Tag Archives: Knowing

Chapter-a-Day

Better Knowing

3 Comments

Better Knowing (CaD Eph 1) – Wayfarer

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Ephesians 1:17 (NIV)

I was a bit surprised when I received the email. It wasn’t like my friend to share with me details about his job. We’ve been friends for over 40 years, and not just casual friends. We’ve walked intimately with one another through the best and the worst of each other’s lives. When we get a chance to talk and catch up, we tend to go deep immediately. It’s that kind of relationship.

He emailed me with details about a project he was he was going to deliver and said that it likely the most important event in his career. I immediately read the subtext of his words. His literal words were stating mostly facts, but the message of his email was more than that. He was freaking out. He was anxious, afraid and in desperate need of encouragement and affirmation.

I know my friend.

I grew up in the Christian religion. I learned the stories, practiced the rituals, regularly attended the services, and went through the process of becoming a member of my childhood church. But it wasn’t until I entered into a relationship with Jesus that my life truly changed. A relationship is a completely different thing. Relationships are dynamic, with desires, expectations, the give and take of communication, and the process of knowing and being known.

Even relationships had varying degrees of depth. I have casual relationships with a million people, but only a relatively small number go intimately deep. Even fewer continue to grow deeper as we continue to share one another’s life journeys.

Today we begin a relatively short trek through Paul’s letter to Jesus’ disciples in Ephesus. In today’s chapter, Paul sets the tone for his letter and he tells his readers that he’s praying for their relationship with Jesus, that they might “know him better.” That’s what relationships are like. You know some people better than others.

When it comes to Jesus, I’ve observed that many people seem to be where I was growing up. They are going through the motions of adherence to the religion, but I don’t observe or sense that there’s any actual relationship with God. In others, I observe and sense that there is a relationship with God, but it appears to be more of a casual relationship. You know, running into one another every couple of Sundays but otherwise not giving it much thought, time, or energy.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself feeling grateful for the number of deep and intimate relationships I have experienced, and continue to experience, on this life journey. That includes my relationship with Jesus which has only grown deeper over time.

By the way, I found myself mindfully checking in with my friend in the days prior to, and on the day of, his project delivery. He knocked it out of the park, as I knew he would and continued to assure him. Sometimes, we need a friend who knows us well enough to give us the encouragement and affirmation we need, and who we know cares for us enough to give it.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Evil’s Refusal

Leave a comment

Evil’s Refusal (CaD Ezk 29) – Wayfarer

I will leave [Pharaoh] in the desert,
    you and all the fish of your streams.
You will fall on the open field
    and not be gathered or picked up.
I will give you as food
    to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky.
Exodus 29:5 (NIV)

For over a decade, my family would spend our two weeks of family vacation going to the boundary waters in northern Minnesota. We went to the same place, Camp Idlewood on Rainy Lake. There we would fish, ski, swim, and play. For a boy my age, it was an invitation to all sorts of adventures. I’ll never forget the year my father rented a 16’ john boat and a small outboard motor. I was able to explore the giant lake and its countless islands.

It’s funny how chores can become adventure when it’s something you don’t get to do every day. Every day families would return from a day of fishing and go to the “Cleaning House” which was a small shack designed to “clean” their catch. The fish were filleted and the heads, skins, and guts were dumped into five gallon buckets. Every day or so, those five gallon buckets had to be emptied. Fish guts are a natural meal for birds, especially seagulls. So, I would haul the buckets of fish guts to my little boat, and take them out to a small, uninhabited island not far from camp. There was a large are of rock along the shore and there I’d dump the guts as the seagulls began swarming in anticipation of their feast.

This memory came to mind this morning as I read today’s chapter, which opens a seven-part set of prophesies against Pharaoh and Egypt. In this opening prophetic salvo, Zeke metaphorically calls Pharaoh a “monster” in the Nile River with all the fish of the Nile stuck to his monstrous scales. He then tells Pharaoh that he and the fish stuck to his scales will be left in the desert, just like me throwing fish guts on the rocks, to be food for carrion fowl and scavenging beasts.

The Pharaoh at this time was Hophra (in Hebrew) better known by his Greek name Apries. Hophra made an unsuccessful attempt to rescue Jerusalem from the Babylonian’s siege. He attempted by diplomacy and force to raise a coalition of nations against the Babylonian Empire. When Nebuchadnezzar was laying siege to Jerusalem, Hophra brought his army up in an attempt to assist Judah, but quickly realized he was outmatched and shamefully fled back to Egypt with his tail between his legs. Eventually Hophra’s own people turned on him. The prophecies of both Jeremiah and Ezekiel proclaiming his downfall were fulfilled.

I was also struck by the fact that God’s message of doom for Egypt through Zeke ends with “Then all who live in Egypt will know that I am the Lord.” It struck me because I’m preparing a message for my local gathering of Jesus’ followers this Sunday regarding Moses and the ten “plagues” against Egypt in the story of Moses and the Exodus. Moses lived roughly 1,000 years before Ezekiel. When God tells Moses about the plagues He’s about to unleash on Egypt He tells Moses, “then the Egyptians will know that I am God.” (Ex 7:4-5). One thousand years and God is still trying to get through.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking about the nature of evil. At the core, the Great Story is a story of conflict between good and evil, God and Satan, the Kingdom of God and human empire. As I’ve observed before, the Great Story ends in Revelation with Satan gathering “the kings of the earth” in a final battle against God. The presumption here is that as long as there is evil there will always be those who refuse to know, or at least acknowledge, that God is God. Egypt is a recurring reminder of that in the Great Story. Evil always refuses to know and/or acknowledge Good. When I see evil in the events and the headlines of my daily news, I am reminded that this is the Story. This spiritual conflict will continue with all of the tragic aftermath in its wake.

