On this mission to learn rest that Jesus has set me off to explore, I've been waiting for the feeling of rest. As He has taught me and led me on this journey, I had this innate sense that I would not only practice rest, but also feel it. I knew the feeling I would experience - it was like the understanding was just built into me. When it happened, I'd know it.
Well, it's happened. Real soul rest. I've been practicing the things God has shown me, using the tools He's given me. Life has gotten no easier; it's every bit as challenging as its ever been. I'm still a mom, still an employee in a demanding field, still a grad school student, still a friend who grieves when her friends grieve, still a woman who loves deeply and experiences things with intensity. No, life is the same from a circumstantial perspective. Where it's markedly different is margin.
There is still a long way for me to go with Jesus on this journey, but even just the little bit of margin I've been able to clear, and then protect (you'd be surprised at how easy it is press things out into the margin) has made an enormous difference in my ability to rest. Having an appropriate theology of rest, learning to trust my Father with more of me, has thwarted some of my striving and trying and planning and figuring and fixing. And in the quiet, in the margin, I am held by my Father. I can lean against His chest and just be. No expectations. Nothing to do or fix. Who I am is enough because I lean against the Rock of Ages and He is more than capable of supporting me and filling the broken spots.
One of my favorite areas of margin is my gym time. For the first time in my whole life I'm going to the gym not to achieve something, but because I find it relaxing to exercise. I go with no expectations to just move my body and to enjoy that movement. Not to lose weight, not to please others, not to achieve some goal. Just one hour to myself nearly every day where my mind can be empty and I can mentally check out and let Jesus run the world without - gasp - my help. In that hour I'm not trying to do anything other than enjoy good music (on my iPod, not the gym set list) and just be. When I leave, I'm rested and ready to take on the rest of the day.
And, shock of all shocks, God also gives me peace and soul rest. I leave at peace in my soul, which He promises in His word multiple times. Believing God is who He says He is, taking Him at that, and using the tools He has given me has brought me an enormous level of rest. I don't feel nearly as exhausted as I did. I still have to be very careful not to fill all available time with activities. I still have to say no to good things. I have to trust that when I have to say no and can't help with something, serve in an area, go out with a friend, that God has that covered and is not only enough for me - He's also enough for them and that situation. And in that I can rest and learn to trust more deeply. And rejoice in my loving Father who knows the rhythm my life should have.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Is It Possible to Be Prone to Both Legalism and Licentiousness?
In a really simple, one-word answer - YES. Now there are probably some who are like, "Duh. Of course." Until this morning I was not one of those people. I thought you had a bent toward one or the other. Silly me and not knowing my black little wicked heart! (Yet another reason why God has to reveal our sin to us - I'm convinced I'd never see it otherwise!)
So how did I come to this conclusion? I was driving into work today and listening to a teaching by Matt Chandler. It was the last one in the Galatians series - and Galatians was the first book that I read after God opened my eyes to His radical grace. It has a special place in my heart, so I've really enjoyed studying it along with The Village Church.
At any rate, I'm driving in and listening and one of the points made during the sermon was that believing that God is trying to take from you good things through obedience and then acting from that place is licentiousness. I sucked in my breath as the realization of that permeated my spirit. Legalism, then, is the belief that you have to do stuff (like read your Bible every morning at 4AM, serve in every church ministry) in order for God to like and accept you. Both are, at the core, unbelief and pride (not trusting what God says, and believing we can do it better or do it at all).
I always saw myself as having a bent toward legalism - and I DO. I am a rule girl. I get paid to come up with ways to follow rules, to see what rules that exist and aren't being followed, and to give advice to people with regard to adhering to those rules. And I'm really good at it because of my innate ability to be a legalist. Now in my personal and spiritual life, God has been chipping away at that for years. I am learning to walk in His grace, and not use performance in any category as an indicator of my worth and value.
However, had you asked me even YESTERDAY if I struggled with licentiousness I would have told you no. And today my answer is different. I do struggle with licentiousness - and sometimes I've called what is blatant sin something else. I've functioned in such a way as to protect what I think God may take from me, not at all trusting that He is for both His glory AND my good. I've often walked in such a way that I've hidden from Him that which should rightfully be His in the great fear that He will take from me or that I know better (or at times both). And until this morning, right around an hour ago, I was totally blind to the fact that was licentiousness.
In Romans, Paul says that we should not sin so that the evidence of grace is more obvious. Those who truly walk in grace obey God out of love for Him. I've been ignoring some sin and not at all walking in repentance for it. Don't get me wrong, we absolutely should not focus on our sin - otherwise we are just as enslaved to it and we are constantly trying to fix a problem for which we have no cure. We have to focus on Jesus who it the cure. We have to continually preach the Gospel to ourselves lest we forget it (and I am so guilty of doing that). Nor is this about condemnation and me beating myself up for not seeing this connection before today.
What this is about it when God shows me an area that He needs to address, I need to acknowledge it. I need to ask Him to give me a heart of repentance and to do the work He needs to do. Like David said in the Psalms - search my heart and let me know if there is any wicked way in me! No, this morning I feel far from bad or stupid for not really understanding what licentiousness is. I feel thankful that God has shown me yet another area in which I need to trust Him and walk in belief that He is good and loves me.
Now, I haven't processed this all the way out - I mean heck God showed me an hour ago! I'm sure that as He does this work in me and presses it into my marrow I'll understand it more. So please forgive this post if anything isn't eloquent or exactly on point. I'm a work in progress here for sure! I just thought it would be so neat to share it in the moment of revelation - sometimes we only get testimony after it's complete and I think it would be neat if sometimes we shared the progression. After all, I am a big believer in progressive sanctification and God is in the process as much as He is the end result!
So how did I come to this conclusion? I was driving into work today and listening to a teaching by Matt Chandler. It was the last one in the Galatians series - and Galatians was the first book that I read after God opened my eyes to His radical grace. It has a special place in my heart, so I've really enjoyed studying it along with The Village Church.
At any rate, I'm driving in and listening and one of the points made during the sermon was that believing that God is trying to take from you good things through obedience and then acting from that place is licentiousness. I sucked in my breath as the realization of that permeated my spirit. Legalism, then, is the belief that you have to do stuff (like read your Bible every morning at 4AM, serve in every church ministry) in order for God to like and accept you. Both are, at the core, unbelief and pride (not trusting what God says, and believing we can do it better or do it at all).
