Remonstrance

Time streams through the universe with a trail of decay and loss: the expanse of pristine creation stained by tears and loss.  Death floats along time and draws all creation to an end, never seen again, always never again, and the trace of regret only remains.  I see it with children so driven by promise and bounding with curiosity, they dance in the bright colors of creation and grasp at passing curiosities, but then time wears them down and with it death dissolves away into a bleakness and dreary gray. 

“There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven…A time to embrace and a time to turn away.”

This is the sadness I bear always for my son.  It crushes my soul in its depths to watch the light-hearted delight of his childhood pass with time into a fond memory that nothing can touch except time of course.

“A time to be born and a time to die.”

Who can bear the erosion of time? Evolution is an absurdity, a foolish myth: time decays everything finite and mortal.

“There is no remembrance of earlier things…”

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“What is man that you would consider him? You have made him to rule…You have made man for a little while lower than the angels…”

“Don’t you realize that we will judge the angels?”

It is perhaps not by coincidence that believers are called “Christians”.  The title means, quite literally and appropriately, “Little Kings”, or “little Christs.”

Jesus is “the Christ”, meaning “the anointed One” whom the Father calls “My Anointed.” This was the “predetermined and foreknown plan of God” for Jesus: to be crucified, buried, raised on the third day, and placed in a seat of honor “above all rule and authority.”  Jesus is the Christ and “the King of Kings and Lord of Lords” who is “worthy of honor and praise and riches and power and glory,” and who proved his worthiness to the universe.

And it is towards this same destiny that “He has predestined us to adoption as sons.” We share in His son’s grand destiny, too. It is a destiny so unmerited that it proves “the glory of His grace” towards the lowliest and most unworthy of creatures. That we might become “co-heirs and co-rulers with the Christ” is the epitome and fulfillment of our title: “Little Kings.”

Because of this destiny as “Little Kings”, He calls on us now to, “Arise! Rule! Take hold of that for which you were set apart from before the foundations of the earth!”  Even now, we should begin to step into our Eternal Thrones and wield the scepter: the cross which he calls on us to “Pick up…and follow me.”  This is where sanctification has its fulfillment as true “differentness” when we pickup the mantle of authority as Christians: “little Kings”.

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Often I just have to stop and ask it: “Why bother?” Such a simple question, and it pierces the fog of all swirling activity, like a deer caught in headlights. Most people are afraid to ask it, because they feel trapped because they are trapped.

That nagging question slammed home again today driving home from a fantasy whirlwind 21st anniversary of romance with a beautiful woman – it was the Residence Inn, downtown Cleveland, including free tickets a cop gave us to see the Indians play the most momentous cliff-hanger of the season: 13 innings…

Driving home, the day ahead loomed threatening, pressure-filled, far too busy for a Saturday. Especially a Saturday with perfect golf weather. Why strain to teach, plan the meetings, make the calls, and put up with it? The answer came quick, it set my heart on fire, and it came from a strange verse:

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Romans 1:21 (NASB)

It’s a passage telling the long, dark history of humanity, reaching far back to the dawn of civilization 40,000 years ago, the anthropologists say. An inexplicable burst of civilization appears out of nowhere, and it baffles evolutionists. Yet always, with the earliest artifacts of civilization found anywhere, spiritual awareness is evident. Religious artifacts, burial of the dead, awareness of eternity – always present.

For 38,000 of those 40,000 years they did not know about the glorious revelation and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Here we sit, in the most priviledged era with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the most wealthy and educated nation in history, and I was born into comfortable suburbia, received the education impossible for most. Towering above all that is the wealth of spiritual training, experience and contageous instruction freely given – all this while I disdained it and desperately rebelled, yet I received it anyway, despite years of flight.

It was so easy for me to get saved – the right place, right time, right people… But then there’s this passage:

“For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:14 (NASB)

How true, and how amazing I’m one of “the few.” I wonder, sometimes, at that 38,000 years of dark and primitive human history – surely fewer still found the small gate during that time. I wonder at this, because it means so, so many perish, and I wonder if I should ask God that question: “Why bother?” Why bother allowing 38,000 years of lost souls – and still another 2,000+ years of “few who find it” since the crucifixion – and there’s just so much terrible, terrible lostness. Why did God bother do create?

