You Have More Control than You Think

March 6, 2011

Matthew 9:27-29

²⁷ As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” ²⁸ When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. ²⁹ Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”

Not more than a few years ago, Rachael was vacationing in Miami Beach enjoying her first chance visit the sunshine paradise. Blocks from the resorts on Collins Ave., across the channel berthing yachts and speed boats, Miami Beach spreads out like most ordinary cities; crowed, smog, noisy, strip malls, and non-descript apartments; save for one that caught Rachael’s eye, perhaps set back sixty feet from the sidewalk.

It was skirted with a long, wide porch on which there were neat rows of rocking chairs warmed by the afternoon sun; each evenly space, in exactly the same position, nothing touching anything. Many of the chairs were occupied by quiet, elderly people, rocking gently to the hum of the traffic and the wafting breeze; every one ... however, just staring ... straight ahead ... at the street.

Rachael says, “I keep thinking, ‘All their lives, everyone on this porch worked hard, loved little, saved what they could, and it’s come to this: eight inches away from each other and no one to talk to.’”

If you ask me, that’s a scary thought. How much of our lives are spent nurturing ourselves until we have nothing left than ourselves.

Is it possible that by the time we are sitting on the porches of retirement homes, rocking quietly in the gentle breezes of an afternoon’s setting sun, that we have been so beat up over the years that this is all we have left?

As Eric Roth wrote in The Good Shepherd, “Do you know what my deepest fear is? That I will end up friendless; completely alone.”

Therapist Laurie Ann Perlman acknowledges we are motivated by needs that develop over years of gratification, frustration, reinforcement and disappointment. They become deeply unconscious and drive us to find associations that will balance our sense of self. We gravitate to things that give us safety, provide trust, allow for intimacy, build self-esteem and help us get some control over our daily grind.

What is it that is going to give us the deepest sense of purpose in our lives?

What is it that is going to address the voids we feel within?

What is it that will determine our blessings?

Have you watched the Dr. Phil show? I catch it once and a while. He’s not that bad at encapsulating patterns and offering perspectives for working through them. Dr. Phil McGraw basically works at "getting real" with behaviors and creating positive lives.

Last week his show was “The Mistress Revealed.” (You can imagine how I thought that we were in for a Jerry Springer, chair-throwing evening.) But, Phil McGraw calmly exposed the destructive belief system that was bringing destructive patterns into a marriage. His first guest-couple were fighting through a husband who had had seven adulterous affairs in five years, and rationalized it on the basis that his wife was too busy raising the kids and his wife was no longer physically attractive to him.

Now I ask you, what was his belief system? He believed in lust

In what had he placed his faith? He put his faith in his libido.

And what blessings had that faith bestowed him? a few minutes of titillating thrills and an alienated wife.

Had he turned his chair to that which God had given to him in the first place, turned his attention to his wife (as God so advises in Eph. 5, Gen. 3, Matt 5, Gal. 5), would he not have found the blessing in the marital sanctity that can be the highest halls of human happiness?

All that most of us do is put our hopes in quick fixes, instant gratification, self-centered satisfaction, driving ourselves to a “Shangri-La” of our own creation ... and it is death.

“Those who sow trouble, reap it.” Job 4:8

“Whoever sows injustice, reaps calamity.” Proverbs 22:8

“They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour.” Hosea 8:7

“Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.” 2 Corinthians 9:6

”Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; “

But....”whosoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” Galatians 6:8

If I live by my libido, I’ll face the consequences of STD’s, broken trust, betrayal of children. If I live by money, I’ll reap the benefits of its material gains along with its seductive alienation. If I live by power, I’ll gain the blessings of influencing others along with its deep loneliness, its paranoia over losing clout, its isolation from life.

However, as we see in the encounter of Jesus with the two blind men we really need to live in the shadow of God’s mercy, to seek Him, to put ourselves under His way, His truth and His life. In Jesus there is the invitation to turn our chairs towards something that can really heal us, to live for something that can really move us; to trust something that will really renew us.

In effect, God has given us more control over what happens to us than we may have thought. I have free will to choose who and what will by my god, and subsequently to decide what blessings I want to have in my life. The choice is yours.

If I live my myself, well ... count my curses...

If I live by God, well... count my blessings...

³ ... for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴ ... they will be comforted.

⁵ ... they will inherit the earth.

⁶ ... for they will be filled.

⁷ ... they will be shown mercy.

⁸ ... they will see God.

⁹ ... they will be called children of God.

¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven! (Matthew 5)

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses; life or death, blessings or curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live!” Deuteronomy 30:19

It is up to you. What do you believe in?

The Time of Your Life: Use it Wisely

February 13-2011

Ephesians 5:15-17

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

Why is it that winter seems to last for ever? In fact, we really only fight through about nine weeks of it out of 52 each year. But come summer time when we hang at the beach, enjoy vacations, enjoy baseball, time goes by like a flash of lightning, when in fact we have about 20 good weeks and good fun and good weather. Time drags when you want it to pass quickly and flies when you need more of it? It's not very cooperative!

Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers from NPR’s Car Talk argued ,

1. Time is money and money is work

2. Money is the root of all evil.

3. So if A=B, and B=C, then C=A, or we can conclude that

4. Work is evil, ... so let's go golfing.

Driving a furniture truck in upstate Vermont, we worked hard for not much money; starting out at 7:00, loading and unloading furniture, navigating back roads and getting home after dark tired and hungry. But we loved it. It was honest work and we met some interesting people.

Once we delivered a mattress to a small, one room apartment made out of a converted motel. We unloaded the mattress, set it up, packed up the old and loaded it into the truck only to find that the truck battery had died and we had to wait for another truck to drive over from the warehouse to give us a jump.

It took about an hour, and in the hour I felt a bit sad visiting with the young, unemployed father, his wife and one year old daughter. During the entire hour, they just sat in their lazy-boy’s watching TV, sort of in a semi-comatose state.

Rather than wasting time or spending time, achievers invest time. They make the most out of each moment.

Last week I mentioned how in an interfaith world Jesus is Buddha: the concepts of Buddha are of Jesus. This makes sense. If Jesus is the Lord of all that is good, then all good should be expected to be part of Jesus. However, Buddha is not Jesus; that is salvation, forgiveness, intimacy with God, personal communion with the Father are not part of Buddhism.

Mindfulness of Buddhist philosophy plays a central role in the teaching of Buddhist meditation, and it is intricately woven into the realities of the living Christ.

Described in Buddhism as a calm awareness of one's body, one’s feelings, the content of one’s consciousness, its discipline results in (... listen to this...) the development of "wisdom." How keenly connected this discipline is with the truth Paul is talking about. Almost is passing he says.

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise...

Be mindful of every moment.

YOUR TIME IS YOUR LIFE.

Think of it this way: when you give someone money, you've given them something that really is replaceable (a few hours work, another investment trade; it can be replaced). But when you give someone your time, you've given them a part of your life. This means "time management" is really "life management."

The Philips Translation has paraphrased this passage as,

"...Make the best use of your time. Don't be vague, but grasp firmly what you know to be the will of God." (Eph. 5:15-17 Ph)

I'd summarize these verses this way:

1. ANALYZE YOUR LIFESTYLE! “Be mindful of how you live.” (v.15) Be aware of what's going on. Be mindful.

2. UTILIZE THE PRESENT! “Make the most of every opportunity.” (v.17) Make the most of each instance.

3. RECOGNIZE WHAT'S IMPORTANT! “...understand what the will of the Lord’s will.” (v.17) Focus on priorities that last.

A question to consider as you work this week: how much of what I'm doing right now is going to count ten years from now, ...50 years from now, ... or for eternity?"

Your Greatest Weakness is God’s Greatest Platform

February 6, 2011

2 Corinthians 12:7-9

⁷ ...Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”⁹...Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Few, if any, will ever know what it feels like to be Chuck Close. Most of us have not idea of who he is. I had not run into his story until this last week. But in his story I do believe all of us have something monumentally important to learn from him.

Chuck Close is portrait artist. Unlike the days of old when portraitures were a paramount part of preserving your legacy, there are not many today who request this talent. Still, Chuck Close seems to have become a rather respected portrait artists of our time. When you look at his work, huge 10’x9’ canvasses, you would think you were looking at massive photographs. But on closer examination you’d notice there is no grain as with film, and no pixilation as with digital formats. They are painting in acrylic, or oil; or pencil sketches done with such detail they stun the senses.

But if you knew his backstory, well that you really give you something to think about.

Close suffers from prosopagnosia. It’s a disability where you can’t remember a face. You meet someone, and five minutes later, you see their face, but you cannot make any recollection about who it is; hear their story, have them mention their family, and then the connections are likely to return and you can remember who you are talking with. But to remember who’s who by the face alone is nearly impossible. In effect, the disability leaves one desperately alienated from the social world.

