Mudshot Eyes

“Sooner or later you just figure out there are some guys who don’t believe in God and they can prove He doesn’t exist, and some other guys who do believe in God and they can prove He does exist, and the argument stopped being about God a long time ago and now it’s about who is smarter, and honestly I don’t care.”
– Donald Miller, in Blue Like Jazz

I love this comment because I have felt this way many times. When someone presents an opposing view on God and reality, we quickly become defensive and move quickly to get our point across, sometimes with a lot of anger (or more likely, fear).

Instead of moving in for the argumentative kill, we can defuse a combative discussion if we ask questions to understand what a person is saying and to discover what life experiences led them to their beliefs.  We would be more closely imitating Jesus if we sought to know a person’s story instead of seeking only to disassemble their argument. 

“But doesn’t the Bible say to always be prepared to give a defense?”

Actually, the verse in 1 Peter 3:15 says that we must be “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (ESV).   This is from the disciple who was known for his “defense” of Jesus in an olive grove where he cut off a man’s ear with his sword.  Like Peter, our efforts to defend Jesus sometimes end up leaving someone wounded, in need of the touch of Jesus to heal them.

Peter’s letters show that his approach to defending the faith had radically changed since that day in the olive grove.  There are no complicated arguments about proving God’s existence to someone and no martial arts training to learn how to cleanly cut off an opponent’s ear.  Peter’s school of faith-defense requires the answer for only one question: “Why do you have hope?”

What would your answer be?

I’m sitting near the magazine section at Border’s Bookstore right now and I’m noticing how important it is to be liked by a large numbers of people who don’t really know you. It’s not important in any real sense, but in the world of magazines, entertainment and politics it is very important.

I have a few friends who say that they have already decided on who they are voting for in November’s presidential election. When I dig a little deeper to find out why, I discover that they simply “like” one candidate more than another.

A survey I recently heard about asked which candidate would be more enjoyable to hang out with at a bar-b-que. What a ridiculous question! When voting for a person to be the new leader of the most powerful free country on Earth, it is important to have more reason than the question of who would be nicer to hang out with on July Fourth.

This won’t be the first time our country has turned the presidential election into a likeability contest and it won’t be the last. Perhaps we could begin to turn the tide by examining what we believe about how our country was founded and how it should run. Likeability contests are fine in high school, but for a presidential election they just won’t cut it.

(For the record, I’m not sure I “like” either of the two major candidates.)

whether it be Barack Obama or John McCain

The other day, I was looking through some Hubble space telescope pictures in preparation for teaching at Emmaus.  Here are four samples, but you can see more of this at Hubble’s web site.

(Click if you want a bigger view…)

I started looking through these pictures after reading a chapter in Dallas Willard’s book, The Divine Conspiracy.  The title of the chapter is “What Jesus Knew: Our God-Bathed World.” In it, Willard explores the idea that God is infinitely joyous.

He talks about how the beauty of the earth around us stirs us to a great sense of awe and peace.  But as beautiful as this planet is, it is a mere fraction of what God has available for his constant enjoyment!

Consider Psalm 68:32-33, where the psalmist says that God “rides upon the highest heavens, which are from ancient times.”  I envision the Creator of the universe “riding” around and enjoying these highest heavens, full of satisfaction and joy.

Does this image of God startle you?  Have you ever thought that God is an infinitely joyous and happy being?  If we read the Gospels carefully, we’ll see that Jesus’ teachings do not allow us to view God as “a morose and miserable monarch, a frustrated and petty parent, or a policeman on the prowl.”*

Perhaps the reason that we are so resistant to seek to know God is that our picture of God is shallow and inaccurate.  No one could stay motivated to follow a miserable God.  Only a God of unbridled happiness could attract us to a life of meaningful growth and transformation.

*Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, p. 64, HarperSanFrancisco, 1998.

Do you ever have trouble asking for help?  I assume that it probably has something to do with my strong sense of independence, but that’s always been a struggle for me.  Independence is great when you are talking about freedom from an oppressive regime that taxed us out the wazoo 200 years ago, but when it comes to how I live my life as a Christ-follower, it’s value is limited.

Krista and I were talking to a close friend last night who shared that he also has a difficult time asking others to help him.  As we narrowed down the reasons, it came to pride and the desire not to let others see our weaknesses or our needs.

