Tag Archives: Kindness

Chapter-a-Day

Stories and Choices

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If the neighbor is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge in your possession. Return their cloak by sunset so that your neighbor may sleep in it. Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy 24:12-13 (NIV)

Along this chapter-a-day journey, I have often referenced being a historian of my family. I was a young man when I began really digging into the past and peeking into the dusty corners of the proverbial family attic. At that point in my life journey I was on a quest of self-discovery.

My quest has revealed many things over the years. I discovered plenty of the things families don’t talk about. Most all of the flaws of everyday humanity were lurking there. I learned stories of addiction, adultery, divorce, suicides, illegitimate children, and individuals leading secret second lives.

There was also plenty of dark tragedy that was brought to light. One of my great-great grandmothers was farmed out to be a live-in housekeeper for a distant family. When one of the sons of the family got her pregnant and refused responsibility, she was left with few options. Her own sister took her in, but forced her to live in Cinderella-like seclusion not wanting anyone to know she was there.

I learned that one of my great-grandmothers was a gold digger whose many failed marriages reaped tragic results for her and two of her children.

What I also witnessed in learning my family stories, however, is a lot of human decency. My grandparents for years took care of an elderly widow who lived down the block and had no one else to care for her. I had a grandfather who gave his deadbeat alcoholic brother a second chance. He quietly did the right thing by his family even after his family unjustly gave him the shaft. There are stories of financial generosity, giving friends a place to live, helping friends and neighbors with goodness and loving kindness.

“Remember” is a word Moses uses three times in today’s chapter. He returns to what Jewish teachers called zakhor, memories that help build moral muscle.

Today’s chapter is a collection of rules Moses gives his children and grandchildren as he prepares to send them off into life while he himself lies on his deathbed. The thread that I found running through Moses’ directives is basic human decency.

Divorce with decency for the woman who has zero power or standing in the culture of that day.

Don’t take a millstone—someone’s livelihood—as collateral, and leave them with no means to earn a wage.

Don’t treat your own people with contempt.

A person may owe you money and give you their cloak as collateral, but you return that cloak before nightfall. Don’t leave the poor soul cold at night.

You don’t kill children as justice for their parent’s wrongdoing, nor kill a parent for their child’s wrongdoing. Justice is for the offender, not their family.

Pay your employees promptly. Do right by those who work for you.

Do right by the poor and needy, as well. Leave harvest leftovers in the field and on the limbs and vines for the stranger, orphan, and widow to pick and eat.

As I meditated on all these things, I realized that today’s chapter was the foundation on which Jesus’ built His teaching. It’s doing right by others. It’s treating others the way I’d want to be treated. It’s using whatever authority, power, and means God’s blessed me with to love, serve, and provide – not just to those I know and love, but to those in need, even strangers, foreigners, and enemies.

In the quiet, my own zakhor memory rummaged through all of my family stories. Those stories include examples of individuals who, by faith, embodied the loving-kindness and generosity Moses (and Jesus) prescribe in today’s chapter – and those who didn’t.

This leaves me with the realization that I have a choice.

I can join one group or the other in the collective legacy of zakhor memories my great-great grandchildren will inherit. My choice is determined in a million daily thoughts, words, and actions.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Chapter-a-Day

The Tension

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“ In all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous; you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly.”
Nehemiah 9:33 (NIV)

Throughout my career I’ve had the opportunity to audit the Quality Assessment, or QA (e.g. “your call may be recorded for quality and training purposes”) programs of different companies. In these programs, there is typically a list of criteria that companies listen for in the phone calls so as to maintain a quality standard and hold team members accountable to that standard.

In auditing these programs over the decades I discovered that there is a spectrum for how criteria gets applied, or not applied. It can largely be based on the temperament of the individual who created the standard, or the individuals who apply the standard every day.

On one end of the spectrum is the QA Punisher wielding his red pen like a guillotine. The Punisher is quick to find every infraction real or perceived. Coaching sessions become employee beat-downs in which team members infractions are viewed under a microscope of criticism.

