The Joy of Being a Burden

Recently I have been coming upon articles and books which speak of burdensomeness.  It’s not a concept we like to hear.  One frequently hears the view expressed among the infirm elderly “I don’t want to be a burden to anybody”.  It is difficult for us to admit that we need help.  We don’t want to be a bother to others.

We live in a world that is enamored with power and strength. With the evolutionary model of the survival of the fittest before our eyes, we hesitate to admit weakness, believing that it shows us in a bad light.  Our society is glamorized by self independence, evidenced by all of the self-help manuals on the market.  We are programmed by our society to avoid being dependent on others.  Unfortunately, holding this attitude has had a devastating effect on the family and the church.  It makes us afraid to admit our own weaknesses.  Deep inside our hearts we know we have them.  Since no one talks about them, it becomes very easy to think that we alone have such problems.  This leads to discouragement, and can even lead us away from faith.

 But in both church and family, weakness is essential if we are to live in community.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book Life Together says that “not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak”.  He further adds that it is only the weak that prevent the death of a fellowship.  The Anglican theologian and pastor, John Stott, near the end of his long life wrote in his book The Radical Disciple that dependence is one of the most neglected areas of discipleship, concluding that “we are all designed to be a burden to others”.  In his mid eighties, while preparing for a sermon he was to preach, he fell, breaking a hip.  Lying there, unable to move, he was totally dependent on others.  As he reflected on this event a couple of years later, he concluded that total dependence is a place where radical disciples need to be from time to time.  The film Driving Miss Daisy focuses on the tension between dependence and independence.  At its beginning, fiercely independent Miss Daisy refuses to accept any help, not wanting to be dependent on anyone.  By the end of the movie, ninety-seven year old Miss Daisy graciously accepts being fed by her former chauffer. 

Gilbert Meilaender goes so far as to claim that “Is this not in large measure what it means to belong to a family: to burden each other – and to find, almost miraculously, that others are willing, even happy, to carry such burdens?”  He adds that when we reject this, we cease to live in a moral community which deserves to be called family.  God has designed the life of the family, both our nuclear and church families, to be one of “mutual burdensomeness”.  We are to carry each other’s burdens. The nuclear family which refuses to accept this role will cease to function as a family.  Likewise, the church which refuses to bear each others burdens will cease to function as the church was created to be. 

Mutual sharing of burdens allows us to care for each other. It also gives life giving freedom to those who are suffering, enabling them to in turn care for others.   We have two questions before us that we must answer. Are we willing to carry another’s burden?  Are we also willing to be a burden to others?  The answers may tell us a lot about our faith.

The Basic of Survival

The Jewish Rabbi, Abraham Heschel, raises the question of how Judaism survived the assaults and challenges it has faced through the centuries.  Throughout their history the Jewish people have again and again seen the decay of civilization, have lived through persecutions and have been scorned with contempt.  He notes that they kept their integrity alive through “a commitment of heart and soul, love that goes with character and conviction.”   He alludes to the idea that the focal point of Jewish survival is the belief that “God, Israel, and Torah are one.”  He concludes that commitment to these three inseparable, interdependent realities must be based on love to be successful. Without a commitment to all three, faith becomes a two-legged tripod which will soon collapse and die.

The same can be said for Christianity as well.  Our foundation must be based on a commitment of love towards God, His word, and the Church.  At a time when Christianity is considered contemptible in the eyes of secular society, when we are being persecuted and ostracized for our beliefs, having a balanced approach to all three is crucial.  If we discount one of them, favoring the other two, we will eventually find ourselves in dire straits.

Without a strong faith in God, the pressures surmounting us will eventually become overwhelming, leading us into discouragement.  This can lead us to doubt God’s power and control over the forces that assail us.  It then becomes much more difficult to maintain a position of integrity in our culture.  As fatalism makes its headway into our lives, we experience paralysis, believing that this is just the way things are.  Our moral outrage at evil begins to disappear. 

Without the strong presence of the Word, we have little sense of God’s love and His expectations for us.  Becoming biblically illiterate, we lose sight of the fact that God is a relationship building God who deeply cares for us and wants us to live incarnational lives.  Without an understanding of the nature of God’s gracious love for us, without knowledge of his character our relationship with him becomes diminished.  As a result, we are unable to represent Christ to the world.

It is also essential to be connected to His Church.  There are many today who desire to follow Christ without identifying with the Church.  But the Church is an adhesive, binding us together in love as the body of Christ.  Without a strong identification with the Church we lose a connection with his body that helps sustain us in the difficult times of our lives, and gives us purpose in serving and ministering to others.

            Triangles are the strongest geometrical structures.  Unlike other geometrical figures, such as quadrilaterals, which can be deformed easily, a triangle will hold its shape.  The equilateral triangle, which may well be the strongest because all three sides and angles are equal, is the type most used in structural design.  . 

Just as it’s shape keeps it from being deformed, the internal forces on all sides begin equal, so also a life based equally on faith in God, immersion in His word, and identification with His Church will be able to stand against the wiles of the roaring lion devil.  This three strand cord approach to faith helps us stand firm as we live out our daily lives Because it is very easy to get out of kilter, it is well worth asking ourselves from time to time “How well balanced is the triangle of my life of faith in God?”  “Do I have a love relationship with God, His Word, and the Church?”

The Piety of the Pious

            The words “piety” and “pious” are not always the most appreciated in our world today because in many persons’ eyes they are often associated with hypocrisy and otherworldliness.  The pious person is often considered to be uninterested in this world, to be prudish and one who seeks to seclude himself from society.  Piety, because it has an introspective aspect to it, appears to be somewhat selfish in orientation.  Thus the pious person is seen as having little interest in the plight of people around him, taking a passive approach to issues and problems.  His time and energy is spent focusing on his own personal relationship with God.  He is sometimes described as being so heavenly minded as to be of no earthly good.  This is unfortunate since the description above describes false piety.  In reality, the true pious person is just the opposite.  He is one who is in tune with and listens to the voice of God, responding accordingly.  Rabbi Abraham Heschel, in his essay on piety included in his collected essays “Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity” notes that “The pious man’s main interest is concern for the will of God, which thus becomes the driving force controlling the course of his actions and decisions, molding his aspirations and behavior.”  Since God is vitally interested in the affairs of mankind, the pious person has similar interests.  Heschel adds “Further, piety is an attitude toward reality in its entirely.  It is alert to the dignity of every human being, and to those bearing upon the spiritual value which even inanimate things inalienably possess.  The pious man, being able to sense the relations of things to transcendent values, will be incapable of disparaging any of them by enslaving them to his own service.”

