Tag Archives: Temporal

Chapter-a-Day

My Forever High Priest

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Therefore [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
Hebrews 7:25 (NIV)

I ran into an acquaintance the other day who I hadn’t seen in months. Immediately upon seeing them I felt shame pouring out of my soul and filling every nook and cranny of my mind and body.

The last time I’d run into this person, I greeted them and called them by the wrong name. They said nothing and didn’t react negatively in any way, but by the time I realized my mistake it was too late. It was out there and there was nothing I could do about it. The flood of shame poured through me like a tidal wave whispering its toxic messages…

“Tom, you’re such an idiot.”
“You’ve just embarrassed yourself.”
“They’re going to forever remember this mistake.”
“You’re terrible with names, you dolt. Seriously, major flaw.”

As soon as I saw this person the other day, my shame brought me right back to that moment from months ago and flooded me with the same reminders of my hopelessly flawed worthlessness.

Welcome to the inner world of a shame-based person.

Today’s chapter is thick with theology and history. At the heart of it the author of Hebrews is addressing a Jewish religious issue. The Messiah was supposed to be both King and Priest. But the royal line came from King David who was from the tribe of Judah. The priestly line in the Law of Moses came from Aaron who was from the tribe of Levi. So, how can the Messiah be both?

The author explains that the priesthood of Aaron was a human priesthood tied to the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses was a set of rules and regulations. Rules and regulations don’t perfect a person. Laws may dictate social behavior, but it doesn’t spiritually transform a person within. The Law may dictate that I not steal, and you certainly won’t catch me shoplifting. That same Law does nothing to address the greed that motivates me to cheat on my tax return or be miserly in tipping those who serve me at the restaurant.

And, as a shame-based person, I can tell you that shame will doggedly remind me what a worthless wretch I am. I shared with you how bad it was when I simply forgot an acquaintance’s name. Imagine what shame does with my life-long list of tragic mistakes from stealing the Christmas cash off the Christmas tree when I was a child to cheating on my first wife to the failure of my first marriage. And those are just the high points. Trust me, there’s a lot more.

The author of Hebrews explains that Jesus is the High-Priest from an older, mysterious, eternal priesthood that predates Moses and Aaron. The royal priesthood of Melchizedek (which means “King of Righteousness”) who was King of Salem (from “shalom” meaning “Peace.”).

The priesthood of Aaron made repeated temporal sacrifices.
Jesus made the ultimate eternal sacrifice once for all.

The priesthood of Aaron was tied to human genealogy.
Jesus was part of a priesthood tied to eternity.

The priesthood of Aaron was “weak and useless” at dealing with sin.
Jesus’ sacrifice graciously paid for sin.

The priests of Aaron all died, their priesthood ended.
Jesus lives eternally to intercede perpetually on my behalf.

For someone constantly plagued by the shame of never being enough, the truth of this means everything.

I have a forever-advocate.

Not a priest I wore out with my mistakes.
Not a spiritual leader who retires, moves away, burns out, and dies.
Not a friend who tries to carry my burdens and eventually buckles.

But Christ —
holy and tender,
pure and powerful,
alive and attentive —
always interceding for me.

Every breath:
“Father, this one is mine.”

Every stumble:
“I’ve already covered that.”

Every anxious heartbeat:
“I am here. Still. Always.”

In a world of revolving doors, shifting loyalties, and fragile leaders, Hebrews 7 invites me to rest the weight of my shame on the only One who never steps away from His post.

I am held.
I am represented.
I am beloved, eternally.

And this morning, I walk into my day knowing Christ is already interceding on my behalf.

A better covenant.
A better hope.
A forever priest who doesn’t quit.

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

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Chapter-a-Day

Spiritual Senses

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“For we live by faith, not by sight.”
2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV)

I have genetic hearing loss that is slowly and surely progressing as I age. Wendy and I play a daily game called, “Did He Hear Me or Not?” I’m really good at fooling her. I’m a trained actor. She always wins in the end, though. I eventually always ask her a question that she’s already answered just minutes before. Oops.