I always saw myself as having a bent toward legalism - and I DO. I am a rule girl. I get paid to come up with ways to follow rules, to see what rules that exist and aren't being followed, and to give advice to people with regard to adhering to those rules. And I'm really good at it because of my innate ability to be a legalist. Now in my personal and spiritual life, God has been chipping away at that for years. I am learning to walk in His grace, and not use performance in any category as an indicator of my worth and value.
However, had you asked me even YESTERDAY if I struggled with licentiousness I would have told you no. And today my answer is different. I do struggle with licentiousness - and sometimes I've called what is blatant sin something else. I've functioned in such a way as to protect what I think God may take from me, not at all trusting that He is for both His glory AND my good. I've often walked in such a way that I've hidden from Him that which should rightfully be His in the great fear that He will take from me or that I know better (or at times both). And until this morning, right around an hour ago, I was totally blind to the fact that was licentiousness.
In Romans, Paul says that we should not sin so that the evidence of grace is more obvious. Those who truly walk in grace obey God out of love for Him. I've been ignoring some sin and not at all walking in repentance for it. Don't get me wrong, we absolutely should not focus on our sin - otherwise we are just as enslaved to it and we are constantly trying to fix a problem for which we have no cure. We have to focus on Jesus who it the cure. We have to continually preach the Gospel to ourselves lest we forget it (and I am so guilty of doing that). Nor is this about condemnation and me beating myself up for not seeing this connection before today.
What this is about it when God shows me an area that He needs to address, I need to acknowledge it. I need to ask Him to give me a heart of repentance and to do the work He needs to do. Like David said in the Psalms - search my heart and let me know if there is any wicked way in me! No, this morning I feel far from bad or stupid for not really understanding what licentiousness is. I feel thankful that God has shown me yet another area in which I need to trust Him and walk in belief that He is good and loves me.
Now, I haven't processed this all the way out - I mean heck God showed me an hour ago! I'm sure that as He does this work in me and presses it into my marrow I'll understand it more. So please forgive this post if anything isn't eloquent or exactly on point. I'm a work in progress here for sure! I just thought it would be so neat to share it in the moment of revelation - sometimes we only get testimony after it's complete and I think it would be neat if sometimes we shared the progression. After all, I am a big believer in progressive sanctification and God is in the process as much as He is the end result!
Monday, May 21, 2012
Why A Theology of Rest Is Really A Theology of Trust
God's been teaching me a great deal lately about rest, much of it while I've been kicking and screaming and doing very little resting. I've tried everything to "get this" lesson, including trying harder. Trying harder is tantamount to insanity since rest DOES NOT mean trying harder for me (the all caps there are for me because I literally have to yell this at myself a lot). In fact, it means letting go of things, some of them important and good things that are just too many things, and learning to place intentional pauses and stops in my life.
And today I realized that it also means learning to trust God in a different way than I have. I'm being wooed to a deeper level of trust in Him. God has steadily been chipping away at my control issues for several years, and over the past month in particular God has shown me how much I rely on my ability to do - and I will do until I literally can't stand up anymore and then try to do some more. That ability spans everything from my job to my parenting to church. Yes, I trust Jesus for my salvation, I trust Him more than I used to for safety and protection, I trust Him for others. But I'm learning that I don't yet trust Him enough to rest in Him.
For me, rest is synonymous with a deeper level of trust. I think it shows up in some of the following ways for me:
As much as this has been a hard lesson for me so far (and many days progressing far more slowly than I'd like), I don't necessarily want God to magically deliver me from it. I want to rest in the process instead of fighting the process or trying to complete the process in my own power. I want to rest in Jesus, trusting that the process of change for me here is right and good, that I don't have to try so dang hard to "get it right" or accomplish something in some set period of time. So, as I walk I take a deep breath, I put truth in front of my face as often as I can (the Bible, my family who loves me enough to speak into my life and love me when I am a hot mess), and just let God do what He's going to do. He is faithful to finish the work He started (Philippians 1:6) and I can rest in that, too.
And today I realized that it also means learning to trust God in a different way than I have. I'm being wooed to a deeper level of trust in Him. God has steadily been chipping away at my control issues for several years, and over the past month in particular God has shown me how much I rely on my ability to do - and I will do until I literally can't stand up anymore and then try to do some more. That ability spans everything from my job to my parenting to church. Yes, I trust Jesus for my salvation, I trust Him more than I used to for safety and protection, I trust Him for others. But I'm learning that I don't yet trust Him enough to rest in Him.
For me, rest is synonymous with a deeper level of trust. I think it shows up in some of the following ways for me:
- If I trust that I am enough because of who God made me, then I don't have to try to serve people to get them to see my worth and value. I already have worth and value and I can rest in that.
- If I trust that God can and will care for me because He wants to then I don't have to try so hard to take care of myself. I can tell people when I'm hurting and I can ask for help when I need it and know that I'm still enough (see #1 up there) - having normal human limitations does not mean that I'm weak or failing. It means I'm normal and God never meant me to shoulder this whole life alone.
- Following on to #2, if I trust that God does really care for my needs (see Matthew 6:25-34) and I don't have to be anxious over anything (see Philippians 4:6, Ephesians 3:18), then I don't have to work so hard to (a) provide for everything I could possibly need or (b) hoard stuff "just in case" God lets me down. This brings true peace (see Philippians 4:7, Isaiah 26:3) - and I'm learning that peace and rest go together like chocolate and peanut butter.
As much as this has been a hard lesson for me so far (and many days progressing far more slowly than I'd like), I don't necessarily want God to magically deliver me from it. I want to rest in the process instead of fighting the process or trying to complete the process in my own power. I want to rest in Jesus, trusting that the process of change for me here is right and good, that I don't have to try so dang hard to "get it right" or accomplish something in some set period of time. So, as I walk I take a deep breath, I put truth in front of my face as often as I can (the Bible, my family who loves me enough to speak into my life and love me when I am a hot mess), and just let God do what He's going to do. He is faithful to finish the work He started (Philippians 1:6) and I can rest in that, too.
