“inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.”

For many people it is Jesus “yes,” and the Church “no.” I understand this well. I have been hurt more by those who claim to know Him than those who don't. I supposed I expected more, but I don't intent to let it put me off Him! But here's a question, what would you do if you saw Jesus hungry and naked (that is part of what the quote from Matthew 25 is about)?

I don't want to downplay our very real needs or our very real difficulties, but compared with much of the world, we in the West are all filthy stinking rich. According to UNICEF over 22,000 children die every day due to poverty. That is over one child every 4 seconds. So how many died while you were reading this? And how much suffering results from just one such death? It is easy to be overwhelmed, it is easy think I can do nothing. This post was prompted by pictures face book friends posted, and I suggested “Opportunity International” as an effective way to help some. Even if we only help one, the mother of that child will be eternally grateful. Jesus also said “... inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ I cannot do nothing, how about you?

Happy are the poor in spirit

It's a few years ago now that I resigned my self appointed task as keeper of the Universe. Well it was not really the whole universe, but I had been feeling responsible for a lot more than I now feel for things outside of my control. I also stopped worrying as much about what people thought of me, and I started to define success in very different terms than I had earlier.

The above quotation from the sermon on the mount is a huge stumbling block for our culture, where self reliance and individualism rule, where career, financial success, and making it big is what it's all about. We are told that “Only the weak need religion.” For me it's more like a brand new pair of legs.

The (often self imposed) pressure we feel to be successful, to need nobody, to be beautiful, intelligent, rich, powerful causes us to hide who we really are. It results in our living outside of reality, because nobody can be all these things. We are often afraid to let others know who we really are because we believe if others really knew the truth about us they would reject us. What is it they say “Most men live lives of quiet desperation”? But we don't all admit it even when we do!

There are a couple of equal and opposite errors to avoid here. On the one hand there is the unhealthy dependency that signifies a lack of maturity, an unwillingness to take responsibility for our thoughts actions and attitudes, a dependency that leans too heavily on others placing the blame on them whenever things go wrong. It is a strong indication that we have not yet grown up.

But there is an opposite error, and one that many fall into. Let me start by asking who is the more mature, one who cannot surrender some of his or her independence or one who can? What I am saying is that independence is not the greatest form of maturity, what is more mature is interdependence, that is a willingness to admit that I have not arrived, that I have needs others can help me with.

Now I am a Mathematician. I have often said that it is harder to be arrogant when you are a Mathematician (it's not impossible, but you have to work a little harder!). The point is that no matter how much you know, it is perfectly obvious that (in the words of Newton) you are doing nothing more than splashing about on the shore of the vast ocean of knowledge. To put it another way, in Mathematics you cannot ask a question without showing your ignorance. So I ask my peers lots of questions. But I know more than I would, because I get at least some of those questions answered.

Now I do need to do what I can do, but I will not learn as much if I am unwilling to admit my ignorance. And it is here that we find the balance and avoid both of these equal and opposite errors. So in Mathematics so in life. If we are unwilling to admit or even see that in many places we are weak, and in many things we all fail, then we will not be living in reality and we will not seek the help that we all need!

It's the first step in recovery “I admitted that I am powerless over .....” And we are either in recovery, or we are in denial. I prefer another river (different from “de Nile” - groan – I know – I am of course talking about Ezekiel's river - Ezekiel 47).

To do what we already know is right

While it is true that many Christians get caught up in legalism (rigid adherence to often times man made rules) the opposite error screws us up just as much. If we are honest with ourselves, not one of us lives up to what we already know is right. I know I don't. That is why I need forgiveness and why, as I often put it, I need my Anglican fix (confession and absolution, and I never feel so free and so clean as when after I have blown it, I go and confess to Him and ask His help to do better – this is the very opposite of a guilt trip!).

We live in a culture that has lost it's way, that no longer knows what is right and wrong. We can know, but it's not about figuring it out intellectually. It starts with working from where we are at, it starts with being consistent with what we already believe is right and what is wrong. When we go against our own conscience we sear it (the image is of being seared with a red hot iron – after a while there is no feeling!). We have all done it, given in to what we knew was wrong and then suppressed the guilt. But guilt is not dealt with by sitting on it, it is dealt with by being forgiven. When we sit on it, it becomes easier the next time to do the same thing, and then after a while we change our minds about it being wrong. We can even get belligerent at those who hold the view we formerly held!

I have shared this illustration before but it stuck with me. The girl in the caff who told me “I don't think adultery is wrong.” I suspect she was hitting on me, but I looked her in the eye and told her “That's because you want to do it.” Her hand came up not quite quickly enough to hide her “guilty as charged smile.” The point is that we are so very very good at justifying what we do. So that our morality is tied more to what we do, than to what we (initially) believe. And what we do changes what we believe (no one wants to be a villain in his or her own eyes!).