On the other end of the spectrum is the Rainbow Rater who doesn’t even have a red pen because pink is so much more affirming. When a team member fails to meet a certain service quality criteria, she is quick to give them credit for intending to do it, as she is sure that they were. Coaching sessions have not a hint of discussion about improvement or things that could have been done better. That’s too discouraging. Nothing but encouragement and affirmation in the Rainbow Raters world.

In my spiritual life, I find that religion mirrors my career in QA. Fundamentalists are the QA Punishers of religion. They police behavior like a perpetual witch hunt, condemn sin mercilessly, and shame individuals into corporate obedience. On the other end of the spectrum are the liberal universalists for whom sin is an unpleasant notion altogether. Everyone is okay doing whatever they want and credit is always given for good intentions.

Truth is always found at the point of tension between the two extremes. Whether in QA or in Life, the covenant relationship between God and humanity is constantly finding the tension. Today’s chapter is a great example.

In yesterday’s chapter, the Hebrews heard the Law of Moses read by Ezra the priest. For the first time, many in that Jewish community heard the Great Story in its entirety to that point in history. It had affected the community deeply, and in today’s chapter the entire community offers up a prayer to God. In fact, it’s one of the longest prayers recorded in all scripture.

There’s a number of fascinating things about this prayer.

First, it was led and recited by eight Levites. That’s seven-plus-one and there’s metaphorical significance in that. Seven is the number of creation, it’s a number of completion. With the walls rebuilt, the gates hung, and the covenant remembered this is a “new creation” moment for the Hebrew people.

The prayer is a recap of their entire history. They’ve just heard the Story read. Now they recite the entire Story back to God as a response. They praise Him for His lovingkindness and faithfulness. They confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors. They hit the covenant “reset” button and renew their covenant commitment.

Jewish rabbis view this prayer as a classic example of what they call teshuvah – a return to covenant faithfulness. The prayer finds the tension and balance between chesed, God’s loving kindness with confession of avon, or iniquity.

Paul told the believers in Rome that it’s God’s kindness that leads to repentance. Nehemiah and the Hebrew community are Exhibit A in this regard. They find in their reading and remembrance of the Great Story God’s promise, provision, blessing, and faithfulness. This doesn’t lead them to a free-for-all understanding that they can do whatever they want and are excused from whatever they’ve done. Rather, they recognize in God’s kindness that they have not been faithful or obedient. Time and again they have made commitment only to break that commitment. Their recognition of God’s kindness and faithfulness through the generations leads them to repentance for their own lack of faithfulness.

So, they come back to the tension. They hit the reset button. They repent and renew themselves to their covenant commitment.

Just like I have done so many times before.

This earthly journey is a marathon. I have wandered in my spiritual journey towards both sides of the spectrum. I am guilty of being a religious Punisher at times. Other times I have been quick to excuse my destructive thoughts and behaviors as if they aren’t detrimental to me, my loved ones, or anyone else. The further I get in the journey, I find myself simply trying to hold the point of tension for myself and with others.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Chapter-a-Day

God’s Response

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The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘After you enter the land I am giving you as a home…”
Numbers 15:1-2a (NIV)

As I look back over the past three-to-five years, I realize that I have experienced more reactionary, emotional outbursts from other human beings than perhaps in the rest of my half-century of cognitive memory on this earthly journey. I have been yelled at, angrily accused of things, told off, and been given angry lists of demands and expectations of others. I tend to think that a cocktail of brain-altering technology, a global pandemic, and political polarization have all contributed to the acute increase in these experiences.

As this happens, I have found myself relying on a lifetime of spiritual discipline in order to try to respond to these moments appropriately. In kind reactions tend to only escalate situations and perpetuate the problem. As a disciple of Jesus, I desire to respond with the fruit of God’s Spirit as I am called to do. That means responding with a demonstration of peace, patience, kindness, and gentleness.

