Kindergartners and Falling Giants

Suggested Reading: 1 Samuel 17:20-49 or 1 Samuel 17:1-58 (the whole story)

In 1990, Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in a movie called Kindergarten Cop. A hardened, tough guy cop with no room for family and no sense of humor who, through a series of twists, ends up undercover, teaching a class full of kindergartners. If you've seen the movie, you can probably hear Arnold right now saying, "Eet's not a toomah!" At first, Arnold's character gets run over by the kids, he doesn't know how to handle their energy, their questions, or their unique outlook. At the end of the first day he falls onto his bed, face down, lamenting, "They're terrible!" It is only after the cop decides to handle the situation like a cop that he manages to get things under control. He turns the kindergarten class into a police academy, and structures things in a way that works for him. Soon, the kids love Arnold's tough guy character and Arnold ends up loving kindergarten, but only when he finally decides to use his own gifts and strengths and not try to teach kindergarten like everybody else.

In 1 Samuel 17, we find the story of David and Goliath, with which many of us are familiar. After David began asking around about what would happen for the person who fought Goliath (assuming that person survived), King Saul heard about David and had David brought before him. Once David convinced Saul to let him fight the Giant, Saul put David into his own battle suit (maybe he was hoping people would mistake David for himself) and gave David his own sword.  When David tried to move, he realized that going into battle dressed in Saul's armor would only get him killed and he told Saul, "I cannot go in these because I am not used to them"  (1 Samuel 17:39, NIV). David took off Saul's armor and then armed himself with the tools he knew he could use, his shepherd's staff, a sling, and five smooth stones.  Most of us know the story from there, how David went out to face Goliath, proclaiming that God would win the fight for him and then slung a stone into Goliath's forehead, knocking him out and allowing David to chop off Goliath's head with the giant's own sword.

What David and Arnold's cop/teacher have in common is that they both accomplished the task that was given to them, and they did so by using their own unique gifts and talents. We could learn a thing or two from that.

Far too often, we fall into the mindset that tasks can only be accomplished a particular way. We allow other people to tell us how to do what God has called us to do or, worse yet, we try to tell other people how to do what God has called them to do. The problem is, when God calls a person, he calls that person, with all of their strengths and weaknesses,  flaws and gifts. If God has called you to something, God has called you. God wants you to use the gifts and abilities that have been given to you.

When you feel like you're being pushed into a corner because people are putting their own armor on you, have the guts to say, "I can't go in these because I am not used to them." God may have called you because your own unique way of doing things is exactly what the situation requires. A normal soldier with a sword and shield would never have gotten close enough to Goliath to take him down. David wasn't a normal soldier, but he knew what he was good at.

Are you trying to wear someone else's armor? Try accomplishing the task you've been given as if it was designed specifically for you. It probably was. 

Naps for Credit

Suggested Reading: Matthew 6:1-18

When I was a kid I used to pull this trick on my mom, though I wouldn't be surprised if she knew I was doing it. She would send me in for a nap and I would go in and lay down. I didn't want to take a nap and I didn't really want to lay down for very long. So I would lay in bed for about half an hour, maybe read a book when no one was walking past the bedroom door or do something else to keep myself occupied (and awake). When I felt enough time had passed, I would force myself to yawn several times so my eyes would get watery, and then I would rub one side of my face really hard so that it was all red and looked like I had been laying on it. Then I would get out of bed and go into the living room. Without saying a word about having gone to sleep or taking a nap, I would walk in really slowly like I was still waking up and then sit down on the couch and yawn really big. If my mom ever caught on she never said anything about it. I thought I was being really clever at the time and even then I enjoyed acting. You see, at that age, I wasn't really all that concerned about taking a nap like I was supposed to. I was only concerned with looking like I had taken a nap and with getting credit for it.

Fortunately, I grew out of that phase and I now understand that, most of the time, doing or not doing something is more important than the mere appearance of doing something (politicians could learn a thing or two there!).  But every now and then I still catch myself more concerned with looking like I'm doing something than I am concerned with really doing it. We've all been there. To avoid having to talk with someone we pretend that we're busy and hope they leave us alone, or we do just enough on a project so that it looks like we're making progress while we're really wasting time on other things. Or, we make a big show of struggling with our wallet or purse so people see us putting our tithe in the offering plate. In all of those instances, we're not really concerned about doing something, we concerned about getting credit for it.

In Matthew 6, Jesus discussed that phenomenon when it comes to our spiritual life.  He warned his listeners about being more concerned with credit for doing a thing than with the thing itself.  In 6:1, Jesus said, "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven" (NIV).  He then went on to give examples of people who give to the needy or pray, all the while drawing attention to themselves so that they look good.  In each of the examples Jesus gave, the people in question actually did the good deeds but only so they would get credit from people for doing them. These people gave to the needy but had no more concern for the needy than a carpenter for a nail; both the nail and the needy were simply tools to be used for other purposes. The person praying wasn't actually  concerned with talking to God, only with other people thinking that he was talking to God.  In each case, Jesus warned that the rewards for those good deeds had already been received in full.