The way forward is to start by doing the things we already know are right, and by being open to admit it when we are wrong. It's all summed up in a saying of Jesus “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” Doing is believing!

Redemption - a different kind of bail

I was in prison recently (no no only visiting - with the alpha program). In leading worship in one of the listed songs “There is a redeemer, ” I had to wonder if the men all knew what it meant. I explained it this way “When you have blown it and have to face the penalty, a redeemer is one who bails you out permanently.” When we break the law of the land we may need to serve a prison term, and bail here on earth does not save us from the penalty, it only gets us out until we come to trial. Before the bar of God the offense is forgiven and He casts my sin into the deepest sea and posts a “no fishing” sign. This “no fishing” is especially for me, no more guilt trips thank you! What I love about God is that moments after my confession I can climb up on His lap and He receives me as if I never sinned!

The redeemer we are talking about is of course Jesus Christ, and He made redemption possible through His death on the cross (He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay!). Here on earth there is the matter of getting caught. On the other hand He sees everything, but the way to get away with the many things of which we are all guilty, is to repent and seek His forgiveness. Being forgiven does not mean we will not have to face the consequences of our mistakes and wrong doing. We do reap what we sow. It is good news though to know that with Him we can always start over with a clean sheet. That is a big part of what the new birth is really all about, a chance to start over. This is good news indeed, and you only find this with God. Our fellows here below find it a tad harder to forgive. When people ask me how I am doing I often say “The Lord loves me, it's the rest of the world I'm having trouble with!” We (I) need to be more like Him in the forgive and forget department! The World would be a better place!

I used to think Jesus was clever ....

I used to think Jesus was clever because of the way he could take every day things and use them to illustrate the spiritual. The saying I used the other day “We reap what we sow” is an example of this. There is more to this saying that the simple implication that our actions have consequences. For example if you plant one potato in the spring, how many do expect to get when you dig up in the fall? Well yes many (some 30 fold, some 60 some 100). This works both positively and negatively, and we can rejoice in the abundant harvest of the good, and weep for the overwhelming harvest of the bad.

The “s” word (sin) has virtually gone out of our vocabulary in this “anything goes” culture in which we live. But you can be sure of one thing (or you will be eventually) that the things the Scriptures call sin all have unwanted consequences. In terms of reaping what we sow one preacher put it this way: “Sin takes us further than we want to go, keeps us longer than we want to stay and costs us more than we want to pay.”

So I used to think that Jesus was clever, but in the end I realized that He is far more clever than I ever imagined. I came to realize that He designed creation to be a living parable of the spiritual. So there are both weeds and wheat, joy and sorrow. Spring is a parable of resurrection, fall reminds us that all things come to an end. And as we can see the beauty of the fall in the fall colours, so we can learn to grow old gracefully and appreciate the finer things of life. Or (as I used to do in our all too short summers) resent the fact that the weather is getting colder, and the days shorter. After the fall, if we have eyes to see and patience to wait, we can see that it's not always winter. So when we go through the seasons of barrenness, when it looks like everything is dead, through our experience of the seasons we can see that God is at work even in that time preparing for the new birth and the new growth of spring.

Jesus is widely regarded as the best teacher the world ever had. Both His words and His creation can instruct us in the way that we should go. And if we are listening we will reap the good fruit of listening. If we are not we will reap the harvest of not doing so. In particular we cut ourselves off from the source of all real love and joy and peace and hope. The Lord is speaking to us in creation, in the stars as the heavens declare the Glory of God. He is speaking to me in my gardening as am gardening for the first time in years (more to come). The question then is this “Are we listening, are you, am I?”

You think you're misunderstood!

Not that long ago, I was complaining to the Good Lord that I feel misunderstood. His tongue in cheek reply to me boiled down to “You think you're misunderstood? Buddy you ain't seen nothing. What about all those obnoxious religious types who say they represent me but don't? What about all the self righteous hypocrites who claim to speak for me but don't even know me? What about all the blame, all the bad mouthing I get when things go wrong, all the false accusations all the nasty things people say and think about me? You think you have a problem. My son, you ain't seen nothing.”

Jesus tells us that there is a thief, that he has an agenda and it is to kill steal and destroy. He is also a liar and the father of lies. He seems to have two strategies: In the West he seems to want to persuade us that he does not exist. Our African brothers and sisters on the other hand, know well that he does, and that he likes to display his power both to fascinate and to induce fear!