And here is an amazing answer:

I can’t fully answer “Why bother?” for God, but I do know He considers all this human lostness and tragedy worthwhile because of this: He so very much loves even me. If only 0.1% of all humans throughout time get saved, to God that 0.1% fully answers the question, “Why bother?” He knew what He was doing:

Before the very first tragedy surfaced, His eyes were on His beloved children. One of those few priviledged ones was named Keith McCallum, and God pointed His finger at that person and said, “That’s why!” There is no way to respond to this, analyze it, debate it – I know and He knows how utterly unworthy this person is, and how utterly incomprehensible His grace is.

What makes me tick: it is so impossible to sit on this vast, mountainous wealth and watch Romans 1:21 unfold all around me. Even if I spend all my years and days suffering with complete sacrificial return, I could never scratch the surface of what I owe.

And then I realize: stop complaining. And I do. Until tomorrow.

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There is a kind of tired I’m sure only Christians experience. Theologically, I say it because it is a spiritual tiredness, and foreign to the unregenerate mind:

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 1 Corinthians 2:14 (NASB)

The unregenerate mind is dead:

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins…even when we were dead in our transgressions…
Ephesians 2:1,5 (NASB)

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive… Colossians 2:13 (NASB)

And “coming alive” spiritually is that incident when the lights go on:

For this reason it says,
“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:14 (NASB)

At the heart of this change is a newness of life. The verses are endless on this point, and it’s a settled issue: before Christ, there was a spiritual life we never knew.

This newness of life also brings a different kind of tiredness unknown before. I have worked construction, landscaping, painting, bussing, waiting, and crossed a littany of fields and settings from the loading dock to the multibillion-dollar corporate boardroom. Throughout all these, including all my education experience, I have never seen this kind of tiredness.

Here’s an interesting description:

Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” Mark 5:30 (NASB)

Consider Paul’s strange tiredness:

So death works in us, but life in you. 2 Corinthians 4:12 (NASB)

…I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith…Philippians 2:17

I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls… 2 Corinthians 12:15 (NASB)

“the dying of Jesus…” It’s a combination of: victory, and sheer exhaustion, like coming off an intense roller-coaster ride with wobbly knees.

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Tags: maturity, sacrifice, sanctification

Look what’s happening out in the streets
Got a revolution got to revolution
Hey I’m dancing down the streets
Got a revolution got to revolution
Ain’t it amazing all the people I meet
Got a revolution got to revolution
One generation got old
One generation got soul
This generation got no destination to hold
Pick up the cry
Hey now it’s time for you and me
Got a revolution got to revolution
Come on now we’re marching to the sea
Got a revolution got to revolution
Who will take it from you
We will and who are we
We are volunteers of america

That was the problem with my generation: no destination to hold!

Currently Playing: Volunteers of America

Current mood: Angry

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The Bible is so full of negativity, you’ll hear people complain, especially with the Old Testament God. He’s full of wrath, warnings, judgements and so forth — it hardly makes for a casual evening entertainment. Why on earth would anyone want to come out on a Saturday night to a Bible teaching about the Old Testament God?

Actually, it’s not negativity at all, I would say. It’s simply The Real World. Despite our mutibillion-dollar entertainment industry, we live in a Real World where lives are shattered, the best dreams are dashed, people clash against each other, murders, rapes, wars and all the rest fill the planet everywhere. It persists, despite our great technologies. Not even the iPod can eliminate or reduce any of it!

"The Rape of the Sabines" – Luca GIORDANO. ‘O, the glory of Roman civilization!’

The Bible reduces the painful shock of life, however. It holds the promise of eliminating it altogether. This is why God wrote it, it’s why He wants so desperately for us to read it: God wants us to avoid so much carnage and suffering. Only death itself brings full release, yet even now suffering can be mitigated by the joy of new life that grows without failure which has been planted by God’s Word.

You have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding Word of God. For,   

"ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS,
AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS.
THE GRASS WITHERS,
AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF,
BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ABIDES FOREVER."

And this is the word which was preached to you.  (1Pe 1:23-25)

God, who is the Creator of the Real World, wants us to build in a Real World which cannot fade away.

Thus, Central Teachings

So we spend Saturday nights studying the Bible, unlike everyone else at that time! How do we explain that?