            True piety greatly affects one’s worldview and interaction with the world.  Far from being other worldly and passive, the pious person is actively involved in this world precisely because he is in tune with God.  He is vitally interested in this world because God is interested in it.  He stands against oppression and brokenness because God stands against them.  He affirms human dignity because God does.  He engages his culture as did the pious men of old, such as the Old Testament prophets, who affirmed what was God pleasing in their society and condemned what wasn’t.  He promotes the responsible use of resources, believing that the creation mandate is one of stewardship, not dominion; one of replenishment and restoration, not of misuse and neglect.  Instead of being selfish, he selflessly serves others using the gifts God has so graciously given him.  His thoughts, his actions, his very being are in tune with God.  Piety is a mode of living whereby we gravitate towards God.  As such it is related to holiness.

            It is precisely because a pious person is so consumed with the will of God that he steps out in faith to engage his broken world.  Everything he says and does is evaluated reverently through the lens of God’s eyes.  To him, his interests and desires are less important than is God’s will.   The attainments of the world and its beautiful trappings are rejected if they are based on injustice and greed.  His love of God fuels compassion for the lost, the dispossessed, the poor and the disenfranchised, allowing him to reach out to them with his time, treasures and talents.  He is willing to share the resources at his disposal, believing that everything he has is a gift from God.  May we all be known for being pious!

Why Pray When You Can Worry?

We live in times when apprehension is in the air.  The direction of our country, high unemployment, the state of our economy, the mortgage meltdown, the volatility of the stock market and whether we will have enough income to sustain us through our retirement years all cause us concern.  Added to these are concerns about the global economy, turmoil in the Middle East and global terrorism.  As parents, we are concerned about our children.  Will they turn out ok, will they be successful in life, and will they continue to follow God, etc?  In our present job market, those with jobs wonder if they might lose their jobs, and those without wonder will they ever obtain one again.  It seems that we live in a fragile world.  It is no wonder that people living in today’s world are apprehensive.

            We face the danger at such times that our concerns will be transformed into worry.  There is a vast difference between the two, especially from a spiritual dimension.  Concern leads us to call out to God, believing that he is in control and is directing the purpose of the world for his own glory and purpose.  It leads us to prayer.  Worry implies that he is an impotent God, unable to control the human events that we see marching across the panorama of the world’s stage.  It takes us away from prayer.  Concern leads us to faith, worry to doubt.  A chapel talk I once heard, titled “Why pray when you can worry?” dealt with this issue. 

            Excessive worry is dysfunctional as it can become an anxiety disorder where a person’s fears become crippling.  Both imply a total lack of faith in God.  Without faith, prayer becomes futile, as though merely talking to a blank wall.  Why go thought the motion of attempting to talk to a God who is powerless?  Active prayer requires an active faith in an active God.  The Apostle Paul deals with this in his letter to the church at Philippi which was experiencing suffering for the sake of the gospel.  He tells them that prayer will lead to a peace that, though difficult to understand, is the opposite of anxiety.

            Reading through the Psalms and Old Testament prophets points out that they had many concerns that they wrestled and struggled with.  Despite the deplorable situations they experienced and wrote about, things we could hardly even imagine ever happening to us, they never lost faith.  Their concerns and heart felt angst were genuine.  Even when questioning God, their faith that he was in control seldom wavered.  Even when not understanding him, they still confidently followed him. 

At issue is our view of God.  Is he big enough to be able to control the outcome of events or are we left on our own to struggle along as best we can.  Worry implies that he is not.  We then live by the rule of “Que Sera Sera. Whatever will be, will be.  The future’s not ours to see. Que Sera Sera.”   The hopelessness and despair found in worry are faith killers.  They rob us of our intimate relationship with God.  Bit by bit our trust in him is diminished until we no longer believe in his capabilities.  Our claims of faith are belied by our actions.  While from time to time we all worry, it is its continual pattern that is most destructive to our life of faith.  In the times we do worry it is worthwhile examining our prayer life.  Are we going to God with our concerns, confident in him, or are we paralyzed with fear? 

Why We Shouldn't Pray

Why We Shouldn’t Pray

            There are many books on prayer.  A book search on prayer on Amazon brings up a large number of them, from how to books to the value of prayer.  They range from intercessory prayer for others to the more personal aspect of how prayer affects us.  Some speak of prayer as a power source, others focus on piety.  It seems that whatever aspect anyone desires to seek about prayer, it is available.  They all seem to focus on prayer as something we do.  But I wonder if this current emphasis on prayer may not be detrimental to our spiritual lives, for it suggests that prayer is something that is outside of ourselves.

            Many people find prayer intimidating, especially public prayer.  As a young man, I felt very inadequate praying in prayer meetings, especially if the person who prayed before me delivered a very eloquent prayer.  He knew how to pray and I didn’t   Unfortunately, in such situations prayer can become a kind of showmanship – who is the better prayer.  We can become more concerned with how our prayers measure up than in being in touch with God. In so doing, we lose the essence of what prayer is – an intimate personal relationship with the living God.

In an interview reproduced in his book Subversive Spirituality Eugene Peterson has an interesting comment on prayer.  As a young teenager, he asked an elderly missionary who was staying with his family while on sabbatical how he prayed.  The elderly man told him “I haven’t prayed in forty years!”  Holding this missionary in high esteem, Peterson was quite confused.  He said it took him several years to understand the wisdom of what had been told him. He concluded “You see, anything he had told me I would have imitated.  I would have done what he said he did and thought that what’s prayer is.  He risked something to teach me what prayer was, and I’m glad he did..  Prayer wasn’t something he did – it was something he was.  He lived a life of prayer.”  Peterson came to realize that there was more to prayer than technique.  It is not something we do from time to time.  It is who we are.  It is part of our spiritual DNA. 

Looking at prayer in this light helps us understand St Paul’s statement that we are to pray without ceasing, and the Psalmist’s that we are to meditate day and night.  Neither is suggesting that we stop all other activities to live a kind of “holier than thou” life of prayer.  Both view prayer as part of ordinary living that is carried on throughout the day.  Whether we are at church or at home, at work or at play, prayer should be a part of our life, for it is through prayer that we are in constant communion with God.

Behind the viewpoint that prayer is something we do is the assumption that these are the times we are in touch with God and that there are other times when we are not.  When not at prayer we are living on our own, as though our spiritual cell phone has no signal.  Living out of touch with God leads to many of the condemnations of the church as being hypocritical.

