Month: May 2012

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Life

3 Things Truth Is

This is the way; walk in it. ~Isaiah 30:21

God hates lies, deceit, treachery, hypocrisy, pretense, flattery, slander, slurs, oath-breaking. The oh-so-close, just a bit off, slight twist of truth is what God especially loathes; almost-originals are the most effective counterfeits.

Why does God hate lies? Because any lie is ultimately about him.

Truth involves far more than accuracy–facts can easily be manipulated, actions and attitudes too often shout the opposite of our words. How does the Bible picture truth?

Way of truth

Truth is:

  1. A PATH: A way to follow, a voice to obey, a Person to know. The way things really work.
  2. A ROCK: God’s character–faithful, dependable, trustworthy, consistent. The way things really are.
  3. A GOAL: God’s plan and desire for all he has made–restoration, new life, another chance. The way things really will be.

God commands his people, “Act like I do, be like I am, want what I want.” That is truth.

But how do we know? It is easy to be

  • bewildered by what God does
  • baffled about who he is
  • unclear what he wants of and for us.

God’s answer is Jesus, who declares, I am the path, the character, the plan. Take Jesus seriously–not the Jesus you imagine, not just doctrine about him, not just the religion that claims his name.

Know Jesus–by his Spirit, through his Word, in the lives of his people–and you will know truth.

So what is truth?

If your heart is open to Jesus, your ears listening for his voice, your feet willing to follow, your eyes alert to his movement, your hands quick to serve him, your words reflecting his qualities, your character one he can count on, your determination to seek his way,

you will know.

A few verses to check out: Psalm 25:4-5   Psalm 33:4-5, 11  Isaiah 11:1-9; 45:19  Jeremiah 7:28  John 8:31-32; 16:13; 18:37   1 Peter 1:22  (In the OT the Hebrew word for truth is often translated faithfulness).

 

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Faith

Sabbath Quiet: What God is Like

The bridge of grace will carry your weight. ~Charles H. Spurgeon

Golden Gate Bridge

Christ walked with men on earth that He might show them what God is like and make known the true nature of God to a race that had wrong ideas about him.

This was only one of the things He did while here in the flesh, but this he did with beautiful perfection.

From Him we learn how God acts toward people.

The hypocritical, the basically insincere, will find him cold and aloof, as they once found Jesus; but the penitent will find Him merciful; the self-condemned will find Him generous and kind.

To the frightened he is friendly, to the poor in spirit he is forgiving, to the ignorant, considerate; to the weak, gentle; to the stranger, hospitable.

The greatness of God rouses fear within us, but His goodness encourages us not to be afraid of Him. To fear and not be afraid–that is the paradox of faith

A. W. Tozer The Knowledge of the Holy

Photograph by Kimberly Hanson


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Faith Life

What is Truth?

And diff’ring judgments serve to declare that truth lies somewhere, if we knew but where. ~William Cowper

Inspector Clouseau

I love truth. I imagine my role in life to be the troublesome child who announces that the emperor is wearing no clothes. Often, the “elephants” in the room are clearer to me than other humans nearby. I go for days accomplishing little because the inside of my brain resembles a disassembled toaster–nothing is left unexamined down to its smallest particle.

But, to my continual frustration, emperors avoid being faced with the obvious, elephants are perfectly comfortable where they are, and a toaster in pieces is not good for much.

Still, I am convinced of the beauty and priceless value of truth, and am ready and willing to do battle against its too common counterfeits:

  • Self-righteous offense–“How dare you believe differently!”
  • Pious platitude–“I’m sure he didn’t mean to hit you.”
  • Cynical sneer–“It amuses me to prove how deluded you are.”

Do you see yourself in any of those three? The tendency to moralize, to sentimentalize or to destroy any idea or thought left unguarded?

Or, to put it another way, is truth my fiercely guarded possession, silly putty to suit my fancy or a weapon of snarky destruction?

When I indulge in any of the three, I am holding truth hostage to lies.

What is truth? The Roman governor Pontius Pilate asked that question of Jesus, and it wasn’t because he was stupid or unfamiliar with the prevailing viewpoints of his day. There was a reason he failed to see.

And I think I know what it was. (To be continued…)

What have you noticed about truth’s counterfeits?


