Image vs. Reality

"How'm I doing?" was the signature line of 'Hizzoner' Ed Koch, during his three terms as mayor of New York City. Whenever, wherever he appeared in public, he would ask the crowd, "How'm I doing?" Apparently he did all right because he was elected 3 times. Did Mayor Koch really want to know how he was doing his job, or was he just using a popular line? Was he really seeking a substantive answer or would his question have been better framed as "How do I appear to be doing?" I have no idea, but I do know that I ask myself from time to time - "how are you doing, Jerry?"

There's a temptation to answer that question based on appearances alone. "Am I looking good?" is, for many of us, equal to "am I really doing well?" We live in a time of image. Billions of dollars in our economy are spent to cultivate an appearance of success, of youth, of intelligence. It starts when we we're young and we feel the pressure to buy the right 'label.' It continues as grow up with living in the 'right' kind of neighborhood, driving the 'right' kind of car.... you get the point. But all this image-making can get confused with reality and we can lose touch with the answer to the question, "How'm I doing?" The choice to cultivate image over reality is deadly, especially in spiritual matters!

Then, too, we might try to answer that question, "how'm I doing?' based on how others see our performance. That's a temptation for me as a Pastor, and I suspect for most of you, too, whatever your work or calling. I want the people in the church I lead to think of me as competent, hard-working, honest, and spiritual. There's nothing wrong with that, unless I start doing things that are out of sync with my inner reality, to try to make others think I'm someone that I'm not. Truthfully, it's not too hard to impress others, for a while anyway. Just say the right word at the opportune moment, show up and do what you say you will do, keep the machine oiled and running -- and most people -- will say, "He's all right!" But under an outer layer of respectability, lies the real you, the person who needs to asked often - "How'm I doing?"

That's why I periodically take time to reflect using hard questions --
Do my private thoughts match my public words?
Do my secret prayers line up with my pulpit prayers?
Does my level of affection for God's people in my heart equal my professions of love?
Is God first in my mind and heart, or just when I 'on-stage?'

Bill Hybels wrote a book with a great title and a better message -- "Who you are when no one's looking." That's the place to look when evaluating. Jesus reminds us of a sobering fact. Reality is eventually discovered! He said it in these words: A good person produces good deeds from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil deeds from an evil heart. Whatever is in your heart determines what you say. “So why do you call me ‘Lord,’ when you won’t obey me?" (Luke 6:45-46, NLT) That's why religion never pleases God if it's focused only on changing external behaviors. It's not enough that He merely appear to be our Lord. He must be Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.

With enough coercion or pressure, most of us can be made to conform our actions and words to some externally imposed standard. We can hold that conformity for quite while, depending our self-discipline, but our true self will always emerge. Usually that happens in the 'crunch!' When things go bad, when the heat is turned up, when we hit wall after wall-- our true character is revealed. Images crumble in those times. That's why now is the time to seek the Spirit's transformational power. As we ask ourselves, "How'm I doing?" it needs to be a kind of prayer that invites the Holy Spirit to help us to see under the surface. David prayed, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life." (Psalm 139:23-24, NLT)

"How'm I doing, Lord?"
______________________________

Search me, O God, And know my heart today;
Try me, O Savior, Know my thoughts, I pray.
See if there be some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin and set me free.

I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin;
Fulfill Thy Word, and make me pure within.
Fill me with fire where once I burned with shame;
Grant my desire to magnify Thy name.

Lord, take my life, and make it wholly Thine;
Fill my poor heart with Thy great love divine.
Take all my will, my passion, self and pride;
I now surrender, Lord, in me abide.

Cleanse Me, Edwin J. Orr
Copyright: Public Domain

Home in God?

Where do you 'dwell?' The word, which I read in a Psalm this morning, became the point of my mediation. To dwell means to be at home. I enjoy traveling, but I really enjoy coming home- more so the older I get! If you visit the church office that I call my 'home' a few hours everyday, you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to know you're in Jerry's place. There are family photos scattered around and there are mementos that have meaning only to me. My stuff is there. Legal documents, books, letters addressed to me - let you know that 'Jerry lives here.' I love getting to our house, too. When I step through the front door, the familiar surroundings invite me to relax. Unlike a sterile hotel room, my house is arranged to fit my needs, because I dwell there!

In Psalm 91, there is this promise: "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” (Psalm 91:1-2, NIV) Great line, right? Sure is, but those words are not just 'a line.' They are true words. We can really trust God and live securely. Who doesn't need security? Life's a fragile thing. We can be brought down by a microscopic virus or a few rogue cells that become malignant. Our friends can betray us for reasons they alone understand. Companies that employ us collapse or the CEO decides to send our job to India. There are the 'wars and rumors of wars,' that swirl around us. In that scenario of dangerous possibilities, the child of God says, "I trust God, and I am safely secure." Well, sometimes; but often we are afraid. Why? Because we do not 'dwell... and rest in the shadow of the Almighty.' What does that really mean?