There is something telling about the way individuals respond to their circumstances in light of the words, actions, and/or behavior of others. Is there reactive rage of defensiveness? Cries of vengeance? Or, is there a gracious response?

In yesterday’s chapter, God’s people rejected His promise and command to enter the Promised Land. They turned against Moses and Aaron. They attempted to go it on their own without God.

Today’s chapter begins with God giving Moses instructions for how things are to be established when His people enter the Promised Land. It will be in another 40 years. It will be the next generation, but God provides instructions. For an old man like Moses, this likely felt ridiculous. It’s a long ways away. For God, who exists outside of time, and with whom “a thousand years is like a day,” forty-years nothing. And, there is a message in the madness of these instructions being given on the heels of the Hebrews’ rebellion:

“I will fulfill my covenant, and my promise to Abraham.”
“I will fulfill my promise to my people.”
“Their doubt and decision is a delay, my decision and promise remain.”

It’s a messy thing about the free will with which God gifted His human creation. We don’t control others. Others may use their free will to do all sorts of destructive things. The only thing I control is whether I react in kind and escalate the descent to chaos, or whether I willfully respond the way Jesus taught me, by returning curses with blessings, turning the other cheek, and loving my enemies.

In today’s chapter, God’s faithful and forward looking response to His own people’s faithless and backwards looking decisions provides me an example to remember the next time I find myself under emotionally reactive attack.

Sadly, I have a feeling I’m not done experiencing these kinds of situations for the foreseeable future.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Chapter-a-Day

The Way of Jesus Exemplified

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Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.
Philemon 1:15-16 (NIV)

Along this chapter-a-day journey I have gained a love and appreciation for the chapters in this Great Story that no one talks about. When was the last time you hear any one reference Philemon? And yet, the story of Philemon is one of the most beautifully powerful human dramas in the Great Story.

Philemon was a member of the local gathering of of Jesus’ followers in the city of Colossae in Greece. He became a follower of Jesus when Paul visited, shared Jesus’ love and message there, and established the local gathering. Philemon was a man of means, with a household large enough to host the church in his home. His means and his large household included slaves.

Among the slaves in Philemon’s household was a man named Onesimus. Reading between the lines Paul’s very short, intimate letter, Onesimus stole money from Philemon and ran away. Eventually, Onesimus made his way to Rome. In Rome, the runaway slave runs into none other than his former master’s friend Paul who is now under house arrest awaiting trial before Caesar.

We don’t know the details, but the bottom line is that Paul shared Jesus’ love and message with Onesimus, and the runaway slave became a sincere believer. Now, Paul tells Onesimus that he must make things right with Philemon, not as slave and slave-master but as brothers in Christ. He sends the runaway slave back to his master with this letter in hand in order to reconcile the relationship and make things right.

Over the last several years, I have shared with my own local gathering a graphic and a concept that depicts the way of Jesus and how different it is from the way the world operates. The world operates through the force of top-down power and authority. From the childhood game of “king of the mountain” to the power structures of politics, business, commerce, and crime. Whoever has the wealth, influence, and power dictates how things are going to work in this world whether it’s through law, rules, regulations, coercion, domination, leverage, or threat.

Jesus, however, did the opposite. He left the power of heaven itself, came to earth to live as a human being. Through faith, obedience, and sacrificial love He changed the hearts of individuals. He then tasked those of us who are His followers to utilize that same faith, obedience, and sacrificial love to carry His message so that it might change the lives of individuals in our circles of influence. As more and more lives are changed and more and more individuals are operating out of faith, obedience, and sacrificial love, the world itself is impacted.

It’s not top-down power and domination but bottom-up love and generosity.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
Isaiah 55:8 (NIV)

Here’s how I’ve depicted it graphically:

The thing that I love about the story of Philemon is that it perfectly illustrates this entire paradigm.

Level 1: Jesus changes Paul’s life from the inside out.