His strategies seem to be very effective. When things go wrong we need someone to blame. In the West it is either God or those who believe in Him, or it's the other buddy. Don't get me wrong, we are by and large far from guiltless. As I pointed out the other day, the default is to blame anyone but ourselves. Part of this is that we listen to the father of lies, are deceived by him and so unconsciously do his bidding. And part this, is our widespread rejection of the guidance that God has given us in the Book He inspired.

There is a Biblical principle that we reap what we sow. If we plant potatoes we don't get carrots. Our rejection of the moral laws of the Universe have unwanted consequences, and God, in His love, wants to use the pain of these consequences to bring us back to Himself. This is how I found Him. When the School of hard knocks finally brought me to the place where I stopped blaming others, I could start to see that His ways are good and right and proper. I turned to Him and found peace and joy and hope and strength to do what without Him I could not, and cannot do. I too had misunderstood God, I hadn't thought He cared. When I turned to Him I discovered relationship with the nicest person in the universe. It's not rocket science “God good, Devil bad.” Who will/do you follow? Whether we know it or not, one way or the other we follow him or Him! Don't agree? If you don't and I am right, you are deceived. Perhaps its me who is deceived, but then I do have peace and joy, and I am a lot more patient than I was. Sounds like God to me :)!

“The woman You gave” … Playing the blame game.

Sooner or later we need (whether we do it is another question) to start to ask “How did I get myself into this mess?” Human nature seems to be such that in seeking to answer this question, we will likely look for someone to blame. We come by this honestly (even when it is dishonest!). When God asked Adam in the garden if he had eaten the forbidden fruit, the first words out of his mouth were “The woman you gave ...” In other words, it's the woman's fault, and actually God it's your fault too, You are the one who gave her to me!

It's not hard to find someone to blame, I mean nobody is perfect, least of all me. But have you noticed (especially in others) we all seem to have this tendency to minimize our own faults and maximize the other buddies? We see this in Adam too. In stead of taking responsibility for his own decisions, he laid the blame full on the Mrs. I mean she started it right? The problem with the blame game though, is that it does not lead to fullness of life. It can leave us unhappy, bitter and cranky, and far too often we finish up with a shipwrecked relationship. Well he/she does not understand me, he/she is selfish, he/she only thinks of number 1, is always doing things to deliberately annoy me. It's enough to make you into a recluse!

In many ways I just described me, at least me before I encountered the Lord. At the break up of my first marriage I blamed her 100% for the difficulties, it was only later that I started to discover that I was (and am) far from innocent. It seems to be very common in a relationship break up for both sides to lay 100% of the blame on the other one. Part of the problem is that we don't know ourselves very well. I have come to suspect that the one I would have the most difficulty with is a carbon copy of myself walking down the road in the opposite direction. In other words I have found it a real challenge when I come across my own faults in an other. I noticed this first in others. Shortly after conversion, I encountered this young woman who came our meetings. She talked and talked and talked non stop. Taking her home one time she was going on and on about another person in the group. “I can't stand him,” she said. When I asked what it was about him that she disliked here response was “Well you can't get a word in edgeways!” It was a perfect of example of a Biblical saying which talks about our judging in others, the very thing we do ourselves.

It is so much easier to see the other person's faults. What is not so easy is to see them in ourselves. We will be examining (checking out) a saying of Jesus about the truth setting us free. The Scripture also talks about speaking the truth in love. My experience is that no matter how gently, how much love and affection I have for the other one, most people seem to find it almost impossible to hear the truth. We seem to fall into two equal and opposite errors, we speak the truth but not in love, or we conflict avoid keeping quiet pushing the “little foxes” under the rug until what is under the rug is a monster. So often though, when we speak the truth even in love, we enter into a tunnel of conflict, and more often than not we exit post haste the same direction we went in! What I am saying is that our ability to give and receive the truth is something of a lost art. But healthy relationships cannot exist without vulnerability, honesty and humility.

In my first marriage I fought too much, in my second not enough. Fighting can be constructive or destructive. Learning to control our anger is important. Seeing each other's point of view is so very very necessary. Learning to listen is paramount. The best place for us to come in our relationship difficulties is to the foot of the Cross of Christ. You see when we compare ourselves with each other we are not wise, but when we compare ourselves with Jesus, we have more of a realistic picture of who we are, and what we should be. As they drove cruel spikes into His hands and feet He prayed “Father forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.” I have a ways to go. How about you? At the foot of the cross, I see I have not arrived, but at the foot of the cross I see that there is full acceptance and forgiveness. At the foot of the cross we are leveled, "for all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God". Knowing how much we need to be forgiven helps us to see how much we need to forgive. At the foot of the cross we start the process of becoming more like Him. At the foot of the cross we, and our relationships, start to become whole.