Over the years, I have prayed many times for healing. I have had multiple people approach me to ask if they could pray for my hearing to be restored. It has yet to happen this side of heaven.

I had a friend who recently asked me about my feelings regarding my diminished auditory capacities. As annoying as it is (and it is annoying for me and those who have to live with me), I have also pondered my physical hearing loss from a spiritual perspective. I think it might be very possible that as my physical hearing dulls my spiritual hearing becomes more sharpened. I answered my friend by telling him that if I had to choose between clearly hearing the world around me or clearly hearing God’s Spirit, I will choose God’s Spirit every time.

I recently got a pair of “smart glasses.” The technology is still relatively new and growing, but there are already devices on the market that translate what is said into closed captioning that appears on the inside lens of a pair of glasses. I’ve got my eye on this. It could eventually be a game changer for me.

In yesterday’s chapter, Paul told Jesus’ disciples in Corinth that he fixes his eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen. It is very much the same thing I’ve come to understand about hearing. There are physical senses and there are spiritual senses. Jesus taught that we should make it a priority to seek after God’s kingdom and store up treasure there. This requires having spiritual sight, and fixing my eyes on what is unseen.

In today’s chapter, Paul continues to riff on this metaphor. Throughout his letter, Paul references “other teachers” among the Corinthians who have been critical of Paul and his entourage. Paul describes these other teachers as ones who “peddle God’s word for profit” (2:17). Paul famously worked a day job wherever he went, plying his family’s tent-making trade, so that he wouldn’t be a financial burden on the local gathering of believers. Others, however, made the teaching circuit and demanded healthy compensation for teaching the local believers. In today’s chapter, he describes these individuals as those who “take pride in what is seen.”

Paul, however, says that he and his companions “live by faith, not sight.” His eyes are focused on what is unseen, trusting that God will take care of his daily physical needs. He suffers physical troubles as He travels and shares Jesus love and message, but he’s not worried about that. Yes, he groans under the burden of it, but he spiritually considers how temporary it is in comparison to the eternity awaiting him. The eyes of his spirit are fixed on the eternal, and it gives him a different perspective of what is physically seen and experienced.

As I ponder this in the quiet this morning, I am reminded that being a follower of Jesus can really be boiled down to this one simple metaphor. It’s the same question I ended with yesterday. It continues to resonate and reverberate in my soul this morning.

Earth or Heaven?
Physical or spiritual?
Temporal or eternal?

Will I live this temporal, physical life on earth today with spiritual senses fixed on Jesus’ eternal truth and the heavenly investment He asks me to make? Or, will I mindlessly be fixated on what I physically see, hear, crave, feel, and need?

My spiritual ears hear God’s Spirit urging me toward the former.

I think my physical ears hear Wendy in the kitchen starting to make breakfast, indicating it’s time to end this post.

I’m not sure, though. My physical hearing is always suspect. My spiritual hearing, however, always proves to be more accurate.

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 Choice and the Outcome

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Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
Matthew 28:18 (NIV)

Today’s brief and final chapter marks the end of Jesus’ physical ministry on Earth. Matthew shares that Jesus rose from the dead. He and the disciples then returned to Galilee “to the mountain” where He “told them to go.” There, on top of the mountain, He told them that “all authority in heaven and on earth” had been “given” to Him.

Just this past Sunday I gave the message among my local gathering of Jesus’ followers and talked about when Jesus was tempted by the enemy in the wilderness. It was just before the beginning of Jesus’ physical ministry on earth. Luke writes:

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

What a fascinating contrast on which to meditate in the quiet this morning. The beginning and end take place on mountains and the issue at hand is kingdom authority. Right before the beginning of His earthly ministry, Jesus was offered all the authority of the kingdoms of the world on earth. All He had to do was bow down to the enemy.

Jesus, however, chose to love His Father and love others rather than bowing and taking a shortcut to worldly power and riches. Jesus’ love for His Father and others led Him to choose to surrender His will to the will of His Father, take up a cross, and sacrifice Himself for sins of others. Having done so, He now stands on a different mountain and proclaims that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Him.

