I will be posting The Proving of a True Lover Series in its entirety on Easter Sunday (tomorrow). I cannot think of a better day to celebrate the love of God!
Archive for March, 2018
What About Saturday?: Hupomone Day!
Posted in Bible Study, I'm Just Sayin', Life and Ministry, tagged burden, Christ, doubt, easter, faith, fellowship, God, Good Friday, growth, hupomone, Jesus, perseverance, Religion, Saturday, struggle, Sunday, thomas, victory on March 31, 2018| Leave a Comment »
We celebrate Good Friday. We celebrate Easter. What about Saturday?
Sandwiched between the suffering of the greatest sacrifice ever made and the glory of the most magnificent triumph ever won, past present or future, is What? I am going to call it Hupomone Day! because it is the Saturday’s of our life that grow true perseverance.
How often do we find ourselves on Saturday. That blank day between the suffering and triumph. At least as we watch the events unfolding we can focus on the horror, the pain. We can anticipate the miraculous escape, the triumphant turning of the tide as God magnificently brings the victory. Then it doesn’t happen the way we want or expect. The night falls, a restless night, perhaps without sleep, certainly with disturbed dreams. Then what about Saturday, what do we do? The dawn rises, but all that we can see is Friday’s darkness. The birds are singing, but all we can hear are the screams and jeers of the crowd; the hammering of the nails; the moans of his mother; the pounding of our own heart.
What about Saturday. What do we do? What should we do? Some will run. Some will hide. Some will lose faith and return to the life they had known before they felt the Master’s touch. Some will struggle and doubt, but:
struggle and doubt + faith = Hupomone
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1
Some of us have longer Saturdays than others. Take Thomas. I often hear people make fun of doubting Thomas. I can only imagine that his fellow disciples gave him some ribbing but here is the deal: Thomas Stayed! He made it through a Saturday that was longer and more intense than any of the others. I can only believe this made his Sunday morning all the more amazing. Thomas grew through his Saturday. He walked away with an understanding of Hebrews 11:1 straight from the lips of his Savior: Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” John 20:29.
If Friday is Good Friday and Sunday is Easter Sunday; Saturday is Hupomone Saturday. Saturday is when we remember His Word. Saturday is when we remember His touch. On Saturday the fellowship of our brother’s and sister’s in Christ becomes paramount. On Saturday we scream out to God. On Saturday we worship, we cry, we hurt, we heal…in-spite of ourselves. On Saturday we grow and mature as on no other day. Perhaps that is why Saturday is in God’s plan for us. I have experienced a few Saturday’s in my life. Some I am still experiencing. While the Sunday mornings are great! It is the Saturday’s that draw me close to God and close to God’s people.
It is in the midst of Saturday the I make strides towards Philippians 2 , learning humility, allowing God to work in me. It is on Saturday that God makes those subtle changes in me that draw my spirit, soul and body closer to having His attitude and His values and to truly having His love.
It is on Saturday that we practice Hebrews 11:1 like no other day. Do we trust the promise? Are we certain of our hope? It is on Saturday that we say in the midst of it all with Joshua, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”
Unfortunately I think that it is also on Saturday that all to many lose faith, not being able to hold on to the promise. It is on Saturday that as brother’s and sister’s in Christ we fail each other as on no other day. Perhaps this is because we do not realize that everyday is someone’s Saturday.
Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2
Are you in the midst of Saturday? Be certain Sunday morning is coming, and when it does the most miraculous thing, the most miraculous change will not be in the situation that you are experiencing, it will be in YOU!
The Noble Lover
Posted in Bible Study, Life and Ministry, tagged Christian, flawless, God, kempis, latin, love, Lover, noble, Religion, rest, The Imitation of Christ, thomas on March 20, 2018| Leave a Comment »
“My son, thou art not yet strong and prudent in thy love.”
“Wherefore O my Lord?”
“Because for a little opposition thou fallest away from thy undertakings, and too eagerly seekest after consolation. The strong lover standeth fast in temptations, and believeth not the evil persuasions of the enemy. As in prosperity I please him, so in adversity I do not displease.”
“The prudent lover considerest not the gift of the lover so much as the love of the giver. He looketh for the affection more than the value, and setteth all gifts lower than the Beloved. The noble lover resteth not in the gift, but in Me above every gift.”
Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
no·ble
adjective
1.belonging to a hereditary class with high social or political status; aristocratic.
“the Duchess of Kent and other noble ladies”
synonyms: aristocratic, patrician, blue-blooded, high-born, titled; archaic: gentle
“a noble family”
2.having or showing fine personal qualities or high moral principles and ideals.
“the promotion of human rights was a noble aspiration”
synonyms: righteous, virtuous, good, honorable, upright, decent, worthy, moral, ethical, reputable
Strong, prudent and noble, Kempis offers these as the attributes of one who loves well as spoken by God to one who has not achieved the status of a strong and prudent lover. He defines the first two attributes in terms of action. The strong lover stands fast in the face of opposition. The prudent lover looks past the gifts and sees the value of the lover/beloved behind them. However when I look at the noble lover, the definition is not in action, but in position.
Kempis wrote The Imitation of Christ as a series of booklets in the early 1400’s. When he wrote this, the concept of nobility was much more defined and important in the daily life of almost everyone than it is now. It was widely believed that nobility was a matter of birth and that noble birth predicated a higher standard of behavior. In Christian nations nobility was given a foundation in the will of God. History reveals the flaw in this thinking (stemming from the basic flaw in humanity, sin). Kempis himself was the son of blacksmith who apparently entered monastic life under the influence of his older brother. Still this idea of “noble” was a very real one to him and to the readers of his writings. It was an idea of position.
Kempis proposes a position in his description of the noble lover. It is a position of stillness. Originally written in Latin, Kempis chose the word quiescere.
Nobilis amator non quiescit in dono, sed in Me super omne donum.
A Roman would have used this word to say, “good night” ( bene valeas et quiecas). God is calling us into a position of rest in Him. Kempis recognizes that we tend to rest in the gifts or the positive circumstances that we find ourselves, and not in the being of the lover who gives us these gifts. I find a cool parallel in the periodic table. The noble gases sit at one side of the table. They are called such because at one time they were considered to be completely non-reactive to their environment. This quality in nitrogen is why it is used to preserve foods in sealed containers and used as a replacement for compressed air in filling tires. The nitrogen will not react to the food or to the rubber of the tires in the way that oxygen in particular does.
Our love for God should not be reactive to the things around us or the circumstances of our life. It should rest in Him above all those things… “in Me super omne donum” Matthew records an exchange between Jesus and an “expert in the law”. We pick up the exchange in verse 36.
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
The first and greatest is to love God and he sets the standard of that love.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
The flawless demonstrated his love for the flawed. It is not based on anything we have to give or offer.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
The intrinsic focus of God’s love begets it’s noble nature, completely unaffected by circumstance as God is completely unaffected by circumstance. This is both the great example of noble love and the measure of the noble lover. It is in this love that we find rest not in the many gifts that He gives but in who He is.
Hupomone: The Proving of a True Lover- Prudent
Posted in Bible Study, I'm Just Sayin', Life and Ministry, tagged Christ, Christian, circumstance, Corinthians, endurance, fan into flame, future, gifts, God, hupomone, intimacy, Jesus, love, Lover, Paul the Apostle, prudent, Relationship, Religion, Sam Guidry, Series Sunday, Thomas a Kempis on March 13, 2018| Leave a Comment »
“My son, thou art not yet strong and prudent in thy love.”
“Wherefore O my Lord?”
“Because for a little opposition thou fallest away from thy undertakings, and too eagerly seekest after consolation. The strong lover standeth fast in temptations, and believeth not the evil persuasions of the enemy. As in prosperity I please him, so in adversity I do not displease.”
“The prudent lover considerest not the gift of the lover so much as the love of the giver. He looketh for the affection more than the value, and setteth all gifts lower than the Beloved. The noble lover resteth not in the gift, but in Me above every gift.”
Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
prudent – adj – acting with or showing care and thought for the future
Kempis has uncovered the weak lover. The one who falls away in the storm, seeking only for consolation. He has proclaimed the strong lover. The one who stands fast in the face of temptation and whose love does not rest on the whims of circumstance. Now we find that there is yet another quality of love that we are called to in our Imitation of Christ. The Lord turns his conversation to the prudent lover.
