Seeking God

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David.

2 Chronicles 34:3

At the age of sixteen, King Josiah began to seek God. As the young ruler of Judah, Josiah determined that he would look to God for guidance. When I read about Josiah’s faithfulness, my mind goes back to the tragic end of Israel’s first king. The testimony of King Saul provides a stark contrast between a king who sought God and a king who did not.  In 1 Chronicles 10:13, we have the closing description of Saul. 

“Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the Lord.” 

The comparison between Josiah and Saul is extreme. I suspect that there is a lot of room in between these two examples. Maybe you would never consider seeking guidance from a medium at En Dor (See 1 Samuel 28:7). But, how determined are you when it comes to seeking guidance from the Lord? Do you live a Psalm 84:2 life? (“my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God”). Perhaps one of the greatest lessons from the Chronicles is the solemn reminder that our lives tell a story. I can’t control what people will write about me after I’m gone. But, I can leave behind evidence of my passion for God. When I seek God and respond faithfully to the truth He reveals to me, I trust that the pages of my story will read differently. I know that I cannot build an enduring testimony that honors God without God’s help. Let’s seek Him.

God-Centered Spirituality

Gary Thomas warns that "True Christian spirituality is not a search to 'discover' ourselves or to be enlightened or even to add a new dimension to our lives. No. Christian spirituality is the search to be in relationship with God...God is our desire. Not power. Not experience. Not the supernatural, but God, revealed to us in Jesus Christ." (Seeking the Face of God,  p. 115-16). Thomas published those words back in 1994. I don't think our tendency to lean toward selfishness has diminished in the church world in the past twenty years. Sometimes it seems like a battle of drift. Our pursuit of God lessens and shifts toward something other than God. It's subtle because we dress up our ambitions in "Sunday clothes". We label them or justify them as worthy of the time and effort we put into feeding them. All the while we are siphoning off energy and passion that should be focused on our relationship with the living God. Psalm 84 has been a good reminder to me this week.

Better

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

Psalm 84:10

Among organizations and individuals we hear a lot of talk about what it means to have “core values”. It’s not unusual to walk into a business or hospital and see a plaque on the wall proclaiming “vision” and “values”. Forty years ago, Milton Rokeach described what it means to have “a value”. According to Rokeach, to say that a person has a value is to say that he or she has “an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end state of existence is personally and socially preferable to an alternative mode of conduct or end state of existence”. If the definition seems a little wordy, try my one word definition: “better”. When we have a value, we believe it is possible to compare. We believe something, some attitude, some place is better. Some choices are better than others. That raises some serious questions in my life. Do I desire what is “better”? Do I crave what is “best”? Do I act accordingly? For a follower of Jesus, Psalm 84 resonates with our deepest longings. We long for home. We find it in God. We long for belonging. We find it in God. We long for meaningful service. We long for value and purpose in life. We find it in God. Obedient service to God is incomparable. Not only is it better to be near God, it is the best. Better is one day in the presence of God than thousands elsewhere.

Building Project

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19-22

The Bible contains many pictures of Christian life. Ephesians 2 describes our participation in a building project. We are like building blocks in the temple of God. We are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets and Jesus is the chief cornerstone. Of course, it’s not an ordinary building. It is a holy temple built for a holy God. There is one feature of the building project that is easy to overlook. The building grows. Not only is it a reminder that the building blocks are human beings. It is also a reminder that the temple of God is a picture of community. We grow together in community. Growth in community may rub against our tendency to celebrate individuality and “self-help”. The building project that Paul described was no less radical in his time. During the first century it was difficult for many to grasp how Jews and Gentiles could be built together into the temple of God. The beauty of community is conveyed through the strong contrast in language. Consider the loneliness and isolation of living as a “stranger” and “foreigner” compared with the warmth and connectedness of being a “fellow citizen with the saints and members of the household of God”. In Christ, we have a place of belonging where we grow together.

Responsive Love

We love Him because He first loved us.