Level 2: Paul shares Jesus’ love and message with people in Colossae.

Level 1: Jesus changes Philemon’s life from the inside out.

Level 2: Philemon’s community is changed as members of his household and community become believers and meet in his home.

Level 2: Onesimus the runaway slave from Philemon’s household stumbles into Paul, his former master’s friend and member of his former master’s circle of influence, in Rome of all places.

Level 1: Onesimus becomes a believer and Jesus changes him from the inside out.

Level 2: Changed by the love of Jesus, Onesimus returns to Philemon to be reconciled and make things right, their relationship now transformed by the love of Jesus that has transformed each of them.

Level 3: The world is still being impacted by their lives and story. This very blog post and podcast are living proof.

What is beautiful about the letter is the fact that it is all about transformation. The transformation of Philemon and his household into a center of God’s love in their community. The transformation of Onesimus from thief and runaway slave to brother in Christ. The transformation of the relationship between Philemon and Onesimus in which the love and power of Jesus tears down the socio-economic power structure of the world’s paradigm of slavery and replaces it with the love, joy, and peace of spiritual family.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself moved spiritually and emotionally as I imagine the moment when Onesimus arrives to face his master. I imagine the mixture of emotions that each of them were feeling in that moment. I imagine the runaway slave handing Philemon Paul’s letter. The shock and surprise as Philemon reads it. The conflicting emotions in Philemon’s heart as anger gives way to forgiveness, resentment yields to kindness, and the world’s paradigms crumble to the transformational, life-changing power of Jesus’ love.

Jesus, I pray that your love continues to change me today from the inside out, so that your love through me might change those around me, that your love through us might positively impact the world for your Kingdom.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Best of ’24: #3 God’s Righteousness vs. Self-Righteousness

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For two weeks, while Wendy and I are away enjoying some warm weather, I’ll be counting down the top ten chapter-a-day posts of 2024 (based on total views and plays). It’ s always interesting which posts resonated with readers and listeners. The chapter for tomorrow’s post will be listed at the bottom.

God's Righteousness vs. Self-Righteousness (CaD Rom 10) – Wayfarer

For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Romans 10:2-4 (NIV)

I had lunch with a friend this week who is a pastor. As we were catching up they mentioned that they had received a “poisoned pen letter.” I have received my own share of these letters along my spiritual journey. They come from the religious rule-keepers I’ve described in recent posts. “Poisoned pen letters” typically point out one or more rules that the religious rule-keeper considers to be conditional for salvation that you’re not keeping in their eyes. There’s always scripture included, often quoted in the Authorized King James version. A poisoned pen letter always includes the threat that unless you start keeping their prescribed rules you are going to hell, you will be forever damned, you will be thrown into the Lake of Fire, you will burn in hell, or similar. They are almost always sent anonymously.

The poisoned pen letters I know of have dealt with things like not preaching the right things, not using their prescribed version of the Bible (usually the King James Version), not wearing the right clothes, not having the right hairstyle, wearing a hat in church, not having your head covered in church, not keeping the sabbath, being friends with sinful people, drinking alcohol, listening to the wrong kind of music, not using the right kind of music in the church service (e.g. traditional hymns), not being political enough from the pulpit (of their political persuasion, of course), being too political from the pulpit (the side they disagree with), and etc.

In today’s chapter, Paul describes his fellow Jews as zealous for God. Their zeal, he goes on to explain, is misguided. The religious rule-keeping Jews didn’t know the righteousness of God. They only knew self-righteous rule-keeping. The former is sourced only from God through faith. The latter is sourced by keeping prescribed behavioral rules through human effort. The former is a gracious and generous gift from God. The latter is a threatening condemning human demand.

Wendy recently read the story of a person who was raised as a fundamentalist rule-keeper but has since renounced her religious roots. She explains that a religious rule-keeper thinks that they are showing love by pointing out another person’s sins. The condemnation and threat of hell are seen as a loving act that will potentially save the object of their public rebuke or poisoned pen.