God desires that we be in constant communion with him.  An attitude of prayer should pervade our lives.  Prayer should define who we are. It should be part of the essence of our being.   It is worthwhile examining our thoughts on prayer. Are we too concerned with technique?   Is it something we do or something we are living?  

I'm Sorry Mr. President, But I'm Busy

A recent article in the Jerusalem Post described the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s reinstituting a Bible study circle that included his family along with several biblical scholars and rabbis.  This was a practice begun by former Prime Minister Ben-Gurion and continued under Prime Minister Begin.  As the planned hour long meeting expanded to two hours upon his urging, Netanyahu stated that this was better than what he usually had to deal with.  He noted that “Ben-Gurion and Begin believed that the Bible should be the heritage of the entire nation – secular and religious, young and old, men and women.  The Bible is the foundation of our existence.”  He added that the Bible also serves as a map and a compass.  The journalist writing the article noted the difficulty Netanyahu has in trying to break away from the everyday concerns to study the Bible.  He then recalled an incident occurring when Begin was prime minister. While in the midst of one of their studies, Begin received a message that President Carter was on the phone.  He purportedly replied that he was in the middle of studying verses from Deuteronomy and that the President should call back in a couple of hours.  His reply speaks volumes about what he felt was important in his life.

We can glean several applicable messages from this account.  As Netanyahu states, the Bible is also our map and compass which explains why it is so important for us to study it.  We would not think of taking a trip to an unfamiliar place without having a map or GPS with us.  Do we take the same attitude regarding the Bible?  A spiritual GPS is even more important as we travel on our road through life.  It helps us stay on the right course. As Christians the Bible is also the foundation of our existence, not only as the people of God, but also of our nation which was birthed on Christian principles.  But the foremost message which is applicable to us concerns its importance in our lives.  Prime Minister Begin had a clear sense of priorities.  For him the Scriptures were of highest importance.  Its study was not to be interrupted.  While there were things which were very important in his life, such as calls from US presidents, there were other things even more important, such as studying the Bible.  On this he refused to compromise.

It is worthwhile looking at our own lives in comparison.  Our lives are filled with busyness and important things – long days at work, lengthy commutes, transporting children to various events, worthwhile meetings to attend, and constant interruptions to our schedules.  Does this drive us to spend more time with God, as John Wesley did arising three hours earlier to pray because of the hectic day ahead of him, or less?  What do we drop when we find ourselves overextended?  I fear that all too often it is the study of the Scriptures, at least I find it so in my life.  It is much too easy to rationalize, with good intentions, “I will read it later”, and then find that the later opportune time never seems to arrive.  Unfortunately this says more about what my true priorities are than I would like to admit.  It says I have not actively made it a priority.  Instead I will try to fit it into my schedule.  It raises the question: “Which is more important, God or my schedule?”  How important is the Bible in your life?  As you examine your own priorities, whom do you find yourself identifying with, Prime Minister Begin or me?  

The Hypocrisy of False Logic

It has come to my attention that the actions of many individuals and organizations in our world today are totally opposite to their philosophical worldviews.  For instance, it escapes reason why an ardent evolutionist would be concerned at all with the threatened extinction of a particular species.  After all, if humans and animals are merely the outcome of evolutionary processes, there is no basis for our concern for other species.  If, in the history of the world, survival of the fittest reigns, then a concerted attempt to protect an endangered species flies in the face of the Law of the Survival of the Fittest. Attempted manipulation of the natural order is uncalled for.  On the basis of evolution, there is no reason to be concerned about the threatened demise of any species.

The same can be said for the organization PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), one of whose founders said regarding humans “A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.”  If, as she says, humans are just another mammal, there is no basis for us to have any more ethical concerns for other animals than they do for us.  After all, in the eyes of PETA, being mere animals, our attitude towards them should be no different than that of the lion in his concern for the wellbeing of an ill wildebeest that he has cornered.  Life is nothing more than kill or be killed, eat or be eaten.  Yet they condemn others for how they treat animals.

Since people holding these views still have concerns for the safety and well being of members of the animal kingdom, there must be something beyond evolution in our makeup.  We did not just happen by chance.  The fact that we humans have moral and ethical concerns shows our distinctiveness from the rest of the animal kingdom.  Having been created by a moral and ethical God, he has imbued us with a moral nature.  This nature instills in our heart a concern for others, including animals.

 Unfortunately, being fallen humans, we find ourselves at times demonstrating as much hypocrisy as do the ardent evolutionists and members of PETA.  We don’t live up to the standards and values of the positions we hold.  We claim to be children of God, yet don’t live out our lives as he expects his children to live.  We claim that we are all created in the image of God, yet often treat others as if they aren’t.  We can find ourselves lying and cheating if it is to our own advantage, irregardless of their effect upon others.  A recent news article suggested that waiters and waitresses most dread the Sunday afternoon churchgoing crowd due to the unchristian attitudes they display.

Hypocrisy is never attractive.  It questions our truthfulness regarding the values we proclaim to hold and discredits our integrity.  It destroys our relationships with others.  It destroys our credibility and our witness, with the result that everything we say and do is discounted and our motives questioned.  It puts us in the position of being untrustworthy.

How we treat and act toward others should be a mirror image of our attitude towards God.  He calls us to know and love him.  Our love towards God should impact our love of neighbor as the summary of the Ten Commandments suggests.  We are to love both God and neighbor.  It is worth asking ourselves once in awhile: “Is the love I show God the same as the love I show my neighbor?”  Hopefully the answer is “Yes”!

Sensational Lies

Sensationalism sells.  We all enjoy a little of it from time to time, for it can break up the mundane daily grind which we so often experience as we go through life.    Sensationalism often approaches us through curiosity.  It is the curiosity factor of headlines like “Woman Gives Birth to Three Headed Baby” which keeps the tabloids selling in the grocery store checkout lanes.  Our curiosity fuels the paparazzi’s drive to provide us with tidbits on the latest doings of the Hollywood stars and starlets.  The sensational headlines arrest our wandering attention.