Friday, February 17, 2012
The Intentionality of Margins
Did you know that pages have margins on purpose? That someone, some document originator and formatter, determined that they were required? As a matter of fact, our fabulous word processing programs even have quick link buttons where you can set all manner of margin size, from extra wide to extra narrow. Have you ever noticed that there is no button to eliminate the margins all together? No, in order to do that you have to manually eradicate them. The author of the document has to go in to the Page Layout section and manually move the margins to zero.
Why do you suppose there is no automatic "get-rid-of-the-margins" button? How many of you said, "Because there is supposed to be SOME kind of margin"? Come on, I want to see hands up... Of course you said that because it's truth. Who in their right mind would eliminate the margins in a document? When was the last time you bought a book (the ones made with paper, not the ones on your Kindle) that had no margins. I'm going to go with never.
As a friend of mine so eloquently put it to me one day - that intentional blank space helps the words in the middle of the page make sense.
And that is truth. I thought - because I'm so entirely visual - I ought to see what it looked like to have no margins in a document. I manually overrode the settings in Word and went to typing. Thankfully I type fast, so it took little time to fill all the blank space. I moved to Print Preview view and discovered - the document was barely readable. I could read it if I really tried, but it made me tired. Just to see if it would change it if I added margins, I went back into Page Layout and put in the standard 1-inch margins. Instant change. Vastly easier to read. That blank space is incredibly intentional. And - SHOCKER - if you double space the content it's even easier to read. I mean like - Earth. Shattering. Difference. Yeah, it makes the document longer, but so what? You can read it.
Apparently, our life is supposed to have margins, too. Intentional blank space. And it's supposed to happen regularly. I mean, no book has margins on like every other page. Margins are there on each page. Imagine that. My life is supposed to have margins on each page, in a rhythm so that if you flipped through the pages of my life you'd see those empty places. And those empty places would be right and good and no one would be weirded out.
And now it's confession time. I've lived a life without margins. My pages, especially in the past year, have been completely full of writing. Some of that is just life where the story happens so fast that you don't have time to leave that blank space. Other times, it's because I added all manner of notes to what was a perfectly good page. Some notes were valid and needed, others were completely unecessary. Sure, they sounded good at the time - they may have even sounded godly - but in all reality it was me filling up space that should have been left blank.
I suck at intentional blank space and our society absolutely rewards me for living a life without blank space. In fact, in some circles lacking margins is praised. Particularly in Western culture. I mean, what CEO do you know that was lauded for taking regular weekends? No you hear about those 15-hour days at the office. Sure we who are Christ followers can look down our nose at what we call greed, but what about ministry? How many times have we lauded those who are putting in every available moment at the church, discipling, doing another Bible study? Would you say, "Look at all the good work he/she is doing! My, he/she is so close to Jesus?" Would you praise it? I might.
But that is not how God feels about it. A read-through of His word shows me something else. It shows me that I am absolutely supposed to work hard and be diligent, stewarding my time, talent, and resource well, but it also shows me that there are periods of intentional blank space. These are called "sabbath." This means that you let the blank space be there and STAY BLANK. No notes, no extra.
My community group leader texted me the following quote from the very good book "How People Change" by Tim Lane - "There will be times when my allegiance to Christ means that it is loving and right to say no to other people's requests" (p. 193). A Gospel Coalition blog today noted that "doing flows from being." Even the weather has four seasons (in most places on earth) one of which is a dormant period where nothing appears to be happening, but for the vegetation it needs a rest, a time of intentional nothing. And then there was the tweet I saw today from JR Vassar (pastor in NYC), "God calls us into His work out of rest. In quietness we hear His call."
Intentional blank space. Ordained by God. And I suck at it. So what is a girl to do? My friend who alerted me to the fact that margins are intentional calls it busy-ness detox (and don't think that it doesn't absolutely cause anxiety - I'm changing my rhythm, of course it makes me anxious!). How do I get there you ask?
Well, I started by sharing it with my amazing, gospel-centered communities. I gave them permission to tell me when they see me writing in my margins. I've already let some of these people in enough such that they can see me THINK about breaking out that pen and bring it to my attention. No, it's not easy when my bestie makes mention of the lack of balance (and the fact it's making me nuts), but it is right and good. It's not easy when my community group leader tells me I have to learn to appropriately take (and to not do so is sinful), but it's right and good.
And it's even less easy to know that I cognitively KNOW all this stuff and would absolutely contend for it in your life but have utterly ignored it in my own. Can you say sister needs to repent? Oh yeah. Face time with the Father for sure. Man, I have to say, I sure am thankful for Jesus being so faithful to show me this stuff. It's never easy to see where you're out of balance with God's rhythm, but He - who is so faithful to complete the work He started - is so merciful and gracious as He walks me down this path.
I don't have to figure out how to create margins. God has so totally given me that through amazing friends and people who can speak into my life. The ability to learn to have that intentional blank space will come from Jesus as He continually makes me look more and more like Him. It's unbelievably awkward at first because it's not how I've ever lived, but that's okay. God happens to be okay with awkward. And one day, I'll look back and giggle at my silliness of not having margins and be so thankful that my pages began to look normal. And I'll take a sweet sister by the hand and teach her how beautiful blank space can be...
Why do you suppose there is no automatic "get-rid-of-the-margins" button? How many of you said, "Because there is supposed to be SOME kind of margin"? Come on, I want to see hands up... Of course you said that because it's truth. Who in their right mind would eliminate the margins in a document? When was the last time you bought a book (the ones made with paper, not the ones on your Kindle) that had no margins. I'm going to go with never.
As a friend of mine so eloquently put it to me one day - that intentional blank space helps the words in the middle of the page make sense.
And that is truth. I thought - because I'm so entirely visual - I ought to see what it looked like to have no margins in a document. I manually overrode the settings in Word and went to typing. Thankfully I type fast, so it took little time to fill all the blank space. I moved to Print Preview view and discovered - the document was barely readable. I could read it if I really tried, but it made me tired. Just to see if it would change it if I added margins, I went back into Page Layout and put in the standard 1-inch margins. Instant change. Vastly easier to read. That blank space is incredibly intentional. And - SHOCKER - if you double space the content it's even easier to read. I mean like - Earth. Shattering. Difference. Yeah, it makes the document longer, but so what? You can read it.
