to it.

To illustrate this, consider Jesus’ prophetic speech in Mark 13:5-23 from the framework of descriptive vs. prescriptive truth. I paraphrase and categorize some of the points below:

Descriptive	Prescriptive
Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’	See that no one leads you astray
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, and nation will rise against nation	Do not be alarmed
Earthquakes and famines in various locations	Be on your guard
You will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake	Bear witness before them and do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say
Brother will deliver brother over to death and you will be hated by all	Endure
False christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders	Be on guard

To Jesus, none of the things in the descriptive column are new information. All were included in the plan. The actions He recommends are not new information either. The “Prescriptive” column means keep doing what you were doing before these bad things happened – Love God, love your neighbor. Even if your neighbor is “bad”.

False christs and prophets will cry “But big monster!” and offer to save us. But the true Christ calmly says “be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand”. (Mark 13:23). The false prophet takes the descriptive of evil in the world and creates their own false prescriptive. They recommend an incomplete and inaccurate narrative as an ultimate solution. Their own Babel which God must “come down” from heaven to even see (Genesis 11:5). The true Christ comes down from heaven and demonstrates how to create a true ladder all the way back to heaven, offering forgiveness to all, even those who refuse to accept it or practice love. He will be thoroughly and eternally glorified by manifesting His kingdom as the only eternal kingdom, ruled by love.

God doesn’t turn our Muerte into Morty by having us laugh at him and beat him up with a stroller (although that might be fun). He doesn’t tell us to Smash! Every time we try to follow the plans of the world to fight the battles of God’s kingdom, we are testifying that the world’s kingdoms are greater than His. Our rage will be futile and our plotting will be in vain.

Witness to the Cross
Note that the presence of false prophets, national rivalry, and natural disaster provide an opportune backdrop for proclaiming the superior kingdom of God in Christ, where none of these things will occur! We testify to the imagined utopias of the world – which are all at best narratives and at worst tyrannies – that the real utopia is one where people love so much that they are willing to die for specific others, not one where the “Pax Romana” is illusory and pointing that out is a crime. Jesus even died for the tax collector Zacchaeus, described by his Jewish peers as a traitor and cheat, a representative of a secular enemy power. Everyone He died for was once His enemy, and His sacrifice enables a paradigm shift from “Us vs Them” to “Us for Them”.

In our ability to do this, we all lie somewhere between the impulsive Hulk, the Peter of Matthew 26, the Peter of his New Testament letters, and Jesus’ obedience on the cross. We each are a narrative of our own “intricate matrix of beliefs, at different levels of truth and of conviction on every possible topic.” We all cry “But big monster!” at different things, at different times, and for different reasons, but Jesus guarantees our destination is holiness when we follow Him. Jesus cares about His people more than he cares about all the kingdoms of the world, and “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:10.

But His blessing is not granted under all types of persecution. Persecution is not evidence of righteousness, but a result of it. Christians are not blessed when persecuted for unrighteousness, which sadly they often are. They are blessed when persecution comes from testifying to, and striving to live, a righteousness that is unachievable by any earthly kingdom. Jesus did this on the cross, and we do it by bearing the cross He assigns us. When we do this, His kingdom comes, because his will is being done on earth as it is in heaven.[7] Logically, earthly kingdoms do not like this.

Therefore, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” (1 Peter 4:12-14)

Don’t accept the cross anyone other than Christ assigns to you – it may crush you. The specific work God assigns for you is enough and comes with His power. Our cross will not kill our soul; it will enable us to truly live.

For the last enemy to be defeated is Muerte. Which means death[8].

