Tag: Fake

Posted on

In, but not of.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.” ‭‭Titus‬ ‭2‬:‭11‬-‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Apostle Paul, writing to “young” Titus, gives Pastoral instruction of how to guide the flock in the faith. “Young” Titus does not mean that Titus was a young man, just that he was younger than Paul. Titus had served with Paul before Timothy and long after Barnabas. Titus was such a devoted and trusted Pastor that Paul sent him to one of the most difficult cultures to become Bishop over several churches that had been planted.

Titus was Bishop of the island Crete. The Bible Project talks about the Crete culture and just how throughly worldly they were. The Cretans were proud and known for being deceitful liars! Titus’ first task as Bishop was to kick out the compromised pastors and install true godly men. Here in chapter two, Paul makes the point that is crucial when living under extremely wild cultural influences. The gospel must prove itself in the public square! “The gospel has got to work in the worst of the worst cultures. Christianity is compelling when it looks culturally similar but is based on a different value system and devoted to a different God,” (Bible Project).

The churches in Crete were failing because the people and their pastors mimicked the culture so the word of God was discredited and the message wasn’t compelling. Paul’s words to Titus was to have high, holy standards, but be culturally relevant on the island. Not an easy task when Cretan culture was corrupt. One of their own philosophers, Epimendes, said, “Cretans are always liars, vicious beasts and lazy gluttons.” This is why it was so critical for the Pastors and their families to be different, but not so different that it made them unapproachable. The church’s elders were to set examples of marriage fidelity, not sleeping around. It was important for the elders to actually have children instead of being just a hip and cool childless couple. The kids would have an active role in also setting an example of godliness without judgment in the community. We’re not talking about some kind of super fake “holiness,” caricatured kids. It just means they were not lying, conniving, rebellious, drunken, and sexually loose teenagers! Sometimes it just takes someone who’s not a potty-mouth, crass, trash-talking gossip who just happens to go to church. It’s really NOT that hard to be “different” from the popular culture of the day – to be IN the world but not OF it. Paul basically wanted Titus, the elders and their families to not drink the immoral cultural-punch of society and be susceptible to every social virus that sweeps through town. So, Paul instructed Titus in a solid gameplay – to live IN this evil world WITH wisdom, righteousness and devotion to God, yet not be disconnected and disengaged from the people.

This is tough. It means we have to keep our own heart and mind clean – free of “sinful pleasures,” constantly attending to our own disordered desires, submitting them to the power of Holy Spirit to free us from every kind of sin. That alone should keep us humble and busy, realizing we’ve got our own battles to face. We cannot hide behind a false righteousness, like we are better than the culture, better than the liars, vicious beasts and lazy gluttons of Crete. May Jesus be revealed IN us and THROUGH us.

Prayer

Dad,
I get it. If I had not been raised in a totally non-christian household, this would be more difficult to understand. I knew the culture, the ways of our family and the their friends. For a while, I felt the need to pull away from all of it – just for my sake of sanity! I realized this was not good as a witness and had to humbly reengage, proving that I was still myself, but changed because of Jesus 👏🏼. Now, I clearly see how tough it is for those who are being changed by your grace, to see ourselves as sinners, still needy, humble and hungry for You. I completely agree with Paul’s words to Titus – they are true, but oh so difficult to live out. Help us live authentically, yet self aware of our own struggles. Amen.

Posted on

Satisfying the cravings.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭63‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

David writes this psalm while running and hiding from the Mad King Saul, in the wilderness of Engedi. The scene in Samuel 24 is right out of Junior High textbook on funny things that happen in life. David and his men are using the caves as a hiding place, and they are deep into the protection of the mountain when Saul just happens to have his troops right outside. But then it turns into a dark comedy because Saul has to relieve himself and it’s not #1, it’s 💩 time. Where better to do your business than in a nice dark and quiet cave, right? And it’s perceived as SAFE.

Unbeknownst to Saul, his son-in-law/successor to the throne is already inside, probably whispering and giggling with the irony of the situation. David has the complete advantage to kill Saul, but refuses to do so. Instead he sneaks up and cuts off a piece of the king’s robe. I don’t know if the cave scene influenced this psalm, but it had to have boosted David’s faith in the middle of a dark season for him.

Instead of David writing about his hopes and dreams for a future as king and all the advantages that come with ruling a nation, he writes about a different longing. He writes about craving God’s presence. And he beautifully writes, “you satisfy me – MORE…” More than a feast. More than finding water in the desert. More than life itself! Can God satisfy the deepest desires of our human heart? We crave a lot of things! Our heart directs us to want things that are not good. Our heart is willing to accept fake knockoffs of experiences and substances to temporarily satisfy or to fill the holes of loneliness, love and loss. And, in those cheap exchanges, which never last, we find only guilt and shame. Shame because we know we reached for a substitute instead of searching for what’s real.