Hebrew 6:4-6 explains it: for those who have "been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come," it not only makes sense, but life is so drab and inconceivable without it! That’s why it’s not a waste of a good Saturday night.

Our time spent together reaches far beyond the motivational seminars held in secular space. It is not wishful thinking. It is the Real World. Christians assemble to study and share something in which "God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie."

Spending the time together in His Word is the purging of negative, the apposition - it is a life of power and unshakable confidence in the midst of the Real World:

We who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence. This confidence is like a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. (Heb. 6:18-19)

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Compiled from The Lonely Soldier.

The Crushing Load of the Cross

According to one missionary, "the crushing load of the cross is putting your ‘hand to the plow’ and not turning back." Jesus, of course, knew this, and that’s why he said those words. He spoke them to his disciples who would be engaged in a Great Commission lifestyle.

At the heart of this crushing load is the experience of loneliness: always saying "goodbye" to the spiritual children you’ve raised, loved, and nurtured. Now they’re standing tall on their own, and it’s inappropriate and stiltifying for you to linger.

In 2 Tim. 4, Paul has written at length about his ministry, God’s work on earth, His Eternal Plan, the future… Then, exhasuted, he writes about the crushing dissapointment accompanied by great discomfort. He is held in the infamous Mamertine prison, a hole reeking with pestilence. He knew there was no escape. It was just a matter of time before execution. Indeed, he was beheaded and stuck on a pole on the Appian way, according to Eusebius.

It was at the climax of the Neronian persecution, and all around him his dear brothers and sisters were being cruelly executed as traitors of Rome and sabateurs of the fire which almost destroyed Rome. Christianity was gaining a reputation as the most despised plauges on Roman society. Yet still, "I’ve…kept the faith," he says.

Physically, he was cold, tired and discouraged. CS Lewis made the correct observation: "Our bodies and souls live so close together, they catch each other’s diseases." His physical plight affected his spirits, undoubtedly.

Most painful surely was his separation from his friends: "All who are in Asia have deserted me… Demas, having loved this present world… Alexander the Coppersmith is on a rampage… all my friends have deserted me… only Luke is with me."

Yet, you detect a noble solemnity. So courageous, yet weak and in need of Timothy’s companionship. Strong, yet so frail.

The Dissapointment of Defection

Demas "loved the present world." This dessertion was incredibly painful. Demas is mentioned in the same context as Luke as a travelling companion for years. But now, he defected. He talks about "those who love the appearing of Christ," but this one "loved the present world." Perhaps he defected out of cowardice, considering the present persecution. But Paul counted on him, and in his moment of greatest need, Demas defected.

Defection is a rampant disease in this culture among Christians. All the time you see moral, spiritual betrayal and defection, so many "having loved this present world."

Alexander the Coppersmith v.14-15 "opposed Paul", possibly an informer? He opposed Paul in every way – a great and powerful enemy of Paul and Christ.

"You have no enemies? The boast is poor. He who’s engaged in a duty the brave endure, must have made foes. If you have none, small is the work you have done. You’ve hit no traitors…" You’ll make enemies if you stand for something.

They’ll say this shouldn’t bother you if you’re trusting the Lord. It sounds great, but when there’s problems in the church, it doesn’t feel good no matter what people say. "Out there" was an enemy working ceaselessly against Paul.

The biggest problem with someone like an Alexander: if you’re not careful, he becomes the whole church. You forget he’s just one among many. You dwell on him to the exclusion of all the other affirmative people. It’s the tool of the devil to discourage you. Consider all the names who are not Alexanders… Paul was clearly dwelling on his enemies at this point in his life.

Despair of Desertion

His "first defense" allows for someone to voluntarily stand with the accused. It was always so easy to trump up charges against Paul: atheism, cannabalism, incest were among the few.

It was a moment of crisis, unlike routine daily life. A time when we need help. These are such lonely moments. This must hav been much like Christ’s Gethsename, where they all forsook him and fled. Here’s the victorious apostle writing such lonely words.

Can you handle this? This is where the rubber meets the road…

The seeds of the answer are found in the problem… This same chapter has the solutions.

Encouragements

2 Tim 4:13 – he wants his coat. It’s cold in that Roman cell. Sometimes we need to start with the most basic needs and meet those. 1 Jn.2 "if someone is naked & cold…" One of the ways we meet our spiritual needs is by resolving the basic physical problems.