Next post: a “minor’ prophet finds peace

Post Script
To close out the discussion of Psalm 2, the last verses (10-12) describe the Psalmist pleading with the kings and rulers:

“Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
            be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
            and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
            lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
            for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

Finally, as Paul urges us in 1 Timothy 2:1-2, we should pray for our rulers to God, who is sovereign over the nations: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

[1] See John 13:3, and a previous post about this idea.
[2] Mark 8:31, Luke 9:22 and elsewhere
[3] As in Matthew 16:23, where Jesus refers to Peter as Satan for saying suffering was not necessary for our Lord.
[4] From Matthew 22:37 and 39
[5] “Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor”
[6] 1 Corinthians 13:4-5
[7] Adapted from Matthew 6:10
[8] 1 Corinthians 15:26

Samson’s Ancient World Problems

November 3, 2022November 2, 2022Todd R Leave a comment

Modern suburban life is full of annoyances. Getting up early during the week to commute to work. Getting up early on the weekend because your neighbor hired landscapers for the early shift. Staying up too late on a Wednesday because someone in your neighborhood decided it was time for fireworks even though it’s not a Hallmark-recognized holiday. Constant notifications from your phone that you have a new email. Having to spend time deleting the majority of your emails because they’re spam that made it through the filter. Recycling the majority of your regular mail because its junk. Wondering if you put recyclables into the wrong bins. Paying more for gas and groceries because of inflation.

Such annoyances are sometimes jokingly called “first world problems” or they might even get cringeworthy hashtags like #1stworldproblems. When I recently read Judges 14:6 I was reminded of such problems. It says:

“Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon [Samson], and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.” (emphasis mine)

The writer of Judges wanted everyone to know how easy it was for Samson, in God’s power, to kill a lion, so he compared it to how “one tears a young goat.” Not how “one clicks the trash can icon to delete an email,” or how “one sets an alarm clock to get up early,” or how “one pumps gas in their car so they can travel in minutes what once might have taken days.” No, Samson killed a lion “as one tears a young goat.”

^{Photo by Yassine Khalfalli on Unsplash}

My handy study Bible has no statistics on how often individuals killed young goats with their bare hands in Samson’s times, but for it to work as a metaphor to the original audience of Judges, it must have been quite easy and common. Maybe more common than fireworks on non-holidays, or easier than pumping expensive gas after a quick tap of a credit card.

First world problems indeed. At least we probably won’t need to kill a goat today, or especially not a lion. May God grant us the patience and strength to deal with whatever comes our way today.

Also, if you got an email telling you this was posted, feel free to delete it, unless it went to your spam folder, in which case you probably aren’t reading this. It just takes a click of a button.

Don’t Kick Against the Goads

October 31, 2022October 30, 2022Todd R Leave a comment

The Apostle Paul, author of much of the New Testament, was first called Saul and was a very different person before meeting Christ. As Saul, he saw no contradiction between persecuting his religious enemies (the new Christian church) and being righteous under the law. He also may also have seen Christianity as a political threat, a new religion that would upset the balance of power between the Jews of the first century and the occupying Romans by demanding loyalty to a higher power above Rome. From this perspective, he may have thought his religion required persecution of those who disagreed.

Luke, author of Acts, describes Saul’s pre-Christian life like this:

“But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” – Acts 9:1-2

Paul himself does not deny this past, writing to the church in Galatia:

“For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it” – Galatians 1:13

But when confronted by Jesus on the road to Damascus as referred to in Acts 9 above, the Lord asked him to his face: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” (Acts 26:14). This is a strange expression for us, but to “kick against the goads” meant that by fighting against God’s will (including His grace for His people in any nation or tribe), Saul was only hurting himself. Goads were sticks that were pointed on one end and used to prod oxen to move where a farmer wanted them to go. A stubborn ox who decided to resist would “kick against the goads,” only leading to more pain. Persecuting the absolute Lord of the universe is not a good idea.

Saul learned his lesson and after that confrontation, changed his name to Paul, a man transformed in how he treated those he might consider enemies. He went from “breathing threats and murder” against Christians, to wishing for the salvation of the Jews, and anyone who would listen:

“Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for [the Jews] is that they may be saved.” – Romans 10:1

In Christ, His hate for the “other” became compassion. Saul wanted to put his enemies to death; Paul wanted to put his own sin to death. He never shied away from his brutal past, but he also began nearly all of his letters to the early churches with a greeting like this one at the beginning of Galatians:

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” – Galatians 1:3

Dear fellow travelers, as I mentioned in an earlier post about why I use that particular greeting, “Let’s strive to bring grace and peace to every encounter we have as we travel through this world.” Even with those we might consider enemies.

Sola Gratia

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