The question for me is which side will I serve? The answer is not in what I say, but in how I live this day.

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

Chapter-a-Day

About Knowing

1 Comment

About Knowing (CaD Ps 141) – Wayfarer

But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign Lord…
Psalm 141:8a (NIV)

When I was a child, I went through all of the religious rituals associated with the church to which my family were members. My parents had me baptized as an infant. I attended Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. I sang in the children’s choir. I participated in, and volunteered to help with, social activities hosted by the church (including the annual “Christmas bazaar” which I remember being a really big deal in my little kid perception). When I was thirteen, I attended confirmation classes and learned what the church believed. I took the test, agreed to accept the terms of membership, and then received my certificate and my own personal box of offering envelopes.

What I came to realize a year or two later was that all of the ritual, participation, knowledge and cognitive assent to a belief statement had relatively little effect on my motives, my thoughts, my words, or my actions. Knowing about Jesus was not the same as knowing Jesus and being in relationship.

That contrast came to heart and mind in the quiet this morning as I meditated on the text of today’s chapter, Psalm 141. There is little doubt that the editors who compiled the anthology of ancient Hebrew song lyrics, that we know as the book of Psalms, were deliberate in putting Psalms 140 and 141 next to each other. They bookend each other well. Both are ascribed to David and both of them feature a lot of physiological metaphors. The biggest contrast is that Psalm 140 uses the physiological metaphors to describe an unrighteous person:

  • stir up war in their hearts
  • sharpen their tongues
  • poison on their lips
  • hands of the wicked

Psalm 141, uses physiological metaphors to describe a righteous person:

  • a heart that refuses evil
  • hands lifted in worship
  • a guard on one’s mouth
  • a door on the lips
  • a head that receives accountability
  • eyes fixed on God

As I mulled over the contrasting descriptions, it reminded me of being a young man and realizing that having a membership certificate to my local church, knowledge of basic beliefs, and dutifully participating in ritual had not translated into making a difference in my self-centeredness, my selfish behavior, my relationships with others, my actions, or my words. I was a egotistical, selfish little prick much of the time. I knew that I could play a good game, but I was also really self-aware enough to know that there were ugly things at the core which needed to change. I knew about the things Psalm 141 describes, but an honest self-examination and moral inventory revealed a person more like what Psalm 140 describes.

So, about that time I stopped just knowing about Jesus, and I decided to seek to know and follow Jesus in a very different way. It’s definitely been a forty-year process and spiritual journey. In the quiet this morning I find myself mulling over the person I would be today had I not made that decision. I can only imagine a grown-up version of the young man with ugly things at the core. An arrogant, egocentric big prick with a sharp tongue, and a heart in turmoil.

I’m not perfect by any means, and I could point you to a person or two who I suspect might tell you I’m still an arrogant, egocentric prick. I have my ugly moments. But oh, how worse it would be had I not discovered the contrast between knowing about Jesus and knowing Him.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Acts 17

Leave a comment

Boy-with-binoculars
Boy-with-binoculars (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist.” Acts 17:27-28a (NLT)

According to a survey cited in the Washington Post, 92 percent of Americans believe in God, a Universal Spirit, or Higher Power.

This isn’t a shock to me. It fits with my own experience through life’s journey. I have come to realize that most people, if not all people, have an inherent awareness of God’s existence and presence around them, even when they can’t quite understand it or wrap any kind of definition around it. Even when I talk to one of the eight percent who profess not to believe in God, I often sense that their unbelief springs out of a rebellion or reaction rooted in spiritual pain or injury caused by religion or misguided religious zealots.

Paul was tapping into this same awareness as he stood in Athens and observed the diverse religious activity around him. He realized that with all of their religion the people of Athens were feeling their way towards God, acting on the awareness of God’s presence all around them. Even today churches are filled with those who are feeling around, trying to find God and grab on.

Jesus said that we will find Him if we seek after Him with all of our heart. I’ve come to understand that the crucial question is not if we believe in the existence of a Higher Power. Most, if not all of us do in one form or another. The more crucial question is: “For what (or whom) are our hearts truly seeking?”

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Jeremiah 36

2 Comments

“Starting right now, I’m going to teach them
Who I am and what I do,
   teach them the meaning of my name, God—’I Am.'” Jeremiah 36:21b (MSG)

I played on the worship team in church yesterday morning. Between our rehearsal and the service, I struck up a conversation with one of the other musicians. We’ve played together a handful of times and have been around one another in church for years, but we really don’t know each other. We struck up a conversation. It was the “get to know you” conversation. He asked about me and what I do. I asked about his family and his background. It was a brief conversation, but a good one. We moved from being around each other into getting to know one another. I’m the richer for it.

It’s easy to forget that God desires a relationship with me. It’s not about being around God, the things of God, or even the people of God. God wants me to know Him personally, and wants me to let myself be known to Him in return. You can live your life being around God and never that step into the “get to know you” conversation.

I can be at church with a guy week after week, play on a worship team with him, hang around the same social circles, and run into him on occasion in the community and still not know him.

God could be that guy.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and luix90