Faces are his greatest weakness. And yet, Chuck Close creates powerful masterpieces from the very things that are his greatest weakness. His weakness rather than adding to his alienating, becomes the motivation for greatness. To quote Chuck Close, “Everything in my art is driven by my disability.”

His greatest weakness is the source of his greatest strength. The weakness provides that platform where his greatness is elevated.

Few, if any, will ever have a disability like Chuck Close’s, and yet all of us face similar conditions. Who among us does not have to deal with weakness in one shape or another:

• Some of us feel completely inadequate for handling the responsibilities we have and feel like complete failures.
• Some of us feel like we are too callous, heartless, selfish and careless to have a healthy relationship with our spouse..
• Some of us have been so traumatized in our past that we feel paralyzed in the present. ..
• Some of us are overwhelmed by physical ailments and our bodies are eating away at our health.

For every person, there is Good News.

I so much would like to get this News into our world that has dismissed Jesus as just another option. Many see Jesus as just another idea on par with the Buddha, or Mohammad, or a Wiccan who focuses on the energies of the earth. I have been to interfaith chapels where a cross, a Buddha, the star and crescent of Islam and a rock are poignantly displayed on a shelf next to each other symbolizing equity between the faiths. But as I look into the alternative religions, all valid and helpful with truths for wholeness and healing, I’ve realized the Jesus is Buddha. The concepts of suffering and mindfulness are all in Jesus. Jesus is Mohammad. The teaching of justice and discipline in the original revelations of Mohammad are in the revelations of Jesus. Jesus is the earth. The pagan communion with earth are in Jesus, “Who was from the beginning,” and we celebrate in Genesis and Psalm 24. But, and this is a big “but,” Buddha is not Jesus. Mohammad is not Jesus. Wiccans are not Jesus; for Jesus is a reality that embraces all, but not one of which all else embraces. Jesus invites us into a relationship that NO OTHER religion dares embody. Jesus is God embracing weakness, personally; living and breathing in our pain and suffering and, as Paul preaches, lives in the weakness to glorify God’s strength. All other faith systems are valuable and have tremendous wisdom for humanity, and each is in harmony with Jesus, but Jesus is more. In the interfaith chapel I have wanted to gently pick of the cross the put it above the other religious symbols, in only in my mind, to reflect what I do believe is a deeper reality. Jesus is all, but not all is Jesus. He lifts me in my weakness to glorify the Kingdom.

Jesus speaks to Paul, and Paul speaks to us,

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

In weakness, any greatness is not me, but of the One who made me. I become the vessel for glorifying God, if I but let Christ take my life and embrace me in my weakness.

Our greatest weakness may actually be God’s greatest platform for elevating His power and glory in our lives.

Many, many times we find ourselves with loved ones, friends, neighbors - - incapacitated, debilitated, deteriorated, depreciated, decomposed, decayed, putrefied, petrified and calcified. We say, “They have no use.”

Frank had undergone surgery for a heart valve. As they were finishing the procedure and moving him off the ventilator, he aspirated and choked so severely that for 13 minutes no one was able to get air to his lungs. His brian in effect died and Frank was comatose.

His wife, Loretta, took him home, nursed him for seven years, Frank never regaining consciousness, before his died. During those years many would wonder, and some would say, “It would be a blessing if Frank would just die.”

But Loretta pointed out some profound wisdom, right from the revelation of Jesus to Paul, “I know Frank is a burden, but I also have seen how his illness has brought out the heart of compassion in his daughters who have learned through him how to love deeply, and relished every breath God has given them.”

Frank was, by all accounts of our utilitarian value system of a secularized world that see worth only in terms of usefulness, ... Frank was useless. But in the eyes of those who could see, for those who stopped long enough to sit by his bedside, there emerged a deep gratitude and mindfulness for the moment of each instance of life. Live, in the face of Frank’s weakness, because a great value.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9, Jesus tells Paul, and Paul tells us,

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

God’s power is the perfect counterpart to your weakness. It’s more than enough for you and it’s completely available to you. God isn’t scouring the universe looking for a perfect person through whom He can display His power and glory. Remember whom Jesus spent time with. Yes, he spent time with the aristocracy of Jerusalem, but he was more interested in the hated tax-collected, the leper, the widow, the blind, the lame, the outcast: the hurt and weak... people who had no claim to fame, or hope of fame, through whom he could rise them to a glory known only to a God who lives and reigned within.

No matter what you’re going through, no matter how weak you feel right now, God will use the “thorn in your flesh” and raise you on a platform of triumph.