Charity versus "the right hand of fellowship" -- a Sunday Afternoon Special

[from Mr. Chambers]

“Be therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

Our Lord’s exhortation in these verses is to be generous in our behaviour to all men. In the spiritual life beware of walking according to our natural affinities (attractions, like-feelings). Everyone has natural affinities; some people we like and others we do not like. We must never let those likes and dislikes rule in our Christian life. “If we walk in the light as God is in the light,”(1 John 1:7) God will give us communion with people for whom we have no natural affinity.

. . .". . . be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." . . . simply show to the other man what God has shown to you. . . Being a disciple means deliberately identifying yourself with God’s interests in other people. Jesus says, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35).

The true expression of Christian character is not in good-doing, but in God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit divine characteristics in your life, not just good human characteristics. God’s life in us expresses itself as God’s life, not as human life trying to be godly. The secret of a Christian’s life is that the supernatural becomes natural in him as a result of the grace of God, and the experience of this becomes evident in the practical, everyday details of life, not in times of intimate fellowship with God. . .

(Oswald Chambers, “The Divine Rule of life”; my emphasis and clarification added in bold, edited for brevity)

For me, the first paragraph rings true even at my home church (and in Sunday School). It is true that my church is not loaded with people for whom I have a “natural affinity.” I often do not feel an attraction to my so-called peers at church in the way of shared interests outside of Jesus. This impasse is only mildly averted through my own effort to “like” the people with whom I share a pew.

God’s love, demonstrated through the sacrifice of Jesus, shows no partiality. Jesus never said I should surround myself with the people I like; in fact, his example is to dive into the midst of the weird and annoying with a hug and a smile. What makes me uncomfortable anyway? There are certainly times when discernment is in order: I am not sure I want my wife going the extra mile in the company of someone she feels threatened by, for example. But I tend to think the occasions are rare.

I have to ask myself: is there any legitimacy to my feelings of discomfort around Person X? Is my ignorance holding me back? Is it my deeply held prejudices (of which I may be only mildly aware)?

I wonder how often I miss an opportunity to fulfill God’s will by checking myself with prejudice . . . and this both in the church in and out.

In fact, it seems easier to show charity (that is, blind love in action) to those in the back streets than to those in the back pew. Is it because I feel that once they’ve walked the aisle they are on their own? Or perhaps I fear that I may appear self-righteous or hypocritical when behind my help lays a basket full of my own issues?

When it comes to the sharing of an emotional burden of my fellow believer, I am only as good to him or her as I am willing to be open and honest in my offering. Could my hesitance come from the fact that opening up at church leaves me vulnerable to gossip and criticism? Being “real” in the midst of my church friends sometimes requires more faith and courage than it takes to reach out to those with whom I share a mere human connection.

Isn’t my duty of Christian love and charity due first to my brothers and sisters in Christ? Is not one of the primary purposes of meeting together each week to grow in love and understanding of one another only that we might join together in the reaching out to the unlovable?

...the altar is open...do you hear Him calling? I know I do.

Do you believe in the Boogey Man?

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12

How significant is this anymore to us as a church? Sure, we talk about it, but do we really see ourselves in a battle in the spiritual realm?

This topic came up last night at college, as my instructor related his real-life encounter with what he feels assured was a demonic spirit. He is a Christian ("a good, God-fearin' Baptist", no less...), and the facts of the story are very intriguing to say the least.

Years ago, in so-called "simpler" times, this topic was always ready on the lips of your average churchgoer. Now, we have elevated ourselves above such backwoods thought.

I mean, come on...are we supposed to believe that there are spirits and devils around us waging a war for our souls? Break out the garlic!...the crucifixes!...the holy relics!

...

The answer is, yes. We should not discount the power of the spiritual world. We, as Christians, are so engulfed in the deceptions of the "prince of this world" that we believe the notion of evil spirits is beneath us.

I share this apathy, and I feel challenged to seek God's guidance in re-endowing me with the "holy-ignorance" that I've given up. Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all."

Shortly thereafter, the smart people crucified Jesus.

--There's something to be said about simplicity--

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Glory Days...?