Apparently, our life is supposed to have margins, too. Intentional blank space. And it's supposed to happen regularly. I mean, no book has margins on like every other page. Margins are there on each page. Imagine that. My life is supposed to have margins on each page, in a rhythm so that if you flipped through the pages of my life you'd see those empty places. And those empty places would be right and good and no one would be weirded out.
And now it's confession time. I've lived a life without margins. My pages, especially in the past year, have been completely full of writing. Some of that is just life where the story happens so fast that you don't have time to leave that blank space. Other times, it's because I added all manner of notes to what was a perfectly good page. Some notes were valid and needed, others were completely unecessary. Sure, they sounded good at the time - they may have even sounded godly - but in all reality it was me filling up space that should have been left blank.
I suck at intentional blank space and our society absolutely rewards me for living a life without blank space. In fact, in some circles lacking margins is praised. Particularly in Western culture. I mean, what CEO do you know that was lauded for taking regular weekends? No you hear about those 15-hour days at the office. Sure we who are Christ followers can look down our nose at what we call greed, but what about ministry? How many times have we lauded those who are putting in every available moment at the church, discipling, doing another Bible study? Would you say, "Look at all the good work he/she is doing! My, he/she is so close to Jesus?" Would you praise it? I might.
But that is not how God feels about it. A read-through of His word shows me something else. It shows me that I am absolutely supposed to work hard and be diligent, stewarding my time, talent, and resource well, but it also shows me that there are periods of intentional blank space. These are called "sabbath." This means that you let the blank space be there and STAY BLANK. No notes, no extra.
My community group leader texted me the following quote from the very good book "How People Change" by Tim Lane - "There will be times when my allegiance to Christ means that it is loving and right to say no to other people's requests" (p. 193). A Gospel Coalition blog today noted that "doing flows from being." Even the weather has four seasons (in most places on earth) one of which is a dormant period where nothing appears to be happening, but for the vegetation it needs a rest, a time of intentional nothing. And then there was the tweet I saw today from JR Vassar (pastor in NYC), "God calls us into His work out of rest. In quietness we hear His call."
Intentional blank space. Ordained by God. And I suck at it. So what is a girl to do? My friend who alerted me to the fact that margins are intentional calls it busy-ness detox (and don't think that it doesn't absolutely cause anxiety - I'm changing my rhythm, of course it makes me anxious!). How do I get there you ask?
Well, I started by sharing it with my amazing, gospel-centered communities. I gave them permission to tell me when they see me writing in my margins. I've already let some of these people in enough such that they can see me THINK about breaking out that pen and bring it to my attention. No, it's not easy when my bestie makes mention of the lack of balance (and the fact it's making me nuts), but it is right and good. It's not easy when my community group leader tells me I have to learn to appropriately take (and to not do so is sinful), but it's right and good.
And it's even less easy to know that I cognitively KNOW all this stuff and would absolutely contend for it in your life but have utterly ignored it in my own. Can you say sister needs to repent? Oh yeah. Face time with the Father for sure. Man, I have to say, I sure am thankful for Jesus being so faithful to show me this stuff. It's never easy to see where you're out of balance with God's rhythm, but He - who is so faithful to complete the work He started - is so merciful and gracious as He walks me down this path.
I don't have to figure out how to create margins. God has so totally given me that through amazing friends and people who can speak into my life. The ability to learn to have that intentional blank space will come from Jesus as He continually makes me look more and more like Him. It's unbelievably awkward at first because it's not how I've ever lived, but that's okay. God happens to be okay with awkward. And one day, I'll look back and giggle at my silliness of not having margins and be so thankful that my pages began to look normal. And I'll take a sweet sister by the hand and teach her how beautiful blank space can be...
Friday, January 27, 2012
Balance, People! It's All About Balance!
Really I should stay out of the blogosphere and should stop reading so much. I readily admit I'm a geek of epic proportions. I also strongly believe in what a former boss of mine called, "the marketplace of ideas." I don't have the market cornered when it comes to knowledge and wisdom, so I like to hear what others are saying and consider them. This is especially applicable when it comes to theology. I love to hear good discussions on theology, and I like to take points people make and look at them in light of scripture. Not all theological views are truly informed by scripture. Some come from people's ideas, some come from a single text without taking into account the whole counsel of the word of God, some are heavily influenced by the culture in which we live.
We live in a thoroughly post-modern society. Absolutes are eschewed as being narrow-minded (unless you're talking about the absolute of not being absolute which people seem to be okay with - you see the irony there right?). Scripture, however, does actually contain some absolutes. There are imperatives (commands) there. As I recently heard a pastor say, "You never get an imperative (command) before you get the indicative (explanation)." Basically, you can sum that up by saying, "Look at it all in context, look at it all holistically through the counsel of the Word of God." Even then, we are fallible because our sin nature permeates who we are. I can read something and I filter it through my experience, perception, and worldview. Thankfully, Jesus is way bigger than my fallibility and He can actually cut in and make sense of things I would not. I say that to note that I am not always going to get it right, Jesus loves me and will always step in at some point. Occasionally, for reasons I don't always understand, He lets me stay in that out-of-balance and not so right place for a season. Invariably, it always reminds me of how much I do not have this and how much I need Christ in control.
Okay, you have the introduction, now here is my point. Over the past few days I've been reading far too many blogs written by pastors. Many are responding to a little theological discussion call The Elephant Room 2. Some are downright nasty, completely devoid of love, and frankly are painful to read because of the venom being spewed. Some are a bit of a mushy, gushy love fest filled to the brim with syrup, sticky sweet and make you feel like you need a shower afterward. Overly mushy-sticky-sweet is also equally painful to read, in my opinion. Some, thankfully, are very balanced and raise some interesting points.