How misguided. They ignore the scripture that says it is God’s kindness that leads people to repentance. So also do they ignore the scripture that lists the fruit of the Spirit that a believer produces. Nowhere on the list will you find anger, threats, condemnation, yelling, protesting, or sending anonymous letters. The list is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. A poisoned pen letter exemplifies the exact opposite of patience, kindness, and self-control.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself being mindful of Paul’s attitude toward his zealous, self-righteous Jewish brothers and sisters. His heart goes out to them. He prays for them to see the Truth and to know the righteousness from God that can only be received, never earned. Paul’s attitude towards these people reminds me of Jesus on the cross saying, “Father, forgive them. They don’t get it.” I think that’s the attitude and posture that God wants me to have when dealing with rule-keepers when they confront me or write me anonymous letters. It’s easy for me to get angry with them, but how will they repent if I use their own angry, condemning tactics against them? They won’t. But perhaps if I respond to their condemnation and anger with kindness, patience, and loving faithfulness they will see in me that there’s a better way.

Tomorrow’s Chapter: Romans 12

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Paul & the Prisoners of Rome

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Paul & the Prisoners of Rome (CaD 1 Cor 4) – Wayfarer

We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.
1 Corinthians 4:12-13 (NIV)

In ancient Rome, successful military conquests and campaigns ended with a triumphant homecoming parade. It was spectacle on a grand scale and the crowds loved it. The victorious general would lead his legion through the streets with their banners flying while the masses lined the streets and cheered.

Of course, every parade has to end, and in this case, at the end of the Roman victory parade were the prisoners of war, chained, beaten, and condemned. What a sharp contrast to the glorious, polished and pompous army who had just inspired and energized the adoring crowd. The prisoners provided the Roman masses with the opportunity to gloat in Roman greatness and bask in schadenfreude at their worthless enemies. The prisoners could be mocked, jeered, and pelted with whatever rocks or refuse was available along the street. In many cases, they’d already suffered abuse at the hands of their captors. They’d been ill-treated and marched for hundreds of miles against their will.

Ultimately, these prisoners would be marched to the Roman arena where, to the delight of the Roman crowds, they would face a horrific death. Among the most popular with the Roman masses was watching people getting ravaged and eaten by packs of wild beasts who had been starved in preparation for the occasion. But that wasn’t enough. The Romans would build contraptions that gave prisoners a false hope of being able to climb and escape from the beasts, but they were rigged to fall apart or fail, giving the crowds a little extra entertainment.

In yesterday’s post, I wrote about our human penchant for turning leaders into celebrities. In today’s chapter, Paul turns that entire notion on its head. He compares himself, and his fellow apostles to one of Roman prisoners being drug through the streets at the end of the parade. And, it wasn’t total hyperbole. When you study the persecution, punishment, and injustice that Paul and his fellow apostles endured, it’s both astounding and gut-wrenching.

Which makes his attitude even more amazing to me. “When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly.” Which, is not only what Jesus taught, but what Jesus exemplified as He was bound, beaten, mocked, and unjustly executed in a horrific way.

The struggle, of course, is to even connect with these realities here in my 21st century reality. I live in the most affluent country in the world in arguably the greatest time to be alive in human history. So, what am I supposed to take away from Paul’s reality and example?

First, I’m taking perspective with me into this day. I can list every single trouble, worry, or anxiety I might be feeling and then consider a Roman prisoner-of-war’s reality, Paul’s reality, and Jesus’ reality. Talk about a reality check. What am I complaining about?

Second, even in my own rather comfortable realities, I can think of specific instances of people being unkind towards me, unjustly accusing me of things, and using their power or influence against me. What’s my response?

Anger, vengeance, retribution, playing the victim card?

Or, like Paul, do I bless, endure, and answer kindly?