How did Jesus suggest we remedy being more concerned about the appearance than with the good deed? Do the thing in secret. After all, if no one ever knows that you are doing good, it's hard to be tempted to do it for the sake of appearances. But, notice, Jesus did not say to stop doing good deeds or to stop praying. Never do that! But make sure it happens when no one can see but God.  Credit is not a bad thing and it is a good feeling to get patted on the back from time to time.  But credit, when it comes, should only be a perk that comes with getting caught doing the right thing. Credit should never be the point of doing the right thing.

Are you concerned you aren't getting all the credit you deserve? Have you been tempted to improve your image by being seen doing some good things? If you do things for credit, credit is all you will ever get. But if you do things secretly, for the sake of doing the right thing, for the sake of pleasing your Father in heaven, credit will be the least of your rewards.

People Never Change

Suggested Reading:  Acts 15:36-41

"People never change."

How many times have you heard that statement? For some reason, there is an ongoing debate about whether or not people change that has been raging for centuries.  On the one hand, there are examples of people who make the same mistakes over and over again. No matter how many times they promise to never make the same mistake again, no matter how many times they start over, no matter how many chances they get, there are some people who obviously don't change. On the  flip side, there are people who obviously do change. Some people have a pivotal experience in life that causes them to re-examine everything, who they are, what they believe, and how they act.

But I have noticed an interesting phenomenon. Those people who do change, who do pull their lives together and overcome the problems that they have faced and the mistakes of their past, inspire us so that we have hope for ourselves that we might be able to change, but they rarely inspire us enough to believe that other people will change. The dynamic is often pushed even farther when we believe we have changed and we want other people to acknowledge that we have changed, but we don't want to extend that courtesy to others. For some reason, human nature allows us to believe that change is possible for ourselves but rarely in other people. Even the Apostle Paul struggled with that dynamic.

Paul had been a persecutor of the Church, one who opposed Jesus at every turn and abused Jesus' disciples, but Paul had an experience with the living Christ that changed him, that caused him to become one of the very people he had been persecuting. You would think that he could believe that anyone could change. But at the end of Acts chapter 15, we see Paul and Barnabas get into such a major argument that they part ways. The nature of the argument? Barnabas wanted his cousin John Mark to accompany them on their next missionary journey while Paul thought it was a bad idea because Mark had abandoned them on a previous journey. Barnabas believed that John Mark was worth the risk, he believed in Mark. Paul, on the other hand, apparently felt that Mark was unreliable and unworthy of a second chance. Paul, recipient of, perhaps, one of the most undeserving second chances in history, did not believe that Mark could be relied upon, did not believe that Mark had changed or that Mark could change.

Fortunately, Paul's inability to see the potential for change in Mark did not last forever. Years later, when writing 2 Timothy, Paul instructed Timothy, "Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry" (2 Timothy 4:11, NIV). Then, in Colossians, Paul reminded the Colossians how to receive Mark if he happened to come to them from Paul (Colossians 4:10). Not only did Paul eventually change his mind about Mark, but Paul came to rely on Mark and counted Mark as an asset in his own ministry.

One of the great miracles of life in Christ is the opportunity for sinful people to become new creations, the opportunity for change. And while we must keep our eyes open and not naively trust people who have proven themselves unreliable, we must also keep our minds open to the reality that, in Christ, people change. Far too often, we judge people for mistakes that have been left far in the past and refuse to see the evidence of a changed life right before our eyes. Paul may have done that with John Mark, but he eventually opened up to the possibility that Mark had changed, and Paul's life and ministry were blessed as a result.

If we have received new life in Christ, if we have been changed by the Spirit of God, we must be open to the possibility that other people can change as well. When we won't allow for the possibility of change, we might be missing out on some of life's biggest blessings. 

The One About the Priest and the Thief

Suggested Reading: Colossians 2:16-3:4

A while ago we discovered a new show called I Almost Got Away With It. The show chronicles the stories of criminals who nearly pulled off great heists or almost escaped the clutches of the law. One episode told the story of a man on the run who hid from the law by pretending to be a Catholic priest. He had grown up as a Catholic so he was familiar with many of the traditions and ceremonies, so he forged some official looking documents and sent his resume to a church. The senior priest at the church assumed it had come from another diocese and hired the man. Then for several years, this fugitive acted like a priest, following all of the rules and regulations and going through the ceremonies. Based on nearly everything he did on the outside, the man looked like a Catholic priest. Several times, he was nearly caught because a few of the small things he did were out of sync with what a priest would do or say and he was constantly having to watch his every step.  On the outside, as far as the other priests and parishioners could tell, the man was a man of the cloth. On the inside, he was still a criminal on the run from the law.