One of those points is that Mark Driscoll did not challenge TD Jakes on his preaching of the prosperity gospel. While it's handy to know that Jakes does, in fact hold to the God-in-three-persons Trinitarian view, it's not handy that he wasn't challenged on the prosperity thing. Unfortunately, due to illness, I couldn't be at the local simulcast of the event, but I did catch a YouTube video of the session, and read the published notes. I also followed the whole adventure on Twitter. What I saw and read was that while the whole Trinitarian thing was nailed down, other salient questions were completely unasked, specifically as it related to Jakes' preaching of a prosperity gospel and word of faith. I, personally, think that prosperity gospel is aberrant theology. There is a lot of information on suffering in the Bible, and God never says, "If you speak it with enough faith you eliminate suffering." He also never says, "If you speak it with enough faith it will happen." What cannot be eliminated in teaching is that God absolutely allowed suffering in His people and that He never promised prosperity on this earth. As for speaking it with enough faith - I do not have because I do not ask, and I do not have because I ask amiss. Meaning - I can ask with all manner of faith and if it's outside of God's will I'm asking amiss. The whole thing about God giving us the desires of our heart has more to do with Him changing us to be more like Him, thus changing our desires to match those of His heart. That doesn't mean He doesn't give us what we consider good things, He just gives us those good things that fit into His plan in our lives. We can't forget this meta-narrative is about Him - He's the main character, not us.
I've seen prosperity theology really harm people, from encouraging them to give up life savings to causing them to feel defeated when they try and try and still don't see the answer they "had faith" for. This isn't an exhaustive exposition on prosperity teaching - I'm not going from any scholarly look here. I'm purely taking this from what I have seen and yes, I too come to this with my own presuppositions and worldview. I have personally seen people damaged by this teaching and I strongly believe that a right view of God is critical.
Obviously, I wish that this topic had been raised during that portion of The Elephant Room 2. I also can see that there is a time and a place for such a challenge and understand that maybe this was not it. One thing I know about challenging someone is that you need to have a relationship with them - if someone doesn't know they are loved and supported then challenges are very often discarded, even when they contain truth. If this was a stepping stone to build relationship with Jakes such that at some point, in love, other things can be discussed with him then who am I to judge?
However, I really believe leaders also need to be so, so careful when they share a platform with others. Anyone in leadership is held to a high standard because we are leading. People are watching and you are taking them where you're going. God is, thankfully, so much bigger than our shortcomings, but we do still have responsibility to those we lead to be checking our heart and methods. What do our actions and words communicate?
Why do I even care about this? I care because it's really easy to get off balance. I don't think the Pharisees intended to become legalistic, judgemental jerks. I think those zillions of rules came from a heart of genuinely trying to love and serve God. Because our hearts are wicked, it's so easy to take a good thing (wanting to love and serve God) and bring bondage (let's have hundreds of rules so we make sure we're loving and serving God). King David asked God to search his heart and show him the iniquity in it. I think I need to do that for myself, and always be open for correction. I would hope that the current crop of very highly visible pastors (and those we don't see causing conversation in the Twitterverse) do the same and are just super careful. For the rest of us, I would pray that we are gracious, since theirs is also a very public stage on which to struggle.
There is no easy answer here. What I saw and read made me uneasy, both the overly critical blogs and the sappy sweet ones, and leaving an issue unaddressed during the theological pow-wow that I think is pretty important. As a believer, what do I do about that? So far, the only answer I've come up with is to pray for everyone, myself included, let God be God, and see what happens next.
** After I posted this originally, The Gospel Coalition posted the following blog. It's very helpful, in my opionion. http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/02/03/carson-and-keller-on-jakes-and-the-elephant-room/ **
We live in a thoroughly post-modern society. Absolutes are eschewed as being narrow-minded (unless you're talking about the absolute of not being absolute which people seem to be okay with - you see the irony there right?). Scripture, however, does actually contain some absolutes. There are imperatives (commands) there. As I recently heard a pastor say, "You never get an imperative (command) before you get the indicative (explanation)." Basically, you can sum that up by saying, "Look at it all in context, look at it all holistically through the counsel of the Word of God." Even then, we are fallible because our sin nature permeates who we are. I can read something and I filter it through my experience, perception, and worldview. Thankfully, Jesus is way bigger than my fallibility and He can actually cut in and make sense of things I would not. I say that to note that I am not always going to get it right, Jesus loves me and will always step in at some point. Occasionally, for reasons I don't always understand, He lets me stay in that out-of-balance and not so right place for a season. Invariably, it always reminds me of how much I do not have this and how much I need Christ in control.
Okay, you have the introduction, now here is my point. Over the past few days I've been reading far too many blogs written by pastors. Many are responding to a little theological discussion call The Elephant Room 2. Some are downright nasty, completely devoid of love, and frankly are painful to read because of the venom being spewed. Some are a bit of a mushy, gushy love fest filled to the brim with syrup, sticky sweet and make you feel like you need a shower afterward. Overly mushy-sticky-sweet is also equally painful to read, in my opinion. Some, thankfully, are very balanced and raise some interesting points.
One of those points is that Mark Driscoll did not challenge TD Jakes on his preaching of the prosperity gospel. While it's handy to know that Jakes does, in fact hold to the God-in-three-persons Trinitarian view, it's not handy that he wasn't challenged on the prosperity thing. Unfortunately, due to illness, I couldn't be at the local simulcast of the event, but I did catch a YouTube video of the session, and read the published notes. I also followed the whole adventure on Twitter. What I saw and read was that while the whole Trinitarian thing was nailed down, other salient questions were completely unasked, specifically as it related to Jakes' preaching of a prosperity gospel and word of faith. I, personally, think that prosperity gospel is aberrant theology. There is a lot of information on suffering in the Bible, and God never says, "If you speak it with enough faith you eliminate suffering." He also never says, "If you speak it with enough faith it will happen." What cannot be eliminated in teaching is that God absolutely allowed suffering in His people and that He never promised prosperity on this earth. As for speaking it with enough faith - I do not have because I do not ask, and I do not have because I ask amiss. Meaning - I can ask with all manner of faith and if it's outside of God's will I'm asking amiss. The whole thing about God giving us the desires of our heart has more to do with Him changing us to be more like Him, thus changing our desires to match those of His heart. That doesn't mean He doesn't give us what we consider good things, He just gives us those good things that fit into His plan in our lives. We can't forget this meta-narrative is about Him - He's the main character, not us.