2 Tim. 4:11 – "bring Mark," who was a desserter. He wants to restore that relationship.

2 Tim. 4:9, 21 – "come and see me…i need your friendship." The same Paul who had seen even Jesus Christ still needed a friend. People say, "Jesus is all I need," but understand this: human companionship is one of God’s provisions for us. It was God who first said, "It is not good for man to be alone."

Everyone needs not just friends in general, but at least one special friend, to spill your heart to. Even the great Paul need that with Timothy.

He also wanted some encouragements from the Bible. Thus, "bring my parchments," to occupy his mind. Nothing is more encouraging than finding the right book to meet our needs. It’s so unfortunate we’re not a reading people. TV occupies a copmletely different mechanism in our mind. To tie into a book is therapeutic, mentally.

Spiritual Encouragements

4:17 The Lord "stood with me..delivered me.." There are moments when the presence of the Lord is everything. We need a coat, friends, books, etc. But when our soul is hurting, we need God.

Sometimes life takes all the human props away. This has kept Christians throughout the ages, even in the most bleak circumstances, true to their faith. We see everything in perspective, when we "love the appearing of His coming." He doesn’t remove us from the truth of that painful situation, but He does reveal the truth of how to handle it.

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Tags: discipleship, leadership, loneliness

A newspaper printed the obituary of Alfred Nobel, and it said that he got rich from the death of others. He was the inventor of dynamite. Fortunately, Nobel wasn’t actually dead, and when he read the newspaper’s obituary, he was horrified!

Nobel got a chance to do something few of us can do: he watched his life from the viewpoint of death. It rattled him, and he didn’t like what he saw. So he took his fortune and set it aside into the Nobel Prize foundation, and today "Nobel" is famously associated with excellence in the arts and sciences. People are surprised to discover that Alfred Nobel was the inventor of dynamite.

How would they write your obituary? What we do with our money speaks tellingly what we did with our lives. Money is "compressed life". When we give it to God’s purpose, we’re saying, "Here is my life, my time, my effort, my life’s blood!"

God offers us a glimpse of our obituary, if we are but only willing:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

This immediately follows the famous passage, "For by grace you have been saved…" Do we make the same connection in our lives? We’ve been saved by God’s grace in order that our lives might be transformed from meaningless wandering and self-indulgence into a life of testimony to the glory and beauty of the Lord.

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Tags: history

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” -Matt.28:19–20

This command to “make disciples” is the well-known model for a Great Commission Church and the foundational pattern for church growth. It defines a Great Comission Church.

But our familiarity with this passage has a significant drawback: we fail to see how threatening it really is. It isn’t one of those magnet refrigerator verses you’ll find in a bookstore. It’s a menacing verse, for three significant reasons.

It’s a Dirty Business

Discipleship triggers a close relationship of loving sacrifice which isn’t so neat and tidy like the institutional approach to raising up pastors through seminaries. Personal relationships are far more risky, especially the discipleship relationship, because betrayal, reversals, and surprising revelations suddenly threaten to undo years of personal investment.

It is in fact possible to invest years of love and equipping into someone who then becomes your most ardent persecutor–and why? Because you should have given still more! (Or so the charges read…)

Notice this — Jesus gave this commission after his own heartbreaking experience with discipleship. Judas was one of his disciples, as was Peter who denied him – actually, all his disciples fled when he was arrested and needed them the worse. Even after the resurrection, where did he find them? They all had given up and returned to their secular pursuits. They went back to their wonderful lives in smelly fish markets. Still Jesus finds them and says, “Now you guys do the same…”

The Guts and Glory

The core of Christian living is wrapped around this:

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.1 Timothy 1:5

Christians everywhere know about this, along with the many other passages which say the same thing (see John 13:3). But how is it possible to pursue love when the relationships are so cold in the institutional church? The answer is simple: redefine love. Thus, you’ll see Christians living the famous Budweiser commercial: “I love you, man!”

When real discipleship is evident in the church it means real love in motion, not just hot words. It is seen whenever the church rises to its calling to manifest a distinctiveness not found anywhere in the Kosmos:

But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;1 Peter 2:9

Spreading love through multiplication and discipleship is the greatest proclamation of “the excellencies of Him who has called you…” comparable to no other form of worship.

