Tag Love

Memorial Day Meditation

Todd R 5 Comments

In an essay in The Weight of Glory[1], C.S. Lewis wrote: “the sun looks down on nothing half so good as a household laughing together over a meal, or two friends talking over a pint of beer, or a man alone reading a book that interests him.”  As we celebrate Memorial Day here in the United States, I pray you can enjoy what matters most to you and give thanks for others who sacrificed to made it possible.

In the same essay, Lewis says “all economies, politics, laws, armies, and institutions, save insofar as they prolong and multiply such scenes, are a mere ploughing the sand and sowing the ocean.”  These cannot deliver our salvation, yet they are absolutely necessary in this life.  These institutions have “no higher end than to facilitate and safeguard the family, and friendship, and solitude.”  Therefore, give thanks whenever peace and fellowship are possible, and pray for those living in places where they are not.

The essay also includes this quote: “do not let us mistake necessary evils for good.”  What did Lewis mean?  That when things that exist to provide “family, and friendship, and solitude” become an end in themselves “what was undertaken for the sake of health has become itself a new and deadly disease.”  While these things are absolutely needed, we should think of them “only in order to be able to think of something else.”  On the other hand, “a sick society must think much about politics.”  Therefore, give thanks for those who faithfully serve, and for preservation of the freedoms you enjoy.

Most importantly on Memorial Day, give thanks for those who gave up their lives so those they left behind could enjoy “family, and friendship, and solitude.”  Without their sacrifice, we could not celebrate Memorial Day, or any other day.  “Great sacrifices of this private happiness by those who have it may be necessary in order that it may be more widely distributed.”

Jesus said: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) As He gave His life for you, pray also for the ability, willingness, and freedom to sacrifice your own time and talents for others.

[1] Lewis, C.S.  The Weight of Glory (1941).  P. 161-162.

Your Family is More Important Than Your Furniture – Songs of Ascent #4

Todd R 2 Comments

A prominent feature of the culture I live in is the demand that everyone must respect the “individualism” of everyone else.  Pressure to affirm whatever anyone else wants affirmed about them has ballooned all over the news, social media, corporate policy, and even in churches.  There’s an assumption built into this, which is that the sincere ability to love someone can be the result of someone else threatening us to do it.  Exert enough legal, social, cultural, or even physical pressure and someone’s fundamental nature can be changed by coercion.  The coal turns into a diamond.

Tomorrow is Sunday, so today we return to the Songs of Ascent, a liturgy used in ancient Israel to prepare for worship at the annual festivals in Jerusalem.  What does this have to do with the last paragraph?  In Psalm 120, the first Song of Ascent, we read (post here) that no matter where we live, or where we come from, no matter our genealogy, we live among people with “lying lips” who can’t get along with each other.  In Psalm 121, we are encouraged to find the answer outside of our current place:

“A Song of Ascents.

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
            From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
            who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;
            he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
            will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is your keeper;
            the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
            nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all evil;
            he will keep your life.
The LORD will keep
            your going out and your coming in
            from this time forth and forevermore.”

The Psalm asks us to take our eyes off of the world around us and look upward for our hope.  Not just talk about the idea of it, but to actually do it.  To turn off the outside world and its circumstances and seek God’s help.  It takes effort because the idea that we can solve our own problems is so powerful.  The fall of Adam and Eve was driven by a curiosity that there may be a better system than the one they already had.  In a literally perfect society, they wanted something else.  If we aren’t intentional about avoiding this trap, it’s easy to not realize we are in it.

We’re All Messed Up
I’ve written much about Tyler Joseph, the songwriter of the band twenty øne piløts, and his campaign to create music and stories that help people deal with mental illness.  In an interview years ago, the interviewer criticized Tyler for calling himself “messed up.”  Was Tyler being too hard on himself?  This was Tyler’s response:

“I know I’m messed up. I think to myself I should be able to control myself.  I look at a lamp and I decide that I’m going to stand up and not hit that lamp. Why can’t I make decisions like that about everything in life. I’m not going to get angry at my brother. I want to be the best brother. Why can’t I do what I want to do? That’s messed up. Something is broken in the way we live. It’s proof that something is not right.”

Tyler is explaining Romans 7:13-21, especially verses 15 and 21, but in a way that’s as plain as day to anyone being honest with themselves.  Romans 7:15 and 21 say: “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”  And “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.”

What if the problem with every person individually is that they are unable, no matter how much external pressure is put on them, to treat other individuals the way they should be treated? If true, it puts the first paragraph into an entirely different light.

In this exact moment as I write this, I’m being very careful not to spill my drink on my laptop.  I have no desire to do anything violent to the couch I’m sitting on but just to enjoy having a place to sit.  If I stop writing to check something on my phone, I make sure I put it down gently in a spot where it won’t fall off and hit the floor.  But at the same time, I know I don’t always treat people with the same respect.  I know if I’m interrupted in the middle of what I think is a great thought or phrase I could get irritated and rude.  Not always, but I could.  I know I could be a better son, husband, father, employee, and friend.  So why don’t I?

Why do we treat our furniture better than our family, even in a culture that increasingly demands with all its strength that we prioritize every individual?  Because we are broken in a way that no political or economic system, no culture or tradition, can fix.  One may be better or worse than another, but none of them has the power to solve the real problem that we can’t consistently love people more than we love our furniture.  We have to go somewhere else to find the answer.

Therefore,
“I lift up my eyes to the hills.
            From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
            who made heaven and earth.”

As pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem, the Israelites were telling a story by making the effort to move.  A story that the towns they leave behind – no matter where they are coming from – don’t have the answer to their most important problems.  On the long journey, they travelled in large groups and slowly, sometimes by foot.  They probably had constant reminders of their own inability to treat the family they traveled with better than whatever furniture or baggage they brought along for the trip. While togetherness is sometimes uncomfortable, together we must lift up our eyes and look for the answer outside of everything we know.