I've seen prosperity theology really harm people, from encouraging them to give up life savings to causing them to feel defeated when they try and try and still don't see the answer they "had faith" for. This isn't an exhaustive exposition on prosperity teaching - I'm not going from any scholarly look here. I'm purely taking this from what I have seen and yes, I too come to this with my own presuppositions and worldview. I have personally seen people damaged by this teaching and I strongly believe that a right view of God is critical.
Obviously, I wish that this topic had been raised during that portion of The Elephant Room 2. I also can see that there is a time and a place for such a challenge and understand that maybe this was not it. One thing I know about challenging someone is that you need to have a relationship with them - if someone doesn't know they are loved and supported then challenges are very often discarded, even when they contain truth. If this was a stepping stone to build relationship with Jakes such that at some point, in love, other things can be discussed with him then who am I to judge?
However, I really believe leaders also need to be so, so careful when they share a platform with others. Anyone in leadership is held to a high standard because we are leading. People are watching and you are taking them where you're going. God is, thankfully, so much bigger than our shortcomings, but we do still have responsibility to those we lead to be checking our heart and methods. What do our actions and words communicate?
Why do I even care about this? I care because it's really easy to get off balance. I don't think the Pharisees intended to become legalistic, judgemental jerks. I think those zillions of rules came from a heart of genuinely trying to love and serve God. Because our hearts are wicked, it's so easy to take a good thing (wanting to love and serve God) and bring bondage (let's have hundreds of rules so we make sure we're loving and serving God). King David asked God to search his heart and show him the iniquity in it. I think I need to do that for myself, and always be open for correction. I would hope that the current crop of very highly visible pastors (and those we don't see causing conversation in the Twitterverse) do the same and are just super careful. For the rest of us, I would pray that we are gracious, since theirs is also a very public stage on which to struggle.
There is no easy answer here. What I saw and read made me uneasy, both the overly critical blogs and the sappy sweet ones, and leaving an issue unaddressed during the theological pow-wow that I think is pretty important. As a believer, what do I do about that? So far, the only answer I've come up with is to pray for everyone, myself included, let God be God, and see what happens next.
** After I posted this originally, The Gospel Coalition posted the following blog. It's very helpful, in my opionion. http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/02/03/carson-and-keller-on-jakes-and-the-elephant-room/ **
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Pastoral Counseling & "Confronting Sin"
I am a fan of Twitter. It's a neat way to get succinct information from people that interest you or from your friends. I like Facebook for the more in-depth communication and sharing that it allows with people you love and that love you. The danger, especially with Twitter, is that you have a limited number of characters to get your point across. I've seen a few quotes or snippets that make me go, "Oh my goodness" - and not in a good way. I had that experience this morning. I saw a retweet from Crossway books that contained one line from a blog post called Worship Distorted by Bill Clem of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA, that made me say "Oh my goodness" - not in a good way.
First I need to say that I like Bill Clem. I've heard some of his teaching and read other blogs that are good and spot on. I'm not saying that this blog isn't good either. I'm going to specifically talk about one line and my concerns.
The quote in question is, "One hundred percent of your pastoral counseling will involve identifying and confronting idols." To be fair, there is only a small portion of the book from which this came posted and it's specifically addressing the character of God. My fear? That single line will be re-tweeted and pastors without a solid understanding of counseling will use it and harm their sheep.
I get really nervous about pastoral counseling resources that advocate "confronting sin" out of context (and again, I'm NOT saying this one does - I haven't read it so I can't comment on that book specifically). It is important to address areas of sin in a counseling situation, but there is way more to counseling than confronting "sin and idols." And even when sin needs to be addressed there are a myriad of ways to do so that aren't outright confrontation.
I have seen far too many pastors take the concept of "confronting sin" and use it to harm their flock. They berate people, shame them, and generally beat them down in an effort to get some sort of behavioral change. If sin is a heart issue - and the Bible clearly says that it is - then shaming someone into behavioral change is inefficient at best and downright harmful at worst. Even if behavioral change can be achieved through shame and guilt, the heart is still the problem and that heart issue will manifest itself in another way. For example, an alcoholic may be shamed into giving up booze; however, he/she may adopt another addiction, such as food, to provide the same temporary comfort. The exterior behavior is more socially acceptable, but the heart is just as broken.
Good biblical counselors don't overlook sin at all - but they also don't attack the person they are counseling. They don't use shame or manipulation to achieve behavioral change. The first thing they do is provide grace - through providing a safe place where the counselee can be him/herself and be messy. Good biblical counselors work to establish a grace-filled relationship with the counselee before any sort of confrontation is made. Ironically, confrontation may prove to be wholly unnecessary as the counseling process takes place. In fact, counselees may identify and repent of the sin as God uses the counseling process to effect change. When confrontation is appropriate, the good biblical counselor knows how to do so using the most appropriate technique - which may or may not be direct.
Pastors would do well to take a good counseling course or two to learn more about the actual process of counseling. There is so much more to it than telling a church member what he/she needs to do or pointing out areas of sin (although those things are valid and have an appropriate place). Pastors who engage in counseling relationships would be quite wise to be well-grounded in solid counseling technique in addition to solid gospel theology. True biblical counseling should include both a solid theology and a solid counseling methodology.
In summary, I have no disagreement with the statement that pastoral counseling has a lot to do with dealing with idolatry; however, pastors really need to know what appropriate and grace-centered counseling looks like and not just be - as I've heard said out loud by pastors - "fruit inspectors." Above all the Holy Spirit needs to be in control of the whole thing since He is the true Counselor and we are but instruments to be used for God's glory in the counseling process.
First I need to say that I like Bill Clem. I've heard some of his teaching and read other blogs that are good and spot on. I'm not saying that this blog isn't good either. I'm going to specifically talk about one line and my concerns.
The quote in question is, "One hundred percent of your pastoral counseling will involve identifying and confronting idols." To be fair, there is only a small portion of the book from which this came posted and it's specifically addressing the character of God. My fear? That single line will be re-tweeted and pastors without a solid understanding of counseling will use it and harm their sheep.