To sing His praises at a worship service is not wrong, but ‘’how dare anyone compare the praiseworthiness of a Singing Worship Service against the glory which adorns God’s name through discipleship! The worship service song will be distant memories while the baptized disciple continues praising God into eternity! Those who disciple are practicing obedience, not just singing about it. Those who disciple should never buckle under the guilt of accusation from singers! Why defend a life of committed service against fleeting, wispy songs?

Upheaval and Transformation

Discipleship causes the upheaval and transformation of every area of our lives. It threatens our security, our relationships, our futures. This is what makes Christ’s call to “Go! make disciples” such a threatening, dangerous, revolutionary task.

Discipleship causes the upheaval and transformation of every area of our lives. It threatens our security, our relationships, our futures. This is what makes Christ’s call to “Go! make disciples” such a threatening, dangerous, revolutionary task.

The Upheaval of Discipleship

Consider these passages:

If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.Luke 14:26

The discipling church upsets family relationships – not because Christ wishes to divide families, but because His infectious love disturbs the peace so carefully guarded by dysfunctional families. Indeed, the love of Christ eventually invades and disturbs every aspect of our personal lives. Everywhere Christ walked, everyone he met reacted. Those who would follow him should realize they killed him for the way he threatened their established lives It’s a call to die:

“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:27

The reason discipleship fails is because people don’t calculate the cost involved:

“For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.” Luke 14:28–30

What a fool who doesn’t count the cost! Christ’s point here is aimed at those wanting to engage in discipleship: “don’t be a fool! It’s serious business!”

Raising an Army

Discipleship means raising up another warrior not only willing to die for Christ, but far more than that: it’s raising a shrewd and strategic leader who wins for Christ. The disciple isn’t a zealous barbarian charging into battle with blood-curdling yells. He’s far more dignified. Christ depicts a wise, more kingly figure waging a shrewd war against an enemy with more resources. We are raising guerrilla fighters who avoid direct conflict and are trained in spiritual discernment, as Christ depicts it:

“Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. Luke 14:31–32

This is why discipleship ultimately becomes a test of character – it requires someone who can grapple with terrific warfare and strife, and who knows how to hold it steady:

As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.”

But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:57–62

Surely Jesus could have been more sympathetic and gentle to these eager followers! Who wouldn’t feel insulted to have their zeal handled so roughly by Jesus? Yet he was not cruel or demanding, but merciful. They were naive, and he saved them from the shock of discovering the harsh reality of hatred and contempt this world holds against God’s love and anyone offering God’s love. This is why real discipleship is not a cozy meeting of friends like an afternoon tea: real discipleship challenges, prepares, disciplines and teaches steadfastness in face of a ferocious enemy:

“Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” Luke 10:3

The Institutional Alternative

The difficult and supernatural nature of Christ’s call to make disciples is so daunting, so seemingly impossible, it’s no wonder the institutional church is befuddled about it and rarely practices it. The institutional church is strikingly devoid of relationships. People are nice, they are polite, but they are also uninvolved. It isn’t universally true, but it is mostly true. Although the institution may launch programs to turn the tide of relational disengagement, since discipleship is missing any changes are trite by comparison.

Everywhere church leaders are flustered in their attempts to institute discipleship. How impossible it is! Indeed, it would be daunting if not for the words of Christ sandwiching his call to discipleship:

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth…and lo, I am with you always , even to the end of the age.”

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Tags: discipleship, ministry, persecution, revolution, sacrificial-love

Something is inherently random about life and it bothers everyone, especially in the modern era. Everyone deep inside is straining to find direction and substance for their painfully short lifespan: everyone is “waiting for Godot,” as Beckett so famously framed it in his existentialist drama.

We’re left waiting for Godot in a world of random chance, random conversations with random people in Beckett’s world, but always the characters hope for “Godot” to arrive—the French name for “god”, although it’s clear Beckett is not wholly concerned with any one “god”. Godot is somebody the characters believe will give meaning to their existence, but the skeptic among them repeatedly points out it’s useless waiting for Godot, because the time is here and now to have meaning, not later, because we live now, not later. And anyway, is does “Godot” really exist? Can I ever find substance and purpose in someone else, he asks, if I don’t have it myself already?