Sensationalism also gives us news, particularly of catastrophic and other noteworthy events.  But too often, as in the case of the earliest reports of the Trayvon Martin case, they take great liberties with the truth.  I experienced this during my college years in the 1960s while attending a small college located in a rural community who’s Main Street, about four blocks long, dead-ended at one end of town and ran twenty miles out in the country at the other end. On the first warm evening of spring the power to both the college and the town was knocked out.  Students swarmed out of their dorms, eventually ending up at an intersection at the edge of town where a few minor skirmishes occurred.  The following day rumors were running rampant that the students were going to riot downtown that evening, smashing all the storefronts.  As a result county patrolmen from the surrounding sheriff’s departments were brought in to quell any disturbances.  That evening a crowd of people gathered in the downtown area.  Half of them were townspeople curious as to what might happen, the other half students, also curious as to what would happen.  And then there were a dozen drunken students standing at an intersection, where traffic was directed by a county sheriff, located one-half block downhill from where my friends and I were standing.  When the sheriff stopped traffic to let the cross traffic proceed, these students threw up their hands, yelled and crossed the street.  After a few times of doing this, one of them yelled “I dropped my glasses” and they all started milling around in the street.  The sheriff, with three squirts of mace, broke it up, and the “riot” was over.  As we talked with him afterwards (one of my friends was his nephew) he indicated the entire situation hadn’t amounted to much.  The headlines of the paper the following day read “1500 Students Test Riot Police”.  We gathered clippings from all the newspapers in a 150 mile radius, reading them out loud that night amidst gales of laughter.  The all carried sensational headlines.  From this I learned to avoid taking news accounts at face value.  They are written to sell papers more than providing truth.  When reading sensational headlines it is very easy to jump to false conclusions.

It is unfortunate that in the church we can find ourselves guilty of the same. It most often takes the form of gossip.  Gossip is exciting and we can’t wait to share it with someone else.  It also feeds on curiosity.  We hear something about another person and pass it on to others as gospel truth, without checking up on the facts.  In so doing, we can destroy relationships and even lives.  Once it is spread it can’t be controlled.  We can’t take it back.  Therefore it is important for us to avoid succumbing to the sensationalism bug.  If we have, we need to repent and ask forgiveness.  Have you ever been bitten by this bug?  Is it still biting you?

Being Part of God's Community

During the 19^th century and first half of the 20^th century community spirit was much in vogue.  It was common for neighbors to help neighbors during times of need, especially in rural America.  Growing up during the latter years of this period, before the radical shift to individualism occurred, I was fortunate enough to witness this phenomenon.  While still a young boy, I had the privilege of attending a barn raising where farmers from twenty miles around came together to help a neighbor to build a new barn.  As part of a threshing ring, our family along with several others bought a threshing machine to harvest grain.  During the harvesting season, the entire group would move from farm to farm, harvesting each farmer’s grain, the men and boys working in the fields, the wives and girls cooking the  meals.  I have always felt privileged to have been old enough to participate in this activity prior to its cessation from American life.  One spring, when my father was ill and unable to prepare our fields for planting, several neighbors showed up one Saturday morning with their tractors and plows to plow the fields.  These types of activities were common during my youth.

Moving into the latter half of the 20th century things radically changed with the rise of both industrialization and individualism.  The urban flight to suburbia with its protected yards and garage door openers, the vast increase in mechanized equipment on the farms, the shift in attitude towards “doing one’s own thing” and “I’ve got to be me” all led us away from community.  Front porches, with neighbors sitting on them conversing, were replaced with decks in backyards, resulting in further loss of community.  Churches, by en large, also succumbed to this loss as, with better roads and faster automobiles being coupled with the thrill of individualism, the concept of local community churches disappeared.  It is not uncommon today for people to live twenty or thirty miles away from the church where they worship. 

The emphasis upon individualism which began in the 1960s, moved through modernism into the postmodern era, has increasingly fractured society, with many today feeling alone, aloof and disenfranchised.  The void that individualism brings can only be filled by community because God, being triune, is in community and expressed the need for human community when he said “It is not good for man to be alone.”  In establishing the covenant with Israel he established a community.  In constituting the church, God chose the symbol of the body to illustrate its communal nature.  We are called together, with the understanding that we need each other to function properly.  

The church, because of its body structure, is poised to overturn the aloneness and abandonment of our current individualistic society.  As a caring community, it can reach out to the world, meeting the needs of the people we find there.  But community does not occur by osmosis.  It requires intentionality.   It will not occur without deliberate effort. To be successful, it will require men and women coming together with the conviction that God has called them to such an endeavor. 

But the church is only made up of individuals; individuals who must desire to be a part of community if we are to make a difference.  As both individuals and as a community we can express warmth and love to those whose lives have been fractured, pointing them to God’s kingdom.  But it requires a decision:  Am I willing to abandon my own individualism for the good of God’s community?

True Piety

The words “piety” and “pious” are not always the most appreciated in our world today because in many persons’ eyes they are often associated with hypocrisy and otherworldliness. The pious person is often considered to be uninterested in this world, to be prudish and one who seeks to seclude himself from society. Piety, because it has an introspective aspect to it, appears to be somewhat selfish in orientation. Thus the pious person is seen as having little interest in the plight of people around him, taking a passive approach to issues and problems. His time and energy is spent focusing on his own personal relationship with God. He is sometimes described as being so heavenly minded as to be of no earthly good. This is unfortunate since the description above describes false piety. In reality, the true pious person is just the opposite. He is one who is in tune with, listens to the voice of God and responds accordingly. Rabbi Abraham Heschel, in his essay on piety included in his collected essays “Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity” notes that “The pious man’s main interest is concern for the will of God, which thus becomes the driving force controlling the course of his actions and decisions, molding his aspirations and behavior.” Since God is vitally interested in the affairs of mankind, the pious person has similar interests. Heschel adds “Further, piety is an attitude toward reality in its entirely. It is alert to the dignity of every human being, and to those bearing upon the spiritual value which even inanimate things inalienably possess. The pious man, being able to sense the relations of things to transcendent values, will be incapable of disparaging any of them by enslaving them to his own service.”

True piety greatly affects one’s worldview and interaction with the world. Far from being other worldly and passive, the pious person is actively involved in this world precisely because he is in tune with God. He is vitally interested in this world because God is interested in it. He stands against oppression and brokenness because God stands against them. He affirms human dignity because God does. He engages his culture as did the pious men of old, such as the Old Testament prophets, who affirmed what was God pleasing in their society and condemned what wasn’t. He promotes the responsible use of resources, believing that the creation mandate is one of stewardship, not dominion; one of replenishment and restoration, not of misuse and neglect. Instead of being selfish, he selflessly serves others using the gifts God has so graciously given him. His thoughts, his actions, his very being are in tune with God. Piety is a mode of living whereby we gravitate towards God. As such it is related to holiness.