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Culture Faith Life

Truth and Love

The first reaction to truth is hatred. ~Tertullian

Truth

The relationship between Truth and Love is confusing. In a previous post, 7 Things Love is Not, I noted that biblical truth and love are inseparable twins. So why do I find it so difficult to live happily with both?

In recent years Truth has taken quite a beating. 

  • What once was true is now in question, so you can no longer trust your beliefs.
  • What once was evident is now computer-edited so you can no longer trust your senses.
  • What once was reliable is now filtered and slanted, so you can no longer trust the facts.

Any truth left over, any perspective we all still share, is as tasty and invigorating as yesterday’s leftover coffee. We thirst for something so much better…

In contrast to tepid relativism, the Truth-tellers among us seem strident–more hostile and mean than accurate. Rigid lines are drawn and defined, with no middle ground, no grey areas allowed.

If the choices are Truth-as-hammer, or Truth-as-bias, most of us will choose neither. Both feel like the opposite of Love.

But the opposite of Truth is not love, it is lies. And the opposite of Love is not truth, it is indifference.

An indifferent liar is exactly what God is not. And therefore is the worst thing that we can be. So,

  • The impulse to pretend,
  • To refuse to care,
  • To keep our heads down and thoughts to ourselves is not from God and is not who he is.

The problem is not with Truth, the problem is with us. We’ve forgotten its meaning, we’ve misunderstood; we’ve become hardened, skeptical and afraid. But oh, the delight that awaits us when we rediscover Truth once more.

So, what is Truth? What do you think?

 

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Faith

Sabbath Quiet: Practice God’s Presence

There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God. ~Brother Lawrence

Practice God’s Presence

Pray remember what I have recommended to you, which is, to think often on God, by day, by night, in your diversions. He is always near you and with you; leave Him not alone.

You would think it rude to leave a friend alone who came to visit you; why then, must God be neglected?

Do not, then, forget Him, but think on Him often, adore Him continually, live and die with Him; this is the glorious employment of a Christian.

Brother Lawrence, from  The Practice of the Presence of God.

Brother Lawrence c.1614-1691

Born Nicholas Herman, Brother Lawrence began his career as a soldier and footman. Unschooled, known to be clumsy and awkward, the young man entered a carmelite monastery in Paris as a lay brother, intending to sacrifice his life in penance for his faults and failures. Instead, Brother Lawrence found the joy and delight of living every moment, performing the most menial of tasks in the presence of, and for the love of, God.

Interlaken, Switzerland, photograph by Jamie Sladkey

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Culture Faith Life

Time and Eternity

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once. ~Albert Einstein

Telling time

We think we are time’s master and manager, but we live as if time has mastered us.

In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis cleverly imagines the life of a Christian from the perspective of demons, relentlessly at work to pull us from the path of God. We want man hag-ridden by the Future, Screwtape, a Senior Tempter gloats. We want a whole race perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow’s end, never honest, nor kind, nor happy …(Letter #15)

Eighty years after that was written, I wonder if Screwtape has achieved his goal.

A moment in time

On a recent morning I stood in line at Starbucks. In front of me a family placed a lengthy, unhurried, exquisitely elaborate order. Impatient that the wait for a simple cup of coffee would take minutes, rather than seconds, I grimaced at the gentleman behind me. He smiled kindly and told me he never let such things bother him. Embarrassed, I let out the air of minor outrage.

We then engaged in a delightful conversation about coffee, family and life. It was a moment of connection that required both time and presence. And a decision on my part to stop being hag-ridden by the rest of my day.

We were made for more

Our Creator has made us for eternity, and the present moment is where time and eternity meet. The wily Screwtape knows that God wants us to concentrate on

  • “Obeying the present voice of conscience,
  • Bearing the present cross,
  • Receiving the present grace,
  • Giving thanks for the present pleasure.”

Planning for tomorrow, or the rest of today, is necessary, but we are not meant to give our hearts to a temporal future that does not even exist.

What keeps you from “receiving the present grace?” What have you learned to help us live in the present?

 

 

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Culture Faith Life

Is Time Your Tyrant?

Time’s fun when you’re having flies. ~Kermit the Frog

Time keeper

Time. We long for it, we try to manage it, we watch it surge past the dikes and dams we carefully build to hold and hoard it.

When you say the word, TIME, out loud, what do you hear? A wistful tone of yearning for moments lost, or something more like panic?