A couple of lines later in the Psalm there is this descriptive phrase: "He will shield you with his wings. He will shelter you with his feathers." (Psalm 91:4, NLT) The picture is that of a mother hen sensing danger and calling her chicks to the safety of her covering. When I was a little boy, I tended the chickens on the farm. Dad loved to hatch chicks and I saw those little fluffy chicks; who were totally helpless on their own, completely vulnerable, respond to the urgent clucks of the hen who had extended her wings, run and disappear under her in the soft down of her breast feathers! When she settled down, there was no evidence that she had hidden 8-10 little chicks. Their safety was found in proximity!

God invites you and me to stay close to Him, hidden from the searing heat of life by His shadow, secure because we stay in His Presence. Does this mean that we need to live in the church sanctuary, that we have to have an open Bible always in our hand? No. His invitation to us is that we keep our hearts and minds 'at home' in Him. When we become aware that we are being drawn away from trusting Him by an illusion of self-sufficiency, or that we are looking for meaning in the 'stuff' of life- we will intentionally return our attention to Him. It means we won't give sin an anchor in our mind, that we will recognize and reject temptations when they arise from the world, the sinful nature, or the evil forces that are intent on our destruction. It means that when the Spirit calls us to turn our attention or change the channel, we will run, not walk to Him. And as we make our home in Him, we are secure.

Jesus invites us to dwell, too, but He uses a different word. He invites us to 'remain in Me.' He explains His invitation this way. “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me. “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples." (John 15:4-8, The Message)

Are you 'at home' in God's Presence?
Spend enough time with Him to make His Presence become your home.

Here's a word about a man who followed God to his home. Let it speak to you about your destiny, your spiritual home today. "By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God." (Hebrews 11:8-10, The Message)
__________________________

Feeling at home in the presence of Jesus,
Hearing Him call me His own.
Just feeling at home, feeling at home.
Putting my feet right under His table,
Knowing I won't be alone.
Just feeling at home, feeling at home.

You couldn't have told me
I'd find what I found.
Contentment and peace from above.
Feeling at home in the presence of Jesus,
Laying way back in His love.
Warming myself by the fires of His Spirit,
Camping right close to His throne.
Just feeling at home, feeling at home.


Feeling At Home In The Presence Of Jesus
Copyright: 1975 William J. Gaither, Inc. ARR UBP of Gaither Copyright Management

Faithful love

The first time the preacher saw her dark eyes he felt the magnetic attraction. He quickly fell in love. It wasn't just her hair though it was gorgeous! It was more than the beauty of her face, or the curves of her body. She knew exactly how to make him feel like he was the most wonderful man in the world, for she was practiced in the ways of seduction; which was exactly what concerned his friends. They warned him about her 'reputation,' but he was too far gone to hear any caution and he married her. In quick succession, two sons and a daughter were borne into their family.

And then - the preacher felt her slipping away. She disappeared for entire days and came home with smudges of make-up clinging to her face, evidence of her adultery that broke his heart. She complained outright to the preacher about what he provided for her, brazenly telling of other lovers who showered her with gifts. Then, she was gone. He mourned, his anger was powerful, but his love even stronger! Months past, and word came that his wife was being sold, a slave! When her beauty was ravaged by her promiscuity, when she no longer attracted the lovers who kept her, she fell into debt and was to be sold to settle those debts, so he went and bought back his own wife! With tenderness and forgiveness he brought her home, renewed their covenant. His love won over her unfaithfulness!

Recognize that story? It's true and it's from the Bible. Read it in the little book of Hosea. He is the prophet who loved a woman who prostituted herself, abandoned him and her children, who was nearly destroyed by her unbridled lust and selfishness. But Hosea loved Gomer and restored her though she was unworthy and even unrepentant, at first.

Why is such a sordid story in the Bible? To tell us about God's love for His people! Listen to Him mourn their unfaithfulness. “Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you...? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows. No, I will not punish you as much as my burning anger tells me to. I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you, and I will not come to destroy. “For someday the people will follow the Lord. I will roar like a lion, and my people will return trembling from the west. Like a flock of birds, they will come from Egypt. Flying like doves, they will return from Assyria. And I will bring them home again,” says the Lord." (Hosea 11:8-12, NLT)

We need the stories! The theology that informs our mind must be wed with the stories that take hold of our hearts! When I combine John's declaration that "God so loved the world," with Hosea's story, I start to understand that God's love is more than a concept, more than a philosophy. He is my God, my lover, Who desires to know me. And, too, I begin to understand that my disobedience and my desire for the gods of wealth, success, fame, or sensuality rips at a covenant of love, causing God to mourn like a husband abandoned by his beloved wife.

