Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Love is for the Other

As human beings, we all have a desire to be loved; and weddings are one of the ways in which we celebrate the fulfillment of that desire. When asked how you know when it is time to get married, Kenny age 7 responded, “It gives me a headache to think about that stuff. I'm just a kid. I don't need that kind of trouble.” Roger, age 9, said that falling in love is “like an avalanche where you have to run for your life.” There is probably some wisdom in those words!

Well, in Genesis chapter 1, we have the creation story in which we read these words about the beginnings of human beings. Genesis 1:26-27. “Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

The desire to be known and to be loved is part of what it means to be human – to be created in the image or likeness of God. The Scriptures reveal God as being relational at his very core ~ a perfect life of love, joy and peace as Father, Son and Spirit. And as we live in relationship – loving and being loved – we reflect the life of God! This is why the Scriptures express that humanity was created as male and female; it’s together in relationship that we reflect the love of God as Father, Son & Spirit.

But because our desire to experience love is so strong, in our brokenness we are prone to focus our efforts on getting others to love us. And in doing so, we end up using other people as our suppliers of love; and if need be, we will even manipulate them to fulfill our need to be loved.

This kind of pursuit of acquiring love for myself leads to all kinds of unhealthy and unholy ways of relating to other people. Instead of looking out for their needs, we attach ourselves to people who we think can do something for us. We offer love with conditions. “If you do this for me, then I will love you.”

At times our desire to be loved can be so strong that we will ignore hurtful behavior because we want that person to still love us. And we’re afraid that if we said something to them about the way they have been acting towards us, then they will stop loving us. Unfortunately, we end up perpetuating broken relationships that are not based on love but upon power and control – using others to meet my needs, and being used by others for their self-center desires.

The Scriptures, however, paint a different picture of what love looks like. The nature of love is to look away from self and seek the good of the other. Earlier we heard Mary read from 1 Corinthians 13 where the Apostle Paul describes the way of love as “…the most excellent way.” The best way to live life! And this way is focused on working for the good of the other by not being self-seeking. The description of what love looks like in this passage, and the numerous others in Scripture, is a life that is focused on the other, not on self. Love truly is for the other.

In 1 Peter 1:22, we are given these instructions for our relationships (marriages, friendships, families) “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.” And when we live in love with one another in this way, focused on the other, amazingly we find that our own God designed desire to be loved will be fulfilled! “…love one another deeply, from the heart.”

Saturday, December 16, 2006

"In the beginning..."

“In the beginning...” these words hold tremendous anticipation and hope for a moving and powerful story to unfold. Will there be a damsel in distress or a dashing hero who comes to the rescue? Will they ride off into the sunset to live happily ever after, or settle down to raise a family in their childhood village? Who knows, but one can always hope!

These days of ours are filled with cynical voices who predict the end of beauty and innocence, rather than dream of the goodness that was once ours. In those cool evening walks, we could taste a hope fulfilled. But now, well, now the bitterness of war and hate, disbelief and 'realism' have drowned out our childlike joy and zeal for life. We are left to pursue our own aims and secure what meager status our hands can clasp.

But what if we began to dream again? What if our weary minds began to once again come to life with the long lost memories of Eden? Perhaps we could reclaim the anticipation and hope that once captured our minds with the words, “In the beginning...”

“In the beginning” points to the future – of what is to come – all the while remembering the foundations of our earliest days. It sets us off on a journey into a future that we cannot see, full of risks and joys that will only be ours if we take that leap of faith and trust the one who is both beginning and end.

The Scriptures speak of a beginning that has always been and will always remain. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”

Out of this beginning came life and love and hope and peace. And he offers to lead us into a new beginning, a new life full of possibilities of infinite proportions. What if our days began with these words, “In the beginning?” What if our comings and goings were filled with the hope and anticipation which are captured in these three words? Would it change the world? Would it change our lives? Would it change our days?

Perhaps this is just a crazy dream, or maybe, just maybe this is a chance to begin again ~ to start-over and enter life with a refreshed heart that longs for something more than we've known.

"In the beginning..." What a phrase!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

God With Us?

After a long day of travel along the rough roads to Bethlehem, a young woman went into labor in the inhospitable surroundings of an animal stall. There were no welcoming nurses to greet the tiny infant or to witness his first gasp of air. Instead, he entered the world largely unnoticed. But from that moment on, the world would never be the same again.

In John 1:14 we read these words about Jesus’ birth, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” In Philippians 2, the Apostle Paul captured Jesus’ birth this way, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”

On that night long ago, when the first cries of the baby Jesus were heard by livestock, the Bible tells us that God put on our flesh. He entered into our reality and submitted himself to our experience. He got up from his place of comfort and went out into our streets and lived in the beautiful and harsh landscape that is our life. He learned our language so he could speak of the wonders of a Kingdom that is so close to us we can touch it this side of eternity. He learned what it means to suffer as a human being, to feel hunger pangs, and to watch his mother witness his agonizing death.

In Matthew 1:22-23, the gospel writer said that “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."”

‘God with us’ is such a different idea than ‘God out there.’ Beyond the obvious location difference, the idea that God would come to us so that we could enter into his Kingdom is startling. One could understand a God who would call us to get to where he is if we can muster the strength. But a God who would lay aside the glory of his life in order to come down to us and take on our life so that he could lead us into his Kingdom – amazing!

I’m struck by the contrast between ‘God coming to be with us,’ and our tendency to want others to ‘come to us’ rather than us ‘go to them.’ Jesus’ example of leaving his rightful place to bring light into our dark world is the path which we should follow. Rather than staying safely tucked away in our Christian surroundings, hoping that someone out there might join us; we should be the people, who like Jesus, get up and go out to find the sick and the lost wherever they are. Only then will we be able to include them into our life together. Think of the irony of the very ones who Jesus has brought into his Kingdom choosing to sit tight while others wonder in darkness!

As we celebrate and reflect upon the God who laid it all down so that we might be lifted up, may we become the people who are not satisfied to sit and stew while the world wonders helplessly in darkness. And may you be so covered by the dust of your Master that those with whom you come in contact will really know that God is with us! Merry Christmas.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Wanting vs. Doing

In recent days I have had the opportunity to visit with a couple of people who are struggling with their own brokenness. I say 'struggling' because they want something more, but their wanting doesn't lead to new life. One person told me that they begin their day with prayer and promises to God that they will follow him, but by afternoon they are living out their brokenness. What is missing?

As I was listening to their struggles, my mind went back to something I read from Dallas Willard. He says that wanting isn’t' enough ~ wanting is important, but it isn't enough. We need to have specific strategies or means by which we are going to actually do what Jesus would do if he were us. In short, we need to become more practical in our attempts to follow Jesus.

Perhaps we have made the idea of transformation too much about divine fairy dust when we try to understand the balance between the Spirit's transforming work in us and our own responsibility to begin to go ahead and actually live our lives in the way of Jesus.

Wanting vs. Doing ~ perhaps the continued brokenness in our lives comes more from an approach of wishful thinking versus an intentional discipleship.