It is precisely because a pious person is so consumed with the will of God that he steps out in faith to engage his broken world. Everything he says and does is evaluated reverently through the lens of God’s eyes. To him, his interests and desires are less important than is God’s will. The attainments of the world and its beautiful trappings are rejected if they are based on injustice and greed. His love of God fuels compassion for the lost, the dispossessed, the poor and the disenfranchised, allowing him to reach out to them with his time, treasures and talents. He is willing to share the resources at his disposal, believing that everything he has is a gift from God. May we all be known as being pious!

Obedient Listening

In English, the concepts of “listening” and “obedience” are expressed by different words. But in Romanian, “listening” and “obedience” are expressed using the same word. The same is true in Latin where the word oboedire means “to listen or obey”. In an issue of “The Cry”, a quarterly magazine published by the mission organization Word Made Flesh, April Folkertsma, a missionary to Romania, reflecting upon the close connection between listening and obeying says that listening requires active involvement. Hearing, on the other hand, is much more passive. It doesn’t require involvement. I recall an incident during my student days that illustrates the difference between hearing and listening. A friend and I were talking when a mutual acquaintance came up and asked “How are you?” My friend explained he was in the middle of a horrible week. His wife and kids had had the flu for several days, requiring that he stay home, he was therefore swamped with his studies and had just failed a midterm exam. Whereupon our acquaintance said “That’s nice” and walked away. While he had heard the words, he had failed to listen and respond appropriately. To move from merely hearing to listening requires an active response that demonstrates that we have understood what we have heard and that it has changed our lives.

Listening to God requires a choice – either obedience or disobedience. It is never neutral or uninvolved. But in our modern parlance we have divorced listening from obedience. Modern listening has therefore also become passive. It doesn’t require our active involvement. Perhaps this is what is meant when the prophet Isaiah says “You will be ever hearing, but never understanding, you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.” (Isa 6:9). Hearing and seeing are both passive. They don’t require a response. The words basically go in one ear and out the other. The alternative, understanding and perceiving, requires action. Like listening, they require a response of obedience. As Isaiah says, it is only by the action associated with obedience that the goal is reached – to turn and be healed (v. 10). St Paul, in writing to the churches, has this in mind. Most of the verbs he uses are imperatives; commands expected to be obeyed. He writes with the expectation that when his letters are read to the churches they will respond with obedience.

But in our modern world obedience has become passé. We don’t like to be told what to do. We don’t want to obey rules. We want to be the masters of our own lives. In our hustle bustle world we also don’t take the time necessary to reflect upon and understand the words which we do hear or see in print. We don’t ruminate upon them, turning them over in our minds, evaluating them. Therefore, we don’t really listen. But obedience demonstrates that we have truly listened. The words we have heard have penetrated into the depths of our soul, requiring a response which we freely make out of love for our Father in Heaven. Obedience demonstrates that we really have listened, for what we have heard changes us. Perhaps this is why the Bible places obedience upon such a high plane. In God’s eyes, obedience is more important than worship. Worship can be perfunctory. Active obedience, based on love shows our responsiveness to the word of God. As opposed to merely hearing, it shows a responsiveness to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Upon reflection, are you a true listener or merely a hearer of the word?

God's Super Bowl

Another Super Bowl has come and gone, with millions of people watching the contest. Those outside the stadium endured four hours in the cold, watching large TV screens; those inside spent that time sitting on hard bleacher seats, craning unsuccessfully to see the participants on the field below them, their ears straining to catch the garbled words coming from the loudspeakers. Those at home or at parties spent the time in front of their TV sets, watching the game and attempting to discover which where the most creative ads. We make sure that our schedules don’t conflict with the game.

Monsignor Charles Pope in a blog entry traces an interesting disconnection between attendance at the super bowl and attendance at church, noting how dissimilar they are. Super Bowl attendees prepare well in advance for the game, often wear special clothing for the occasion, (or in some cold weather stadiums go bare-chested during sub freezing temperatures), arrive early, cheer loudly and get wrapped up in the game. Especially during collegiate game, they will joyfully and robustly sing their favorite team’s fight song. They love the game and enthusiastically participate in the festivities. If at all possible they will find a tailgate party to attend several hours before the game starts. If watching it at home, they will usually turn on the pre-game show to help them prepare for the fray. They know their favorite team and player’s statistics. There is no problem if the game goes into overtime, a fact seen in the Buffalo Wild Wings commercials. Overtime gives them more time to enjoy the game. They easily spend considerable sums of money on tickets or party supplies, and think nothing of it. Once the game starts they focus on every play, often talking about certain plays for the next several days, rehearsing them in their minds. One thing is certain: they are passionate about the game. They never find it boring.

It is fortunate that we have a similar view of church. We prepare for Sunday mornings by reading the Scriptures for the day and praying for the service. As Sunday arrives, we put on our Sunday best, make certain that we arrive well in advance of the service, expectant of being in church for several hours. We joyfully greet each other, and anticipate worshiping our Lord together. We earnestly desire that there be a pre-service event that we can attend. We are oblivious to the fact that the sanctuary may be too hot or cold or the pews uncomfortable. We are just as happy whether the sound system is working or not. We hope that the preacher is long winded so we can spend more time worshiping God with our fellow worshipers. We never find the service boring. We don’t think twice about placing an extra amount of money in the offering plate as it passes by. We fully participate in the service, singing joyfully, following every aspect of the service. As the service continues, spontaneous praise issues forth from our lips as we observe what God is doing in the world. Sunday afternoons are likely to find us in discussion of the sermon we heard earlier in the day. We eagerly look forward to the next Sunday’s service. We have the same excitement towards God as we do towards the game. If Sunday scheduling conflicts arise, we make sure that church has the top priority for we certainly don’t want to miss it.

How fortunate we are that our attitude towards the Super Bowl and church are so similar. Or are they?

Eager or Willing?

St. Paul, in his prayers for the churches that he was associated with, centers his prayers in four areas; that we would have an increasing intimate knowledge of God, that our love would constantly be growing, that we would live lives pleasing to God, and that we would be strengthened for endurance in living the Christian life. These are all areas worthy of our focus as we live out our lives. We should want to know God better, to grow in love, to please God and to maintain our faith as we go through life. A good question to ask ourselves is how willing are we to see these accomplished in our lives?

But a better question might be to ask how eager we are. The legendary basketball coach, John Wooden, in his devotional book Coach Wooden: One on One tells how his view of “team spirit” changed from a willingness to lose oneself in the group for the good of the team to an eagerness to lose oneself. He came to realize that our willingness to do something does not indicate our desire to do so. Eagerness is much more closely connected to desire. Turning to spiritual matters, Wooden notes that there is a huge difference between our willingness to pray and our eagerness to pray.