Becket paints the despair of our modern plight: we yearn for purpose, significance, to feel important, and to have this all tied to someone else outside ourselves. Yet can such a person exist? That’s the despair of living in a world where everyone is yearning to find Godot: they need my attention and admiration, but I need theirs! It is never enough to feel self-important: I also need someone else to view me that way before I’m satisfied with my significance. Since the beginning of recorded time humans have littered history with massive monoliths, architecture and art that testify to the deep need for others to see something significant about our short existence. Why is this?

Unlike Becket’s erudite literary work, the Bible makes a simple, concise statement that nails our deepest yearnings:

“Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance…love will last forever!” 1 Corinthians 13:7-8 (NLT)

This is what gives substance to human existence with a certainty that endures and deserves our faith and hope: to love and be loved. “I’m addicted to love,” the singer Robert Palmer wrote. “The lights are on, but no one’s home” when “your heart is not your own.” Love has that kind of soporific effect because it fills our deepest human longing.

But what a curse that something so vital is so frail! Death suddenly whisks love away. Of course, the fickle nature of humans is inherently unpredictable, and who deserves such faith and hope? Becket’s antagonist made this point to those “waiting for Godot” – what a waste of time! Why depend on someone else for anything so vital as personal significance or happiness?

The ease with which love is terminated especially through divorce and abandonment or abuse produces people deeply cynical about relationships, and then deeply cynical about significance and purpose in life. It’s a contagious pessimism spread from one to another as more relationships fracture. Such deep hurt and disenchantment is so widespread, a new ethic is required to govern relationships.

Love Ethics become outdated, strange, lost perceptions, and replaced with an ethic more useful and easily adopted: “Live and Let Live” is one principle everyone can endorse, and it offers a margin of safety in a world where relationships are so unpredictable. But there is no substantial difference between “Live and Let Live” and simply, “Leave me alone!” This is no ethical challenge to God’s brilliant Love Ethics. “Live and Let Live” is no code of morality. It is, however, a declaration of loneliness, and it is cold, and it is bleak. Christ described this 2,000 years ago: “most people’s love will grow cold.”

Unpredictable, uncertain, random: these words describe love in the twenty-first century.

Alternative Lifestyles

An alternative does exist, and so easily accessible it is! “God is love,” the Bible says. Those three simple words can sweep aside a vast landscape of hurt. Since “God is love,” it is certain that “love will last forever!” Even the most ardent atheist can see the potential if God exists. To know with certainty that God exists, that He loves, that we could experience His love—how could this be in any way unwelcome? If God exists, He created us to crave and require love. Surely it means that “God is love.”

The Bible alone claims that “God is love.” It is God’s own personal, written and clear request to invite us into a loving relationship, and He proves His good intentions by granting us the freedom to say “no.” He believes in us and loves us with His love which “never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”

If “God is love” then we must deal with God if love will ever play a role in our experience. God is relevant. He will somehow impact all our relationships.

God intensely matters in human relationships. It is, in fact, the personal alienation between us and our Creator which forms the headwaters of what swells into wide, sweeping currents so dangerous like a river of deep alienation coursing through life. Beginning with parents, the alienation rolls over friendships, romances and returns full-cycle into our own offspring. Alienation is everywhere.

“Field of Dreams” captures the hope of release from the poisonous alienation which damages the heart from tender childhood on. It is the hope for a son and his father—their relationship lost in foolish quarrels, hopelessly entangled in a legacy of hateful words—to shed all those years of scars and face each other without pride choking the air! So sweet it is to finally spend time together as they longed in their hearts from the beginning! Father and son enjoy a simple, unencumbered love.

This hope is not a “Field of Dreams,” God promises. It is the way love should work, and love will work once the poisonous alienation is washed away. In the movie a fascinating exchange between father and son takes place:

Son: “Is there a heaven?”

Father: “Oh yeah…It’s the place where dreams come true.” (Listen to it here…)

This is not far from the truth, according to God:

I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Revelation 21:3-4 (NLT)

A relationship can only work if something meaningful exists which binds all parties meaningfully. Therefore the inverse is true: through a relationship, I find meaning. The first, foremost, primary foundation for a meaningful relationship begins with God, the authentic “Father of spirits” as the Bible calls Him:

Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? Hebrews 12:9 (NASB)

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Filed under: worthy Purpose by kmcc
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