Glory days, well they’ll pass you by...Glory days, in the wink of a young girl’s eye...Glory days, glory days.........

I wonder about the danger in reliving my exploits.

Among my like-minded friends, I am quick to pull out a story that quantifies my manhood in alcoholic or sexual terms, usually followed by my voicing a half-hearted regret. These stories are kept to myself, however, in "mixed company" where my validity as a Christian can come into question.

Aren't I merely taking advantage of the "safety" found in the company of my Christian friends?

Here's the rub: If the sharing of the stories is done for the purpose of relating to my friend (that is, in effort to remain open) towards improving the kingdom of God, then there is no issue. If, however, I'm doing it because "that's what guys do", then something seems lost.

Should I be garnishing cool points from the sins that Jesus already erased? If I do, should I not then be required to again seek forgiveness?

If I am truly sorrowful for having sinned against my Father, shouldn't I talk of these stories in shame? Or, since forgiven, shouldn't I be relating them in terms of my victory over my past?

In relating my glory days (a very ironic name, considering), I reveal something beneath the surface--a longing for the thrill of the experience.

The Wrong Temptation

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man."
1 Corinthians 10:13

Consider these comments from Mr. Chambers:

"Many of us . . . suffer from temptations from which we have no business to suffer, simply because we have refused to let God lift us to a higher plane where we would face temptations of another order.

A man's disposition on the inside, i.e., what he possesses in his personality, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the nature of the one tempted, and reveals the possibilities of the nature . . .

Temptation is the suggested short-cut to the realization of the highest at which I aim--not towards what I understand as evil, but towards what I understand as good . . . Temptation yielded to is lust deified . . .

Temptation is not something we may escape, it is essential to the full-orbed life of a man . . . God does not save us from temptations; He succours us in the midst of them (Heb 2:18)."


My first reaction: Do I refuse to let my temptations go? That is, do I hold on to them and snuggle up to the security blanket of reasons why these temptations befall me? Without the temptations that I am used to, I lose the age-old story of how I came to be. I lose the excuses of my childhood, the hurts that made the temptations interesting in the first place.

So goes the cycle -- temptation, resist (or not), failure, guilt, excuses (or, even worse, the blame shift with out actually saying it: "God, what am I missing? What is the deal? Why can't I...why me..why...why.") The excuses are my crutch. I lean on them to help me justify the mistakes and missteps that keep me from God. I have to put down the crutches. "Pick up my mat and walk" and tell others about my healing (it worked for the lame beggar).

Temptation based on "what I possess in my personality"? What is inside determines what comes from the outside--so, God changes my inside (when I allow it), the devil regroups, and I am to gird myself for attacks against a part of me that had been subjugated by the personality flaw that I'd been cradling prior to the conversion. Am I to move to a higher place more fitting to my intellect and to my talents where the temptation will be to take credit for myself? Or to face greed? Or contentment?

What about Chambers comment: "temptation is the suggested short-cut to the highest at which I aim"? The short-cut to happiness, fulfillment, satisfaction, pleasure...you name it; that makes sense. Temptations are short-cuts, taking me to a place far short of the good goal. But these "diversions" from the long, hard road always force me to double back, to retrace my steps, to trod through the same mud that bogged me down.

So in the end, I am to conquer my current distractors only to find more appropriate ones. But with each conquest, praising God for what will surely be an amazing victory.

That sounds hopeful.

Regarding the zodiac and other such ridiculous absurdities-

Wise man say: "Put birthday on profile, get labeled freak"

(translation: I put my birthdate on my profile and it generated that heathen mess to display.)

As for me, I don't like being called a "Cancer" anyway...what the heck?? That's ugly.

and the greatest is love

Today I've been trying to recalibrate. To be more accurate, I am trying to figure out how God wants me to set my sights to begin with.

I am saddened by the fact that after being in and around the church and its people for 28 years, I feel no closer to the ideal that Jesus represents. I have literally put up my hands, reaching towards Heaven for a connection...I have sat in silence in attempt to "be still and know"...I have fruitlessly read and re-read the same familiar passages of my Bible...