I hear panic, especially when my to-do list is long. I feel circled and threatened by the beasts of interruption and disruption; unexpected problems and distractions that devour my day.

Am I time’s wise steward, or its indignant owner?

Time, when viewed as a limited inventory I must hoard and protect, becomes an idol.

  • Don’t waste my time
  • I don’t have the time
  • I’ve spent too much time

I find myself miserably serving something I was meant to hold lightly.

Dethroning the tyrant

How can you and I keep time in its proper place? A few ideas:

  • Daily hand God your calendar and say out loud, “You manage my day!”
  • Embrace interruptions. Life is not a list to be checked off; it’s a voice to be followed.
  • Practice random acts of extravagant attentiveness. If you live in a culture where everyone is “too busy” this could change a life.
  • When your plans and productivity are thwarted, laugh. What you laugh at cannot bully you.
  • Like Kermit the Frog in the quote above, stop looking at the clock and enjoy the flies. As Jesus said, Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Does time feel like a tyrant? What are doing to dethrone it?

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Bible Studies Faith Life

Sabbath Quiet: You are Loved

He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. Isaiah 40:11

Where are you on this day of gratitude and grief intermingled?

Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…Isaiah 49:13-17

Photograph by Laura Windes

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Life

7 Things Love is Not

hands make heart

As a young girl I would sing a song from the movie Goodbye Mr. Chips and, without fail, choke up on the last verse: “And the question I will ask only God can answer, Was I brave and strong and true? Did I fill the world with love my whole life through?“ It was my vow that, in the end, the answer would be an emphatic “yes.”

Years later, I was driving along in my car asking God if I could please have the planet to myself. Love was the last thing I wanted to offer the world, specifically some people in it. People hurt, disappoint, and refuse to stay within the lines of lovability.

I get tripped up by misconceptions about love. I don’t like pretending, I don’t feel “nice” enough, “tolerant” enough to join in the polite group LUV that often passes for the real thing. But I have seen real, biblical love at work, and I’m drawn to the evidence that:

  1. Love is not an emotion, Love is intention.
  2. Love is not an ideal, Love pursues a goal.
  3. Love is not blindly sentimental, Love is surprisingly shrewd.
  4. Love is not the opposite of conflict, Love often rocks the boat.
  5. Love is not the opposite of truth, Love is truth’s inseparable twin.
  6. Love is not weak, Love is the powerful weapon of the weak.
  7. Love is not cowardly tolerance, Love is radical trust…

…in God, who with great intention, weaves his winsome way through our lives, in passionate pursuit of our truest selves, upsetting our assumptions and  disturbing the peace for the sake of our highest good.

Now, that kind of love I want to learn.

We love because he first loved us.

Have you been confused about love? What have you discovered about the real thing? I would “love” if you would share it!

Image Credit


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Culture Faith Life

Value Judgment

Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts. ~Albert Einstein

The Scream by Munch

Last week one of four renditions of Edvard Munch’s The Scream sold for an astounding $120 million at Sotheby’s auction. When the gavel fell to deafening cheers, the proud but unidentified winner willingly forked over the record amount for only one reason. The painting was a true original.

Of course, counterfeits abound, including comic parodies of Munch’s familiar work. One image features an alarmed Piglet, another, Lisa from The Simpsons. The Home Alone actor inspired many of us to mimic the classic pose for the camera. Quality reproductions and forgeries are easily found, appropriate for a dorm room, but worth almost nothing.

Deep down we know the worth of the authentic, the one-of-a-kind, whether a Monet or Babe Ruth baseball, and many of us would empty our pockets for the chance to give one pride of place in our home. We would rearrange the furniture, banish our paint-by-numbers and cheesy memorabilia to the garage; display carefully, and diligently protect our prize from harm.

We know how to care for, advocate for, to move heaven and earth on behalf of what has value. The question is, what do we believe is worthy of that care?

Jesus kept it simple: God matters, people matter, God’s plan for his creation matters. (Matthew 6:33, Mark 12:29-31). The rest will come as needed, if what God values is given pride of place.

Sound obvious? Maybe, but God’s values are not easily chosen in the heat of the moment, with plenty of counterfeits on the auction block as well.

What are you tempted to value above the things that really matter? What would you give anything to have? 

 

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