David in his deepest moments of trouble and an overwhelming sense of his lack of control reached for God! His soul reached out and found that God fills the holes, the gaps, the angst with His own presence. It is interesting that David discovered this overwhelming joy in the midst of uncertainty. Contrast that to his future decision when he had need of nothing – but sadly reached for something else, someone else. He saw Bathsheba and he took her. Strong in weakness and weak in strength, what a conundrum. God can satisfy our search in desperation, but can He can also satisfy when our search, our craving, is out of our sin?

Prayer

​Dad,
Searching for you when everything is dark and uncertain is one thing. And I know you are there to satisfy those fears, those agonizing moments of the unknown future. Those desperate times when our brains fill in the blanks with the worst possible outcomes. I know you satisfy, you calm, you center when I am filled with overwhelming emotions and fighting against the waves of a storm that continue to crash upon the shore of my soul.

However, just as critical, are the moments where my heart and mind drift and start seeking elsewhere, looking for something to fill my sin-cravings. Can I depend on you to fill and satisfy me then? I need you just as much when I turn from my disordered desires, and look to you for my deliverance, my rescue. In those moments I want to thirst for you and find joy in you. Thank you for your presence in both moments when I am lacking or distracted by lacking nothing.

Posted on

Roommates

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“I, Wisdom, live together with good judgment. I know where to discover knowledge and discernment. All who fear the Lord will hate evil. Therefore, I hate pride and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech. Common sense and success belong to me. Insight and strength are mine.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭8‬:‭12‬-‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The New Living Translation says that wisdom and good judgment are roommates. In Hebrew, the wisdom writer actually list three roomies with wisdom: ormah: craftiness, daath: knowledge and mezimmah: discretion. The root word of daath is yada, or know. Who knew, when George’s new girlfriend Marcy, from the Seinfeld show, kept saying yada, yada, yada, she was speaking some Hebraic slang… “ya know, ya know, ya know.”

As the personified Jesus in the Old Testament, wisdom loves hanging out with three character traits of witty, smart and socially intelligent people. What a group of friends that makes, right? However, the writer also seem to make the point that, not only does that God hate evil, but there is a reason for doing so. Evil erodes good. Evil sucks the vibrant, authentic life out of the soul and leaves these hollowed out expressions behind. Shocker! Look at what’s left when evil has its way with us – pride, arrogance, corruption and perverse speech!

Wow. Pride is a false puffer, the rising of our fake self. Arrogance is our “self-made” projection, like we made it all on our own, everyone else is our pawn. And our perverse speech is a mastery of speaking in a way that “turns” or twists our words to hide the fact that we are a fraud. Whew. Evil guts us and leaves our soul with ugly, selfish qualities.

Turning from evil to wisdom means we choose to hangout with these amazing roommates listed in this Proverb. The Apostle Paul wrote, “bad company corrupts good morals.” 1 Cor. 15:33. Having wisdom as a friend means that one has access to her advice. Because Wisdom is really that good, her advice is sound, solid and successful! Wisdom owns these qualities and shares them freely to those who walk with her.

Prayer

Dad,
If we just learned from mistakes and missteps, things would be a whole lot easier to do right. We would benefit and so would everyone around us. The problem is I love doing things my own way and I come to think of myself as so independently smart. And, I also love taking shortcuts! What a mess I make of things. The ways of wisdom, which is the way of Jesus, not only requires humility but also submission. And it’s a slow process, nothing like my quick-fix shortcuts that fail every time. I want wisdom as a friend. I want to hangout with her friends, witty, smart and socially intelligent. I could use all the help I can get. Thank You!

Posted on

Fake rainbows.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me. Let all Israel repeat this: From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me, but they have never defeated me. My back is covered with cuts, as if a farmer had plowed long furrows. But the Lord is good; he has cut me free from the ropes of the ungodly.” Psalms‬ ‭129:1-4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It is true, that from the time of Israel’s birth, back in the days of Abraham, the founding father, it is evident that the world, their enemies have been against them. And, reflecting back to 400 years of Egyptian slavery, their backs, as a collective illustration, are covered with lashes received as slaves back in this early years and metaphorically even today. Israel has been used as a the whipping post for the global animosities against the people of God, even against God himself. As Israel makes yet another trip back up to Jerusalem, there are many reflections for the way back home. Yes, Israel was disciplined and taken away specifically for their sins, their arrogant and very public flaunting of idols mixed with sexual, physical and sacrificial offerings to wooden poles creepy little stone-carved idols that sat in prominence in their homes.