The same is true in the growth of our Christian lives. Are we willing to grow or eager to grow? Will we accept it if it comes our way, or do we desire to see it accomplished in our lives? Having only a willingness to grow indicates a cavalier attitude. It’s ok if it happens but we aren’t going out of our way to see that it happens. Willingness takes a passive approach to life, often avoiding the commitment which requires active involvement. With this approach, it becomes easy to just go through the motions. Eagerness, on the other hand, requires active engagement. It requires a definite resolve, to make an effort, and at times to even make a sacrifice. It refuses to accept the status quo, wanting more. Just as successful basketball teams have a high level of discipline in their play, the same is true in our spiritual lives. We must have an eagerness to spiritually discipline ourselves and be disciplined by God.

We face many of the same difficulties today that men and women faced in Jesus’ time. The rich young ruler and others were willing to follow Jesus as long as it didn’t cost them anything. But they had no eager desire to follow him, and in the end turned away. The disciples, on the other hand, displayed an eagerness to follow him, for they had found that there was no other place to go, for Jesus had the words of life. We can easily do the same as the rich young ruler, following Jesus as long as it’s comfortable and doesn’t place a burden upon us. We are willing to follow him as long as he doesn’t make demands upon our lives. But if he does, we may find our resolve to follow him weakening.

Eagerness is never content with willingness. It requires a steadfastness of purpose, an intense consuming desire to know and follow God. It demands a commitment to discipline and a refusal to allow obstacles to thwart our relationship with him. It calls for our constant involvement with the word of God so that we can know him better. How strong is your eagerness IQ? Are you only willing to follow God or are you eager to follow him?

Active and Passive Hypocrisy

In John Steinbeck’s novel The Moon is Down Alex Morden, an inhabitant of the town, kills an enemy officer. The commander of the enemy forces requests that the town mayor sentence Alex to death for the sake of maintaining order. The reluctant mayor finally asks the enemy commander how many of the enemy’s soldiers had been on the machine guns when they captured the town, in the process killing several of the town’s soldiers. Being informed that there were about twenty, the mayor says. “Very well. If you shoot them, I will condemn Morden.” Being told that his request is impossible, the mayor then says “And what you ask cannot be done.” The mayor’s help is requested to maintain order. Yet the enemy’s capture of the town caused the breakdown of order in the first place.


There is a hypocritical element to the story. The enemy commander desperately wants there to be order in the town. Yet he cannot see, or will not see, or could care less that it was his own country’s invasion that caused the breakdown in the first place. As long as the enemy controls the town there will never be order. But if they were to leave, order would quickly be restored.

We can often do the same things in our own lives. We can seek a particular result, but live our lives such that we make that result all but impossible to achieve. We may want to have a good marriage, but never work at having one. We may want to have a good relationship with our children, but are always criticizing them and never taking time to attend their activities or talk with them. We may counsel them to do what we say, but do just the opposite of what we tell them. We may want to have a relationship with God, but never put in the effort to have one. We can cause, by our own actions, the very thing we are trying to avoid. When we do, we live hypocritical lives.

Hypocrisy can be either active or passive. Active hypocrisy is more easily identifiable, for it is overt; like the pastor who preaches against homosexuality while engaging in a homosexual liaison, or who condemns adultery while in the midst of an adulterous affair. We observe it in the person’s actions. Their actions and words are not congruent. But hypocrisy can also be passive, often occurring when we lack desire. We may want something, but not enough to actually carry it through to completion. This type of hypocrisy is more insidious, for it is only observed in inaction. Since it is largely unnoticeable, it may take years before it is uncovered and brought out into the open. It is largely identified by later reflection on the impact of the inactivity, long after the fact. But it destroys relationships just as much as more active forms of hypocrisy do. We are often left with knowing that something isn’t quite right, but are unable to quite put our finger on the cause until later reflection brings it into the open.

A hypocritical lack of desire destroys relationships through inaction. We can want to know God while our closed Bible gathers dust on the bookshelf. We may want to build a relationship with our children, but find ourselves leaving for work before they are up in the mornings, and coming home after they have gone to bed at night. In each case our desire, and the accompanying resolve, are not strong enough to overcome the hypocrisy. How much do you see passive hypocrisy active in your life?

Hypocrisy

The early seventeenth century playwright and poet, Ben Jonson , in speaking of hypocrisy wrote “Many men believe not themselves what they would persuade others; and less, do the things which they would impose on others; but least of all, know what they themselves most confidently boast. Only they set the sign of the cross over their outer doors, and sacrifice to their gut and their groin in their inner closets.” Nowhere is the truth of his observations more evident than in Congress in the past year. We have seen Senators Nelson from Nebraska and Landrieu from Louisiana abruptly change their convictions on abortion when it became politically expedient for them to do so. We have seen the members of both the House and Senate, who were strong advocates of the health care reform, reject amendments which would require them to participate in the health care plan they have formulated for our country. Many of the legislators who have called for civility in language have been the most scurrilous towards their opponents. Leaders of both parties, while speaking against ethical abuse, have been caught up in ethics violations themselves. The same type of hypocrisy is evident in the consternation by Congress at the large bonuses paid to corporate executives while salaries for federal employees in Washington are escalating far out of line above similar salaries in the private sector. While talking about the need to reduce our use of energy, congressional leaders jet across the country and around the world on air force jets at public expense and use excessive amounts of energy in their own homes. While selectively railing against corruption, they turn a deaf ear against the abuses of organizations like Acorn. Whether Republicans or Democrats are in power, the abuses tend to be the same. Jonson’s words are proving to be prophetically true.

But lest we attempt to pull the mote from our brother’s eye while ignoring the log in our own, we need to look at ourselves. How often do we do the same thing Jonson describes? We can say that we believe in the power of prayer, but when facing difficulties try to keep them secret so that no one will find out we are experiencing them, never enabling them to pray for us. We can talk about the importance of obeying the law as we speed merrily down the expressway far above the maximum rated speed. Many parents strongly condemn the use of alcohol or tobacco by their children while abusing them themselves. The most difficult areas are those which have an impact upon our own lives. It can be very easy to take a stand for or against something as long as it doesn’t affect us personally. Then we may sing a different tune. But that is when we will discover the true nature of our character. That which is in the depths of our soul will one day rise to the surface and make itself known. Jesus warns that what comes out of a person is more dangerous than what goes in. What arises from our soul will determine whether or not we compromise our character in times of perceived crisis. Then we will discover who we truly are. Then we will find out whether or not we have disconnected our faith from the rest of our lives, living as Jonson describes. Are we as guilty as our legislators or the English citizens of Ben Jonson’s day in effectively proclaiming “Do as I say, not as I do?” May it not be so!