That, is a reminder I need every day.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

“The Why”

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For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV)

On a shelf in my office you’ll find some notebooks. The notebooks contain character studies of different parts I’ve played as an actor. When I trained as an actor in college, I was taught that being an actor is not so much pretending to be a character (like putting on a costume, from outside in) but understanding a character so thoroughly that you transform into that person from the inside out. A great performance on stage begins, not on stage, but in my study with a notebook, the script, and all the resources I can muster. Understanding why my character makes certain choices, says the words he says, and does the things he does requires a cocktail of psychology, imagination, investigation, and meditation. The “why” is critical to the “what.”

Along my journey, I have found this to also be a spiritual truth.

Today’s chapter contains two verses that are foundational to an understanding what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Ephesians 2:8-9 are well known verses:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

I have found, however, that this is one of the most difficult truths for people to truly believe. Not just cognitively understand, but experientially understand. Throughout my life journey I have continually observed believers who pressure themselves (and their children) to do the right things, say the right things, and keep up appearances of goodness in order to conform to religious social pressure, avoid being ashamed, and to hopefully live a good enough life to be welcomed into eternity with a “well done, my good and faithful servant.”

The problem with this scenario is not in the what but in the why.

As I meditated on the chapter in the quiet this morning, it struck me that I’ve heard Ephesians 2:8-9 quoted regularly my entire life. Not once, however, have I heard someone quote verse 10 with it:

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Yet this is a critical and essential context! The “good works” flow immediately out of being “saved by grace through faith.” If I were an actor doing a character study of a sincere disciple of Jesus, I would dig into the “why” of their good works and find that the motivation is gratitude for Jesus’ kindness, grace, and mercy. I have observed in others that their good works are motivated by ingratiation — both the hope of maintaining acceptance and social status among the religious set and also punching one’s ticket of admission into heaven.

This distinction of “the why” is critical for any true understanding of Jesus and His teaching. I make certain choices, say the words I say, and do the things I do “because of his great love for me, God, who is rich in mercy, made me alive with Christ even when I was dead in my transgressions.” The good works don’t flow into salvation but out of it.

If I, in my heart and soul, don’t get the “why” right, then all of my good works are simply a shitty performance on the stage of life.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Serving the Lie

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Serving the Lie (CaD 1 Thess 2) – Wayfarer

The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie.
2 Thessalonians 2:9 (NIV)

On the way home from the lake on Saturday, Wendy and I listened to a podcast interview with a Palestinian man from a small village in the West Bank who is living in fear for his life. He has been largely disowned by his own people, and many want him dead because he dared to send six tweets on October 7th questioning the unspeakable violence and terror that had been unleashed by Hamas. His first tweet simply stated, “What sad and horrible news to wake up to and out of words and unable to digest what’s going on right now. I’m Palestinian and firmly stand against this terror. I pray for the safety of my friends, colleagues, their loved ones, and everyone else affected.”

I found his entire story amazing, and it’s worth a listen no matter where you stand politically on the spectrum. As I listened, I thought to myself that he represents the kind of courage displayed in the iconic photo of the man in Tiananmen Square standing alone in front of a tank. The courage to risk everything to stand against what is evil.

When asked about October 7, he said, “Hamas’s ultimate goal was to incite hatred, create division, and make peace seem impossible.” I couldn’t help but think that this is an apt description of the Evil One’s playbook since he slithered his way through the Garden of Eden.

Today’s chapter is fascinating as Paul tells his Thessalonian disciples that Jesus will not return until “The Man of Lawlessness” is revealed. The fascinating part is that this is the only place in the Great Story where this “Man of Lawlessness” is mentioned, at least by that name. Those who go down the rabbit hole of end times prophesy have all sorts of theories. Have at it.

I don’t have a stake in identifying who this prophetic character is, but I think it’s important to think about what he represents. Like the Evil One, the Man of Lawlessness stands in opposition to God and anything God promotes:

God is love, he sows hatred.
God is life, he sows death.
God is peace, he sows chaos.
God is truth, he “serves the lie.”