The Apostle Paul wrote about a similar phenomenon in the book of Colossians. In chapter 2 he described a number of religious practices that were used to judge other people's faith, and all of these standards were based on outward things: food, drink, the observance of religious holidays and new moon festivals, abstinence from certain activities and pleasures, and how many visions one claimed to have. Paul described all of these practices as things which had a "reputation of wisdom" but which did nothing to curb self-indulgence (Colossians 2:22, HCSB) and Paul warned his readers not to let people judge them based on these outward things. Instead, Paul said, "set your hearts on things above" (Colossians 3:1, NIV) as a means of managing self-indulgence.  Throughout most of his letters, Paul repeats the refrain of changing the way one thinks, of focusing on heavenly things and allowing the Spirit to influence your mindset.

Paul understood, like with the fugitive priest, that what a person does on the outside is only part of the story. You can play a good game, say all the right things, and look like a great person, and still be an ugly, vile, self-indulgent mean-spirited person. The things that we do matter, but our attitudes and thought processes matter more. We can fake doing all the right things by going through the motions but we can't fake having our minds in the right place. And just like that priest, if our mindset isn't right, eventually our façade will crack, our mask will fail, and people will see right through us.  More than that, we will never be able to beat those sins that haunt us or grow spiritually just by trying to be more disciplined. Discipline is a good thing but nothing will really change unless we change the way we think.  In Romans 12:2, Paul put it this way: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (NIV).  In Philippians 4:8, Paul gave this advice, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-- think about such things" (NIV).

If we really want to change our habits, defeat those persistent sins,  and grow into the kind of believers that God designed us to be, we have to do more than try harder. We have to change how we think. We have to choose to keep our minds on things that are pure, noble, true, and admirable. Thoughts turn into actions, actions turn into habits, and habits turn into character.

When we think about the right things, it becomes natural to do the right things.  And it doesn't take discipline to do what is natural.

Family Movies and Depression

Suggested Reading: Psalm 42

Not long ago, I watched one of those family movies. You know, the ones where the family is struggling and the teenage daughter lashes out at her mother and screams, "I hate you!" And everybody knows she doesn't mean it. Everybody knows that she is angry and hurt and frustrated and that, even if she means it right this moment, she won't mean it tomorrow.  Fortunately, this particular movie was a little more original in the way they resolved the situation than some of the cornier movies I have seen.

While I think most of us understand this concept of feeling soemthing in the moment that we know is not true, we sometimes forget to apply that dynamic to our relationship with God. In Psalm 42 and 43 (two psalms that may have been a single psalm at some point in the past), the psalmist seems to express this dynamic of feeling something he knows is untrue. The psalmist remembers his times of joy, going to the house of God and celebrating with God's people, he remembers God's powerful acts of the past, and yet the psalmist feels like God has forgotten him. The psalmist feels as if God has abandoned him and his life is falling into ruin. The psalmist desperately wants to know that God has heard him. In the midst of this internal conflict, the psalmist writes, "Why am I so depressed? Why this turmoil within me? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him, My Savior and my God" (Psalm 42:11 and 43:5, HCSB).

Even though his circumstances made it feel like God had abandoned and forgotten him, the psalmist knew that his feelings were not reality. In the midst of his turmoil, the psalmist chose to continue praising God and to call God, "My Savior." God had not yet saved him from his circumstances; his enemies were still pursuing him, and things had not yet worked out like he hoped that they would. He was still depressed and writhing in inner turmoil, but the psalmist made a choice to hope in God and to praise God, acknowledging that his feelings, however much they were based on the reality of his circumstances, did not define his reality. The psalmist acknowledged God's faithfulness and God's role as Savior, even when he still felt like he needed saving. The psalmist was willing to acknowledge his depression, knowing that his emotions did not have to define his existence.

There are times for all of us when we feel like the psalmist did, when we feel depressed or that God has forgotten us, when it feels like the world is falling apart and there is no hope. We are allowed to feel that way, and refusing to acknowledge those feelings is unhealthy. But allowing those feelings to overwhelm us and define our reality is also unhealthy.  Every moment of every day, including those moments when our feelings of depression and abandonment seem to overwhelm us,  we face a choice -- a choice to give in to those feelings and let them define our existence or to acknowledge that our feelings don't tell us everything we need to know -- a choice to feel sorry for ourselves and wallow in our misery or to lift our heads and acknowledge God's faithfulness, even when we don't understand what God is doing.

While it's alright to feel depressed and forgotten, we can't allow our feelings to define us. We must choose to put our emotions in perspective.  "Why am I so depressed? Why this turmoil within me? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him, My Savior and my God."