The Tyranny of Normal

What is normalness? For most Americans, normalness brings us security and comfort, for it somewhat guarantees predictability. We prefer that, becoming uncomfortable when events in our lives are unpredictable and are outside of the usual realm of our experience and control. We prefer the security of not having to deal with surprises in our lives.

But “normal” is a relative term. No two people can agree on what they consider to be normal in their lives. For those of us fortunate enough to have a job, normal might be the daily routine of getting up in the morning, going to work, coming home at night to our family, then preparing to do the same the following day. For those who have lost their jobs normal may be the frustration of the day to day search for employment, feeling like they are just spinning their wheels, that they are being broken in the futile attempt. It may be the continual frustration of marital tension experienced by the family struggling to meet their financial obligations while dealing with jobs which provide inadequate income. For the orphans in Romania, abandoned to live on the streets, normal is the desperate attempt of begging for food, scavenging garbage cans and dumps, hoping that the activity might provide a single, paltry meal for the day. For the Untouchables of India, it is the knowledge that the rigid society in which they live will keep them in perpetual destitute poverty. For children, forced to work in the squalid conditions of third world slum factories, normal is the grim realization that this is how they will pass their lives. For the young girl of Kolkata, sold into sex slavery, normal is the ever repeating forcible rapes which she must endure day after day, night after night, year after year.

For many of the people of the world normal is not something desirable. It brings with it the deadening ache of knowing that the brokenness which it causes will likely never end. The haunting reality that there may never be an escape from the prison of normalness is endless.

The solution to the misery and brokenness we experience and see around us requires transformation. It requires us to identify with the brokenness of Jesus and realize our own brokenness. As we acknowledge our own brokenness, God can use us to help those who are broken around us. Many times we feel inadequate and don’t know how to respond to the suffering of others. As we cry out in desperation to him, he heals our own brokenness and gives us the strength to reach out to those around us, helping to transform them with the love of Christ. It requires us to go beyond normalness, stepping out in faith into the thrilling adventure of letting God lead us in unpredictable ways, all the while transforming our own brokenness into vessels he can use to minister his love and grace. Transformation is never easy. We must face the painful realization of whom we are – sinful people with many faults. It begins when we become broken over our own sin and our potential to harm others. Knowing where we have been and what God is doing in us gives us hope and compassion for others in their own struggles.

The tyranny of normal can be a cruel taskmaster. It feeds on brokenness. It delights in the status quo. It leads to the abandonment of hope. Are you satisfied to live with normalcy, or are you ready, in brokenness, to be transformed by the living God?

Internal Pride

A young man, known for his prowess in drinking all of his friends under the table, was converted to Christianity. Desiring a change in lifestyle which included giving up wine, women and song, he joined a monastery known for its austere living conditions. He found the conditions sparse, including the meals. During Lent conditions became even more austere, as the monks fasted several times a week and many of the evening meals consisted of only bread and water. As Easter approached, many of the monks, especially the more senior ones, became ill from the effects of their limited diets. The young man, however, survived very well, relishing the fact that he, as a novice, was doing better than the other monks. But as he thought about this one day, he was horrified to realize that his attitude was much the same as it had been during his pre Christian drinking days. Just as he had taken pride in besting his buddies in drinking he now took pride in fasting his fellow monks under the table. He had changed from a secular to a Christian worldview. He had a totally new set of friends. His lifestyle had totally changed. But one thing was still the same; he continued to take pride in outperforming others. Though many things had changed, his heart was still the same; pride had remained in the center of his heart. In all of the changes that had occurred in his life, he had never dealt with his heart issue.

Like this young man, it is much easier for us to deal with the externals of our lives than to examine what is going on inside. We can change jobs, but maintain the same drive to always be number one. We can volunteer for activities at church, not because we have a servant’s heart, but because we want to be thought of highly. We can push our children into sports, not because it is good for them but because we seek to live vicariously through our children. The temptations and sins which we struggle with will not go away by merely changing the externals surrounding them. While changing the externals often helps new converts, such change will not tackle the root causes. If true change is to occur, it must begin inside and work its way out. This is why Jesus said that the problem is not what goes into a man, but what comes out.

True change requires transformation. St Paul says that we should stop being conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Andy Baker, a missionary to Bolivia with Word Made Flesh notes that transformation and submission go hand in hand. Reflecting on their relationship he states “transformation is the result of repeated submission over time”. He adds that Jesus invites us on a journey – a journey in which we will be changed as we turn over our lives to him, submitting to his leadership.

Submission requires letting go of oneself, willingly releasing control to another. Submitting ourselves daily to Jesus begins the process of inward transformation which leads to changed lives. Until the young man, dealing with the issue of pride, was willing to make that submission, his life would never be transformed. Until we are willing to do the same, we will never experience the release from frustration and guilt for our failures. It is only through submission that we discover the power of God evidenced in our lives, transforming us into new creatures. What change is occurring in your life? Is it due to submission to Jesus?

Spiritual Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, is a feared disease in the western world, with the potential to lead to heart disease or even death. It can occur over several years. As fat deposits of plaque adhere to the walls of the blood vessels, the artery gradually narrows and hardens over time. When it becomes plugged, a heart attack and / or death is usually the result. In many cases, as the disease progresses, the only solution available to extend one’s life may be a heart transplant.

In many ways the society in which we live is plagued by relationship atherosclerosis as the fragmentation of our society into various interest groups accelerates. We can easily be characterized by alienation; blacks against whites, Democrats against Republicans, rich versus poor, citizens against illegal aliens, and liberals versus conservatives. Despite all attempts to build a cohesive society, we seem to be more fragmented than ever. We have a tendency to blame others for our misfortunes, never wanting to accept responsibility for our own actions. Where does such fragmentation come from? We see its beginning in the falling out between Adam and Eve with God. Their relationship with God was destroyed when they ate of the forbidden fruit. Their relationship with each other was destroyed when Adam blamed Eve for his sin. In his blame we see a nascent hardening of positions. Their estrangement from God is consummated in their willful defiance of his command to refrain from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, coupled with their refusal to accept culpability for their actions. In the Garden we see the beginnings of spiritual atherosclerosis, resulting in death.