As I listened to this humble man’s story, it became clear to me that he is on an incredible spiritual journey. What he knows for sure is that he can no longer stay silent about the hatred, violence, death, and chaos that he’s being told he should embrace and celebrate. Despite a life of incredible struggle in which he has repeatedly experienced discrimination, hatred, and rejection, he chooses to remain hopeful and pursue a personal path of love and peace with others.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking about the current state of our world. There are so many people calling for violence, protests, riots, and chaos. Hatred is not only justified but celebrated and encouraged. Discrimination is deemed acceptable and even encouraged. I personally can’t help but believe that it is the same spirit as the Man of Lawlessness. It all serves the lie.

At the time of Jesus’ ministry, the popular belief among His people was that the Messiah would come and lead an army in a war against Rome. Even after three years following Jesus, His own inner circle of disciples was having trouble letting go of this popular belief that had been drilled into them since they were born. They still couldn’t see that Jesus was establishing a very different kind of Kingdom on earth. His Kingdom is not about using power, violence, and conquest to subject others to His will. Rather it’s about individuals surrendering themselves and using love, kindness, and gracious generosity to make a difference in another life, one person at a time.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

God’s Righteousness vs. Self-Righteousness

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God's Righteousness vs. Self-Righteousness (CaD Rom 10) – Wayfarer

For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Romans 10:2-4 (NIV)

I had lunch with a friend this week who is a pastor. As we were catching up they mentioned that they had received a “poisoned pen letter.” I have received my own share of these letters along my spiritual journey. They come from the religious rule-keepers I’ve described in recent posts. “Poisoned pen letters” typically point out one or more rules that the religious rule-keeper considers to be conditional for salvation that you’re not keeping in their eyes. There’s always scripture included, often quoted in the Authorized King James version. A poisoned pen letter always includes the threat that unless you start keeping their prescribed rules you are going to hell, you will be forever damned, you will be thrown into the Lake of Fire, you will burn in hell, or similar. They are almost always sent anonymously.

The poisoned pen letters I know of have dealt with things like not preaching the right things, not using their prescribed version of the Bible (usually the King James Version), not wearing the right clothes, not having the right hairstyle, wearing a hat in church, not having your head covered in church, not keeping the sabbath, being friends with sinful people, drinking alcohol, listening to the wrong kind of music, not using the right kind of music in the church service (e.g. traditional hymns), not being political enough from the pulpit (of their political persuasion, of course), being too political from the pulpit (the side they disagree with), and etc.

In today’s chapter, Paul describes his fellow Jews as zealous for God. Their zeal, he goes on to explain, is misguided. The religious rule-keeping Jews didn’t know the righteousness of God. They only knew self-righteous rule-keeping. The former is sourced only from God through faith. The latter is sourced by keeping prescribed behavioral rules through human effort. The former is a gracious and generous gift from God. The latter is a threatening condemning human demand.

Wendy recently read the story of a person who was raised as a fundamentalist rule-keeper but has since renounced her religious roots. She explains that a religious rule-keeper thinks that they are showing love by pointing out another person’s sins. The condemnation and threat of hell are seen as a loving act that will potentially save the object of their public rebuke or poisoned pen.

How misguided. They ignore the scripture that says it is God’s kindness that leads people to repentance. So also do they ignore the scripture that lists the fruit of the Spirit that a believer produces. Nowhere on the list will you find anger, threats, condemnation, yelling, protesting, or sending anonymous letters. The list is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. A poisoned pen letter exemplifies the exact opposite of patience, kindness, and self-control.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself being mindful of Paul’s attitude toward his zealous, self-righteous Jewish brothers and sisters. His heart goes out to them. He prays for them to see the Truth and to know the righteousness from God that can only be received, never earned. Paul’s attitude towards these people reminds me of Jesus on the cross saying, “Father, forgive them. They don’t get it.” I think that’s the attitude and posture that God wants me to have when dealing with rule-keepers when they confront me or write me anonymous letters. It’s easy for me to get angry with them, but how will they repent if I use their own angry, condemning tactics against them? They won’t. But perhaps if I respond to their condemnation and anger with kindness, patience, and loving faithfulness they will see in me that there’s a better way.

I will be taking a week’s vacation next week. I’ll return to our chapter-a-day journey on Monday, July 29!

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

The Difference

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The Difference (CaD Gal 3) – Wayfarer

I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?
Galatians 3:2 (NIV)

I was a dormitory Resident Assistant (RA) through most of my college years. Being an RA came with the responsibility of checking on residents, making sure everyone was out for fire drills or fire alarms, doing room inspections, and making sure everyone was in by curfew. For these few responsibilities, I got my own room.

During my first year as an RA, I remember some stark differences in how other members of the team handled the rules. There was this one guy, in particular, who was rabid in enforcing the “letter of the law.” If a person was one second past curfew they were in trouble. He demanded that rooms be immaculate to pass inspection. He seemed to enjoy finding ways to catch rule breakers and punish them. As you can imagine, he quickly gained the reputation of being the worst RA in the dorm. No one wanted to live on his floor.

I have always generally been a rule follower, but I was a “spirit of the law” kind of guy as an RA. I figured that room inspections were intended to make sure nothing nasty was growing and no health hazards were being incubated. Likewise, when a guy came sprinting into the dorm a few minutes past curfew, I figured he was at least conscious enough of the rule to actually run back to the dorm. I let it slide.

In today’s chapter, Paul addresses the crux of a conflict that plagued the early years of the Jesus Movement. It’s about the rules God gave Moses and the Hebrew people after delivering them from Egypt. Known simply as “the Law,” there were those within the Jesus Movement who insisted that a person could not be a follower of Jesus without first being obedient to all the rules of the Law. God had already made clear to Peter, to Paul, and to the rest of the Apostles that non-Jewish Gentiles did not have to adhere to the Law to believe in Jesus and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, rabid rule-keepers like my RA friend had visited the local gatherings of Jesus’ followers in Galatia and started insisting otherwise.

Paul does not mince words. He calls his Galatian friends fools for being influenced by the rule-keeping tyrants. Salvation, Paul points out, is about simply believing. This isn’t a new concept. Paul goes all the way back to the “father” of the Jewish people, Abraham. Abraham “believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Rule-keeping doesn’t produce righteousness. In fact, rule-keeping only results in proving that I’m imperfect. When religion becomes about rule-keeping it always results in powerful hypocrites tyrannizing weak followers in keeping up appearances of rule-keeping perfection.

Father Abraham, Paul argues, was the prototype that superseded the law. Abraham simply believed God and did what God told him. Abe was credited with righteousness, not by keeping rules but by believing and responding out of that belief. Because Jesus’ died for sin and rose from the dead, the tyranny of rule-keeping and the Law is over. The Abraham paradigm has been firmly established once and for all. As Paul would write to the believers in Rome: “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

In the quiet this morning, I find myself reflecting on some of the more fundamentalist experiences I’ve had along my spiritual journey. The tyranny of rule-keeping continues to be a pillar of fundamentalist groups and cults. You can find several documentaries about such groups streaming on your favorite platform. A form of the core issue Paul is addressing in today’s chapter is still with us. The “letter of the law” paradigm seems so simple, It’s so black-and-white, and it provides an easy-to-understand framework of behavior. And, it is typically accompanied by rabid letter-of-the-law tyrants to police the behaviors and punish the rule-breakers.

The “spirit of the law” paradigm of Abraham and Jesus gets rather messy at times. It requires me to believe. Not just a mental acknowledgment, but believing in such a way that I am motivated to think, speak, and act out of that belief. I am compelled to do so by the love of Jesus, who sacrificed Himself for my sin. It’s not about guilt but about gratitude. It’s not rule-keeping but responding to Jesus’ kindness. Righteousness isn’t earned, it’s credited.

That makes all the difference.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.