Israel, like all prodigal sons and daughters did the shame-walk back home. Yet, through this very long and sad cyclical story, it is undeniable that we see ourselves – all of humanity living out this very same pattern. We want, we desire, we frolic after fancy things. We search, we run to and fro, from promise to promise that this pole, or that carving, this high or experience, these gods will fulfill and give us everything we desire!

We, like Israel, like the psalmist could say, “from my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me.” The enemy is very real and very alluring, but the end results are ALWAYS the same. Brokenness, sin and shame await at the end of the fake rainbow. The enemy of our souls and of God delight in us finding broken promises of happiness and, of all things, freedom. We constantly struggle to be free of this presence of a holy God, so we run towards a gleeful captor ready to slap on the cuffs or ropes of slavery.

It is then that all the warnings, pleas and truth begin to dawn on us. Like Pinocchio found out on the island of pleasure, it was all a lie. Like Christian, in Pilgrim’s Progress, who seeks paradise but only finds detours, yet never releasing his burden and only increases it.

All of us are welcome to come to the same place the psalmist describes. The place where we see that God is good and can permanently CUT the ropes of the ungodly. For those searching for real freedom, not fake, flashy, self-fulling nonsense – but real and eternal freedom. There is but one way, the only way. That is through Jesus Christ and his gift of death, of salvation, of redemption, of transformation offered to pay for that freedom. But it requires our very life to be given in exchange!

Prayer

Dad,
The return to what’s good and right is a tough one. It feels so good to “come clean,” and rid the backpack of burdened sin and stupidity. It also feels so humiliating to return to the right path. Oftentimes I have seen my friends treated so badly when they wander, or even blow up their lives and families, knowing full well that judging them this way makes it near impossible to come home, returning to community. This walk back to Jerusalem is Israel’s shame walk, but at some point in our lives, it’s everyone’s walk. Help us love folks through their sin and welcome them when they’ve come home. We need your extraordinary, lavished grace to embrace.

Posted on

Dinner with perfection.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table.” Luke‬ ‭11:37‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Can you smell the whiffs of fresh baked bread, the roasted herbs and see the deliciously colorful vegetables and fruits. Not with Luke’s account of Jesus going to the home of “perfection.” Do you know what Jesus smelled? A setup. Have you attended a meal where you knew the host was, you know, uh, let’s just say they are very fastidious about detail? If you have you know the feeling of nervousness and uneasiness and learn that the night will not be about the meal at all. And, neither will the meal be relaxing with lots of laughter and stories that make you feel part of the family. Meals at homes about perfection are all about performance and elite edicate, watching your “p’s” and “q’s.”

“But he started it!” This might have been the reason Jesus lit into the host from the git-go. Luke tells us that Jesus KNEW what the host was thinking. “His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom.” Was it the host’s open gaped mouth or the lowered eye brows with a tight-lipped side frown? We don’t know, but Jesus did! Wait, Jesus didn’t wash his hands before dinner? No, no, no, come on – Jesus wasn’t born in a barn, er, without manners. This was a highly detailed, cultural, ceremonial cleansing purely for a religious show of “insider” rules practiced by pure-bred, wicked-smart elites.

The poor, the common would have had a VERY simplified version of this ritual. Jesus, just purposely skipped it altogether. He may have decided, “let’s just get right to the heart” of why he’d been invited in the first place. This host’s meal wasn’t about making peace at the table, it would be a failed lesson about righteousness and holiness!

Jesus spoke the first volley, serving up a spiked, fast comment right away. Jesus answered the grimaced, chagrined face of his host. “Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.” Yikes! Ouch! Boom! Bam! Jesus goes for the religious jugular. Not so subtlety saying, “just STOP it!” You can’t “pull the wool” over the eyes of God. You can’t deceive or fake or have any pretense before the real standard of perfection.

Wow. Jesus admonished this “never been corrected” religious leader. And, if you look hard you’ll see God’s grace and mercy. Oh, you’ll find brutal, unvarnished TRUTH, but you’ll also see hope.

Truth: INSIDE you filthy, greedy and wicked, and no amount of ceremonial hand washing is going to fix that! Hope: Stop the pretense and give to the poor. That’s the hosts antidote, his potion to rid the poison of his soul. Give to the poor! Now, lest you think that giving to the poor will clean or save you, save me – it won’t. Unless you are living the “religious” purity scam, while being a greedy miser, living high on frugal principles while others suffer around you. Giving to the poor is not your antidote. Let the Holy Spirit point out your poison and then listen carefully for God to prescribe the perfect recipe to save your life! What a dinner that was, right? I wonder if Jesus shook off the dust on his sandals as he left that house?

Prayer

Dad,
Please remind me to NEVER try to fake perfection around you! And, to never try to impress you or anyone else with some kind of religious ritual as a performance. I’ll just remember to come before you naked and humbled by my station in life.