Satan offered Jesus a shortcut to the limited authority he’s been granted over just the kingdoms of the earth. Jesus chose the path of sacrificial love and was given all authority of both heaven and earth (which includes authority over Satan). Jesus chose the path of eternal authority, and got both. It was the living embodiment of what He taught: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

I know the choice Jesus made. I know the outcome.

I can’t help but to consider that Jesus told me that I have the same choice that He was given. I can focus on the earthly or the eternal. I can bow to the temporary authority of the kingdoms of this world and chase after their power, riches, fame, and splendor. Or, I can follow Jesus in choosing an eternal path having faith that in the end I will not only find something much greater, but “all these things” will be included (though I have a sneaking suspicion that they will pale in comparison).

Do I bow to the temporary authority of the kingdoms of the world, or to the eternal authority of heaven and earth?

I believe it is a choice that I make a thousand times every day.

Tomorrow this chapter-a-day trek moves to 2 Corinthians

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

An Empire’s Epitaph

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“‘Which of the trees of Eden can be compared with you in splendor and majesty? Yet you, too, will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth below; you will lie among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword.

“‘This is Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
Ezekiel 31:18 (NIV)

I, along with many other people, got swept up in the HBO series Game of Thrones a few years back. Based on the fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, it tells the story of a land called Westeros where a number of kingdoms compete for power and control of their world. It is based, of course, on the real life game of thrones that human kingdoms and empires have been playing throughout history.

The millennium between 1000 B.C. and the life of Jesus was itself a game of thrones and an age of human Empires that rose and fell and competed for power. The ancient nation of Israel and the Hebrew prophets like Ezekiel had front row seats to the competition. They were pawns in the game as Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Mede, Persia, Greece, and Rome all made their plays for conquest and power.

In today’s chapter, Ezekiel continues his string of prophetic messages to Egypt, using one of their competing empires as an example. By the time Ezekiel arrived on the scene, the Assyrian empire had already had its glory days and had recently crumbled into nothing. Ezekiel compares the Assyrian empire to a majestic Cedar tree of Lebanon. The Cedars of Lebanon were luxury items in that age of Empires. Every great emperor (including David and Solomon) had Cedars imported for their palaces, gardens, and temples. But in Ezekiel’s metaphorical message, the Cedar representing Assyria is felled and descends into the realm of the dead.

Pharaoh would have gotten the message. Assyria rose, Assyria fell, and Assyria was not going to rise again. The same thing, Ezekiel proclaims, is going to happen to the Egyptian empire. He tells Pharaoh that he and Egypt will ultimately lose the ancient game of thrones. Pharaoh will descend to the dead like Assyria and Ezekiel even proclaims his epitaph: “Here lies Pharaoh and all his hordes.” Ezekiel was correct. Egypt eventually did fall to the Persian empire followed by the Greeks under Alexander the Great and then to the Romans who held sway when Jesus entered the Story.

And, in the quiet this morning, I am reminded that this thousand year game of thrones and age of empires is a precipitous backdrop to the arrival of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Jesus looks nothing like a human emperor, pharaoh, or caesar grabbing power, conquering by force, and clinging to it through intimidation, fear, and violence. That’s what the Hebrews had hoped for and expected. They wanted to be the ultimate human empire and expected the Messiah to be the ultimate champion in a human game of thrones.

But God’s ways aren’t our ways.

Jesus arrived because He gave up His throne. Jesus,

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

The Kingdom of God, Jesus taught, is an eternal Kingdom that is not of this world. It is not a human empire bent on conquest and power, but a heavenly kingdom founded on humility and suffering. In God’s Kingdom, the greatest are not the powerful who claw their way to the top by climbing over others and eliminating the competition. The Messiah revealed that the greatest in God’s Kingdom are those who serve others and put others ahead of themselves. In God’s kingdom wealth is not determined by the amount of things we acquire and hoard, but by the amount we willingly and generously give away. In God’s Kingdom, the game of thrones is not won by clinging to the throne but by surrendering it.

I’m out on business the next two days.
I plan to return on Friday!