Those who only see the raging God, who think that God is but a cruel Master, need to read this passage. Listen to the heart of our Lover. “And now, here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to start all over again. I’m taking her back out into the wilderness where we had our first date, and I’ll court her. I’ll give her bouquets of roses. I’ll turn Heartbreak Valley into Acres of Hope. She’ll respond like she did as a young girl, those days when she was fresh out of Egypt. “At that time”—this is God’s Message still— “you’ll address me, ‘Dear husband!’ Never again will you address me, ‘My slave-master!’" (Hosea 2:14-16, The Message)

Do you love Him, Believer?
Or do you linger in your fantasies of other loves, pulling away from Him?
Do you spend time with Him, pursue Him, wait for His purposes in your life?
He loves you! Even if you're far away, even if you've given yourself to other loves, He will restore you.
That's the meaning of redemption through Christ Jesus. We were sold into slavery by our disobedience, but He paid the price to bring us home.

Believe it today! It is a life-transforming story.
____________________

The love of God is greater far,
Than tongue or pen can ever tell,
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled
And pardoned from his sin.

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were ev'ry stalk on earth a quill
And ev'ry man a scribe by trade.
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Tho stretched from sky to sky.


ChorusO love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure,
The saints' and angels' song.

The Love Of God- Lehman, Frederick M.
Copyright: Public Domain

Specks in the eye

In the middle of delivering my sermon yesterday, a car horn started to blare in the lower parking lot. After a moment, I noticed the congregation's attention was wandering along with my own! I wondered, "why doesn't somebody take care of that?" Of course, what was to be done? Were two dozen people supposed to stand up and go out to check their car? After another moment I paused, and, with some irritation evident (that's what my wife tells me, anyway) said, "I'll just wait until the noise stops before I continue." A moment later the horn stopped sounding. At the end of the service, Jeremy approached and said, with a mischievous smile on his face, "It was your car, Pastor!" I expected someone else to take care of a situation that was really 'my problem' because, even though my car was parked in that lot, 'it couldn't be my vehicle.' When I found out that my car was the 'offender,' I was a little embarrassed and a lot amused!

Have you ever done that; made 'your problem,' into 'his problem' blind to the possibility that at least part of responsibility belongs to you?

Over the years I've been asked to counsel dozens of couples through a tough spot in their marriage. In many of those situations, as soon as the couple starts to talk to me I can see that she thinks it's his problem, and he thinks it her problem! An impasse forms around the issue, as each waits for the other to initiate change. Neither will own any responsibility. Pride is strong, isn't it? That little phrase, "I was wrong!" sticks in our throat. We find it so hard to ask questions that might lead us to discover where we bear some responsibility for a misunderstanding, for pain, for a broken relationship.

In his famed Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned about the lack of humility that can cause us to blame, point, judge, and accuse. He drove home his point with a funny little metaphor, but a powerful one we all can understand. He said, “Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. For others will treat you as you treat them. Whatever measure you use in judging others, it will be used to measure how you are judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye." (Matthew 7:1-5, NLT) Everytime I read that passage, a ridiculous mental image forms of a person leaning in close to another's face looking for a speck of sawdust, even as the branch in their own eye smacks the other person in the side of the head every time they try to maneuver a little closer to 'help' out!

Only God can save us from a self-righteous arrogance that says, "It's not me, therefore, it must be you!" The Message, a contemporary paraphrase of the Bible, loses the direct metaphor, but helps us grasp the principle of which Jesus was speaking: "It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor." (Matthew 7:3-5, The Message)

Something bugging you at home, at work?
Have you assumed that the problem must belong to the other person, like I did in church yesterday?
Humbly re-consider that defensive stance. As Jesus taught us, let's adopt the humility of a child.
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you may have a part in creating the difficulty, keeping an offense alive, causing a stressful situation to become worse by blaming; then, with His help, begin to make a difference.
____________________

"Father, as I begin a new week,
I thank you for the opportunities that You are preparing for me at this moment:
opportunities to love someone in need,
opportunities to care, to pray, to minister Your grace.
Thank You, Lord, for loving me and reaching out to me when the problem really was my problem!
'While I was still sinning, ignoring You, You loved me,' and that is amazing and wonderful, Lord.
Keep me near to You today, responsive to Your leading,
loving God and others, obedient and holy.
This I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen."