5 posts tagged “question”
Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?
John the Baptist asked this question of his cousin Jesus. It was an important question to John, because he was at the moment a prisoner of King Herod. He was waiting to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel and his liberty.
Go back and report to John what you see and hear: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.
Jesus preached the same message as John, but with an important twist. Oh yes, Jesus called for repentance, just like John, but He also preached that salvation was possible for all, even sinners, tax collectors, and their loathsome Roman overlords.
Jesus surely cared about his cousin John and wanted to free him from King Herod's prison, but He did not intervene to do that. Oh sure, He could have, but Jesus did not work that way. His kingdom was not of this world. His kingdom would come by invitation and response, not by His own divine power and might.
Take for example Jesus' encounter with the rich young ruler. Remember how He said the man lacked one thing? He told the man, Go, sell all you have, give it to the poor, and follow Me. Sadly, the man, who was actually a pretty good guy otherwise, could not do that. So the man walked away, unable to part with his riches and to enjoy being the 13th disciple of Jesus.
Did Jesus then run after the man and let him keep his materialistic god? No, he did not. He just let him go. He simply let him make his own decision. He respected his free will. Jesus did not really care about the man's money, but he did care about the man. He knew that the man's riches had a hold on him and he offered him a once in a life time opportunity to have true liberty!
I like the term being a non-anxious presence. To me it means what Jesus did here, addressing an issue but also showing he cared about the man. He cared enough to offer him a place in His own troupe of disciples. How sad that this man missed his opportunity for real liberation.
There are many who are weak and poor and need rescuing, but this man was not one of them. He was bound in a prison of his own making. He was possessed by his possessions.
How about you, my friend? Are you generously opening your hand to the poor at this Advent Christmas season and throughout the year? Are you still thinking that you can take it with you? Or, are you dedicating all that you are and all that you have to the Master who still invites you to follow Him today?
Jesus is waiting for you to make your choice.
Do it today.
Psalm 90 continues (verses 3-6),
You turn men back to dust, saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men."
For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.
You sweep men away in the sleep of death;
they are like the new grass of the morning --
though in the morning it springs up new,
by evening it is dry and withered.
_____________
As I meditated on these four verses from Psalm 90, I remembered the song "Dust in the Wind." It was written in 1977 by Kerry Livgren, when he wrote and played for the band Kansas. While playing "Dust in the Wind" one day at home, when his wife was doing laundry, she
told him he should put it on the album. Since the album had some extra
time available, he presented the song to the band and it was included on the "Point of Know Return" album,
becoming their highest charting single.
Livgren's song opens with these words:
"Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
I close my eyes
Only for a moment, then the moment's gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes, a curiosity
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind."
If you've ever heard it performed, "Dust in the Wind" is a slow melody, well paired with the melancholy lyrics. It has somewhat the same feel and tone as Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller's song "Is That All There Is?" which was memorably sung by Miss Peggy Lee in 1969. The chorus expresses life's disappointments:
"Is that all there is?
If that's all there is, my friends, then let's keep dancing.
Let's break out the booze and have a ball,
if that's all there is."
Are we just dust in the wind? Are life's disappointments really all there is? Moses, here in Psalm 90, reflects on the meaning of life and its brevity. We do not hear Moses saying that life is without meaning and purpose in these verses. He is simply saying that our lives are in God's hands.
God made us from dust and then blew into us the breath of life. God's breath is in you and me. That essential part will never die. Our bodies grow, mature, and die. Compared to God's timeless nature though, we live brief lives, like new grass, which in the morning is green and bright, but by evening may be dry and withered.
Just think! The great God of heaven, the Creator of the earth, moon, stars, and universe, has put His stamp upon you and me. We are his. He is ours. We each have a purpose upon this earth, because life is preparation for eternity. Once we accept Christ as Lord and Savior and begin to live in Him, life takes on new, eternal meaning. Nothing in life or death can take us from God's love and His presence.
Paul Harvey has a daily radio broadcast on which he always tells a personal story in two parts. The second part is always "the rest of the story." I began by mentioning the author of "Dust in the Wind," Kerry Livgren. At the time he wrote the song, he did not know God and believe in Him. "The rest of the story" is that later, Kerry accepted Christ and became a Christian. Describing himself as a family man, he now teaches an Adult Sunday School Class at Topeka Bible Church in Topeka, Kansas.
Friend, if you are facing a time in your life when you are asking "Is That All There Is" and you look around you and wonder if you are just "Dust in the Wind," then I say to you, look to Moses' word here in Psalm 90. God has put His stamp upon your very being. You belong to Him. To God, you are not just "Dust in the Wind." You are of eternal worth to God!
For the past three days I have explored in this space Jesus' parable of The Unmerciful Servant.
Now I am ready to explore it further by considering the question, Am I forgiving? This is a question that every believer must ask, because it is something of vital importance to Jesus.
He taught, simply, that our forgiveness from God is great. Then he linked, forever, God's forgiveness and our forgiveness of others.
If God has forgiven you, you should forgive others. For by the measure of your forgiveness of others, you will be measured by God in the last Day.
The Unmerciful Servant parable should give one pause to ask the question, Am I forgiving? Do I really "walk the walk" of actually forgiving others, repeatedly?
We are to forgive others not just seven times, but seven times seventy. That's a very large number. Who would keep track of each instance of forgiveness? No one would, is the answer. The number of times we forgive others is so large that we can be sure it was Jesus speaking in hyperbole (exaggerated comparison) again, to make his point.
I am still thinking about Jesus' teaching in this parable. I am beginning to soften my harder edges and give people around me more benefit of a forgiving spirit. I am going to need God's help in this, because if I try to do it merely in my own strength, I know I will often fail to be forgiving.
Notice that it is not just the act of forgiveness that Jesus demands, but to be forgiving of others "from the heart." That means the decision is made in our minds and hearts before it is ever played out in our lives. On the other hand, it is possible to re-train our spirits by just taking action, even if the feeling of forgiveness is not yet in our hearts. At least then we are taking a step in the right direction.
Feelings sometimes follow our actions.
Today, and tomorrow, and for the rest of my life, I pray that God will help me become a more loving and forgiving follower of Jesus Christ, as a pastor, a husband, a family member, neighbor, and fellow believer.
It's a start. God's still working on me.
Will you make a similar commitment, today?
Psalm 149:5-9:
Let the saints be joyful in glory;
Let them sing aloud on their beds,
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
And a two-edged sword in their hand,
To execute vengeance on the nations,
And punishment on the peoples;
To bind their kings with chains,
And their nobles with fetters of iron;
To execute on them the written judgment --
This honor have all His saints.
Praise the Lord!
In the first four verses of Psalm 149 we are called to praise the Lord with a new song, for the saints to assemble and rejoice in God, our Maker, heavenly Father, and King, with dancing, singing, and the playing of musical instruments. If we humble ourselves in praising, God will take pleasure in us and beautify us with salvation.
The last five verses of Psalm 149, shown above, also call us to rejoice, to sing, and to praise God.
Then the honor of the saints is revealed.
What is the honor of the saints?
According to the Psalmist, the saints will be given a task to do. It is to carry out God's written judgment upon the nations, peoples, kings, and nobles.
It is an execution of vengeance with the two-edged sword. It is no less than punishment. Kings and nobles will be bound in chains and fettered in irons.
At first glance, this part of the Psalm appears less than Christian. Swords? Vengeance? Punishment? Binding and fettering?
And yet, it's right there in the Bible, the same Word that our Lord said will stand forever. The same Word that Jesus said he came to keep, to fulfill, not wanting to remove even a jot or a tittle.
So what are we to do with this part of Psalm 149?
The more important question is, I think, what does it have to do with us? After all, who are we to question its wisdom?
I seem to remember Jesus speaking early and often of a Day of Judgment, of a separating of the sheep from the goats. I recall our Lord predicting His triumphant return, to establish His Kingdom on earth, as it is already in Heaven. The final chapters of the Bible, in the Revelation to John, speak of that coming Day.
What is the honor of the saints, then?
It is just this, to execute judgment on that great Day of the Lord only upon the written judgment of God.
God is a just Judge and I have no doubt that His judgments in that Day will be fair and justified.
The vengeance and punishment and written judgment of God will someday come.
This Psalm, taken in its entirety, speaks of a day of praise, a time of rejoicing, a time even of rest and renewal, before the great and terrible Day of the Lord.
Yes, I believe that our Lord will come again "to judge the quick [the living] and the dead."
The honor of "all the saints" is to participate in God's judgment.
Until that Day, let's live each day as God wants us to:
- Loving God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength
- Loving our neighbor as ourselves
- Loving one another as Christ loved us.
Come, Lord Jesus!
Caesurae, caesurae!
That's the breaks, literary-ily.
I've had a lot of breaks in life.
Fourth born out of six sibs (my brother and I, in the "center"), raised in a comfy suburb of the Baltimore area, two loving parents, good moral and religious training at home and church, educational opportunties galore, met the "woman of my dreams" (hyperbole allowed here in matters of the heart), blessed with three "arrows in my quiver" (although right now those arrows are out of my quiver, but that's okay!), and answered a Calling that has brought me great joy and fulfillment, some tears along the way, but even more laughs!
I've had a few pauses, too.
That's good, because we all need our Sabbath times, for rest, recreation, and renewal. In answering this Call, I am in a professional career, a way of life, actually, which allows plenty of time to reflect, re-tool, and re-invigorate. And that's a good thing, always, I've found. I thank God for the pauses which come, or which I invite into my life on this earth.
And along the way, yes, there have been interruptions, a-plenty.
Thank God for them! We work, we plan, then life happens, all its interruptions ... and God laughs. I know God is a good laugher, because, when I look in the mirror, I'm sure God has an over-the-top sense of humor.
Take Jesus, for instance. When he asked the Pharisees for a coin, to answer their question about paying taxes, they gave him one, a Roman coin. But the joke was on them, wasn't it, for having it? I mean, it does have a Graven Image on it, right? And nowhere does Holy Writ record that he gave it back, either (heh-heh).
Life's interruptions are occasions to laugh at ourselves and our human condition, knowing that it's gonna be alright ... because we know "the Rest of the Story." That Stone was rolled away, after all .. so there's no stone, no interruption, that God and I can't handle, together. I know this much is true! Yea, verily.
Life is full of breaks, pauses, and interruptions.
Caesurae, caesurae!
Long live such moments. We know they're here, and they're still coming. It's the stuff life is made of, eh?
caesura \sih-ZHUR-uh; -ZUR-\, noun;
plural caesuras or caesurae \sih-ZHUR-ee; -ZUR-ee\:
1. A break or pause in a line of verse, usually occurring in the middle of a line, and indicated in scanning by a double vertical line
2. Any break, pause, or interruption.
Caesura comes from Latin caesura, "a cutting off, a division, a stop," from the past participle of caedere, "to cut."