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

Chapter-a-Day

Imelda’s Shoes

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Imelda's Shoes (CaD Am 3) – Wayfarer

“On the day I punish Israel for her sins,
    I will destroy the altars of Bethel;
the horns of the altar will be cut off
    and fall to the ground.
I will tear down the winter house
    along with the summer house;
the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed
    and the mansions will be demolished,”
declares the Lord.”
Amos 3:14-15 (NIV)

Many years ago I was in Manila and had the opportunity to tour Malacanang Palace that had been the residence of infamous Philippine despots, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. The Marcos’ were known for living outlandishly opulent lives while their people struggled to survive. Imelda Marcos was famous for her shoe collection, and I can attest to the thousands and thousands of pairs of shoes she had hoarded away in her palace. I saw them with my own eyes. It was something. After losing power, their palace was made into a museum so that the people of the Philippines could see it for themselves.

Ferdinand and Imelda, of course, are not alone. A person with great wealth often invests in properties. It’s typically a safe investment and it affords space in multiple locations to hoard more stuff.

As Amos delivers his prophecy to the people of Israel, it is a time of great economic prosperity. But like the Philippines under the Marcos regime, the powerful and wealthy are hoarding their ill-gotten gains in their various mansions while the poor and needy struggle to survive. There was no social welfare program in the ancient world.

Beyond this glaring social justice issue, the root of Israel’s corrupt prosperity was idolatry. When the northern kingdom broke away from Judah, the first thing King Jeroboam did was create a pagan altar in the town of Bethel and set up a system of idol worship. Centers of pagan worship generated a lot of business and it made those who controlled it very rich.

In today’s chapter, Amos declares that an unnamed power will punish Israel for her sins of idolatry, greed, and injustice. Amos’ description is striking. The summer villa will offer no refuge. The winter palace will be no place to hide. Even “the horns of the altar” which a condemned person could cling to as a last resort appeal in the justice system of that day would offer no recourse because the altar itself would be utterly destroyed.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself pondering some of the despots who have risen and fallen during my life journey. As it has been, so it is, and will continue to be. Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall. The teacher of Ecclesiastes observed the futility of building up wealth only to die and leave it to someone who never worked for it. I was watching Antiques Roadshow the other day and a very strange looking dude had a $50,000 cold air return grate that a sugar baron once commissioned Tiffany & Co. to make for his mansion in Manhattan. A generation later the mansion is no more and some rough looking dude in California has the $50,000 cold air grate in his garage.

I suppose that there are those who would say “you only live once” (Yolo) so you might as well get as much as you can while you’re here. Jesus told His followers to have enough faith and wisdom to not just look from here to the grave, but to look from here to beyond the grave, to the eternity that lies beyond it. The sound investment strategy, Jesus said, was to not worry about treasure in this earthly life which is nothing but a shadow of the life to come. He advised His followers to store up treasure in heaven. How? By loving God, and loving the people around me. By living a life of contentment marked by kindness, forgiveness, consideration, gentleness, goodness, and generosity.

An eternal investment portfolio is focused on giving rather than getting while I’m on this earthly journey.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Yes and Yes and Yes and Yes

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Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
Luke 17:20-21 (NIV)

One of the things I’ve come to embrace, the further I’ve pressed into this journey, is that we as human beings are earthbound in the way we see and react to everything around us. Interacting with our world through five senses leads us to perceive and believe that spiritual things are bound by temporal limits. We think and speak of heaven and hell as fixed positions somewhere and relegate the general direction of “above” (because we look at the night sky and perceive vast and infinite unknown) and “below” (because we watch the dead be buried in the ground and the bad place to which they go must be further down). The miracles were fairy tales and the resurrection could never have happened because for the majority of us these things don’t happen in our earthly human experience.

Along the way, I’ve come to realize that Jesus was constantly speaking of things that are real, but beyond our earthbound senses. I’m reminded of the prophet Elisha and his servant. Surrounded by an entire enemy army, Elisha tells his servant “There are actually more for us than against us.” Elisha prayed that his servant’s “eyes” might be “opened” and when they were he could see a vast army of angels encircling them. (2 Kings 6)

Jesus carries on this teaching of a dimension, realm, reality, that is just as real but lies beyond the boundaries of our senses. The problem, then, is that I try to describe a reality beyond my senses but I only have the language and reality I’ve experienced through my senses to describe it. Those very attempts at description will naturally fall short because even my words and language have their earthly, human limits.

In today’s chapter, Jesus is asked when “God’s kingdom” would come. They are seeking a fixed point of time that their earthbound brains can accept and perceiving that God’s kingdom looks like an earthly kingdom. Jesus pushes back at the limits of their human perceptions:

Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

It isn’t seen with human eyes, Jesus said. It’s not a fixed position that can be labeled on Google Earth. He then tells them that God’s kingdom is right in their midst, hiding in plain sight.

Now the original language Jesus used, and the language Dr. Luke used to retell the story, must be translated into English. Translations are a sticky wicket. Scholars have landed both on the phrase being “within you” and “in your midst” (there’s actually a footnote in the NIV version stating this).

Now I run into another earthbound reality of human reason, which tends to like to boil things down into binary choices: either or, right or wrong, black or white, true or false, this or that. My perpetual sojourn through the Great Story, however, has convinced me that God’s base language is metaphor, and metaphors are layered with meaning which is why the same words, phrases, stories, and passages can have different but just as relevant meaning to me today as when I studied the same passage years ago.

So was Jesus saying, “The kingdom of God is in your midst because I’m the incarnate Christ standing right in front you“?

Was Jesus saying, “The kingdom of God is not a fixed position in time and space but a place you inhabit internally and spiritually“?

Was Jesus saying, “When I am in you and you are in me, you are the kingdom of God“?

Was Jesus saying, “The kingdom of God is within you when you love God and others as I have been showing you“?

My spirit answers:

Yes, and

Yes, and

Yes, and

Yes.

In the quiet this morning I find my spirit engaged, creativity enlivened, mind curious, and heart imaginative as I think about spiritual realities beyond my earthbound senses. It’s all over the chapter in what Jesus was saying….

  • When you cause someone else to stumble, and harm innocents, you reveal your spiritual condition, and it is not the kingdom of God. (vs. 1-2)
  • When the kingdom of God is within you then forgiveness and grace will pour out of your heart and life no matter how many times you’ve been wronged. (vs. 3-4)
  • When you get beyond your earthbound senses and God’s kingdom is within, you’ll find that the “impossible” is “possible.” (vs. 6)
  • When you embrace God’s kingdom, you find peace and contentment in your divine role in the Great Story. (vs. 7-10)
  • The Kingdom of God is not tied to a particular nation, tribe, race, or institution. It’s deeper than flesh, blood, genetics, citizenship, or doctrinal adherence. A huge number of people who should “get it” don’t and even the most unlikely of outcasts and outsiders will. (vs. 11-19)
  • There will come a time when the fecal matter will be propelled with great velocity at the electric, rotary oscillator of this world; A climactic collision of that which is temporal and that which is spirit. (vs. 22-37)

Jesus was always getting His followers to see, to touch, to taste, to smell, and to feel beyond the limits of what is physical. Because when you do, it changes how you relate to everything else along your journey. It’s taken me a long time to get that. I’ve still got a long way to go.

Chapter-a-Day

Greater Than Fair

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“Truly I tell you,” [Jesus] continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
Luke 4:24-27 (NIV)

There are many things I don’t understand in this world. Along my life journey, I have regularly been perplexed at the seeming lack of fairness in life. Like most contemplatives, I am perplexed as to why one person experiences great fortune and another person experiences great tragedy. Even as a follower of Jesus, I have been struck at the incredible diversity in stories and spiritual paths. One person’s life journey appears to be a stroll down Easy Street while another’s is a painful slog down a muddy path riddled with potholes, switchbacks, and roadblocks.

In today’s chapter, Jesus not only acknowledges this reality but also affirms it. As we pick up the story after Jesus is baptized by John, He heads on a sojourn into the wilderness where He successfully overcomes the temptations of the Evil One. Then follows the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry and things get off to a great start. Everyone loves his teaching. He speaks with spiritual authority no one has ever heard before.

Then Jesus comes to His hometown of Nazareth. He quotes an ancient prophecy from Isaiah that proclaims the coming of the Messiah who will bring good news to the poor, make the blind see, and set prisoners free.

“But not for you,” Jesus says to His long-time friends and neighbors. No miracles for you. He goes on to explain that there is this longstanding spiritual theme in the Great Story in which prophets are never honored in their hometowns. He references Elijah who could have healed any one of his homeboys but instead heals the son of a foreign widow in Phoenicia. Likewise, Jesus states, the prophet Elisha could have healed any leper in his local Jewish leper colony but instead heals a Syrian leper.

This lesson did not sit well with the hometown crowd. This wasn’t fair. So, they attempted to kill Him. It wouldn’t be the last time Jesus’ message ended with death threats rather than any kind of spiritual transformation in His audience. He doesn’t seem concerned. Perhaps for the first time in His ministry, it seems that there is something bigger at stake that Jesus is trying to get at.

What I find fascinating about this episode at the very beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry is that it so perfectly foreshadows what was going to happen at the end of it. It will be His own people who reject Him and hand Him over for execution. When this happens, Jesus will again reference the recurring theme of His people killing their own prophets throughout their storied history. Jesus also foreshadows that, after His resurrection and ascension, His “Good News” would miraculously explode across the non-Jewish, foreign Gentile population that His own people despised (which is the story told in the book of Acts).

The other reality I cannot escape in this episode is that, on a purely human level, it isn’t fair. A group of people won’t experience Jesus’ miracles. Their demon-possessed children won’t be released. There won’t be a miraculous transformation of tap water into Tempranillo to keep the wine flowing and the reception going at his Nazareth neighbor’s wedding. And, all of these things won’t happen just because Nazareth happens to be Jesus’ hometown? It isn’t fair.

In the quiet this morning I am pondering the fact that Jesus never promised fairness. I searched for it this morning just to double-check. Jesus never said that He came to bring fairness. Of course, He also wouldn’t experience fairness either. He would be unfairly accused, unfairly tried, and unfairly executed. It would seem logical to me to assume that I should not then expect fairness in my following of Jesus either. And, some will choose not to follow Jesus for this very reason. That was the reaction of Jesus’ hometown entourage. I observe people making the same choice today.

But what if fairness isn’t the point? What if my earthly journey is about something purposed which is far greater than what appears on the surface? What if there is a spiritual economy that is, in the grand scheme, actually more real than the temporal experience of my five earthly senses and my base human appetites? In my almost forty-year study of Jesus’ life and teachings, I find that Jesus’ came not to make life fair, but to exemplify love and call us to follow that example. And love isn’t fair. Love sacrifices all that it has, and is generously extravagant, and almost always receives an inequitable return on the investment. I believe that’s what Jesus came to show me, and in doing so He points me to something greater; He leads me to faith in the understanding that the eternal which I cannot touch, taste, see, smell, or hear is far greater and actually more real than any fair thing on this earth.

And so, I keep following.

Chapter-a-Day

The Night Watch

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the office of dawnI wait for the Lord
    more than watchmen wait for the morning,
    more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Psalm 130:6 (NIV)

I have, in other blog posts, chronicled my adventures in sleeplessness. From childhood I’ve been a morning person. It’s in my DNA, I’m afraid. Especially in the depths of the winter, as we are in now, my day usually begins in the deep dark before dawn.

As a child, I would hate the early mornings as I lay in bed or sat in a dark house and waited. I waited for the light of dawn or the light in the bathroom which signaled that my dad was up and it was okay for me to be up too. As a kid, I hated sleeping over with friends, most of whom liked to sleep in. It meant I would wake up early in a strange house and have to wait hours for my friend to get up.  As I got older and became the father of little ones, I began to relish my early morning hours of quiet before the house began to stir. I have embraced my early mornings as productive and peaceful on a number of levels.