How often we mistake the gift for the lover. This is the sign of imprudent love. The gift is wonderful and amazing. We wrap ourselves up in the gift. We hug it and caress it. We proclaim the gift to the world. It thrills the soul, but like all gifts it fades in value. The storms of life batter the gift and the sands of time wear it down. Suddenly that thrill is gone, that tingle that we called love has faded away and because we have been so focused on the gift instead of the lover, prudent love that might have been is never found.
Jesus speaks of this love in Matthew 13:5-6.
5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
The gift of the Gospel is heard and perhaps even believed but the faith that springs up is in the gift, not in the giver, not in the lover of our souls. So when the circumstances of life arise there is no depth to hold our faith because our eyes are not on Jesus.
Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2
As great as the gift is (For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord .Romans 6:23) it is only great because it opens the path for us to focus on The Lover. If we take our eyes off him….
As is so often the case, the qualities of our vertical relationship with God speak into our horizontal relationships as well. The gifts of our life both given and received should conduits of intimacy drawing us into relationship with others. When the gifts are the focus, the love is compromised and when the circumstances change one finds that it is not love at all. We are all to often ready to believe that gifts (given or received) are enough but there is no endurance in gifts when they do not bring clarity of focus on the lover.
The prudent lover looks to the future, not to the present or the past. The actions of the prudent lover are framed to sustain and grow intimacy over time with the beloved. This is the focus of a steadfast relationship, one that will stand the test of time. It is this kind of love that Paul speaks about in 1 Corinthians.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Be prudent in love, setting ALL gifts lower in value than the lover who gives them.
The Silent Heartbeat
Posted in Bible Study, I'm Just Sayin', Life and Ministry, tagged anger, change, chistian, disappointment, easter, faith, God, grief, heartbeat, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, maturing, miscarriage, pain, personal, Religion, resurrection, silent, silent heartbeat on March 10, 2018| 1 Comment »
I still remember clearly. Particularly vivid are those moments before even the OB office’s technologist realized there was a problem. As she continued to move the probe looking for a heart beat I watched the realization dawn on her face. I looked to my beautiful bride my heart aching, knowing it would be only moments before the joy of motherhood would be replaced with the pain of loss. What was supposed to be, was not. There had been miscarriages before, but this was different. We had seen him, watched him move. She had been sick for 3 months. This was all supposed to end with a baby in our arms. The grief and anger was a dull roar in my ears. As the tech put down the probe and said, “I am going to get the doctor”, Allana looked at me and saw the tears welling in my eyes and her world crashed down.
Twelve years later, 7 more losses, a move into full-time ministry, a miraculous birth and walk through cancer, and I still remember those moments. I remember the silent heartbeat. 2000ish years ago a group of men scattered through Jerusalem. What was supposed to be, was not. A few stayed close, one failing (as foretold by Jesus) in his grief and despair as he realized the likely outcome of events. Another clung to caring for a shattered mother, bringing her to the base of the cross to bid farewell to her son. I can imagine the dull roar of grief and anger echoing in their ears. The end of the messiah, was not as it should be. The heartbeat of the savior of the world was silent.
The days that followed the shattering moment, the silent heartbeat, are taken up with the business of death. Preparation for burial and burial. The well-meaning words of friends and family, some kind some judgmental. The Monday morning quarterbacks try to parse what went wrong. We cloister ourselves, not wanting to be pointed out as that couple, not wanting to be pointed out as the followers of that man. Even now the silent heartbeat is loud in our ears.
Then everything changes.
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). 17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. John 20:11-18
Here is where our stories converge. The truth of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ brought a new ending both to those shattered followers 2000 hears ago and to grieving parents just 12 years ago. The reality of a living savior and the guidance of the Holy Spirit set a group of men and women on a path to what was always to be as defined by an omniscient, almighty God. The same savior, the same Spirit and the same God brought truth and light to the silent heartbeat for Allana and I, setting us on a path to healing and to service. The way continued to be full of pitfalls, disappointments and most importantly maturing faith. The silent heartbeat will be with us forever, however now even in the remembered grief and pain it is a sound full of hope and promise.
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