I get really nervous about pastoral counseling resources that advocate "confronting sin" out of context (and again, I'm NOT saying this one does - I haven't read it so I can't comment on that book specifically). It is important to address areas of sin in a counseling situation, but there is way more to counseling than confronting "sin and idols." And even when sin needs to be addressed there are a myriad of ways to do so that aren't outright confrontation.
I have seen far too many pastors take the concept of "confronting sin" and use it to harm their flock. They berate people, shame them, and generally beat them down in an effort to get some sort of behavioral change. If sin is a heart issue - and the Bible clearly says that it is - then shaming someone into behavioral change is inefficient at best and downright harmful at worst. Even if behavioral change can be achieved through shame and guilt, the heart is still the problem and that heart issue will manifest itself in another way. For example, an alcoholic may be shamed into giving up booze; however, he/she may adopt another addiction, such as food, to provide the same temporary comfort. The exterior behavior is more socially acceptable, but the heart is just as broken.
Good biblical counselors don't overlook sin at all - but they also don't attack the person they are counseling. They don't use shame or manipulation to achieve behavioral change. The first thing they do is provide grace - through providing a safe place where the counselee can be him/herself and be messy. Good biblical counselors work to establish a grace-filled relationship with the counselee before any sort of confrontation is made. Ironically, confrontation may prove to be wholly unnecessary as the counseling process takes place. In fact, counselees may identify and repent of the sin as God uses the counseling process to effect change. When confrontation is appropriate, the good biblical counselor knows how to do so using the most appropriate technique - which may or may not be direct.
Pastors would do well to take a good counseling course or two to learn more about the actual process of counseling. There is so much more to it than telling a church member what he/she needs to do or pointing out areas of sin (although those things are valid and have an appropriate place). Pastors who engage in counseling relationships would be quite wise to be well-grounded in solid counseling technique in addition to solid gospel theology. True biblical counseling should include both a solid theology and a solid counseling methodology.
In summary, I have no disagreement with the statement that pastoral counseling has a lot to do with dealing with idolatry; however, pastors really need to know what appropriate and grace-centered counseling looks like and not just be - as I've heard said out loud by pastors - "fruit inspectors." Above all the Holy Spirit needs to be in control of the whole thing since He is the true Counselor and we are but instruments to be used for God's glory in the counseling process.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
The Artist and the Masterpiece
What makes art a masterpiece? According to a 2009 article in the Star Tribune, that is not an easy question to answer. When The Louvre queried their curators on the topic, many different criteria were offered - "superlative craftsmanship, extraordinary design, great antiquity, rich materials, purity of form, artistic genius, originality, influence on other artists." I would also like to offer up that who the artist is makes a difference.
I was recently at the North Carolina Museum of Art and had the pleasure of touring the Rembrandt exhibit. While the paintings all had titles - "Man in a Hat" or "Man Praying" for example - all were defined as "Rembrandts." They were deemed valuable because of who the artist was. As I stood there in the exhibit hall and looked at painting after painting, I thought about what a friend had said to me recently. He had told me that art points to the artist. As I stood there in the museum, looking at Rembrandt after Rembrandt - despite whatever they were titled - I realized we were all considering the artist and the work he had done.
As I thought about other exhibits I've seen there - Monet, Rockwell - I realized they were all titled by the name of the artist. Each artist had a unique style. Monet was fairly upbeat in composition, with lots of bright colors. Rockwell captured American life, including some of its darkness. While they are held up as iconic and vestiges of a simpler time, to look at them closely told another tale entirely. There was depth of emotion and his Santas were utterly disturbing when you looked closely. Rembrandt was just dark in general - partly because of the subject matter, partly because some of the paintings were on oak, which lent to a darker coloring. Each was distinct and you could line up a piece from each and easily identify the artist.
Interestingly, God is portrayed as an artist and creation - including humans - as His artwork. In fact, humans are portrayed as God's masterpiece. In Isaiah 64:8 God is referred to as a potter and to man as the "work of [His] hand." Ephesians 2:10 refers to us as God's "workmanship." The word used is poiema - the word from which we get poem. It is, in essence, stating that we are living poetry.
Looking at how the curators of the Louvre defined the qualities in a masterpiece, I think human beings fit the bill. Superlative craftsmanship, extraordinary design, rich materials, purity of form, artistic genius, originality - nothing compares to humans in all of creation. How our bodies function is nothing short of amazing, and when you add to it the ability to think and feel and the complexity of human nature I'm in awe. Many people, not just Christians, would agree that human beings are nothing short of a masterpiece.
Here is where it gets interesting for me. I absolutely believe that God's creation, and humans in particular, are astounding works of art. I absolutely believe that God is the greatest artist of all time. I believe that people are incredibly valuable - both to God and to me. I believe that all of creation points to the Creator (Romans 1:20). I believe God's work should be celebrated and enjoyed. What I do not believe is that I am a masterpiece, that I have great value, and that the Artist has created me to be enjoyed and give Him glory.
Oh, I know this logically of course and I thoroughly believe the Bible. However, when it comes down to brass tacks, I believe it for everyone else - and for them I believe it to the very core of my being and would absolutely fight for them should anyone say differently. When it comes to me, I see a very different picture.
Why do I suppose that is? I think it's because I can see all my flaws, every imperfection. I think society has been quite good at helping me see things that don't measure up to its standards - from my figure, to my hair, and on and on. When I add to that my sin nature and how I know I do things wrong - sometimes very much on purpose simply because I want to - and the fact that I have a perfectionist nature, I can't see past me.
I am absolutely surrounded by the most incredible people. I have a community of people who truly love me. Until recently I had attributed that love to God's goodness in them - God placing in their hearts the ability to love me - and not even considering that they love me because I am loveable and there are good things about me. God, who is incredibly gracious, is working to change that in me. Through a friend, He has really challenged my thinking on me.
I also don't think I'm the only Christian that struggles with believing for themselves that they are a masterpiece. A couple weeks ago in my community group the guy leading it asked a question that people struggled to answer. He essentially said, "What in your life glorifies God? We all can talk about all our faults, but what in your life is good and gives glory to God?" There were 11 people there and it was a huge struggle for individuals to answer that question. We were all so much more able to point out our weaknesses and when the time came for that question, there was no shortage of conversation. As I sat there, looking around the faces of people who are incredible, I realized that I could rattle of numerous things about each of them that I thought were glorifying to God.