As I read the lyrics of Psalm 130 this morning, I ran across the verse above which has become very familiar and even dear to me in recent years. It is used in praying the hours (a.k.a. The Divine Offices), which I often do, especially The Office of Dawn. There is even The Prayer of the Night Watch, which are prayers offered between 1:30 and 4:30 a.m.

As a morning person, I feel a deep resonance with the wait for dawn. It is more than longing and desire. It is both the anticipation and expectation of what is to come. As persons of faith, the assurance of what we hope for and evidence of that which we do not see is a key ingredient in our day-to-day life journey. The physical and temporal is embodied in the instant gratification of our appetites and the blunt realities of our senses. That which is eternal and of the Spirit is generally realized at the end of the faithful, expectant, long watch of the night when eucatastrophe dawns and rends the unsuspecting darkness.

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Chapter-a-Day

Hollywood Endings

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There are three things that are never satisfied—no, four that never say, “Enough!”: the grave,the barren womb,the thirsty desert,the blazing fire. Proverbs 30:15-16

Several years ago I watched an action movie called Ronin that centered on a group of mercenaries hired to protect and transport a metal briefcase. The team quickly learns that there are many others who are willing to expend any and all means to get their hands on that case. Plenty of Hollywood stunts, explosions, gun fights, and car chases ensue. But, here’s the kicker: you never learn what’s in the metal case!

Many people told me they hated the film, but I found it an interesting premise that touches on a theme of human existence: life is full of unanswered questions and unsatisfied longings.

We would all love for life to always have a happy Hollywood ending. Perhaps we’ve allowed Hollywood to subtly deceive us into thinking that a Hollywood ending is what we deserve and should expect. Jesus’ teaching continually painted a different picture. While promising eternal joy, He also told us to expect temporal difficulties. We don’t discover the former without experiencing the latter.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Mark 8

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Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” Mark 8:33 (MSG)

This past weekend, Wendy and I went to see the musical Wicked at the Des Moines Civic Center. For those who don’t know anything about the musical, Wicked tells the untold back story to the well known Wizard of Oz. The Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba, and Glinda are roommates at school. Glinda is Miss Popular while Elphaba is shunned and misunderstood with her mysterious green skin. Initially hating one another, the two begin to see things from a different perspective as they grow to understand and appreciate one another. As we left the theatre and walked towards our car, Wendy said, “Now I have to rethink everything I thought I knew about the Wizard of Oz.”

I’m reminded this morning of how often conflict comes from misperception and misunderstanding. I expect everyone to simply see things the way I do. I project my way of thinking on someone else and then get irritated when he or she misunderstands me and “just doesn’t get it.” I think about how many silly arguments around the house are rooted in a male and a female having different perspectives as they approach a particular circumstance.

Taking it a step further, how many frustrations in life are rooted in refusing to see or to trust God’s perspective? Upon hearing Jesus prophetically announce that He must be rejected, crucified and resurrected, Peter pulls Him aside and reprimands his teacher and friend. Peter and the boys have seen Jesus’ miracles, and from their perspective a completely different plan is in order. They have plans to ride triumphantly into Jerusalem, kill the Romans, put the religious leaders under their thumb and live a life of power and prestige with Jesus on the throne. Jesus gives His own reprimand to Peter for seeing things with such a self-centered, temporal perspective.

Just as many little conflicts around the house are rooted in misunderstanding or being ignorant of my wife’s perspective, I am increasingly aware that many of life’s sorrows are rooted in misunderstanding or being ignorant of God’s eternal perspective. Like Peter, I find myself thinking only of myself in this space at this moment in time. In my spirit I reprimand God for not seeing things my way, I bark at Him for not following my plan.

The end of Wicked, like all Broadway musicals, is wrapped in a happy ending. Glinda comes to the realization that her life was “changed for the better” for having known the wicked, green witch.

Today, I’m acknowledging my limited, narrow perspective. I’m asking God to continually open my eyes to His eternal truth that this temporal life might be eternally changed for the better for knowing Him more.

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