The problem with that perspective is that our sense of need is the defining characteristic in a Christian’s life.  No one becomes a follower of Christ without first recognizing that they need Him.  And once someone starts the journey with Christ, the degree to which they are aware of their need is the degree to which they will follow Him.

A “pull-up-your-bootstraps-and-do-it-yourself” approach only leads to emptiness and a longing for personal recognition (which can never be enough).

When we realize the limits of the resources within ourselves and the vastness of the resources that God offers us through relationship with Him, the pressure is suddenly off as we no longer have to defend ourselves and our abilities.  Instead, we come clean about how needy we are and discover that God has invited us to come to Him with our asking, seeking, and knocking.*

Jesus illustrates God’s joy in giving good things to his sons and daughters in Matthew 7:11:

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

Perhaps this Independence Day could also be a day to recognize the value of a life lived in dependence on an enormously capable and loving God.

*Matthew 7:7

(Thanks to Reddish for the “in dependence” idea.)

This article is from guest blogger Brian Alex, a close friend of mine. He and his family are missionaries, currently in Estonia (web site).  Enjoy!

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I recently asked a friend of mine what they have been reading lately, hoping to whet my appetite for some good material. Their response left me dumbfounded for moment:

“The Bible is all I need, since hearing too much from others only tends to leave me more confused than when I limit my influence to only the Bible.”

I doubt that I will ever share my argument with them, but it is a proverbial burr under my theological saddle. I think there is something missing in the life of a believer who closes their ears to every other sound but their reading of the Bible.

To read the New Testament is to find a collection of eye-witness accounts and special revelation propagated to the masses mainly through messengers carrying letters to be read aloud. But it didn’t stop there. The letters were then considered at-large by communal groups of Christ-followers. Thus, it stands to reason that we too must take the point of view that God will choose to reveal Himself to us via that same circuit. Namely,

1. The Scriptures
2. Personal Revelation
3. Communal Interpretation

To refrain from the necessary involvement of a community would subject the learner to a limited view of Christ, life and the world that he or she lives in. By excluding the communal checks-and-balances they would be in danger of erring from the very Scriptures that he or she may claim have exclusive authority in their lives.

Rather, we can stand with confidence knowing that God has led us into select communal-social constructs that will help us tend towards truth. Surrounding ourselves with a community of imperfect Bible-interpreting believers will challenge and refine our own conceptions, keeping us from blatant deceptions.

God has placed us in covenental community in order to see the Bible clearly and to know in Whom we have believed. In essence, if we are to hear God’s voice, we must involve those who have labored in the Word before us and with us, as they lend us their spiritual heritage.

The Bible isn’t all we need, simply because the Bible is not just about words. It is about real people and real lives, learning to live out the truth… together.

I remember birthdays as a kid, and how it always felt so good to add one year to the scorecard that was my age. The bigger the number got, the closer I thought I’d be to the day when someone important told me that I was OK. I was just waiting for someone to say, “You are grown up now, and you are going to make it on your own––you’ve got what it takes.”

I continued that pattern through college and graduate school. I was still trying to figure out if there was any built-in purpose to my life, but I acted like I had it all together, like I had all the answers. While I waited for some final word on my worth, I treated relationships with the carelessness of a teenager, and did very little growing up in my twenties.

When my 30th birthday came, I was still just like that little kid, marking a number on his scorecard. Secretly, I marked this one down darker than the others. I just knew that 30 would be the one. This was the year that people would treat me like a grown up and finally start telling me those magic words: “Congratulations on turning 30. You’ve finally got what it takes now.”

It never happened. I was older, but in many ways still foolish, immature, and unable to see it. My birthday had absolutely nothing to do with my true maturity.

At some point I had to acknowledge to myself and to God that I was waiting on other people to provide only what He could. My shallow way of measuring my worth had left me confused and insecure, so I began to face how weak my crutch was.

I’ve quit using a scorecard to count birthdays and I have become increasingly convinced that God doesn’t give a damn how old we are. His desire for us is to “go on to maturity,” as the book of Hebrews puts it. The Message version is especially colorful:

Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong.

So come on, let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on “salvation by self-help” and turning in trust toward God;

(Hebrews 5:13-6:1)

Since my number of calendar years doesn’t reflect my spiritual maturity, I’ve decided that my age is a meaningless abstraction for me, having no bearing on my present course. I still have a lot of growing up to do, including more scorecards that need to be burned.

(By the way, I turn 37 years old today, but who’s counting?)