We can observe its effects upon us in our selfishness, our callous attitude towards others, and our hardened attitude towards those who are different from us. This disease, which has affected our spiritual DNA, has continued down to the present time, requiring a heart transplant.
Scripture speaks of spiritual hardening of the arteries as a process of hardening one’s heart, as in the account of the plagues against Egypt at the time of the Exodus. Pharaoh continually hardens his heart against God, ignoring the request to let the people go. We see it in our own lives when we begin to ignore the ways and commands of God, beginning a process which leads us further and further away from a relationship with Him. What begins as a choice, over time with repetition, hardens into a willful defiance of God, resulting in full blown spiritual atherosclerosis. The plaque of sin covers the walls of our spiritual sensitivity, darkening our hearts until they are barely functioning. The solution requires the intervention of the Great Physician, whose spiritual knife is sharper than any two edged sword, to perform a heart transplant.

Just as living a healthy lifestyle deters physical atherosclerosis so does living a healthy spiritual life deter spiritual atherosclerosis. A daily quiet time, prayer, confession of sin, growing more Christ like, and love for others goes a long way in lowering our spiritual cholesterol. These disciplines attack the spiritual plaque deposits that have built up over time. As the layers are stripped away, we become more attuned to the voice of God in our lives. It’s worth having a spiritual checkup from time to time. Are you closer or farther away from God than you were a year ago? Are you living a disciplined Christian life, regularly spending time in prayer, Bible study, and fellowship? How are your spiritual arteries? Does a spiritual checkup suggest you are suffering from spiritual atherosclerosis?

Spiritual Disorientation

When flying, an aircraft pilot experiences many different kinds of weather conditions. One of the worst occurs when he is unable to either see the horizon or the ground. Points of reference that have guided him disappear from sight. His perceptions become unreliable. He no longer is sure which way is up or down. He is experiencing “spatial disorientation”. Spatial disorientation can be deadly; this phenomenon is thought to have caused the death of John F. Kennedy Jr.

To overcome spatial disorientation a pilot must be trained to use his cockpit instruments. He has to trust them when he can’t see the way ahead. They will tell him what is real. Because of the likelihood that it will happen, flight instructors spend time teaching their student pilots to fly by instruments alone. They must fly on autopilot, even when it appears to be totally nonsensical. Using GPS navigation tools, the autopilot system can safely bring the plane to its destination.

The same effect can happen in our spiritual lives. There are many times we face difficulties. God may then seem very far away and distant from us. We can experience spiritual disorientation in our lives. And it can be just as deadly to our spiritual lives as spatial disorientation is for the pilot of a plane. These are the times we need to let our spiritual autopilot system, faith, take over. But too often we have not effectively listened to our flight instructor, the Holy Spirit and followed his leading. If our faith and trust in God is not actively growing, we will not be prepared for the battles ahead. Thus our faith is weakened, and may not be able to pull us through the difficult periods of our lives.

The life of the prophet Daniel illustrates the results of living on spiritual autopilot. What allowed him to function in this way? Times of spiritual preparation and discipline. His decision to refuse the king’s meat was not spontaneous; he resolved in his heart to decline the king’s food. Many times he was in situations where he had a choice as to whether he would live on faith or not. Each time his faith was increased, making it easier to run on spiritual autopilot during times of crisis. During the long desert march from Jerusalem to Babylon he never lost faith in the fact that God was with him, thus he was willing to make a stand for God in his new environment. He and his friends refused to eat of the king’s food, and he declined to take credit for the ability to interpret the king’s dream. He told one king he was going insane and another that his reign was over, never compromising his faith in the pronouncements that could have easily cost him his life.. During the ordeal over the fiery furnace, his friends went on autopilot, as did Daniel when threatened with the lion’s den. Their practice in the little things prepared them for the larger crises when they came.

A pilot must spend long hours in flight and on a simulator, pass knowledge and practical exams as well as demonstrate flight proficiency before being certified for flying by instrument. In our spiritual lives we must also spend many hours with God in study and prayer in order to be able to spontaneously switch over to spiritual autopilot when the storms of life buffet us. We must be able to trust him even when it doesn’t seem to make sense. How’s your autopilot system? During rocky times will you switch on faith or experience spiritual disorientation?

Muscular Christianity

I believe that God would have us live muscular Christianity. But what does this entail? Jesus said we should “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30). How do we develop the muscles of our heart, soul and mind? We do so by putting Christ first in everything, by making every thought captive to Christ, and by diligently studying God’s word. Paul prays for the church at Colosse “asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.” (Col 1:9b-10) In Philippians 1:9-11 he says “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.” The active verbs in these verses describe a process and growth. It is not something instantaneous.

Muscular Christianity can be defined as incarnational living. Our lives become so transformed that we exhibit Christ-like tendencies in our daily life and practice. We demonstrate fruitful love and discernment, demonstrating godly wisdom to all we come into contact with. We think God’s thoughts after him.

But developing muscles takes time and practice. They can’t be developed in a day. It requires discipline. It requires commitment and regular work. Without them, the task will fail. The same is true in our spiritual lives. Without a disciplined commitment and work our spiritual muscles will never grow. They require constant practice. This is a continual process. We never reach the goal this side of heaven. Paul never stops praying for continued growth and development. We shouldn’t either. Do we pray these two prayers of his for ourselves, for our spouses and children? For that matter, do we pray them for the neighbor or co-worker or fellow church member with whom we have trouble getting along?

Just as a physical exercise program can have several components, so also does a spiritual one. Some of the components are Bible study, prayer, reading of Christian literature, small group involvement and mentoring. Dallas Willard, in his book The Spirit of the Disciplines lists fifteen disciplines that aid us in drawing closer to Christ and his kingdom. Acknowledging that this list is incomplete, he never-the-less sees things like prayer, fasting, solitude, worship, service, confession, etc. as assisting one in developing a healthy spiritual life. He cautions that it is better to practice several of the disciplines than to focus on a limited number. Otherwise our spiritual life can become unbalanced, similar to a person who only exercises and develops his left arm and leg at the expense of his right. We must seek to live a balanced life.

Our physical muscles atrophy if we are not using them; so also do our spiritual muscles. Without constant exercise, they will become weaker and weaker, eventually becoming so weak that we are unable to discern the difference between things that are either good or evil. When temptations come, we will then be unable to resist. How well rounded is your spiritual exercise program? To what extent are your spiritual muscles becoming stronger? Or are they atrophying?