If it is okay to rejoice in the beauty and artistry of a painting or sculpture or good meal, why is it not okay to celebrate the artistry in ourselves, put there by the Master Artist? His work is beautiful and good - He Himself is beautiful and good. We delight in God's work in our friends. We don't delight in God's work in our lives and we are incredibly afraid to even acknowledge it lest we sound prideful (or worse actually become prideful). But that isn't a full picture of God's grace. God's grace is that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
There is, of course, an appropriate place to identify, grieve about and repent of sin. I'm pretty good at that one - not always the grieving and repentance part, but most definitely the identification part. I'm not good at celebrating the beauty part - or even really believing the beauty is there. For me, this isn't an easy answer. I've been told by those who love me that there is real beauty there and I've been given lists of what the beauty might look like. Unfortunately, I still have trouble seeing past the negative and celebrating in the positive.
I don't know what it will take for God to set me free from this, but I'm quite confident that He wouldn't show me without the plan to do something. He is, after all, faithful to complete the work (Philippians 1:6). And it is His work - "for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). I know that I want Him to complete the work so I can take the people I love and see God's masterful artistry in by the hand and point them toward this truth.
I was recently at the North Carolina Museum of Art and had the pleasure of touring the Rembrandt exhibit. While the paintings all had titles - "Man in a Hat" or "Man Praying" for example - all were defined as "Rembrandts." They were deemed valuable because of who the artist was. As I stood there in the exhibit hall and looked at painting after painting, I thought about what a friend had said to me recently. He had told me that art points to the artist. As I stood there in the museum, looking at Rembrandt after Rembrandt - despite whatever they were titled - I realized we were all considering the artist and the work he had done.
As I thought about other exhibits I've seen there - Monet, Rockwell - I realized they were all titled by the name of the artist. Each artist had a unique style. Monet was fairly upbeat in composition, with lots of bright colors. Rockwell captured American life, including some of its darkness. While they are held up as iconic and vestiges of a simpler time, to look at them closely told another tale entirely. There was depth of emotion and his Santas were utterly disturbing when you looked closely. Rembrandt was just dark in general - partly because of the subject matter, partly because some of the paintings were on oak, which lent to a darker coloring. Each was distinct and you could line up a piece from each and easily identify the artist.
Interestingly, God is portrayed as an artist and creation - including humans - as His artwork. In fact, humans are portrayed as God's masterpiece. In Isaiah 64:8 God is referred to as a potter and to man as the "work of [His] hand." Ephesians 2:10 refers to us as God's "workmanship." The word used is poiema - the word from which we get poem. It is, in essence, stating that we are living poetry.
Looking at how the curators of the Louvre defined the qualities in a masterpiece, I think human beings fit the bill. Superlative craftsmanship, extraordinary design, rich materials, purity of form, artistic genius, originality - nothing compares to humans in all of creation. How our bodies function is nothing short of amazing, and when you add to it the ability to think and feel and the complexity of human nature I'm in awe. Many people, not just Christians, would agree that human beings are nothing short of a masterpiece.
Here is where it gets interesting for me. I absolutely believe that God's creation, and humans in particular, are astounding works of art. I absolutely believe that God is the greatest artist of all time. I believe that people are incredibly valuable - both to God and to me. I believe that all of creation points to the Creator (Romans 1:20). I believe God's work should be celebrated and enjoyed. What I do not believe is that I am a masterpiece, that I have great value, and that the Artist has created me to be enjoyed and give Him glory.
Oh, I know this logically of course and I thoroughly believe the Bible. However, when it comes down to brass tacks, I believe it for everyone else - and for them I believe it to the very core of my being and would absolutely fight for them should anyone say differently. When it comes to me, I see a very different picture.
Why do I suppose that is? I think it's because I can see all my flaws, every imperfection. I think society has been quite good at helping me see things that don't measure up to its standards - from my figure, to my hair, and on and on. When I add to that my sin nature and how I know I do things wrong - sometimes very much on purpose simply because I want to - and the fact that I have a perfectionist nature, I can't see past me.
I am absolutely surrounded by the most incredible people. I have a community of people who truly love me. Until recently I had attributed that love to God's goodness in them - God placing in their hearts the ability to love me - and not even considering that they love me because I am loveable and there are good things about me. God, who is incredibly gracious, is working to change that in me. Through a friend, He has really challenged my thinking on me.
I also don't think I'm the only Christian that struggles with believing for themselves that they are a masterpiece. A couple weeks ago in my community group the guy leading it asked a question that people struggled to answer. He essentially said, "What in your life glorifies God? We all can talk about all our faults, but what in your life is good and gives glory to God?" There were 11 people there and it was a huge struggle for individuals to answer that question. We were all so much more able to point out our weaknesses and when the time came for that question, there was no shortage of conversation. As I sat there, looking around the faces of people who are incredible, I realized that I could rattle of numerous things about each of them that I thought were glorifying to God.
If it is okay to rejoice in the beauty and artistry of a painting or sculpture or good meal, why is it not okay to celebrate the artistry in ourselves, put there by the Master Artist? His work is beautiful and good - He Himself is beautiful and good. We delight in God's work in our friends. We don't delight in God's work in our lives and we are incredibly afraid to even acknowledge it lest we sound prideful (or worse actually become prideful). But that isn't a full picture of God's grace. God's grace is that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
There is, of course, an appropriate place to identify, grieve about and repent of sin. I'm pretty good at that one - not always the grieving and repentance part, but most definitely the identification part. I'm not good at celebrating the beauty part - or even really believing the beauty is there. For me, this isn't an easy answer. I've been told by those who love me that there is real beauty there and I've been given lists of what the beauty might look like. Unfortunately, I still have trouble seeing past the negative and celebrating in the positive.
I don't know what it will take for God to set me free from this, but I'm quite confident that He wouldn't show me without the plan to do something. He is, after all, faithful to complete the work (Philippians 1:6). And it is His work - "for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). I know that I want Him to complete the work so I can take the people I love and see God's masterful artistry in by the hand and point them toward this truth.
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