We’re broken and can’t fix ourselves, but “The LORD will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.”  Take some time out of your week and each day to look up to the hills and seek Him.  To set aside everything else.  To focus on the LORD, because He alone loves us in the way we need to be loved and can help us love others the way they need to be loved.  He won’t seek to break you to make you do it, but He Himself was broken to provide us a way.

A Just Reward

Todd R 1 Comment

Over time, I’ve known Christians who at times, while sure of their faith and salvation, wonder what’s the point of serving God in this world?  Salvation comes through faith, not works, right?  What else is there to gain by Christian service, they ask?  Therefore, it becomes harder to serve.

Others might be diligently serving God, yet don’t see any results from their work.  In their eyes, it may not look like the ones they serve are benefitting.  It may not look like anyone is noticing their service and cares about it.  Maybe their motivation is getting harder to come by.

In situations like these, it helps to be reminded of the justice of God… Justice?  What does that have to do with it?  Let me explain.  Too often we think of God’s justice only in the sense that He cannot help but punish every evil act.  However, the epistle to the Hebrews reminds us that there is another side to God’s justice:

“For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.” – Hebrews 6:10

This verse tells us that it would be an injustice for God to not reward us for the good that we do.  Through the sacrifice of Christ, God no longer judges us for our sins, but nothing has happened to separate us from the other side of God’s justice!  While not punishing evil would be unjust, so would not rewarding good.

The verse also tells us that God doesn’t “overlook” anything that we do in love, “in serving the saints.”  While we may not see the fruit God is growing through us, or feel we are contributing, or receive recognition for our actions, God knows about it and is not unjust.  While He removes our sin from us “as far as the east is from the west,” (Psalm 103:12) He remembers every act of love we do, as small as sharing a cup of water with a thirsty child (Matthew 10:42).

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

The Bible isn’t clear about how each person will be rewarded differently in heaven, but it is clear that for everyone heaven will be amazing and wonderful beyond anything we could imagine, and also clear that not everyone will get the same level of reward.  See, for example, the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.

So, what’s the point of serving God in this world if it doesn’t affect our salvation, and if we aren’t seeing any current results?  Why bother?  The point is first, that it’s the right thing to do, but second, that God is just and will reward us in eternity.

As Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Our service on this earth for God is like an investment in the treasures of heaven, and these investments made in love are safer than any investments you can make in this world because the reward is based on God’s character, and God is just.

“For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.”

Strengthen What Remains

Todd R 1 Comment

Does your church seem alive and vigorous in its faith?  Be thankful if it does because there are many churches that are struggling.  There are many churches that appear to be faithful, but their faith might only be skin-deep.

In Revelation chapters 2 and 3, John is given messages from Jesus to bring to seven churches in different cities: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.  One of these – Sardis – fit the description above of a church where faith was only an appearance.  Jesus’ words to Sardis begins in Revelation 3:1-2:

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.  ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.”

The church in Sardis looked good – it had “the reputation of being alive,” but in the sight of God who sees the internal and true reality, the church was “dead.”  Many churches today are like Sardis: they appear Christian but haven’t really embraced Christ.

However, there is still hope, because in verse 2 it says the work is not complete, and verse 4 says there remain some truly faithful in Sardis: “Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.”  Many people are in situations like this today: spiritually alive but in “dead” churches.

What message is given to those faithful few?  “Wake up, and strengthen what remains.” 

There are two parts to this instruction, the first being don’t give up.  Stay alert!  Some might be tempted to give up; to either to stop trying, or to leave and find another church.  Finding another church might be a good option in some cases, but for those who choose to stay, giving up on the church is not an option according to this message.  “Wake up.”

The second part is to “strengthen what remains.”  There is work to be done in any church, even where little genuine faith remains.  Hebrews 10:24-25 advises us: “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.”

Therefore, if you feel your church is dead, remain faithful and “strengthen what remains.”  Don’t give up but encourage others to “love and good works.”  By word and by example.  But if your church is spiritually alive, also remain faithful and strengthen what you have.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” – Revelation 3:6

Mercy for Mephibosheth

Todd R 1 Comment

The English writer Samuel Johnson noted that “the true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.”  There is a great example of this in the story of King David and Mephibosheth in the book of 2 Samuel.

Before becoming king, David had a deep friendship with Jonathan, the son of King Saul who despised David and persistently tried to kill him.  In response, David did not try to kill Saul, but relied on God to keep his promise that David would become king and eventually Saul was killed in battle against the Philistines.  Soon after, David was anointed king and surprisingly asked: “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”[1]  Mephibosheth, a lame son of Jonathan, was found, given Saul’s land and servants to work it, and also given a place at David’s table.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

There are at least 3 ways David’s treatment of Mephibosheth did David no good from a worldly perspective:

  • It was typical for kings to wipe out the entire family of political rivals to remove any threats from claims to the crown.  David, showing mercy to Mephibosheth instead, took a risk by keeping a descendant of Saul alive.
  • Mephibosheth, lame in both feet, was limited in what service he could offer to David.  He was not a great warrior and otherwise had little to offer David.  However, David had mercy on him because of his love for Mephibosheth’s father Jonathan, not because of what he could get in return.
  • David restored Saul’s land to Mephibosheth, land that David could have kept for himself.  Instead, David fed Mephibosheth from his own possessions for the rest of his life.  Mercy for Mephibosheth had an economic cost to David.

While from this worldly perspective David might seem foolish, from an eternal perspective he was wise, foreshadowing the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5:43-45 –

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Are there Mephibosheths in our lives who could be shown mercy, regardless of the worldly impact on us?

[1] 2 Samuel 9:1