1 John 4:19

The Gospel according to John ends with a familiar exchange between Jesus and Peter. Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love Me?” It’s hard to separate that conversation from our knowledge of Peter’s threefold denial of Jesus. Thus, this passage is often recognized as a “restoration”. John was nearby while the conversation took place. Perhaps it informed his understanding of the love of God. Many years later, John reminded the church that our love is dependent upon God’s love. Our love is a responsive love. In order to love others we must trust in God’s love for us. The restoration of Peter reminds us of our need to receive God’s love and trust in His forgiveness. Brennan Manning writes, “Underestimate the love of the crucified and risen Jesus, and the shadow of shame, guilt, and fear darkens our space without respite.” God has not called us to live in the shadows. His love enabled Peter to embrace forgiveness and move forward to serve God and others. The love of the crucified and risen Jesus enables us to do the same.

A Long Chapter

It's a common expression. This has been a "long chapter" in my life. As I reflect today on the death of Jesus, I can't help but think about how we struggle to "wait". I have met very few people who describe "patience" as "My number one virtue". Matthew 27 opens with a statement about the decision of the chief priests and elders to "put Jesus to death". Matthew 27 closes with the body of Jesus in a guarded tomb sealed and protected. It is the time between death and resurrection. Though it's easy to admit on a theological level that it was a necessary time, it does not change the fact that it was difficult. Waiting for the resurrection. God is faithful. God is true. Too often our waiting connects more easily with fear and doubt instead of God. The next chapter seems distant. The hope of a new dawn seems to fade. But, if we listen carefully we will hear things during the wait that will surprise us. It is the voice of a centurion and not a disciple that breaks in to affirm the truth. "Surely He was the Son of God". 

Maundy Thursday

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. (John 13:14)


It's what St. Ambrose called "the mystery of humility". More than four centuries after Jesus washed the feet of His disciples St. Ambrose wrote that "while washing pollution of others I wash away my own". It reminds me of the words of Jesus. Jesus taught us that we must be willing to forgive if we wish to be forgiven. Forgiving others requires us to divest ourselves of the foolish pride that wells up in judgment. It is so easy to pick up the dust of this world as we journey. It sticks to our feet - it can find a home in our heart. The remedy has not changed since King David recognized his own need for cleansing. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise" (Psalm 51:17). The next time I am tempted by pride, I pray that the image of my Lord and Teacher kneeling with a towel and a basin of water flashes in my mind. When I am offended, I pray that I will recall my Savior kneeling before the one who would betray Him and the one who would repeatedly deny Him. When I feel rejected or nurture self-pity, I pray that I will recall that He washed the feet of those who slept while He prayed and those who promised their support and then scattered as He suffered.

Rejection

Rejection

At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.

Luke 13:31-34

Throughout this week I will meditate on Jesus. In particular, I will think about His journey to the cross where He died for our sins. Today, I am considering the fact that the determination in His heart was not tempered by rejection. His love was not mitigated by an obstinate response. Luke 13 reveals His attitude. Jesus was prepared to “press on”. The word picture begins with a graphic portrayal of “Jerusalem” as murderous. The city is representative of the people. Jerusalem had been guilty of silencing the voice of the prophets in the past and Jesus knew that Jerusalem would be the place of His death. In the midst of this harsh description, His love leaks through. I am thankful for the tender picture painted by His words. As a mother desires to protect her young, Jesus desires to rescue His children. It’s a strange twist of irony. Their unwillingness to receive His love would lead to His death. Their rejection would lead to His death on the cross. Yet, His death on the cross was in fact His greatest delivery of love.

Who is this?

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” (Matthew 21:10 TNIV)

Here it is, Palm Sunday, 2012. We will gather in a few hours and there will be quite a bit of "stirring". After we meet, greet and sing and celebrate, the question must be answered: "Who is this?" Who rode into Jerusalem in a donkey? Who is He to me? I'm not satisfied to answer from a distance. Either I know Him or I do not. He is my Savior. He has rescued me from what I would be without Him. He restores my soul. He is with me. I am never alone. He knows everything about me: my past, my present and my future. He is Lord over all and He deserves all of me. God help me to be stirred today, not by the question, but by the answer.