I ask God and others: "What am I missing? What am I not doing? What is it going to take?" These questions asked in response to my daily sin and to my feeling of general disconnection to the God I pray to.

The answer God seems to be pointing me back to relates to love. Consider the words God showed me today:

In my Sunday School lesson, the writer is relating God's greatest commands ("to love the Lord your God with all your heart...[and] Love your neighbor as yourself"). He explains: "While liking a person is primarily an emotional response, loving a person is a choice we make--a choice to treat him or her as Jesus treats us."

In Rumors of An Invisible World, Yancey says that the most important qualities in a human are compassion, generosity, humility, and love (rather than the ones we praise most loudly: fame, success, wealth, health, etc...)

These words angle me back to view what God has tried to show me a hundred thousand times--LOVE. Love, pure and separated from emotion, first as an act of obedience and then developing into something more.

Our love for God and our love for those around us--this has to be the answer.

And again (for my benefit): Love is not a feeling.

God's word -- Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

And this not just for my wife? my kids? God, you want me to love like this for everybody? I mean, I consider myself giving and caring...but this Love?

I'm going to read and re-read that passage. It is comforting to know that God has given us all the capacity to love like this.

Now to get to it...

I turned off the stereo and noticed God...

Yesterday afternoon I again boarded my F150 gas-wagon, opened the windows and sunroof and departed for home. The day was beautiful: perfectly blue and cloudless sky, comfortably moderate temperature, and a soft, satin breeze...

I typically crank the stereo and blare my Christian and "un-Christian" rock for the world to hear as I weave a blazing trail between moms-in-SUVs and fellow Fort Rucker exiles towards my home in middle-of-nowhere Alabama. Marcia is more of a quiet music listener (especially in the car)...I have long maintained a headbanger's streak and glean that feeling of "cool" from the sensation of playing defiantly loud music: a carry-over from high school, I suppose. (I mean, come on, don't I laugh at those older guys who drive around with their elbows sticking out the window listening to 80's rock?)

Yesterday, however, I turned off the stereo. At first I merely tested it, hitting the stereo off button and pausing to see if I really thought silence was the atmosphere I preferred. I do love loud music...but after a brief anxious moment, I noticed the sound and the feeling of the wind, the sound of cars and trucks whirring around me, the sound of my tires carving the pavement...

All I can tell you is that I smiled for the rest of my 30 minute ride home. I drove slower than usual, not looking forward to ending what turned out to be a time of solitude and unspoken praise for the God that gave me the simple beauty of a drive home. (I believe I may have literally praised God for allowing me to have a sunroof.)

In reflection, I noticed an extreme deficit of silence in my life. I awaken to news (Marcia likes to watch it), drive 30 minutes to work ingulfed in loud music (and I sing like a champ), sit in an office full of voices (some much louder than the Lord intended, forcing me to put on headphones and play louder music), drive home in the same private concert, and finish the day in a house full of a combination of kids/dogs/TV/music.

Moral? Get a sunroof, slow down, and shut off the freakin' radio...?

Or is it: Since silence is golden and ignorance is bliss, shouldn't all the stupid people shut up and let the rest of us relax?

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filtering God's blessings

The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life —John 4:14

"We are to be fountains through which Jesus can flow as "rivers of living water" in blessing to everyone. Yet some of us are like the Dead Sea, always receiving but never giving, because our relationship is not right with the Lord Jesus. As surely as we receive blessings from Him, He will pour out blessings through us." (Chambers, http://www.rbc.org/utmost/)

This verse (along with John 7:38: "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.") has never really said much to me personally. Perhaps because I don't recall ever hearing it preached or taught in this way. In fact, if I've heard it referred to at all, it has been to point to God blessing me rather than me channeling God's grace to others.

Maybe instead of "channel" it might be better seen as a "filter." That seems more appropriate since I seem to dillute (and pollute) His message with my own experiences and emotions. What comes from me on most days can't be what God intended...yet, as I've heard, He can work through me anyway.

What if the mail man censored my letters, removing the good news, the colorful adjectives and the exclamation points, inserting how he or she felt that particular day, or decided that my letter didn't need to go to a particular person because of race or class...?