Getting Those Annoying Stickers Off My Wife

Suggested Reading: Ephesians 5:15-33

I am a bibliophile. I love books. Because of my wife's restrictions on how many I am allowed to have in the house, most of the books I buy now are eBooks. But when I do buy a book, not only do I expect it to be a good read, but I want it to be in good condition. If I go to a discount book dealer, when I get home the first thing I  do is take off all of those discount stickers that they plaster all over the book and the stickers they put on the spine to let you know that it has been used before. If I have to, I get out Windex and a paper towel and get all of that sticky residue off. If I buy a DVD, I am the same way. I want the book or the movie. I don't want all of that extra junk attached to it and I don't want it to be sticky when I pick it up.  Someone asked me once why I go through all that trouble since the stickers and all that stuff don't actually affect the reading or the enjoyment of the movie. I responded with something to the effect of, "Because they are mine and I want my books and DVDs to be in the best shape possible." I don’t care if anyone else sees them, I don't get them cleaned up so that other people can enjoy the nice, neat way they sit on the shelf. I do it for me.

In Ephesians 5, Paul discusses the way husbands and wives are to interact with each other and he makes a statement that gets overlooked. In 5:25-28, Paul writes, "Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her to make her holy…to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle…In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies" (HCSB).  Often we focus on the fact that Christ gave himself for the Church and that husbands ought to love their wives the same way. What we miss is why. Christ gave Himself for the church to present the church to Himself without spot or wrinkle, not for anybody else. Christ didn't do it so that he could show the church off to the world. He didn't do it so that he could gain someone else's approval. He did it so that he could present the church to Himself and husbands are commanded to love their wives the same way.

Many times, we get worked up about how our spouse looks to other people or how our relationship appears to people on the outside, when what we need to be focused on is giving everything of ourselves so that we can see our spouses as spotless and blameless. And, while I know that this statement was made specifically toward husbands, we are all commanded to love people the way that Christ loved us.  

But what does that look like?  Sometimes, it might mean offering forgiveness and taking the consequences for another person's bad behavior on ourselves, just like Jesus did for us. See, though the Spirit of God is at work in us, slowly conforming us to the image of Christ, and though we have not quite been transformed into the image of Christ yet, God loves us and treats us as though we already have been. None of us are perfect as spouses or people, but can you imagine what would happen if we treated people with the same respect and consideration that we would give a perfect person? Can you imagine how people might respond to us if we were to take their mistakes and sins onto ourselves and offer unconditional forgiveness instead?

Loving as Christ loved isn't just about being willing to give of yourself; it is about being willing to look at people like Christ looked at people, not just as what they are, but as what they can be and what God intends for them to be. Not so that they will look good for anyone else, but simply because you love them.  Are you willing to love people that way? If you're married, are you willing to love your spouse that way? 

Hypocrites in the Church...

Suggested Reading: Matthew 7:13-23

I have had a number of discussions with people about why they no longer believe in God. I am not talking about life-long atheists. I am talking about people who once identified themselves as Christians but now do not believe in God at all. All of those conversations have had basically one thing in common. While these former Christians mention problems with children dying or starvation or too many people suffering, causing them to question God's existence, the biggest hurtle many of these people face is the behavior of Christians.

These people will talk about the fact that Christians pick each other apart, that they are hypocritical, that they don't follow their own standards. They will talk about the fact that many Christians are petty, cruel and hateful. And then they will follow those observations with the conclusion that if Jesus was really God then Christians would live like it. Do you know how I have to respond to these people? I tell them, "You're right. Most people who say  they are Christians behave exactly like you said they do."

The problem that I have with people turning away from God because of the behavior of Christians is not because they are wrong about Christian behavior. In most cases, I think our critics are right. The problem is that Jesus warned us that a large number of people who claimed to follow him would not really be his disciples at all! 

In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus said,  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord! ’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name? ’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’" (HCSB).  Just a few verses earlier in verse 13-14, Jesus said,  "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (NIV).

Jesus warned us that many, if not the majority, of people who claimed to follow him would not really be his disciples. Jesus warned us that few would follow the narrow path that leads to life because it is hard to find. But somehow, we are surprised when large numbers of people who claim to be Christians behave very badly?

We have no way of knowing whether the people around us who claim to be Christians truly are, although Jesus did tell us that you could know a tree by its fruit. But ultimately, it is not our job to sort out the "real" Christians from the "fake" ones. Our job is to follow Jesus.  Ultimately, each and every person is accountable to God alone, not to us. We are responsible for taking up our cross daily and following him, not for pointing out when someone else fails to live up to a certain standard.

As you encounter hypocrites in the church - and you will - keep your eyes on Jesus. Focusing on other people will only distract you. Take up your own cross and follow Jesus. Let Jesus worry about the fakes.